New Hampshire's climate change education resolution stalls

The New Hampshire State House.

New Hampshire's House Resolution 30, which would have encouraged the state department of education to support climate education, is now indefinitely postponed, pursuant to a 191-183 vote in the House of Representatives on March 21, 2024.

If adopted, the resolution would have urged the legislature "and by extension the department of education [to] consider compiling and disseminating climate education curricula to school districts so that teachers may be prepared to implement climate change education in their classrooms in high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools."

The preamble to the resolution asserts that the state's "students are not getting comprehensive information about the scientific and human impacts of climate change" and that "today's teachers should be provided the resources they need to be able to include climate change in their curriculums and lesson plans so that they are supported in this endeavor by the state."

The resolution was sponsored by Wendy Thomas (D-District 12) and Tony Caplan (D-District 8), but, as New Hampshire Public Radio (March 21, 2024) reported, "The resolution was thought up by the youth team at 350 New Hampshire, an advocacy group focused on climate change."

Glenn Branch
Short Bio

Glenn Branch is Deputy Director of NCSE.

branch@ncse.ngo