Wildlife Health Laboratory, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Wildlife Genetics Research Unit, Sacramento, CA 95834, USA.
Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
Proc Biol Sci. 2023 Sep 27;290(2007):20230975. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2023.0975.
The environmental crises defining the Anthropocene demand ubiquitous mitigation efforts, met with collective support. Yet, disengagement and disbelief surrounding planetary health threats are pervasive, especially in the USA. This scepticism may be influenced by inadequate education addressing the scope and urgency of the planetary health crisis. We analysed current K-12 science standards related to planetary health throughout the USA, assessing their quality and potential predictors of variation. While planetary health education varies widely across the USA with respect to the presence and depth of terms, most science standards neglected to convey these concepts with a sense of urgency. Furthermore, state/territory dominant political party and primary gross domestic product (GDP) contributor were each predictive of the quality of planetary health education. We propose that a nation-wide science standard could fully address the urgency of the planetary health crisis and prevent political bias from influencing the breadth and depth of concepts covered.
人类世定义的环境危机需要无处不在的缓解努力，并得到集体支持。然而，围绕行星健康威胁的脱节和怀疑仍然普遍存在，尤其是在美国。这种怀疑可能受到解决行星健康危机范围和紧迫性的教育不足的影响。我们分析了美国各地与行星健康相关的当前 K-12 科学标准，评估了它们的质量和变化的潜在预测因素。虽然行星健康教育在美国各地的存在和深度方面差异很大，但大多数科学标准都未能传达这些概念的紧迫感。此外，州/地区的主要政党和主要国内生产总值（GDP）贡献者都可以预测行星健康教育的质量。我们提出，一个全国性的科学标准可以充分解决行星健康危机的紧迫性，并防止政治偏见影响所涵盖概念的广度和深度。
