Climate Change Education Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2349 To authorize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to establish a Climate Change Education Program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 22, 2019 Mrs. DINGELL (for herself, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. GALLEGO, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. NORTON, and Mr. COHEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En- ergy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To authorize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- tration to establish a Climate Change Education Pro- gram, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Climate Change Edu- 4 cation Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress makes the following findings: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2349.IH H2349 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2349 IH (1) The evidence for human-induced climate 1 change is overwhelming and undeniable. 2 (2) Atmospheric carbon can be significantly re- 3 duced through conservation, by shifting to renewable 4 energy sources such as solar, wind, tidal, and geo- 5 thermal, and by increasing the efficiency of build- 6 ings, including domiciles, and transportation. 7 (3) Providing clear information about climate 8 change, in a variety of forms, can remove the fear 9 and the sense of helplessness, and encourage individ- 10 uals and communities to take action. 11 (4) Implementation of measures that promote 12 energy efficiency, conservation, and renewable en- 13 ergy will greatly reduce human impact on the envi- 14 ronment. 15 (5) Informing people of new technologies and 16 programs as they become available will ensure max- 17 imum understanding and maximum effect of those 18 measures. 19 (6) More than 3,000,000 students graduate 20 from high schools and colleges each year, armed 21 with attitudes, skills, and knowledge about the cli- 22 mate that inform their actions. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2349.IH H2349 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2349 IH (7) The effect on the climate, positive or nega- 1 tive, of each of those 3,000,000 students lasts be- 2 yond a lifetime. 3 (8) Those students need to be prepared to im- 4 plement changes in professional and personal prac- 5 tices, to support and help develop new technology 6 and policy, and to address the coming social and 7 economic challenges and opportunities arising from a 8 changing climate. 9 (9) It has been demonstrated that the people of 10 the United States overwhelmingly support teaching 11 students about the causes, consequences, and poten- 12 tial solutions to climate change in all 50 States and 13 more than 3,000 counties across the United States. 14 (10) Only 30 percent of middle school and 45 15 percent of high school science teachers understand 16 the extent of the scientific consensus on climate 17 change. 18 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 19 In this Act: 20 (1) CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION.—The term 21 ‘‘climate change education’’ means informal and for- 22 mal interdisciplinary learning at all age levels 23 about— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2349.IH H2349 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2349 IH (A) climate change, climate adaptation and 1 mitigation, and climate resilience; and 2 (B) the effects of climate change, climate 3 adaptation and mitigation, and climate resil- 4 ience on the environmental, energy, social, and 5 economic systems of the United States. 6 (2) GREEN COLLAR JOB.—The term ‘‘green col- 7 lar job’’ means a job— 8 (A) in a business that produces goods or 9 provides services that benefit the environment 10 or conserve natural resources; or 11 (B) in which the duties of the worker in- 12 volve making the production processes of the 13 employer more environmentally friendly or use 14 fewer natural resources. 15 (3) GREEN ECONOMY.—The term ‘‘green econ- 16 omy’’ means an economy that results in improved 17 human well-being and social equity by significantly 18 reducing environmental risks and ecological scar- 19 cities. 20 (4) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 21 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 22 meaning given the term in section 102 of the Higher 23 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2349.IH H2349 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 2349 IH (5) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY; STATE EDU- 1 CATIONAL AGENCY.—The terms ‘‘local educational 2 agency’’ and ‘‘State educational agency’’ have the 3 meanings given those terms in section 8101 of the 4 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 5 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 6 (6) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.—The term 7 ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an organization de- 8 scribed in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue 9 Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under 10 501(a) of that Code. 11 SEC. 4. CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION PROGRAM. 12 The Administrator of the National Oceanic and At- 13 mospheric Administration shall establish a Climate 14 Change Education Program to— 15 (1) increase the climate literacy of the United 16 States by broadening the understanding of climate 17 change, including possible long-term and short term 18 consequences and potential solutions; 19 (2) apply the latest scientific and technological 20 discoveries, including through the use of the sci- 21 entific assets of the Administration, to provide for- 22 mal and informal learning opportunities to individ- 23 uals of all ages, including individuals of diverse cul- 24 tural and linguistic backgrounds; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2349.IH H2349 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 2349 IH (3) emphasize actionable information to help 1 people understand and promote implementation of 2 new technologies, programs, and incentives related 3 to climate change, climate adaptation and mitiga- 4 tion, and climate resilience. 5 SEC. 5. GRANT PROGRAM. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—As part of the Climate Change 7 Education Program established under section 4, the Ad- 8 ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- 9 ministration shall establish a program to make grants— 10 (1) to States to encourage and support plans 11 and programs for kindergarten through grade 12 12 formal and informal climate change education— 13 (A) to ensure that students graduate from 14 high school with high climate literacy, includ- 15 ing— 16 (i) relevant teacher training and pro- 17 fessional development; 18 (ii) science, technology, engineering, 19 arts and design, and mathematics edu- 20 cation; and 21 (iii) interdisciplinary studies; and 22 (B) with a particular focus on programs 23 that advance widespread State and local edu- 24 cational agency adoption of climate change edu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2349.IH H2349 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 2349 IH cation, including funding for State educational 1 agencies in partnership with local educational 2 agencies and local nonprofit organizations to— 3 (i) integrate key principles of climate 4 change education into existing kinder- 5 garten through grade 12 State academic 6 content standards, student academic 7 achievement standards, or State cur- 8 riculum frameworks; 9 (ii) create model State climate change 10 curricula; 11 (iii) develop and implement State 12 teacher training programs; and 13 (iv) support secondary school prepara- 14 tion or work-based experiences in green 15 collar jobs; and 16 (2) to institutions of higher education to— 17 (A) improve the quality of and access to 18 training, certification, and higher education for 19 green collar jobs in the future green economy, 20 such as green construction, design, technology, 21 health, engineering, business, and policy stud- 22 ies, including sustainability science, and with a 23 particular focus on programs that address re- 24 structuring institutional incentives and reducing 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2349.IH H2349 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 2349 IH institutional barriers to widespread faculty 1 adoption of interdisciplinary teaching of climate 2 change education; and 3 (B) engage teams of faculty and students 4 to develop applied climate research and deliver 5 to local communities direct services related to 6 local climate mitigation and adaptation issues, 7 with a priority focus on communities impacted 8 by climate change; and 9 (3) to professional associations for projects that 10 build capacity at the State and national levels for 11 continuing education by practicing professionals and 12 the general public in green economy fields. 13 (b) CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION OFFICE.—There 14 shall be, within the Office of Education of the National 15 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a Climate 16 Change Education Office to administer the grant program 17 required by subsection (a). 18 SEC. 6. REPORT. 19 Not later than one year after the date of the enact- 20 ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Adminis- 21 trator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- 22 tration shall submit to Congress a report that evaluates 23 the scientific merits, educational effectiveness, and broad- 24 er effects of activities carried out under this Act. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2349.IH H2349 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 2349 IH SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 1 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Na- 2 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 3 $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2025 4 to carry out this Act. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2349.IH H2349 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS