Environmental and climate change education, climate anxiety ahead of National Public Lands Day

By John Davis

Published September 20, 2022 at 12:18 PM EDT

Map of Florida sea level rise projections in meter increments up until 6 meters, the predicted sea level rise measure if both Greenland and the West Antarctic ice sheet melt.

Saturday, Sept. 24 marks the 29^th annual National Public Lands Day. The National Environmental Education Foundation reports, the observance marks the nation’s largest single-day event for public lands with thousands of volunteers helping to restore and improve public lands. We’ll explore the importance of public lands and the need for more comprehensive environmental and climate change education for students and the general public as well as research on the impacts of climate anxiety in a conversation with Jennifer Jones, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Environment and Society at the Water School at Florida Gulf Coast University and Heather-Skaza Acosta, Ph.D., interim Director of the Whitaker Center for STEM education at FGCU.