We have much more to do and your continued support is needed now more than ever.
NYC Students Hold Silent Vigil at Climate Clock for Climate Education
Students gathered at NYC's Climate Clock to influence decision makers to include funding for climate education in the state budget. Credit: Cynthia Carris
On March 26, 2025, an intergenerational group of New York City students gathered with educators at the Climate Clock in the city’s Union Square. The group included members of NWF’s Climate & Resilience Education Task Force’s (CRETF) Youth Steering Committee and Fridays for Future NYC. At the gathering, they called on state decision-makers to include a $536,000 funding allocation for climate education that was excluded in New York’s state budget negotiations.
This request is just 0.001% of the state education budget and is approved by the Board of Regents, which oversees education policy and has made climate literacy a budgetary and legislative priority thanks to advocacy by CRETF. Over 80 coalition partners signed a letter to the Governor and key decision-makers asking for the inclusion of the funding.
New Jersey has fully integrated climate change education across all nine K-12 learning standards. However, New York state—which considers itself a climate leader—is lagging behind even though 83% of New Yorkers support climate education (Yale, 2024 Climate Opinion Maps).
New York Students Speak for Climate Education Budget
Zarela, a high school Senior from Essex County, who attended one of four CRETF lobby days in Albany to advocate for climate education expressed her disappointment upon learning that the budget request was omitted:
“It is so frustrating that we are being told to “try again next year” because we don’t have time to wait until next year. We can’t keep putting climate education on the backburner. . . [P]oliticians are doing nothing [and young people like me] are losing hope and burning out. I have a real passion, but without positive outcomes, my passion is dying.”
Blaise, a high school junior from the Bronx also shared this dramatic comment:
“I am beyond furious that students learning about the most dangerous existential threat to humanity is not important to our elected leaders. How long will we be forced to practice pitches for requests that will never pass? How long will we have to watch wildfires on our phones before they are on our doorsteps? It feels like our democratic system is working against us.”
The students’ message at the Climate Clock was clear: “The clock is ticking. Time is running out. Fund climate education now.”
Written by Emily Fano
