This paper explores children's beliefs about global warming and energy sources from a psychological perspective, focusing upon situational influences upon subjective beliefs, including perceived self-efficacy. The context of the research is one of growing concern at the potential impacts of global warming, yet demonstrably low levels of self-efficacy amongst both adults and children to effectively respond to this large-scale environmental problem. Empirical research was conducted on a sample of 198 UK children and adults to explore the influence of a cooperative learning environment upon children's beliefs about global warming and energy. A comparative design was adopted, contrasting 9-12 year old members of the Woodcraft Folk educational organisation with non-members of similar age and with adult members of the same organisation. Results indicate that cooperative learning environments can have a significant and positive effect upon children's beliefs about large-scale environmental problems. In particular, Woodcraft folk children reported significantly higher levels of personal awareness and perceived self-efficacy in relation to global warming in comparison to their peers. Secondly, unexpected differences were identified between levels of perceived self-efficacy in children and adult Woodcraft folk. The implications of these differences for the design of educational programmes seeking to empower children to respond to global warming are discussed.