The first step to a cleaner environment begins with education. If people do not know about their carbon footprint and what effects it, then they will not know how to improve it. There are many people who are not educated on the subject of climate change and what we are doing to perpetuate it. But if they researched, or were taught in school, we could help this problem. I have grown up and always been taught about my effect on the environment. This has come from my school and family. This has made me very conscious of what I can do to limit and shrink my carbon footprint. But not everyone has this same opportunity to learn. The link below is a good, reliable source for families to learn about their footprints and how they can be reduced.
https://www.climate.gov/teaching/resour … -footprint

I agree that this is an issue that needs to be addressed. Like you said if people don't even know what a carbon footprint is how can they help reduce it. Although there are public schools I don't know if they address this problem. To help this problem of education people should try to spread the word about carbon footprints and could try to plan fun activities for towns about ways to help reduce their footprints. For example, they can have the three trash bins and sort out the trash or they could bike to an ice cream parlor because biking does not emit CO2.  That link is full of information and provides simple ways to help reduce people's carbon footprint.

I agree but it is hard to do this. First of all according to the National Center for Education Statistics, "In fall 2017, about 50.7 million students will attend public elementary and secondary schools. [...] An additional 5.2 million students are expected to attend private elementary and secondary schools," this means that roughly 91% of non-college students in the US go to public school. As you may know the government is in charge of funding and providing a curriculum to public schools, but the government does not have a financial incentive to provide more complex science education. This means that until the government is provided with a carrot to improve its science education, it will not. The US used to really push its science education as said by the New York Times "In 1983, a bipartisan federal commission warned in the report “A Nation at Risk” that the country was engulfed in a 'rising tide of mediocrity,” citing particularly a “steady decline in science achievement.' [...]Both of these documents, like other reports and expert recommendations, called for more scho larships for would-be scientists, higher teacher salaries and other efforts to halt a national erosion of technical proficiency. But none of them produced the widespread ferment and public engagement of Sputnik. [...] The end of the cold war further diminished the national urge “to do anything spectacular in science education,” said Charles H. Holbrow, who abandoned an almost-complete doctorate in history and switched to physics after Sputnik," now because are government is no longer pushing for science Bill Gates said in an interview with some Harvard students  that "It's the anti-science that's a problem," he said. "We need to push back. Right now we're sort of in a dip in terms of science being an argument for good policies." And he has spent hundreds of millions on education in the US.

Nicely said Ciara i agree that when there is a problem
first thing we should do is inform the public and tell the
people what they have to do to help that problem
because if they don't know they wont do anythif about it
We should also inform about what will happend if we
don't do something about that problem. And then when
people know they can start reducing their carbon
footprint. And i think that every school should adress this
topic and that there should be atleast 1 hour a week
when teachers tell students and educate them about
climate hange because it's not to late we just need to
spread the word