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Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN)

Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN)

The CLEAN collection offers ~1,000 free, peer-reviewed, NGSS-aligned climate and energy teaching resources—easily searchable and ready to use.

The Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) provides the official government climate teaching database through syndication with NOAA Teaching Climate. CLEAN partners with climate scientists and educators to help review educational resources for our collection. CLEAN also provides pedagogical support for teaching climate and energy topics through educator support pages, professional development offerings, and a professional learning community to help educators with many aspects of teaching climate.

CLEAN is led by climate education experts at the Center for Education, Engagement, and Evaluation(CEEE) at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder and the Science Education Resource Center(SERC) at Carleton College. CLEAN was funded as the official content provider for NOAA’s climate.gov/teaching climate webpages.

If you have any questions, please email clean@colorado.edu.

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CLEAN Collection of Educational Resources

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Educator Support

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Videos

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Climate varies over space and time through both natural and man-made processes
Climate Change, Community Resilience & Climate Action, Earth’s Systems
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Humans can take actions to reduce climate change and its impacts
Climate Change, Community Resilience & Climate Action
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Climate change has consequences for the Earth system and human lives
Climate Change, Community Resilience & Climate Action, Earth’s Systems
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Human activities are impacting the climate system
Climate Change, Community Resilience & Climate Action, Earth’s Systems
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Understanding of the climate system is improved through observations, theoretical studies & modeling
Climate Change, Community Resilience & Climate Action, Earth’s Systems
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Life on Earth depends on, is shaped by, and affects climate
Climate Change, Community Resilience & Climate Action, Earth’s Systems
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Climate is regulated by complex interactions among components of the Earth system
Atmospheric Science, Climate Change, Community Resilience & Climate Action, Earth’s Systems
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The Sun is the Primary Source of Energy for Earth's Climate System
Atmospheric Science, Climate and Weather, Climate Change, Community Resilience & Climate Action, Earth’s Systems
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Publications

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Boyd, K.J., Gold, A.U., Chandler, P.D., Crim, H.A. (2025): Climate change education in the new landscape of climate literacy. PLOS Clim 4(5): e0000623. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000623

 

Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN)
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Boyd, K. J., Busch, K. C., Gold, A. U., Ward, E. G., Niepold, F., Poppleton, K., … Morrison, D. L. (2024). Using social network analysis to assess connections within climate and energy education organizations: A case study conducted by the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN). Environmental Education Research, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2024.2408424

Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN)
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Christensen, A., Welton-Mitchell, C., Gold, A., James, L., & Zeitz, L. (2023) Beyond Doom and Gloom: Teaching Climate Change to Foster Empowerment. Connected Science Learning, 5(3). https://doi.org/10.1080/24758779.2023.12318633

Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN)
Cover: Special Issue: Energy Education

Gold, A.U., Ledley, T.S., Sullivan, S.B., Kirk, K.B., Grogan, M. (2015): Supporting Energy Education Online: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN). Journal of Sustainability Education. 

Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN)
Cover of the Journal of Geoscience Education featuring the title in bold white letters on a blue background. Below the title is a colorful, side-by-side comparison chart with shaded squares in blue, green, purple, and yellow tones, representing data across two educational systems. The layout suggests a focus on geoscience learning outcomes or curriculum analysis.

Ledley, T. S., Gold, A. U., Niepold, F., & McCaffrey, M. (2014). Moving Toward Collective Impact in Climate Change Literacy: The Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN). Journal of Geoscience Education, 62(3), 307–318. https://doi.org/10.5408/13-057.1

 

Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN)
Cover: Journal of Geoscience Education

Gold, A.U., Ledley, T.S., Buhr, S.M., Fox, S., McCaffrey, M., Niepold, F., Manduca, C. & Lynds, S. (2012). Peer-review of digital educational resources—A rigorous review process developed by the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN). Journal of Geoscience Education. 60: 295-308, https://doi.org/10.5408/12-324.1.

Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN)

Upcoming Events

Aug
Tue
26
2025
11:00 am MT
ACCEL Summit - "Play-along" session of the game Daybreak with Carine Ullom

As part of the ACCEL Summit convened by CLEAN, the Simulations and Games for Climate & Energy Education working group invites you to a series of virtual sessions over the coming months, where the working group will present demos or arrange "play-alongs" of the featured educational games.

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Asynchronous Events

Asynchronous Event

Bringing Climate Topics into your Classroom

This short training takes you on a journey to explore the free teaching resources offered on the CLEAN (Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network) climate education portal.

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All Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) Asynchronous Events
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