A year ago we launched NC Climate Education Network (NCCEN) aims to connect professionals in the state interested in climate education. From the very beginning, NCCEN sought to be a welcoming space anyone people who are participating in climate education – whether they are K-12 teachers, environmental educators or climate scientists conducting occasional outreach events – to learn, ask questions, and share Share ideas and best practices.
Co-led by the NC State Climate Office and the Department of Environmental Quality’s Water Resources and Air Quality Division, NCCEN has spent the past 12 months pursuing its goals through a series of Stars. Regular virtual open house, contact by email and climate art competition for students.
Each Open House seeks to create dialogues across and between attendees and invited panelists, who are content experts on the current month’s topic, through generated discussions. condition. To date, NCCEN has explored best practice-based research on climate change communication, the state of climate change in North Carolina, how IPCC assessment reports are made, and the role of storms on coastal and inland water ecosystems.
By inviting both educators and professionals to join these conversations, NCCEN aims to reduce barriers to climate science information gathering and climate education while building relationships between the participants. After each Open House, audio recordings and related materials and resources will be distributed to attendees and posted on NCCEN website.
Regular reviews and check-ins with members help guide the Network’s operations, and we’re excited to continue this work in 2022! We’ve got a bunch of Open Houses with themes ranging from coffee and beer to clothes and how these blend with the climate.
See the full list of upcoming events in 2022 here
Art and Climate Competition
In the fall of 2021, the NC Climate Education Network hosted a statewide competition inviting K-12 students to create visual arts using climate data. Elementary, middle, and high school students from across North Carolina submitted their work, with the competition overall receiving more than 60 artworks. A panel of judges from the NC Sea Grant, the NC State Climate Office, and the NC Air Quality Division selected the winning entries for each grade level, a really tough task!
Due to widespread interest, NCCEN will continue to accept new art submission throughout 2022 and welcome educators to share this opportunity with their students. While no new artwork will be judged, all artwork (past and future) will be displayed on statewide art map (note that this works best in browsers other than Chrome). Future climate art competitions are scheduled for late 2022/2023, so stay tuned!
Come join us and the rest of the (virtual) cup of coffee community to learn, explore, discuss and sharpen your knowledge at our next event with Counter Culture coffee on February 8th!
