From Science to Society: Humanizing Climate Change Education by Integrating the Social Sciences and Humanities, U.N. SDGs, and Systems Thinking in Chemistry Learning

Climate change affects society. Extreme weather events, increasing disease incidences, food system disruptions, increased poverty and displacement, human conflicts and wars, wildfires, drought, and worse are current and future threats to the global population. Eco-anxiety associated with climate change is increasing among people. Global efforts such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement, U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, Action for Climate Empowerment, and others, provide a unified framework for mitigating climate change. In Chemistry classrooms, climate change risks and stressors are usually taught as a function of core chemistry content (gases, matter and measurement, chemical bonding, etc.), but rarely are society-associated climate change risks and stressors (injustice, inequity, exploitation, racism, etc.) also examined in depth. The social sciences and humanities are disciplines of scholarship that investigate multidimensional societal structures and practices, including socio-cultural, economic, political, and environmental elements. Systems thinking is a shared element between chemistry and the social sciences and humanities. To bridge the science and social aspects of climate change, the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and Action for Climate Empowerment frameworks act as blueprints to action. Two assignments that integrate elements of the humanities, social sciences, and chemistry are provided as a teaching model for creating interdisciplinary assignments that engage students in critical reflection on the impacts of climate change and challenge them to consider their professional, personal, and social responsibilities as part of the solution.