Reducing climate anxiety and strengthening sustainability education with the Climate Institute
The University of Waterloo Climate Institute brings together researchers and the university’s innovative mindset to advance climate research, strengthen climate education, and address the climate crisis. Over the past three years, the Climate Institute has received funding from the Sustainability Action Fund (SAF) to support three projects focused on reducing climate anxiety and strengthening climate teaching and learning:
Project 1: Climate Anxiety Workshop
Project 2: Advancing Climate Teaching and Learning
Project 3: Accelerating Climate Education
From 2024 to 2025, SAF funding supported a variety of events, workshops, and community building activities designed to address climate anxiety. During these events, students were encouraged to explore climate emotions and learn methods to reduce anxiety around climate issues. A key takeaway for many participants was the importance of combatting climate anxiety by cultivating climate hope through community.
From keynote talks and a climate conference to a student poster event, 668 attendees participated in the programming and shared overwhelmingly positive feedback. Through these events, students were able to build community, foster climate hope, and reduce climate anxiety, taking the practices they learned with them into their daily lives. One participant reflected:
Listening to the talks helped me a lot personally. I have a lot of climate anxiety, and I know many others do too but hearing the speakers all talk about their perspective of what climate action entails encouraged me to continue being hopeful.
- Climate Con Attendee
The Climate Institute’s other SAF-funded projects build on this momentum. Advancing Climate Teaching and Learning, launched in 2024, supported a Climate Pedagogy Symposium that brought together faculty members from Waterloo, Laurier, and Conestoga to explore strategies for climate teaching and learning (read the report for more information). This project evolved into a new initiative: Accelerating Climate Education, which aims to strengthen sustainability and climate change education across the University of Waterloo. The Climate Institute hosts a project working group including representatives from several faculties, the Sustainability Office, the Integrated Teaching Support Unit, and several students. This group is developing a series of teaching tips for ITSU’s website, offering professional development workshops for instructors, and hosting a curriculum retreat to help instructors rework their course syllabi.
The project’s workshop series, Teach Like the Planet Depends on It, held its first session in November 2025 in collaboration with Conestoga and Laurier, and focused on building partnerships for community learning and action. The second workshop was held in March 2026, focusing on sustainability education and how instructors can integrate it into their courses, regardless of discipline. Thirteen staff members from various faculties attended, all passionate about incorporating sustainability into teaching. Through collaborative discussion, participants identified practical ways to embed sustainability into existing courses without significantly altering content or assignments - for example, by using climate-related datasets for calculations.
At the workshop, Systems Design Engineering (SYDE) shared how they have successfully integrated sustainability into their curriculum. In recent years, SYDE has embedded sustainability into its capstone course, encouraging students to consider how their projects can advance sustainable practices. Through this initiative, students have the opportunity to explore connections to the Sustainable Development Goals, with the project demonstrating the strongest sustainability impact receiving a monetary prize. The Sustainable Development Capstone Design Award is a great example of how instructors can implement sustainability directly into their course structure.
Over the coming months, the Climate Institute will continue to host workshops as part of the Accelerating Climate Education project, including a campus walkabout to explore Living Labs opportunities on April 27, a field trip to meet community partners and explore outdoor learning strategies on May 19, a look into climate pedagogy on June 10, and a drop-in session in July for instructors to get support on reworking their syllabi to include sustainability.
To stay up to date or get involved, visit the Climate Institute website.
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