Role Of STEM in Climate Change Initiatives

Climate is the long-term average change of weather including temperature, humidity, and rainfall patterns over a longer period, while climate change is the phenomenon of climate transformation in which long-term alteration of temperature and typical weather patterns occur in a place. Adverse climate changes result in unbalancing the sustainability and survival of the planet’s ecosystems, and  future of humankind. Mainly causes of climate change are human activities like burning fossil fuels (natural gas, oil, and coal), resulting in releasing materials like greenhouse gases into Earth’s atmosphere.

It is said that Earth’s climate system is close to a threshold point beyond which there was no turning back. Climate change is impacting our planet resulting in extreme temperatures, increased variability of monsoons, reduced hydropower during drought years, and extreme events including floods and droughts, causing difficulty for us to live freely and happily. So, we need to discover more ways to alleviate it.

One of the best ways to strengthen our society to focus and face climate changes, actively, is by improving our whole level of scientific mastery. It is only possible by promoting and improving STEM education. STEM has four components, and each brings a useful influence on an education system. Science gives pupils an in-depth knowledge of the world around us, it helps to improve research and critical thinking power. Technology makes young people to work in a surrounding chock-full of high-tech advances. Engineering grants students to improve problem solving abilities and use expertise in new ventures. Mathematics allows people to evaluate information, reduce errors, and make mindful judgments when constructing solutions. STEM education connects these fields into a unified system to prepare professionals who can renovate society with revolution and sustainable solutions.

STEM Education enlightens students and uncovers the young hidden talents for better purpose. Students are equipped with more realistic approaches and techniques to mitigate climate changes. Education can make them passionate about becoming a Hero, by saving the nature, and they would strive harder for it.

Raising children as keepers of environment and nature loving can help tackle climate changes in the early phase. First, it should be in-built in children to save nature by reducing water wastage and recycling objects. Secondly, climate science added in curriculum can help raise more awareness in children and their families. Thirdly, giving students STEM education and knowledge to fight against climate changes can help provide them with good job, helping them financially for protecting nature in return.

Students armed with stem education can help in lowering carbon emissions, cleaning water resources, combating pollution and designing systems to reuse solar panels and plastics. Giving STEM students job in the Department of Energy can also aid in solving global concerns and climate change issues. It can impact the world and make a career move that will make a difference.

It is important to harness STEM education to help alleviate fears relating to climate changes and their adverse effects on our life. Science educators should involve students in climate related science lessons and inspire them to begin a conversation on how to build solutions for these. STEM education can offer methods and tools to support communities developing solutions that mitigate and adapt to these global catastrophes. It also assists students regarding climate change solutions, awareness of unusual weather patterns and impacts of extreme weather events. STEM allows climate research combined with analysis of global datasets with models of atmospheric, land surface, and oceanic processes etc.

STEM education can support students for taking initiatives in saving energy, improving waste management systems, and increasing engagement in school communities and local governments in sustainability ingenuities. It can benefit researchers with different fields of knowledge to examine where the most severe storms might hit, what locations will be flooded when sea levels rise, and which groups of people are likely to be most affected by these trends. Low-income communities who are in greatest danger can be identified and facilitated. STEM research and development can aid enormously by the experiences of those who are doing the work are as diverse as the populations they aim to help.

STEM education can help students by noting monthly maximum and minimum temperature and rainfall data to identify evidence of global warming. They can plot a graph and analyze the data using a computer software. Students can understand the carbon cycle, how it is affected by use of fossil fuels resulting in climate changes.

STEM education can gather millions of young people around the world around the climate issues. And those people can try and prevent issues relating to global warming and resources depletion. This education can create people with shared sentiments and a general understanding of truthful realities, motivated with a pressing desire to act. STEM education makes students understand the roots and impacts of climate change, create new ways of reducing its influence, and modify to its inescapable effects. It allows young people to be flexible, look for patterns, find links, and assess evidence. STEM can result in improved environmental, societal, and economic transformation. Now, Earth needs a change of people mindset and technology to save the planet. So, lets promote STEM and make humanity proud.

–Hafsa Bibi (Blue Lunar)

Doctor Of Pharmacy

Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University