LEWISTON — Maine’s school curriculum recognizes the importance of teaching youth about the critical threats posed by pollution, waste and rising carbon emissions.

But what does that mean for our youngest students?

At Lewiston elementary schools, teachers are helping kids gain a healthy respect for the world around them — and showing them firsthand how actions they take locally can have a big impact.

“We take real-life events and try to turn them into a curriculum that kids can understand and that they can start problem-solving for,” said Calla Jewett, STEM teacher at Connors Elementary School. When they get older, she said, students will “have an idea of where the starting point is to help solve those problems.”

In teaching environmental stewardship, however, educators face a number of challenges, including language barriers, student mental health, and the politics surrounding climate change.

AVOIDING ANXIETY

In 2024, the state of Maine identified a need for “climate literacy.” Defined as “an understanding of how the climate system works, how human actions influence climate, and how climate influences people and other parts of the Earth system,” by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it was seen as a “crucial learning opportunity.”

The Climate Literacy Plan targets younger generations growing up in a “rapidly changing world,” where they will need new “knowledge, skills and resilience” to prosper.

“If we want a future where Maine students are not just staying in Maine but excited to be in Maine and excited to create strong and wonderful communities, I think that climate literacy is imperative to making that happen,” said Teddy Lyman, climate education specialist for the Maine Department of Education.  

Adapting that goal to elementary schools can be tricky.

For one, Jewett describes how complex concepts can be difficult to translate to students with language barriers.

“We have over 20 languages now spoken here at Connors,” said Jewett. “It makes it very difficult to take higher-level concepts and translate them in a way that 20 different languages can understand.” 

Additionally, consideration of student mental health and age makes bringing up environmental issues difficult.

Particularly for young audiences, teachers consider the emotional impact of their lessons.

Lyman emphasized the importance of addressing environmental concerns in a way that fosters a positive relationship with the earth rather than one filled with anxiety.  

Lyman said educations should make sure that “conversation around the climate crisis has a foundation of love and stewardship rather than just alarm bells going off around climate crisis.” 

“One of the best ways for students to combat climate anxiety in students is for students to be taking action and see the results of their action in their school, whether it’s adding a compost facility, having a campaign for wind turbines or advocating for harbor cleanups,” Lyman said. 

To prevent alarming young students, climate literacy is approached through exposure to nature through gardening and wildlife and real-world environmental problem-solving. Lewiston STEM teachers say they focus on inspiring an appreciation for the earth and empowering their students to solve environmental issues.  

At Geiger and Montello elementary schools, STEM teachers Travis Ritchie and Michele Lever, respectively, center their classes on exposing students to the outdoors.  

In 2024, Ritchie collaborated with Food Corps service member Lily Krietzberg to build an outdoor learning garden, which provides a space for students to gain hands-on food and cultivation experience. 

For Krietzberg, who has a farming background, the garden is just the start. Together, she and Ritchie, with the support of administration at Geiger, have created an orchard featuring hazelnut bushes and about 30 trees. She hopes to create programs that are sustainable and long-lasting for the school.  

At one time, Krietzberg said, people were very close to the environment — spiritually, emotionally and physically.

“Reorienting people and place and land is what I believe will get us back on the right track: getting kids to care and having them buy in,” she said.  

Lorraine Bowen, responsible for piloting the STEM program, has her students at Farwell Elementary School engaged with wildlife and planting seeds. Students visit the praying mantis babies contained in a glass tank in the classroom every morning. Bowen sparks fascination with the insect by showing the kids live footage of a praying mantis coming out of the egg.  

In addition to outdoor and biological sciences, Lewiston Public Schools also use Tinkercad, an online 3D modeling program, and 3D printers to give the kids a chance to learn coding and work with technology. At Farwell, older students design submersibles to view the ocean floor.  

Teachers emphasize an appreciation for nature and empower students to problem solve, encouraging curiosity and observation building a foundation for environmental awareness, rather than one of anxiety and futility.  

Still, there’s a need for conversations about nature and the environment, the teachers said.

“As for the environment and climate, I don’t think that there’s enough conversation about that coming from homes and parents,” Ritchie said. He said that student conversation mainly revolves around “stuff on screens.”  

For Ritchie, who grew up in the Oxford Hills area, exposure to nature was a large part of his childhood. An appreciation for the earth from a young age is his emphasis. He takes his students on nature walks, and has them plant seeds and make squirrel feeders.

For Ritchie, learning about the environment is just common sense: 

“I think we have to connect the kids to the environment, one that they’ll protect it, respect it, but also, because it’s just part of life, it’s just a natural education,” he said. “You should be learning that.” 

A climate-conscious focus is woven into many of the projects at Lewiston elementary schools. Bowen explained Danny the Duck, a cross-school STEM initiative. 

Geared toward kindergarteners and first graders, Danny the Duck is a rubber duck who sits in a tin tray filled with water that acts as his “pond.” Students add debris to the pond and have conversations around pollution and waste.

The emotional response of the kids inspires environmental awareness and climate concern, Bowen said. Students then design different tools to get the pollution out of the water.  

Through problem-solving, students gain an appreciation and stewardship of nature from a young age.  

“I just want them to know that they need to take care of the earth. Period,” said Lever, the Montello STEM teacher. 

CLIMATE LEARNING & POLITICS

Another challenge facing the teaching of environmental awareness is the issue’s place in national politics.

The Trump administration has rolled back a series of climate initiatives aimed at reducing pollution, as well as the carbon emissions that are warming the earth to alarming levels. He favors the use of fossil fuels, which cause the carbon emissions, over renewable energy.

The administration has also scrubbed environmental resources and mentions of climate change from federal websites.

Teachers in elementary school don’t address climate change directly, instead focusing on using general environmental science and outdoor exposure to create a baseline for understanding more complex topics. 

Still, the president’s actions have some wondering whether they can even use the words “climate change” in the classroom.

They are worried, too, that they will lose federal funding related to environmental education.

Amidst uncertainty, teachers are focusing on their localized impact and instilling an appreciation for nature.

“I think it’s now more important than ever to be teaching them. If we’re going to be losing our funding, then we need to have people stepping up to take care of these things,” said Jewett. 

“It doesn’t need to be a politicized issue,” Lyman said.   

“Everyone wants to protect their own community from an uncertain future,” Lyman continued. “I think finding ways to think about the ways in which a community can be more resilient to future change is a pathway to talking about these issues without necessarily naming climate change in an uncertain political context.”

Lyman discussed addressing environmental issues in terms of community resiliency, and focusing climate education on community needs and local action.  

“We’re navigating a time in which we really need to increase the resiliency of our communities from climate change,” said Lyman.  

Bringing climate change into a lens of local need introduced in an educational setting is one way climate literacy navigates a politically precarious topic.   

“I have not run into nearly as much climate political heat or frustration or divisiveness as I would have thought because this program is really focused on supporting local schools and communities to make decisions that fit with their community’s needs,” he said. 

Despite the uncertainty of environmental policy and the status of climate conscious organizations, the garden programs at Lewiston Public Schools have not been impacted. Teachers continue to cultivate a love of nature and respect of the outdoors from a young age.  

“I don’t know what next year’s funding will look like, but what’s cool is that here, at least at this school, we’ll make it work,” said Ritchie, at Geiger Elementary. “We’re not gonna let that get in our way.”