Sociologists have called for more research and teaching in climate change but there is a persistent lack of attention to climate change in the discipline. A recent study found that between 2002 and 2023 climate change was mentioned in less than 1 percent of the articles published in top six sociology journals, in less than 2 percent of American Sociological Association Annual Meetings conference sessions, and in less than 1 percent of the course listings and 3 percent of faculty biographies in the 20 top-ranked departments in the U.S. (Hiltner 2024). 

I have been conducting research on topics related to climate change since 2001, and I have incorporated climate change in many courses I have taught since 2006. As I write, it is clear that is more important than ever to educate our students and the public about climate change. Record-breaking global temperatures have become an ominous reality: 2024 was the hottest year on record, and all of the previous 10 years were the warmest years on record. 

My goal in this essay is to illustrate how sociological research on climate change can be incorporated in various courses (e.g. Social Psychology, Sociology of Organizations, Political Sociology). I provide three examples based on my recent collaborative research.

Climate change attitudes and behaviors. Courses such as Introduction to Sociology, Social Problems, and Social Psychology ask fundamental questions about how attitudes are formed and how they influence behaviors. Understanding the factors that shape climate change attitudes and behaviors has been the focus of multidisciplinary research. A crucial question for scientists and educators is: how is it possible to increase public awareness about climate change and support for low-carbon technologies through effective communication of science and technology? My recent research (Vasi and Paez-Arellano 2025) addresses this question by examining the effect of watching short online videos on attitudes and beliefs that are relevant to climate change mitigation.

This research shows that short online videos focused either on facts about climate change science or solar PV technology can have a moderate effect on pro-environmental attitudes. However, videos that combine blue marble awe (the feeling of awe for the Earth arising from the realization that we live on a fragile planet) with facts about either climate change science or solar photovoltaic (PV) technology can have more substantial effects on those attitudes. Hence, combining blue marble awe and either science or technology information can enhance pro-environmental attitudes. The study also reveals that including a message from an astronaut who has direct experience with this effect and acts as an “ambassador” for solar PV technology can enhance the efficacy of communication approaches. Additionally, the study offers hope that a solution to the growing problem of ideological polarization of climate change attitudes is possible, albeit not simple. The study could be used for a class discussion on the effectiveness of different communication approaches for behavioral change in a Social Psychology course.

Climate change and organizations. Courses such as Sociology of Organizations and Organizational Behaviors examine processes that take place within and between different types of organizations (e.g. business, non-profit, governmental). Sociologists and management scholars have examined how organizations both contribute and respond to the climate change grand challenge or wicked problem. The forthcoming volume Organizations and Climate Change in Research in the Sociology of Organizations (Vasi and Walker 2026) builds on insights from sociology, management, and other disciplines that employ a meso-scale perspective to understand why and how some organizations mitigate climate change. 

This volume brings together new empirical papers spanning various subfields within sociology and across social sciences. Its goals are to highlight stimulating new research on organizational actions in response to climate change and to set an agenda for theorizing about organizations and climate change. The papers included in this volume examine the actions taken by different types of organizations, both individually and collectively, which can result in either climate change mitigation or climate deterioration. The papers could be used for learning activities that examine organizational responses to climate change in a Sociology of Organizations course. 

Climate change and politics. Courses such as Political Sociology explore the multifaceted interactions between society and politics. Research in this field has shown that partisan divisions in the form of affective polarization, or citizens’ hostility toward opposing party members, have reached historically high levels in countries across the globe. The recent study by Grant et al. (2025) has examined whether affective polarization shapes power plants emissions of greenhouse gases.  

This study builds on several theoretical perspectives to develop an argument that high levels of affective polarization contribute to power plants emission of greenhouse gases. The study analyzes a novel dataset of power plants in democratic countries and shows that power plants in democracies marked by high affective polarization emit significantly more carbon dioxide. Additionally, climate policies are less effective at curbing plants’ emissions and plants pollute more where strong political constraints susceptible to gridlock are in place. These results suggest that partisan animosity likely creates institutional conditions that insulate power plants from stakeholder and regulatory pressure, thereby undermining countries’ ability to mitigate climate change. This paper could be used for a class discussion on politics and climate change in a Political Sociology course. 

These are only a few suggestions; evidently, research on climate change can be incorporated in other courses (e.g. Social Problems, Social Movements, Human Rights). I hope these ideas will inspire sociologists to think creatively about how they can educate their students about climate change.