We know less than we think we know about climate. And we know even less than that about our carbon footprint. We live in a world where this information isn’t widely available, or particularly well-conveyed.

In the case of climate, a new VICE study finds that we overestimate our knowledge significantly. The study revealed that “67% of adults around the world said they had a good understanding of climate change terms, but when asked to choose the best definition of those terms, only 41% of adults chose answers that showed they knew what they were talking about.”

We have lots of ways to improve basic climate knowledge and carbon numeracy. But we should focus on the arenas in which people’s knowledge gaps are the largest: What is climate change, and what are the best things to do to stop it? Upstream policy interventions are essential, but people need to understand the basics to care enough to advocate for those important interventions.

We should really slap carbon labels on everything. There’s no excuse for not providing people with what should be one of the most important metrics in determining what they buy. Recent polling by Canadian climate policy institute Clean Prosperity suggests 71% of Canadians would like to see these labels on their products. Another recent study by Globescan finds that people overwhelmingly want to live sustainable lifestyles but need concrete information to support their efforts.

A partner recommendation to carbon labeling products is putting a price on carbon itself, in the form of a carbon tax. A carbon tax means the cost of the good or service will automatically reflect the emissions required to produce it. And in a world with far too much information to consume already, this seems the wisest, fairest, and easiest course of action.

Read the full article about the climate change knowledge gap by Sarah Lazarovic at YES! Magazine.