Amid February’s frigid temperatures, over 500 New York City Public School educators gathered inside the halls of Columbia University’s Teachers College for three days of collaborative climate-focused learning and networking at the third annual NYC Mid-Winter Climate Institute 2026.
Hosted by the NYC Public Schools Office of Energy & Sustainability in partnership with Subject to Climate, Teachers College and the Climate Education for a Resilient Future Earth Network at the Columbia Climate School, the NYC Mid-Winter Climate Institute brings together educators from kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) with the goal of identifying meaningful entry points for climate education lessons in the classrooms and beyond.
Over the course of two days of in-person sessions and a half-day of virtual sessions, educators received guidance, ideas and resources from participating presenters as well as from one another. While many educators attended the training event for the very first time, others returned to share how they had integrated climate and environmental science lessons and activities in their own classrooms.
The NYC Mid-Winter Climate Institute is a direct response to meet the rising interest and demand for climate and environmental education among students and educators. National and state policymaking, curriculum development and implementation are still slowly progressing to fill the gaps. A 2021 UNESCO analysis surveying 100 countries found that only 53 percent of national curricula reference climate change, and when included, it is often deprioritized. Teachers also face many barriers that limit effective instruction, with fewer than 40 percent of teachers reported confidence in teaching the severity of climate change, only one third felt prepared to explain its local impacts, and 30 percent said they lacked familiarity with pedagogies suited to its complexity.
Following New Jersey’s lead as the first state to mandate climate change education, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) recently proposed an amendment to the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education to require instruction in climate education for NYC K-12 public school students. If the proposed amendment is adopted by the NYSED Board of Regents this month, implementation across grade levels is set to begin in the 2027-2028 school year.
At the NYC Mid-Winter Climate Institute, members of the Climate Education for a Resilient Future Earth Network presented in several dynamic sessions to equip teachers with the knowledge, research connections and practical tools needed to bring climate and sustainability into classrooms in engaging and meaningful ways:
- Climate LIVE K12 in the Classroom: Laurel Zaima-Sheehy, assistant director of K12 & continuing education at the Columbia Climate School, and Emma Kyzivat, M.A. in Climate & Society student and program assistant for K–12 & continuing education, shared highlights and ready-to-use classroom activities from the Climate LIVE K–12 video series with over 100 educational videos featuring Columbia scientists.
- Ages of Globalization: Radhika Iyengar, associate research scholar at the Climate School’s Center for Sustainable Development, presented the Ages of Globalization curriculum, a free, interdisciplinary 28-lesson program connecting global development, sustainability and climate through systems thinking.
- GRate Project: Margie Turrin, director of educational field programs at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and NYC Public School teacher, Sarah Slack, shared resources from the GRate Project, helping students use climate proxy data—including evidence from the Greenland Ice Sheet—to understand how scientists reconstruct past climates and build evidence-based narratives.
- Climate Action for Kids: Ian Hunt, M.A. in Climate & Society alum, introduced his forthcoming book “Climate Action for Kids,” demonstrating how hands-on activities can be scaled for real classroom implementation.
The Climate Education for a Resilient Future Earth Network (2024-2026) is a consortium of educators, researchers, practitioners and staff at Columbia University that supports interdisciplinary collaboration across the University and beyond to advance climate education, research and impact. Network members are united in the mission to co-develop resources and strengthen public, K-12, formal, and informal climate education initiatives in communities worldwide to address the urgent need for climate literacy and empowerment. Through the Network’s events, programs and resources, Columbia University’s research and education are extended to directly reach and support students and teachers in the NYC area and beyond, helping to train and empower the next generation of climate scientists, practitioners and leaders.
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