WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new presidential initiative will target students and teachers in an effort to sell global warming to the next generation.

President Barack Obama is gathering educators, government officials, nonprofit leaders and others at the White House on Wednesday to strategize about the best ways to spread the administration’s views on climate change to public school students specifically, and the public in general, according to U.S. News and World Report.

The initiative coincides with the implementation of new “Next Generation Science Standards,” which “place an increased emphasis” on climate change and evolution. Those new standards “were developed by a group of national science and education organizations – including one also involved in developing the Common Core …,” the news site reports.

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“Under President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, important steps have already been taken to cut carbon pollution, prepare for the impacts of climate change and lead international efforts to fight this global challenge,” according to a White House fact sheet.

“Continued progress into the future will depend on ensuring a climate-smart citizenry and a next-generation American workforce of city planners, community leaders, engineers and entrepreneurs who understand the urgent climate change challenge and are equipped with the knowledge, skills and training to seek and implement solutions.”

That effort involves groups like the Chicago Botanic Garden, the American Meteorological Society, the Alliance for Climate Education, the Los Angeles Unified School District, the Philadelphia School, the Green Schools Alliance and others who have responded to the president’s call in October to increase leadership on climate education, according to U.S. News and World Report.

“If you believe, like I do, that something has to be done on this, then you’re going to have to speak out,” Obama told University of California-Irvine graduates this summer. “You’ve got to educate your classmates, and colleagues, and family members and fellow citizens, and tell them what’s at stake.”

Recent polls, however, show the public is split on climate change, and don’t agree on what’s at stake.

Earlier this year a Gallup poll showed one in four Americans believe that any increase in the Earth’s temperature is due to natural causes, not human pollution. A different survey from Yale and George Mason universities how about 55 percent of Americans are somewhat worried about global warming, and only 66 percent actually believe it’s occurring, the news site reports.

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The presidential pow-wow on global warming aims to increase professional development and training for teachers and federal employees about Obama’s take on the issue to spread the message to students and the public.

The initiative is expected to target places like botanical gardens, national parks, aquariums, zoos and nature preserves and other places where people go to learn about the natural world. The National Park Service, for example, is expected to create a plan by 2015 to incorporate “effective climate change messages in the programs and exhibits” to educate the 270 million people who visit the country’s 401 national parks, according to U.S. News and World Report.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, meanwhile, is working with other science agencies to create games teachers and students can use. The Alliance for Climate Education is also looking to recruit 150,000 high schoolers to attend a program on climate science education, as well as 80 “climate leaders” through its fellowship program, the news site reports.