tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/climate-change-education-12012/articlesClimate change education – The Conversation2023-08-29T20:12:53Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2123702023-08-29T20:12:53Z2023-08-29T20:12:53Z‘I tend to be very gentle’: how teachers are navigating climate change in the classroom<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545186/original/file-20230829-15-3p28xm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C5756%2C3834&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/teacher-teaching-students-about-geography-using-a-map-5428260/">Tima Miroshnichenko/Pexels</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Climate change education is increasingly seen as an essential part of schooling. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/">main international test</a> of 15-year-olds’ progress (which Australia participates in) has just announced the next round of testing will <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/agency-in-the-anthropocene_8d3b6cfa-en">include environmental knowledge</a> alongside English, maths and science literacy. </p>
<p>Australia’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-well-does-the-new-australian-curriculum-prepare-young-people-for-climate-change-183356">national curriculum</a> (updated last year under the Morrison government) barely mentions climate change. But as a signatory to the United Nations <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal13">Sustainable Development Goals</a> and <a href="https://unfccc.int/topics/education-and-outreach/workstreams/education-and-training">Paris Agreement</a>, we have committed to develop climate change education policies.</p>
<p>Regardless of what policies or curricula say, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-so-many-climate-records-breaking-all-at-once-209214?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1688617522-1">our climate is changing</a>. As scientists keep reminding us, <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-can-be-done-it-must-be-done-ipcc-delivers-definitive-report-on-climate-change-and-where-to-now-201763">urgent action is required</a>. </p>
<p>In our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13504622.2023.2238136">new research</a>, we interviewed nine primary and high school teachers about how they include climate change in their teaching. </p>
<p>We found teachers are becoming the bearers of bad news in the classroom as young people learn about the climate crisis, and they need better training and more support.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-well-does-the-new-australian-curriculum-prepare-young-people-for-climate-change-183356">How well does the new Australian Curriculum prepare young people for climate change?</a>
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<h2>‘I wouldn’t say I’m a scientist’</h2>
<p>Climate change is a complex social, political, economic and environmental problem. But it is often presented as an issue that requires scientific interpretation and technological solutions.</p>
<p>This means teachers of non-science subjects may feel out of their depth trying to teach it. A number of teachers expressed a lack of confidence speaking in depth about climate change. As one told us: </p>
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<p>I am definitely not weak, but I wouldn’t say I’m like a scientist.</p>
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<p>But teachers who felt confident with the scientific “facts” of climate change, often felt less equipped to respond to student enquiries about social and emotional dimensions of climate change. This included feelings of sadness or feeling unsupported by older generations.</p>
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<h2>‘What can the world do?’</h2>
<p>Teachers emphasised the importance of moving between the local and global, and individual and societal scales of climate problems and solutions. They described this as a way to support constructive conversations and positive feelings. </p>
<p>As one teacher told us: </p>
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<p>Instead of the children feeling like they have the weight of what can they do as individuals, which we’ve discussed […] we’re going to talk about ‘what can the world do?’ As a global citizen, what can everybody do? And working together as a bigger part of the whole, so they’re not feeling that weight on their own shoulders as much, but more what the world is doing [through] solutions-based technology.</p>
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<p>Teachers spoke of the importance of pre-designed learning units, the role of <a href="https://theconversation.com/children-deserve-answers-to-their-questions-about-climate-change-heres-how-universities-can-help-169735">community experts</a> and videos and podcasts to engage students and support teachers. As one teacher explained the value of a guest speaker: </p>
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<p>I think the kids after a while get a little bit, ‘You’re [a teacher] just a piece of the furniture,’ and they don’t always switch on and listen to you.</p>
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<h2>‘I try and speak hopefully’</h2>
<p>Teachers also talked about the challenge of finding materials that present the “right amount of information that will prompt action as opposed to feeling sad”.</p>
<p>Teachers said they had to be very tuned in to the mood of the class. </p>
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<p>If they’re starting to ask questions that potentially sound worried or concerned, that’s usually an indicator that you might need to soften what you’ve delivered. </p>
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<p>Teachers in our study were doing their very best to maintain a hopeful and positive message for students, but this often conflicted with their own feelings. As one teacher told us: </p>
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<p>Personally, what I have to do is to try and make sure that I speak hopefully, even though it is not hopeful in my opinion […] I try and use language that will encourage students to feel empowered and want to make a change and fight for action […] as opposed to just knowing for the sake of knowing and then feeling sad about it.</p>
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<p>Another teacher spoke of the need to be sensitive when talking about looming environmental disasters. </p>
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<p>I tend to be very gentle and very careful or I’m very focused on hope.</p>
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<h2>What is needed?</h2>
<p>Teachers need professional development to support their understandings of different aspects of climate change, from the scientific to the economic and social. </p>
<p>Uncertainty over how to talk to children about climate change in a way that is honest but remains hopeful rather than overwhelming is an ongoing challenge for <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13504622.2020.1828288">teachers and parents</a> alike.</p>
<p>Students need opportunities to talk about the future in ways that empower them to ask questions and get involved. This can be done via programs such as <a href="https://curiousclimate.org.au/schools/">Curious Climate Schools</a> a free resource, which we have developed for schools in Tasmania.</p>
<p>Specific professional learning is also needed to ensure teachers are able to support themselves and their students in grappling with the emotions that can surface when learning about climate change.</p>
<p>In schools, we need teaching about climate change to be integrated across science and humanities subjects. Climate change needs to be better represented across the curriculum so that teachers have more opportunities to include it in their very busy timetables. Finally, we need innovation from policy makers and school leadership so crucial climate change education is consistently available for all students. </p>
<p><em>Dr Gabi Mocatta, Dr Rachel Kelly, Charlotte Jones and Deniz Yildiz contributed to the research on which this article is based.</em></p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-should-we-teach-climate-change-in-schools-it-starts-with-turbo-charging-teacher-education-207221">How should we teach climate change in schools? It starts with 'turbo charging' teacher education</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kim Beasy is affiliated with the Centre of Marine Socioecology. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chloe Lucas received funding from the Centre for Marine Socioecology, the University of Tasmania, and the Tasmanian Climate Change Office for the research and engagement reported in this article, as part of the Curious Climate Schools program. She is also funded by the Australian Research Council. Chloe is a member of the Centre for Marine Socioecology, the Institute of Australian Geographers and the International Environmental Communication Association, and is a member of the Editorial Board of Australian Geographer.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gretta Pecl receives funding from the Centre for Marine Socioecology, Australian Research Council, CSIRO, FRDC, DCCEEW, Department of Agriculture Water and the Environment, and Department of Primary Industries NSW.</span></em></p>In a new study, teachers spoke about the difficulties of teaching young people about climate change without adding to their fears.Kim Beasy, Lecturer in Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of TasmaniaChloe Lucas, Lecturer and Research Fellow, School of Geography, Planning, and Spatial Sciences, University of TasmaniaGretta Pecl, Professor, ARC Future Fellow & Director of the Centre for Marine Socioecology, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2060652023-05-25T21:40:56Z2023-05-25T21:40:56ZWildfires in Alberta spark urgent school discussions about terrors of global climate futures<p>In the wake of wildfire outbreaks tearing through Alberta, which have
destroyed infrastructure, homes and razed <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-wildfire-rain-1.6852105">an estimated one million or more hectares of forest</a>, the <a href="https://www.alberta.ca/diploma-exams.aspx">province recently announced</a> only <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9700373/alberta-wildfires-2023-diploma-exams/">students evacuated for 10 days</a> would be exempted from writing Grade 12 diploma examinations. </p>
<p>While public attention is understandably focused on the immediate impacts of the wildfires on communities, including the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-students-and-schools-coping-with-wildfire-evacuation-1.6840063">urgent efforts of schools to cope</a>, the announcement was also out of touch with widespread existential concern among students for their futures.</p>
<p>As students, principals and teachers shared with us, the arbitrary 10-day window failed to recognize the widespread anxiety and uncertainty across central and northern Alberta triggered by the unprecedented wildfires and on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic. </p>
<p>This decision reflects a legacy of faltering efforts <a href="https://alberta-curriculum-analysis.ca/">to reform Alberta’s</a> kindergarten to Grade 12 currriculum and assessment programs. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/teachers-need-bolder-action-from-our-school-boards-to-educate-in-and-for-a-climate-emergency-199972">Teachers need bolder action from our school boards to educate in and for a climate emergency</a>
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<p>As education researchers and teachers respectively at the university (J-C) and high-school (Melissa) levels, we are urgently reminded to return to foundational insights about teaching.</p>
<p>To offer students something vitally relevant to their lives, we can’t view <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/lower-diploma-exam-weighting-brings-student-relief-but-could-affect-motivation-teachers-say-1.6598246">curricula as just content to be consumed (and tested on)</a>. </p>
<p>As education scholar Kent den Heyer has underscored, the “content,” of learning exists in <a href="https://legacy.teachers.ab.ca/News%20Room/ata%20magazine/Volume-93/Number-4/Pages/The-challenges.aspx">the daily encounters</a> between the student, the school subject and society. With this in mind, teachers open possibilities for generative classroom encounters which are a point of departure for learning rather than the destination. </p>
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<img alt="Fire and smoke is seen close to a house." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528022/original/file-20230524-29-9ex43d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528022/original/file-20230524-29-9ex43d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528022/original/file-20230524-29-9ex43d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528022/original/file-20230524-29-9ex43d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528022/original/file-20230524-29-9ex43d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528022/original/file-20230524-29-9ex43d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528022/original/file-20230524-29-9ex43d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A Métis settlement is devastated by an out-of-control wildfire and remains at risk as hot and dry conditions in Alberta’s forecast threaten to worsen an already intense fire season.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source"> THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Brad Desjarlais</span></span>
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<h2>Complicated conversations needed</h2>
<p>Alberta’s wildfires invite policymakers to recognize that given our global climate emergency, classrooms ought to be places to host “complicated conversations.” </p>
<p>The province’s policy announcement on exams stands in stark contrast to what we have heard and seen in recent days about the conflicted lived experience <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/kidsnews/post/alberta-teen-flees-wildfire-with-more-than-a-dozen-animals-in-the-back-seat">of students affected by the fires</a>.</p>
<p>One of the authors of this story, Melissa, teaches secondary school <a href="https://globalnews.ca/video/9707445/officials-warn-drayton-valley-residents-ongoing-fire-poses-risks">in Drayton Valley</a>, one of <a href="https://www.draytonvalley.ca/business-industry">the hubs of Alberta’s energy sector</a>, about an hour’s drive south-west of Edmonton. Students in her class reflected sombrely on their fire evacuation experiences.</p>
<h2>Talking about terror</h2>
<p>The research of <a href="https://www.ualberta.ca/the-quad/2020/10/consider-this-how-terror-management-theory-helps-us-understand-the-pandemic.html">Cathryn van Kessel</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2019.1659416">Kent den Heyer and Jeff Schimel</a>, which draws on their combined expertise in education and psychology, can help teachers to guide classroom discussions through practising what’s known as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2019.1659416">terror management theory</a>.</p>
<p>Terror management theory offers insight and strategies to understand <a href="https://www.academia.edu/82769321/Fighting_the_plague_Difficult_knowledge_as_sirens_song_in_teacher_education">cataclysmic events</a> and the ways that death and reminders of our mortality affect people’s sense of self-esteem in relation to their cultural worldviews. </p>
<p>On first blush this might seem both conceptually and emotionally overwhelming for young people. </p>
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<img alt="A large pumpjack resembling a tractor with a pick-axe head is seen against a blazing colourful sky." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528031/original/file-20230524-19-h9dkzc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528031/original/file-20230524-19-h9dkzc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528031/original/file-20230524-19-h9dkzc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528031/original/file-20230524-19-h9dkzc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528031/original/file-20230524-19-h9dkzc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528031/original/file-20230524-19-h9dkzc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528031/original/file-20230524-19-h9dkzc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A pumpjack draws oil from a well head near Calgary, Alta., in September 2022. Some oil and gas producers in Alberta temporarily halted operations due to wildfires.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh</span></span>
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<p>Yet research in schools is proving <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871211051991">that applying such an approach with students</a> is possible to engage tectonic events related to environmental collapse, <a href="https://theconversation.com/reconciliation-and-residential-schools-canadians-need-new-stories-to-face-a-future-better-than-what-we-inherited-108305">the impacts and legacies of Indian Residential Schools</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/house-motion-recognize-genocide-1.6632450">facing genocide</a> and colonialism in Canada, and experiences of personal loss in the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<h2>Terror management theory in the classroom</h2>
<p>Applying terror management theory in the classroom provided Melissa with language to engage <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2023/03/07/climate-change-worries-leave-most-young-people-feeling-sad-anxious-and-powerless-survey.html">the most intense emotions triggered by</a> the immediate and larger <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/report/spreading-wildfire-rising-threat-extraordinary-landscape-fires?gclid=Cj0KCQjwjryjBhD0ARIsAMLvnF9F3FDDrzW5MDYA5DQpzuI8kWWNGl_rkN-M0JApe244mO2emJfHyv0aAgJcEALw_wcB">climate change crises presented by the wildfires and the threat climate change</a> poses to our “business as usual” worldviews.</p>
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<p>The existential cracks triggered by the global environmental crisis for Canadian young people was <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2023/03/07/climate-change-worries-leave-most-young-people-feeling-sad-anxious-and-powerless-survey.html">highlighted in a recent survey</a> documenting growing emotional and psychological impacts: 39 per cent of 1,000 surveyed people across the country, aged 16-25, considered their probable future world so bleak they would hesitate to have children. </p>
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<h2>Teachable moments</h2>
<p>In Melissa’s high-school class, relying on terror management theory allowed her to anticipate a “teachable moment” related to the study of citizenship in a democratic society. She offered this question to students: </p>
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<p>To what extent has the wildfire not interrupted — but instead enriched — your learning about what it means to be a citizen?</p>
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<p>Many students were frustrated and troubled by <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/wildfire-election-tackling-misinformation-1.6847916">disinformation on social media and confusion it generated</a>. Students also reflected on how worry about their grades is entangled with navigating the wildfire threats. </p>
<p>We became aware of conflicted feelings students shared that described feeling somewhat guilty about hoping the evacuation would continue so that they would not have to write diploma exams.</p>
<p>This reminded us of the challenges teachers face in achieving the lofty goals articulated in the government’s Framework for Student Learning “<a href="https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/9780778596479/resource/58e18175-5681-4543-b617-c8efe5b7b0e9">to develop competencies for engaged thinkers and ethical citizens with an entrepreneurial spirit</a>.” </p>
<p>We need a curriculum that recognizes the multiplicity of students’ voices and interwoven tensions and contradictions that shape students’ daily lives and how they anticipate their futures. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/brief">As UNESCO</a> policy analyst Riel Miller notes, since curriculum programs — like any product of government policy — are inevitably driven by assumptions of what we anticipate and the values informing this, a key project of education <a href="https://en.unesco.org/futuresofeducation/miller-imagination-education-futures">should be creating spaces where we continually “question the sources of our imagination</a>.” </p>
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<img alt="Hazy smoke seen over a skyline." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528394/original/file-20230525-29-95j0ko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528394/original/file-20230525-29-95j0ko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528394/original/file-20230525-29-95j0ko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528394/original/file-20230525-29-95j0ko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528394/original/file-20230525-29-95j0ko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528394/original/file-20230525-29-95j0ko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528394/original/file-20230525-29-95j0ko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Heavy smoke from Alberta forest fires comes south to blanket the Bow River area in downtown Calgary, Alta., May 16, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Larry MacDougal</span></span>
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<h2>Looming threats and time for students</h2>
<p>Even though the immediate threat to Drayton Valley students and their community has receded, the possibility of evacuation still looms for them and many other students and families when the <a href="https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/alberta-wildfire-season-2023-how-does-it-compare-1.6391711">typical fire season is just beginning</a>. </p>
<p>With a provincial election looming <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/the-battle-for-st-albert-and-area">and with a divided electorate</a>, it remains unclear how any provincial government might <a href="https://theconversation.com/alberta-curriculum-end-the-failed-partisan-politics-over-what-kids-should-learn-153163">navigate the highly controversial and contested curriculum rewriting process</a>. </p>
<p>As the province and educators face this task, we must consider current and <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7846985/slave-lake-wildfire-5-things-to-know/">previous fire</a> <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/fort-mcmurray-flood-damage-1.5673962">and flood crises</a> in the context <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2021.1904212">of an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world</a> as an opportunity to help us rethink what success in school looks like and what it means to be a citizen. </p>
<p>For schools impacted by the wildfires, the best efforts of teachers to cover the curriculum under additional pressure of lost instructional time due to evacuations is one more indication of needed changes. We need a curriculum that has time for students — time to engage their questions and the sources of <a href="https://ssc.teachers.ab.ca/SiteCollectionDocuments/OneWorldInDialogue/OneWorldinDialogue_2016Vol4No1/den%20Heyer.pdf">their imagined futures</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206065/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>School systems need to wake up from ‘business as usual’ learning. Teachers can draw on terror management theory in their work on the front lines with students navigating the climate crisis.J-C Couture, Adjunct faculty and Associate Lecturer, Department of Secondary Education, University of AlbertaMelissa McQueen, Master's student, Department of Secondary Education, University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1999722023-03-07T22:34:40Z2023-03-07T22:34:40ZTeachers need bolder action from our school boards to educate in and for a climate emergency<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513261/original/file-20230302-1990-dgnskj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=77%2C8%2C1622%2C799&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Systemic policy changes are needed to help teachers lead climate education and action.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> THE CANADIAN PRESS/Pawel Dwulit</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Climate change is the most urgent crisis facing our planet today. Youth have repeatedly <a href="https://en.unesco.org/youth/you-can">called for action</a> on tackling this crisis, including improved climate change education. </p>
<p>Yet despite the many pledges made at high-profile <a href="https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/esdfor2030-berlin-declaration-en.pdf">world conferences</a> to implement climate change curricula in all schools, the follow through has been far from satisfactory.</p>
<p>The federal government, as a signatory of the <a href="https://cop23.unfccc.int/most-requested/key-aspects-of-the-paris-agreement">Paris Agreement</a>, a landmark treaty signed by 194 governments to mitigate climate change, must follow through with its commitment to enhance climate change education. But to do this, they need to ask for accountability from each province and territory. </p>
<p>Without formal assistance from school board directors, superintendents and trustees advocating for accountability and taking action at the local level, climate change education will never become a priority. </p>
<h2>Improving sparse and inconsistent approaches</h2>
<p>Canadian students are among those demanding improvement to the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada-climate-curriculum-1.6232706">sparse and inconsistent</a> delivery of climate change education. </p>
<p>Research published in 2019 found that only about half of Canada’s ministries of education and about 60 per cent of school divisions in Canada had <a href="https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cjeap/article/view/42371">sustainability-specific policy, with this understood to include governance, curriculum, facilities and operations, research, and community outreach</a>.</p>
<p>When climate change topics are taught, key concepts are often missing such as the scientific consensus that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/09/climate-crisis-unequivocally-caused-by-human-activities-says-ipcc-report">humans are causing climate change</a>, or a focus on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218305">impacts or solutions</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An adult seen bending over a climate poster surrounded by children." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513259/original/file-20230302-16-b811t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513259/original/file-20230302-16-b811t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513259/original/file-20230302-16-b811t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513259/original/file-20230302-16-b811t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513259/original/file-20230302-16-b811t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513259/original/file-20230302-16-b811t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513259/original/file-20230302-16-b811t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A teacher distributes posters to Tibetan school children before a march in Dharmsala, India, in September 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>General knowledge gaps</h2>
<p>A recent <a href="https://lsf-lst.ca/research-policy/survey/">countrywide survey of 4,035 respondents across the country conducted by Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF) and Leger</a> highlighted the consequences of inadequate climate change education in schools. </p>
<p>One-third of Canadians failed a 10-question knowledge quiz. Only around half knew greenhouse gases were the main cause of climate change. Few responded correctly that the average temperature has already increased by more than one degree Celsius.</p>
<p>Despite their gaps in knowledge, the majority of survey respondents agreed that we are experiencing a climate emergency and that climate change education should be a high priority. </p>
<p>Ten percent of survey respondents were educators (406 people), and among this group, half of said a lack of time is a barrier when attempting to include climate change education within the classroom.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of young people seen at a climate change demonstration." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513041/original/file-20230301-22-q2nl49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513041/original/file-20230301-22-q2nl49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513041/original/file-20230301-22-q2nl49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513041/original/file-20230301-22-q2nl49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513041/original/file-20230301-22-q2nl49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513041/original/file-20230301-22-q2nl49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513041/original/file-20230301-22-q2nl49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People sit on the grass on Parliament Hill in Ottawa during a global climate strike in September 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</span></span>
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<h2>Professional learning opportunities</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.bccic.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/FINAL-Climate-Change-Education-in-Canada.pdf">Research from the B.C. Council for International Cooperation</a>, a coalition of international development organizations, notes that implementing climate change education in Canadian schools cannot continue to fall on the shoulders of overburdened teachers. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/school-community-gardens-plant-the-seeds-of-change-to-address-global-warming-134776">School-community gardens plant the seeds of change to address global warming</a>
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<p>Climate change education has not been a priority for governments, teacher education programs or school districts, so perhaps it is not surprising that the <a href="https://lsf-lst.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Climate-Change-Education-Executive-Summary.pdf">LSF and Leger nationwide survey</a> also found that only one-third of educators felt that they have the knowledge and skills needed to teach about climate change. </p>
<h2>Changes in teacher education</h2>
<p>The Association of Canadian Deans of Education, a group of deans from university faculties or schools of education across the country, recently launched an <a href="https://csse-scee.ca/acde/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2022/03/Accord-on-Education-for-a-Sustainable-Future-1.pdf">Accord on Education for a Sustainable Future</a> to address the gap in climate change education in teacher preparation programs. </p>
<p>The accord signals some much needed progress, yet it is not a legally binding document. </p>
<p>This is disappointing, as properly trained teachers would have a far-reaching impact on students’ actions to mitigate the effects of a warming planet.</p>
<h2>Empowering students to act</h2>
<p>The traditional way of teaching doesn’t work for complex topics like climate change. Teachers need to shift towards <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/12/221219124312.htm">student-directed inquiry and active, real-world learning</a>. </p>
<p>It’s not enough to simply quote scientific facts, as a focus on “doom and gloom” can intensify <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/su122310149">eco-anxiety</a>.
<a href="https://www.colorado.edu/cumuseum/sites/default/files/attached-files/ojala5.pdf">Best practices for climate change education</a> include the opportunity to take personal and collective action. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A teacher seen in a classroom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513258/original/file-20230302-1870-399hx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513258/original/file-20230302-1870-399hx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513258/original/file-20230302-1870-399hx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513258/original/file-20230302-1870-399hx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513258/original/file-20230302-1870-399hx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513258/original/file-20230302-1870-399hx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513258/original/file-20230302-1870-399hx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Where teachers lack staff, board or ministry support, some still do try to find ways to integrate climate change learning in their classrooms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Sarah Blake Morgan)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Safe and inclusive spaces need to be created that allow time for discussion on how climate change is linked to social justice and contentious political issues. Not surprisingly, <a href="https://www.edutopia.org/article/why-climate-change-tough-topic-teach/">many educators feel overwhelmed and unprepared</a> to take on this challenge.</p>
<h2>Policy changes needed</h2>
<p>Teacher eco-champions at many schools struggle due to lack of support and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2022.2032369">barriers faced from fellow teachers or principals</a>. Research has also documented how <a href="https://theconversation.com/6-actions-school-systems-can-take-to-support-childrens-outdoor-learning-167745">school-related policy</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/student-and-teacher-involvement-in-reforming-schooling-matters-how-montreal-schools-are-tackling-this-194006">makes it difficult for teachers to innovate</a>.</p>
<p>Where teachers lack staff, board or ministry support, some still try to integrate climate change learning in their classrooms. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/teaching-young-people-what-really-matters-for-the-sake-of-our-collective-life-on-earth-121549">Teaching young people what really matters for the sake of our collective life on Earth</a>
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</em>
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<hr>
<p>Teachers turn to organizations like <a href="https://climateatlas.ca/">Climate Atlas of Canada</a>, <a href="https://www.earthrangers.com/EN/CA/">Earth Rangers</a>, <a href="https://greenlearning.ca/">GreenLearning</a>, or <a href="https://lsf-lst.ca/">LSF</a> to find <a href="https://www.resources4rethinking.ca/en/climate-change">lesson plans</a>, funding for action projects or school-wide eco-challenges. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://ourcanadaproject.ca/">Our Canada Project</a>, which emerged from youth ideas and is a project of LSF, showcases a variety of student sustainability initiatives such as growing biodiversity gardens, sourcing green energy or fighting fast fashion. However, student eco-action projects need to become widespread in every school. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/6-actions-school-systems-can-take-to-support-childrens-outdoor-learning-167745">6 actions school systems can take to support children's outdoor learning</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students seen at a climate change protest." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513255/original/file-20230302-25-idxuk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513255/original/file-20230302-25-idxuk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513255/original/file-20230302-25-idxuk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513255/original/file-20230302-25-idxuk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513255/original/file-20230302-25-idxuk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513255/original/file-20230302-25-idxuk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513255/original/file-20230302-25-idxuk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Youth have repeatedly called for action on tackling this crisis, including improved climate change education.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Boards declare climate emergencies</h2>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/greater-victoria-school-board-declares-climate-emergency-4673955">school boards</a> <a href="https://www.hdsb.ca/our-board/Pages/News/News-Description.aspx?NewsID=768">have declared</a> a climate emergency.</p>
<p>But a declaration on paper alone isn’t enough – boards need to follow through with policies that target action at the classroom level. </p>
<p>One positive example is the <a href="https://www.rainbowschools.ca">Rainbow District School Board</a>, the largest public school board in Northern Ontario with programs in Sudbury, Espanola and Manitoulin Island.</p>
<p>This board <a href="https://www.chathamdailynews.ca/news/local-news/sudbury-school-board-declares-climate-emergency/wcm/9b4930c7-e7be-4572-96f8-44c0af82886a/amp/">declared a climate emergency in 2019</a> and created a <a href="https://educationnewscanada.com/article/education/level/k12/3/970114/rainbow-board-achieves-100-per-cent-certification-in-ecoschools-canada.html#:%7E:text=When%20Rainbow%20District%20School%20Board,the%20mission%20has%20been%20accomplished">climate change action plan</a> that mandated all schools implement sustainability initiatives. These included board-wide monthly eco-challenges. </p>
<h2>School boards can’t wait</h2>
<p>All students deserve to have an education that helps them address real-world issues and threats. </p>
<p>There is help for school boards to make a commitment to climate change education. Some innovative districts have already begun to support board-wide engagement in programs such as <a href="https://ecoschools.ca/">EcoSchools</a> or <a href="https://lsf-lst.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Sustainable_Future_Schools_Brochure_s.pdf">Sustainable Future Schools</a>, or have created their own <a href="https://www.edcan.ca/articles/climate-action-plan-school-boards/#:%7E:text=The%20primary%20goal%20of%20the,Climate%20Change%20recommendations%20(2018).">climate change action plan</a>. </p>
<p>If our education systems don’t step up, the question that young people will ask in the future won’t be why adults did nothing to stop climate change. They will ask: “Why didn’t anyone teach us about climate change in school, so that we could learn to take on this challenge ourselves?”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199972/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Acton works as a consultant for the non-profit Canadian organization Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF).</span></em></p>‘Eco-champion’ teachers face barriers in implementing climate change education. Communities and school boards can find inspiration to support them from boards with bolder climate commitments.Karen S. Acton, Lecturer, Educational Leadership and Policy, OISE, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1867402022-07-14T02:06:15Z2022-07-14T02:06:15ZHow do we teach young people about climate change? We can start with this comic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473533/original/file-20220712-25-fmjeyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C38%2C939%2C499&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gemma Sou</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We know young people are “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/01/young-australians-screaming-for-climate-action-but-dont-trust-leaders-to-make-change-survey-suggests">angry, frustrated and scared</a>” about climate change. And they want to do more to stop it. </p>
<p>However, the school system is not set up to help them address their concerns and learn the information they seek. </p>
<p>There are no explicit mentions of climate change in the Australian primary school curriculum and it is <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-well-does-the-new-australian-curriculum-prepare-young-people-for-climate-change-183356">mainly taught</a> through STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) subjects in high school.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-well-does-the-new-australian-curriculum-prepare-young-people-for-climate-change-183356">How well does the new Australian Curriculum prepare young people for climate change?</a>
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<p>More broadly, the <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Learning-to-Live-with-Climate-Change-From-Anxiety-to-Transformation/Verlie/p/book/9780367441258">main ways</a> we talk about climate in the community and media are focused on science and economics. They tend to involve abstract ideas such as “the planet is warming” or “rainfall is more unpredictable”. While these are important components, they <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016718520302748">overlook</a> the social, cultural and psychological ways people around the world are affected by climate change. </p>
<p>So, how can we better support schools and teachers to approach climate change in a way that will suit young people’s interests and concerns?</p>
<h2>Our comic</h2>
<p>We are geography and environment researchers who have written a comic that looks at how people around the world experience climate change. This is aimed at high school students, but will also appeal to university students and the broader public. </p>
<p>Called <a href="https://gemmasou.com/everyday-stories-of-climate-change/">Everyday Stories of Climate Change</a>, it looks at the ways low-income families have had to adapt to climate change in five countries across three continents.</p>
<p>It begins with a student, waking up in Australia and heading to school. Here the teacher notes that climate change is impacting people around the world, “today we are going to explore some of these places”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473534/original/file-20220712-26-uon8qj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473534/original/file-20220712-26-uon8qj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473534/original/file-20220712-26-uon8qj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473534/original/file-20220712-26-uon8qj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473534/original/file-20220712-26-uon8qj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=680&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473534/original/file-20220712-26-uon8qj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=680&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473534/original/file-20220712-26-uon8qj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=680&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The comic introduces students to the global effects of climate change through the day-to-day stories of people around the world – starting with one very close to their own.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gemma Sou/Author provided</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, in Bangladesh, sea-level rise has contributed to the salinity of the local river. So women must walk hours to get fresh water from another river. In Puerto Rico, after hurricane Maria, people struggle to get nutritious food and the streets are too dirty for the kids to play outside. In Barbuda, the government is trying to displace people from their lands, so that private businesses can build luxury hotels after hurricane Irma. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473541/original/file-20220712-17569-3wfrxq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473541/original/file-20220712-17569-3wfrxq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473541/original/file-20220712-17569-3wfrxq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473541/original/file-20220712-17569-3wfrxq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473541/original/file-20220712-17569-3wfrxq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473541/original/file-20220712-17569-3wfrxq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473541/original/file-20220712-17569-3wfrxq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gemma Sou</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>The characters in the comics are fictionalised but their stories are based on research – via interviews and surveys – the comic authors did about people’s experiences of climate change in Bolivia, Puerto Rico, Barbuda, South Africa and Bangladesh. </p>
<h2>The importance of stories</h2>
<p>Researchers have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21548455.2015.1027320">long argued</a> we need to put a human face on climate change and communicate in ways that resonate with people. This means, we need to do more than present a graph or rattle off statistics.</p>
<p>Comics are an effective way to put a human face on issues because they allow us to show first-person narratives and experiences. This can create both understanding of the issues and evoke empathy in readers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473540/original/file-20220712-26-nughmg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473540/original/file-20220712-26-nughmg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473540/original/file-20220712-26-nughmg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473540/original/file-20220712-26-nughmg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473540/original/file-20220712-26-nughmg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473540/original/file-20220712-26-nughmg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473540/original/file-20220712-26-nughmg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gemma Sou</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>The comic is deliberately engaging and accessible. By showing real people going about their lives, it also challenges patronising ideas about people and places adversely impacted by climate change in the so-called “<a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2021/09/28/what-or-where-is-the-global-south-a-social-science-perspective/">global south</a>,” which <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=42anAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=popular+representations+development+rodgers&ots=DMX_yI6oB3&sig=CetZIZFM12GNQx9Shs7SOuKJ8Tw#v=onepage&q=popular%20representations%20development%20rodgers&f=false">often portrays</a> them as “helpless” victims. </p>
<p>The comic also allows people to see the tangible, everyday ways people around the world live with, respond to and adapt to climate change. </p>
<p>For example, the family in Puerto Rico raise their own chickens and grow their own vegetables so they can eat the food they want during food shortages after hurricane Maria. In drought-stricken Cape Town, people save the bathwater for the garden and plant drought-tolerant aloes. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473537/original/file-20220712-12557-skrfze.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473537/original/file-20220712-12557-skrfze.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473537/original/file-20220712-12557-skrfze.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473537/original/file-20220712-12557-skrfze.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473537/original/file-20220712-12557-skrfze.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473537/original/file-20220712-12557-skrfze.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473537/original/file-20220712-12557-skrfze.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Real world problems (and solutions) help students to understand the impact climate change is having and how people affected are already adapting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gemma Sou</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>It is important to show these solutions as <a href="https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Fabs%2F10.1080%2F00167487.2018.12094041%3Fcasa_token%3Dj0DbawyW6dkAAAAA%3A9cLX3XmxFR3-MfErkaMH34wmow3ivG6f5Cgq-RYLddL4EaMvg1BCtgSEu01M0cLbDWfDFraAQT5x&data=05%7C01%7Cgemma.sou%40rmit.edu.au%7Cf640ca229d604dffdcf508da5e21904e%7Cd1323671cdbe4417b4d4bdb24b51316b%7C0%7C0%7C637925795547474927%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=VGGdkT%2BkB%2FI7YNmCkiyefGqUrottWl1t9YDLz9UdQEA%3D&reserved=0">research suggests</a> it gives people a sense of agency and hope they can adapt to climate change.</p>
<p>Parents, teachers and students can download the comic for free <a href="https://rethinkingdisasters.files.wordpress.com/2022/07/everydaystoriesofclimatechange_10.07.22_web-150dpi.pdf">here</a> and <a href="https://www.gtav.asn.au/resources/levels-7-8/everyday-stories-of-climate-change-new-graphic-novel">here</a>.</p>
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<p><em>Everyday Stories of Climate Change is a collaboration between Gemma Sou (RMIT University), Adeeba Nuraina Risha (BRAC University), Gina Ziervogel (University of Cape Town), illustrator Cat Sims and the Geography Teachers’ Association of Victoria.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186740/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gemma Sou receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and the Royal Geographical Society-IBG</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adeeba Nuraina Risha receives funding from BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gina Ziervogel receives funding from AXA Research fund. </span></em></p>A comic aimed at high school students looks at the ways people have adapted to climate change in five countries.Gemma Sou, Vice Chancellor's Research Fellow, RMIT UniversityAdeeba Nuraina Risha, Research associate, Brac UniversityGina Ziervogel, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental and Geographical Science and African Climate and Development Initiative Research Chair, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1833562022-05-23T04:55:01Z2022-05-23T04:55:01ZHow well does the new Australian Curriculum prepare young people for climate change?<p>You’d be forgiven for not having heard about the long-awaited new <a href="https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/">Australian Curriculum</a>, which was released with little fanfare in the midst of the election campaign. But this update to the national curriculum (9.0), for foundation to year 12 students, is hugely significant. It will guide the education of young Australians for the next six years, which could encompass a child’s whole primary or secondary school education.</p>
<p>Education fundamentally prepares children for life, so it should be expected to address the existential issues of our time. On our current trajectory, climate change will drastically affect children’s <a href="https://www.caha.org.au/future_under_threat_climate_change_and_children_s_health_f9cbpa73my5zigmzlnpeaq#:%7E:text=It%20has%20been%20estimated%20that,these%20health%20risks%20by%202100.">health</a>, <a href="https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/compound-costs-how-climate-change-damages-australias-economy/">wealth</a> and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-02/australian-economy-lose-%243-trillion-climate-change-inaction/12837244">job futures</a>. Today’s children face <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abi7339">up to seven times as many</a> extreme weather events as people born in the 1960s experienced. </p>
<p>If we are to tackle climate change and adapt to the impacts that are already unavoidable, then children need to be educated for a <a href="https://www.climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au/en/">changing future</a>. Until now, however, this subject matter has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/ever-wondered-what-our-curriculum-teaches-kids-about-climate-change-the-answer-is-not-much-123272">largely missing</a> from the Australian Curriculum.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ever-wondered-what-our-curriculum-teaches-kids-about-climate-change-the-answer-is-not-much-123272">Ever wondered what our curriculum teaches kids about climate change? The answer is 'not much'</a>
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<p>We know <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02582-8">young people are overwhelmingly concerned</a> about climate change. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/28/dear-politicians-young-climate-activists-are-not-abuse-victims-we-are-children-who-read-news">Students</a>, <a href="https://www.ap4ca.org/">parents</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/curriculum-is-a-climate-change-battleground-and-states-must-step-in-to-prepare-students-172392">academics</a> have been calling for a greater focus on climate change in all areas of school learning. </p>
<p>Our research project, <a href="https://curiousclimate.org.au/schools/">Curious Climate Schools,</a> has involved 1,300 Tasmanian school students to date in student-led climate literacy learning. It shows current teaching leaves students with many unanswered questions about climate change. And, from our lightning analysis of the new curriculum, it seems it won’t routinely deal with the <a href="https://curiousclimate.org.au/schools/q-a/">kinds of questions students are asking</a>.</p>
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<img alt="A drawing of the Earth, with heat and storms" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464455/original/file-20220520-18-9eef3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464455/original/file-20220520-18-9eef3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464455/original/file-20220520-18-9eef3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464455/original/file-20220520-18-9eef3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464455/original/file-20220520-18-9eef3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464455/original/file-20220520-18-9eef3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464455/original/file-20220520-18-9eef3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Climate change as seen by students at Margate Primary School, Tasmania.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.curiousclimate.org.au/schools</span></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/children-deserve-answers-to-their-questions-about-climate-change-heres-how-universities-can-help-169735">Children deserve answers to their questions about climate change. Here's how universities can help</a>
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<h2>Climate change content has increased</h2>
<p>The good news is that the new curriculum does pay more attention to climate change. The old curriculum had a total of four explicit references to “climate change”. Whether it was covered in the classroom depended on the knowledge and beliefs of teachers. </p>
<p>In the new curriculum we counted 32 references to climate change across diverse subject areas: civics and citizenship, geography, history, science, mathematics, technologies, and the arts. This means students have more opportunities to learn about climate change, and teachers have more direction on where and how to teach it.</p>
<p>For example, in civics and citizenship, secondary school students can now learn about global citizenship by studying the campaigns of youth activists like Greta Thunberg and the work of Indigenous Australian climate campaigner Amelia Telford. They can also learn about global climate governance, including the United Nations <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/">Sustainable Development Agenda</a> and the UN <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-convention/what-is-the-united-nations-framework-convention-on-climate-change">Framework Convention on Climate Change</a>. </p>
<p>Climate change is also used in innovative ways in the new curriculum. In maths, for example, it’s presented as a context for teaching students how to use statistical evidence.</p>
<p>However, our analysis of climate change in the new curriculum also reveals it is dominated by a science focus. We counted 21 references to climate change in <a href="https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/teacher-resources/understand-this-learning-area/science">science and technology learning areas</a>, but only nine in <a href="https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/teacher-resources/understand-this-learning-area/humanities-and-social-sciences">humanities and social science learning areas</a> and two in the <a href="https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/teacher-resources/understand-this-learning-area/the-arts">arts learning area</a>. </p>
<p>Our work with students through Curious Climate Schools shows their wide-ranging questions about climate change encompass ethics, politics, their careers and their futures. Students are interested in climate science and projected impacts, but have more questions about the urgency of action and <a href="https://curiousclimate.org.au/schools/what-can-i-do/">what can be done</a>. This illustrates that learning about climate change must be suffused through all subject areas if students are to become climate literate.</p>
<p>Many young people want to contribute their skills and knowledge to climate action in their future careers. We need to show them, through the curriculum, that in whatever subject area their interests lie – health, arts, law, engineering, ecology or many other fields – they will be able to use their talents to tackle the climate crisis.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curriculum-is-a-climate-change-battleground-and-states-must-step-in-to-prepare-students-172392">Curriculum is a climate change battleground and states must step in to prepare students</a>
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<p>Worryingly, explicit mentions of climate change are still missing from the primary school curriculum. The Curious Climate Schools project found upper primary teachers had the most interest and capacity to bring climate learning into their classrooms, because they were more able to explore the complex and interacting issues of climate change across subject areas.</p>
<h2>Equipping teachers for holistic climate teaching</h2>
<p>Climate change is causing legitimate and increasing anxiety for many young people. Many students leave school <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016718520302748">feeling betrayed and disempowered</a> because their climate concerns are not being heard or taken seriously. The new curriculum does not adequately acknowledge or act on the significant emotional impacts of growing up in a changing climate. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-young-people-are-concerned-about-climate-change-but-it-can-drive-them-to-take-action-171300">Yes, young people are concerned about climate change. But it can drive them to take action</a>
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<p>This leaves teachers, who may become the bearers of bad news to many students, in a difficult position. In our interviews with teachers they told us they don’t feel confident to teach about climate change or to manage their students’ anxiety as they discover how climate change will affect their futures.</p>
<p>Governments and universities have a responsibility to ensure teachers have the knowledge and skills to teach their students holistically about climate change. They can’t be expected to do this without training or resources. </p>
<p>The new curriculum moves towards addressing climate change in the classroom, but climate teaching in schools must be much more ambitious, given the urgency and enormity of the problem. This needs to be supported first by building teachers’ own knowledge about climate change. It also means equipping schools with resources that empower their students to become active citizens in a changing climate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183356/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kim Beasy received funding from the Centre for Marine Socioecology, the University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Climate Change Office for the research and engagement reported in this article.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chloe Lucas received funding from the Centre for Marine Socioecology, the University of Tasmania, and the Tasmanian Climate Change Office for the research and engagement reported in this article. She is also funded by the Australian Research Council, and the Tasmanian State Emergency Services. Chloe is a member of the Centre for Marine Socioecology, the Institute of Australian Geographers and the International Environmental Communication Association, and is a member of the Editorial Board of Australian Geographer.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabi Mocatta received funding from the Centre for Marine Socioecology, the University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Climate Change Office for the research and engagement reported in this article. She is co-lead of the Climate Change Communication and Narratives Network, funded by Deakin University, and vice-president of the Board of the International Environmental Communication Association.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gretta Pecl received funding from the Centre for Marine Socioecology, the University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Climate Change Office for the research and engagement reported in this article. She has also received funding from the Australian Research Council, Department of Agriculture Water and the Environment, Department of Primary Industries NSW, Department of Premier and Cabinet (Tasmania), the Fisheries Research & Development Corporation, and received travel funding support from the Australian government for participation in the IPCC process.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Kelly received funding from the Centre for Marine Socioecology, the University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Climate Change Office for the research and engagement reported in this article. She is affiliated with the Centre for Marine Socioecology, and the National Environmental Science Programme Climate Systems Hub. </span></em></p>More of the curriculum is devoted to climate change, but it’s still not presented holistically. Teachers also need more training and resources to help them prepare students for a changing climate.Kim Beasy, Lecturer in Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of TasmaniaChloe Lucas, Research Fellow, Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences, University of TasmaniaGabi Mocatta, Research Fellow in Climate Change Communication, Climate Futures Program, University of Tasmania, and Lecturer in Communication – Journalism, Deakin UniversityGretta Pecl, Professor, ARC Future Fellow & Director of the Centre for Marine Socioecology, University of TasmaniaRachel Kelly, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Future Ocean and Coastal Infrastructures (FOCI) Consortium, Memorial University, Canada, and Centre for Marine Socioecology, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1751072022-04-25T18:55:41Z2022-04-25T18:55:41ZHow early childhood education is responding to climate change<p>To the untrained eye, the small community garden on <a href="https://www.uvic.ca/buildingreconciliation/about/indigenous-territories/index.php">Coast and Straits Salish territory</a> — on what passersby commonly know as the University of Victoria campus — might look unruly. Bursting with dandelions, lamb’s ear and grasses, it’s difficult to tell where the garden starts and where it ends. </p>
<p>Wondering where those boundaries begin and end has been a <a href="http://commonworlds.net/childrens-relations-with-other-species/becoming-garden-in-ece/">fruitful challenge</a> for children, educators and researchers at the University of Victoria child-care centre who now work in the garden. </p>
<p>The group buried itself in the garden overgrowth with gusto, rather than manage it. They didn’t know what was growing there or how. Those unknowns allowed them to move beyond the idea of a “controlled garden plot.” Instead, they think about what belongs and why, to consider what else they do not know. </p>
<p>Such approaches are critical for children of this generation, and of generations to come, who are inheriting an <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/">ecologically precarious world</a>.</p>
<h2>Climate Action Childhood Network</h2>
<p>The educators with the University of Victoria centre, along with educators from more than 10 collaborating early childhood centres in five countries (Australia, Ecuador, Canada, United States and United Kingdom), are part of the <a href="https://climateactionchildhood.net/">Climate Action Childhood Network</a>. </p>
<p>As the director of this network, which is composed of international interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners, I see the importance of generating responses to climate change through creating and experimenting alongside young children. Educators develop climate-specific experiences with children in different early childhood centres to address topics such as relationships with food, animals, energy, weather, waste and water.</p>
<p>Some of the environmental conditions that young children face today are toxicity, extraction, destruction, drought, pollution, wildfires and extreme weather. Yet, children are rarely consulted or included in environmental decisions. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-budget-2021-7-actions-to-ensure-canadas-child-care-plan-is-about-education-159191">Federal budget 2021: 7 actions to ensure Canada's 'child-care plan' is about education</a>
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<p>We believe a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Reconfiguring-the-Natures-of-Childhood/Taylor/p/book/9780415687720?gclid=Cj0KCQiAxoiQBhCRARIsAPsvo-y6aSVfWVsg4uVcuOj6jWV4m6vKa664DsLAO5oVOJBjl1S45tHg5pAaAsgDEALw_wcB">paradigm shift</a> in early childhood education can provide a path to deeper societal changes that are required. The shift means moving from learning that is information-driven to
learning that is situated, speculative and experimental. </p>
<h2>Collaborate with garden inhabitants</h2>
<p>It can begin with something like the community garden on Vancouver Island, led by researchers <a href="https://doi.org/10.18357/jcs.v43i1.18268">B. Denise Hodgins and Narda Nelson</a>, that challenges ideas around <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2017.1325452">managing and stewardship</a>. There, the children are learning to collaborate with the community garden’s inhabitants: by planting, digging, fertilizing, watering and responding to the garden’s own actions. </p>
<p>Prior to working with children to cultivate an awareness of Lekwungen food systems — a system of relations that predates settler colonial garden practices on these lands — educators attended <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/unreserved-visits-victoria-can-a-city-rooted-in-colonial-history-be-a-progressive-site-for-reconciliation-1.4663453/colonial-reality-tour-brings-indigenous-land-and-history-into-focus-1.4669191">a Colonial Reality Tour led by Cheryl Bryce</a>. Bryce is from the <a href="https://vimeo.com/405250132">Songhees Nation, traditionally known as Lekwungen</a>. The educators also engaged in dialogue <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/tsawout-first-nation-welcomes-help-to-restore-traditional-shellfish-harvest-1.3365251">with with Earl Claxton Jr.</a>, a SȾÁ,UTW̱ (Tsawout) W̱SÁNEĆ (Saanich) Elder, ethnobotanist and Knowledge Keeper.</p>
<h2>Challenging assumptions</h2>
<p>When educators invite children’s speculations, we can tap into other worlds that allow us to imagine alternatives. </p>
<p>“These beans are going to grow so high they will reach the clouds!” one child said on a recent visit to the garden. This is a beautiful declaration that forces us to challenge our assumptions.</p>
<p>The Climate Action Childhood Network, alongside the <a href="http://commonworlds.net/">Common Worlds Research Collective</a>, positions early childhood education as a collective practice <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/feminist-research-for-21stcentury-childhoods-9781350056589">of “learning with” others</a>. The goal is to move beyond learning “about” the climate crisis to seeing ourselves as part of it.</p>
<p>One example is <a href="https://artgallery.wa.gov.au/learn/artist-activation/conversations-with-rain">Conversations with Rain</a>, a project in Western Australia between the Art Gallery of Western Australia and researchers Mindy Blaise and Jo Pollitt. </p>
<p>They worked alongside young children to respond to a painting, <em>Raining on Kurtal</em>, by Wangkatjunga/Walmajarri artist Ngarralja Tommy May. Children were <a href="https://vimeo.com/370249527?embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=29737403">invited to think with their own breathing</a>. In a sketchbook, children began by marking a line for every inhale and exhale until a page was full. Then, considering the question “What if raining is writing?” children wrote as fast as rain, without stopping or planning.</p>
<h2>Water stories</h2>
<p>Another project involved children, educators and researchers exploring creeks in each other’s environments across the planet. A group participated from Criuckshank Park, in Wurundjeri country in Melbourne, Australia — once a grassland, then a bluestone quarry that polluted a creek and now a greenbelt that winds through a gentrifying suburb. Another group was located in Haro Woods, an urban second-growth forest on Canada’s West Coast on the unceded, traditional and ancestral lands of the Coast and Straits Salish peoples, and what is known now as Victoria. </p>
<p>Researchers Nicole Land and Catherine Hamm, working alongside children in their respective creekside settings in Australia and Canada, used
FaceTime to explore new ways to connect. Sitting creekside, children and educators used FaceTime to share creek and water stories with one another. They listened to the sounds, asking: Where does the water go when it runs dry during certain seasons? What stories did this place tell before settler colonialism?</p>
<p>“Our water stories are not worried about saving or rescuing the water,” <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Iw34CLg181X5PUdkE_EdnJd4m8RjXZMf/view">the
project collaborators wrote</a>. “Rather, they are about what might be required to carefully stay with the troubles made visible with polluted creeks in urban nature spaces.” </p>
<p>The point of the FaceTime project was not to reinforce the idea of children as “global citizens” who should learn about people and practices in other cultures and places. </p>
<p>In fact, it resisted that urge to exchange facts about the parklands. Instead, it was concerned with what feminist scholar Donna Haraway described as “<a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/689014">passing patterns back and forth</a>”. Haraway discusses the children’s string game of cat’s cradle that can be passed (and elaborated) from person to person as a metaphor: When we “hold” each other’s stories and creations, this collective attention opens up new possibilities.</p>
<h2>Pandemic experiments</h2>
<p>Our work responded to the pandemic, too. <a href="http://viraltimes.climateactionchildhood.net/">A project based out of Cuenca</a>, Ecuador, turned the difficulty of lockdown into an opportunity to experiment with an itinerant school. </p>
<p>Educators at Santana’s Children’s School with researchers Cristina D. Vintimilla and Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw created home gardens across the city. Children met with teachers three times weekly to create a curriculum that responded to the specific surroundings. </p>
<p>In an itinerant school on Cabogana Mountain, one child noticed how a particular stick looked like the leg of a hen wandering the garden. This triggered an exploration of the bird’s movement through imitation and drawings. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.disorientatingearlychildhood.net/">Climate Action Childhood Network</a> has created new modes of engagement in environmental early childhood education. These modes will create the conditions for society’s youngest members, who will be the most impacted by ecological challenges in the long term, to actively participate in transforming the world they are inheriting.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175107/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw receives funding from SSHRC. </span></em></p>Researchers and educators with the Climate Action Childhood network are generating responses to climate change alongside young children.Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw, Professor of Early Childhood Education, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1817382022-04-21T16:09:11Z2022-04-21T16:09:11ZHow a new GCSE in natural history can help us towards a greener future<p>The UK’s education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, has announced the launch of a <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/education/government-new-natural-history-gcse-wildlife-climate-change-1585522">GCSE in natural history</a>, a key part of helping bring back the study of plants and animals into the lives of young people. Long championed by the environmentalist <a href="http://www.curlewmedia.com/">Mary Colwell</a>, this qualification is welcome.</p>
<p>The world is facing both a climate crisis and a biodiversity crisis, each resulting from the damaging effects of our species on the natural world. The UK is among the most <a href="https://nbn.org.uk/stateofnature2019/">nature-depleted countries</a> on Earth – even its national parks are <a href="https://www.nationalparksengland.org.uk/home/about-national-parks-england/policy/our-work-pages2/agriculture">mostly farmland</a>. Despite this, a psychological phenomenon known as <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fee.1794">shifting baseline syndrome</a> means that limited personal experience of change, particularly as people grow up, results in a lack of awareness of the sheer volume and diversity of animals and plants that have been lost in recent generations.</p>
<p>Not only that, but around 83% of people in the UK now live in urban areas. Children growing up in towns and cities have less exposure to nature, what is there is less likely to be wild, and they experience fewer opportunities to roam in green space than previous generations. Some argue that this disconnection from nature is associated with a range of <a href="http://richardlouv.com/blog/what-is-nature-deficit-disorder">mental and physical health issues</a>. This means that generations are becoming further <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/final-report-the-economics-of-biodiversity-the-dasgupta-review">isolated</a> from nature, just as the world needs people with the ecological literacy to enable them to address the environmental challenges of coming decades.</p>
<h2>Overwhelming support</h2>
<p>The new GCSE in natural history is an opportunity to put this right. The examination board <a href="https://teach.ocr.org.uk/summary-of-findings?hsLang=en-gb">consultation</a> that informed thinking about the qualification showed that an overwhelming proportion (91%) of responders agreed that a GCSE with the purpose of helping pupils gain deeper insights into the flora and fauna of life on Earth, and how this biodiversity affects us and how we affect it. Importantly, 94% of young people surveyed said that they would like to study a qualification like this. </p>
<p>At the same time the consultation pointed to some challenges. These include restrictions on curriculum time and staff, funding, perceptions of value, lack of recognition, and access for those with special needs or who can’t easily access outdoor spaces. To actually deliver this GCSE teachers will need to understand how it links to other subject specialisms where elements may <a href="https://theconversation.com/ever-wondered-what-our-curriculum-teaches-kids-about-climate-change-the-answer-is-not-much-123272#:%7E:text=Explicit%2520links%2520to%2520the%2520topic%2520of%2520climate%2520change,optional%2520depending%2520on%2520the%2520school%2520and%2520year%2520group.">traditionally or not traditionally</a> have been taught, and how it fits into the wider timetable.</p>
<h2>Seeing the connections of nature</h2>
<p>Practical issues aside, engaging young people in their natural environments not only allows them to develop their <a href="https://www.eco-capabilities.co.uk/publications">eco-capabilities</a>, it also influences how they learn. It provides opportunities to connect place and science through problem-based education, encouraging people to think of the natural world as an interconnected system with lots of moving parts. It is only by seeing the connections of nature, how our pulling at threads in the web of life endangers more than individual species, that we can understand the looming threats and ways of avoiding them. As a boundary-crossing subject, natural history can be a test bed for interdisciplinary learning for children, their teachers and leaders.</p>
<p>The UK government’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sustainability-and-climate-change-strategy">Strategy for Sustainability and Climate Change</a> advocates four strategic aims focused first on education itself, and then how education can help deliver our need to meet net zero carbon, to be resilient to climate change and to improve biodiversity and environmental quality. These are linked by the ambitious vision for the “United Kingdom to be the world-leading education sector in sustainability and climate change by 2030”, where education is the starting point for sustained change and adaptation, not only to encourage societal change but also as we build the skills base for a green economy.</p>
<p>This ambition is supported by two key initiatives to drive the strategy forward: the National Education Nature Park and Climate Leaders Award, which have recently put out to <a href="https://bidstats.uk/tenders/2022/W15/772669884">tender</a>. The former aims to greatly increase biodiversity on nursery, school and college grounds, while the latter seeks to recognise and support the tremendous efforts of young people to engage with environmental issues. This government is encouraging other bodies to engage with environmental education. For example, our university is involved in a <a href="https://www.reading.ac.uk/planet/climate-education/climate-ambassador-scheme">Climate Ambassadors Scheme</a> which connects climate experts with schools, allowing teachers and governors to make specific requests for world-leading researchers and professionals to help and advise them.</p>
<p>It is easy to be pessimistic in the face of daily reports of ecological loss. Some will say this is too little, too late. We say that this is a once in a generation opportunity to change the future for the better. Given the enormous environmental challenges the world faces, there is no alternative to education if we are to navigate our way to becoming a more sustainable and biodiverse country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181738/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Fellowes has received funding from NERC and BBSRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Anna Reed Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Children often aren’t aware of how much has been lost in recent generations.Mark Fellowes, Professor of Ecology, University of ReadingJo Anna Reed Johnson, Lecturer in Science Education, University of ReadingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1740362022-01-27T18:56:29Z2022-01-27T18:56:29ZHow to teach children about climate change, inspire hope and take action to change the future<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442406/original/file-20220124-23-1l8j4ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C88%2C1821%2C1250&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children need information that both acknowledges the troubling realities we're facing and that also equips them to take action.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Roy/Flickr)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 175px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/how-to-teach-children-about-climate-change--inspire-hope-and-take-action-to-change-the-future" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Children and youth know that climate change is altering lives, environmental patterns and futures.</p>
<p>Human-caused climate change is altering the intensity of the likelihood of extreme weather, and has <a href="https://www.undrr.org/publication/human-cost-disasters-overview-last-20-years-2000-2019">contributed to an abrupt rise in disasters over the past 20 years</a>, creating significant personal and economic costs. In 2021, <a href="https://changingclimate.ca/national-issues/">many people across Canada experienced the impacts of weather-related events linked to climate change</a>, including devastating flooding, landslides, heat domes, wildfires, thawing permafrost and hurricanes.</p>
<p>We have examined existing research about understanding <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094573">climate change related to youth and children and their mental health</a>. Our focus is learning how to best equip young people to navigate climate change and to envision their futures amid multiple social challenges.</p>
<p>While the effects of climate change are undeniable across global communities, these effects also <a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/07/what-is-climate-justice/">disproportionately impact</a> people who <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Handbook-of-Climate-Justice/Jafry/p/book/9780367732592">experience social, structural and systemic inequities and marginalization</a>.</p>
<p>Our early research findings have identified the importance of moving beyond traditional curricular approaches in schools. </p>
<p>We hope to help develop innovative ways to teach children and youth about climate change in a way that is trauma-informed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2020.1828288">and seeks to build resilience in children and youth</a>. This includes linking scientific approaches with arts-based methods.</p>
<p>We have also begun a process of interviewing British Columbia educators and reviewing the province’s curriculum to assess how B.C. is doing with regards to best practices in climate change education, and what might be improved.</p>
<h2>Intergenerational justice issue</h2>
<p>Climate change is a social and intergenerational justice issue that disproportionately impacts children and youth, who <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1476750319829209">have have inherited the problem</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-striking-education-workers-and-climate-activists-have-in-common-125533">What striking education workers and climate activists have in common</a>
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<p>Youth and children also have unique needs in climate adaptation, mitigation and recovery processes, given the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12342">effects climate disasters can have on their lives</a>. <a href="https://fridaysforfuture.org/">Children also want to be actively and meaningfully engaged in responses to climate change</a>, but are often not given the opportunity — and when they do act, their efforts can go unnoticed. </p>
<p>When young people perceive that adults are not taking substantial action on climate change and when their voices go unheard, these experiences can contribute to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0092-2">youth losing hope for their futures</a>. This is particularly the case in a media-saturated world where reminders of climate disasters, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-021-01031-x">as well as misinformation</a>, are permeating the news, social media and the social environment around them.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/students-become-school-boiler-room-sleuths-to-assess-climate-change-risks-123336">Students become school boiler-room sleuths to assess climate change risks</a>
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<p>The impacts of climate change, as well as youth and children’s reaction to them, serve as continuous reminders for <a href="https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-019-00263-8">educators</a>, parents or guardians, regional planners and <a href="https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Climate-Change-Toolkit-for-Health-Professionals-Updated-April-2019-2.pdf">health providers</a> that climate change is an urgent issue requiring immediate attention. How we communicate about climate change and imagine possible social responses to this shared crisis has a lasting effect on children and youth today.</p>
<h2>Need for ‘grounded hope’</h2>
<p>For their development and well-being, children need <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ997146">information that both acknowledges the very troubling realities we are facing but also equips them to take action to change that future</a>. </p>
<p>Building on the thinking of psychologist Lee Daniel Kravetz, we think this could be called offering <a href="https://optionb.org/advice/steps-to-grounded-hope">“grounded hope” — a way of seeing based in a realistic understanding of circumstances, while cultivating hope by building confidence in our ability to have a role in shaping outcomes</a>. With respect to climate change, this approach would encourage young people to learn how to identify and connect with the strengths and assets of their communities and to develop tools for envisioning and building sustainable solutions.</p>
<p>This agency can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2017.1360842">counter the despair that comes from the climate crisis</a>. An important way to foster this agency is through linking scientific approaches with arts-based methods. For children and youth, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02804-4">art is not only a powerful and accessible way to communicate about how climate change</a> is affecting their lives and sense of future, but also a creative way to develop new metaphors, narratives and design principles for building a more hopeful future.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/stem-learning-should-engage-students-minds-hands-and-hearts-140008">STEM learning should engage students' minds, hands and hearts</a>
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<h2>Responses to climate change</h2>
<p>Youth have varied reactions to the effects of the climate crisis on their future.
These reactions include having <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joclim.2021.100047">stress or anxiety-related responses</a> that negatively affect sleep, ability to focus and relationships; feeling like the future is out of their hands, leading to reduced priority of planning for the future (such as considering further education) or expressing <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/9/10/146">commitments to taking action</a> to address climate change.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/career-guidance-for-kids-is-our-best-hope-for-climate-change-108823">Career guidance for kids is our best hope for climate change</a>
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<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.11.006">Educators play an important role in helping youth and children manage their stress about the future</a> and stay connected to each other in a kind and compassionate way. Paying attention to both is critical when the going gets tough. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman rustles a child's hair as she holds a child-made sign that says 'systems change, not climate change.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442517/original/file-20220125-19-15w99cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442517/original/file-20220125-19-15w99cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442517/original/file-20220125-19-15w99cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442517/original/file-20220125-19-15w99cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442517/original/file-20220125-19-15w99cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442517/original/file-20220125-19-15w99cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442517/original/file-20220125-19-15w99cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Learning to stay connected through relationships in a compassionate way is critical in navigating climate change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/David Cliff)</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Trauma-informed approaches</h2>
<p>Beyond stress, some children and youth find the effects of climate change are traumatic. The Manitoba Trauma Information Centre defines trauma as “a single experience, or enduring repeated or multiple experiences, that <a href="https://trauma-informed.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Trauma-informed_Toolkit.pdf">completely overwhelm the individual’s ability to cope or integrate the ideas and emotions involved in that experience</a>.” Research shows that when talking to young people about climate change, <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-030-22759-3_172-1.pdf">a trauma-informed practice</a> that builds resilience is helpful.</p>
<p>A B.C. Ministry of Education document offering key principles and strategies promoting mental health in schools notes that taking a trauma-informed lens means “<a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/education/administration/kindergarten-to-grade-12/key-principles-and-strategies-for-k-12-mental-health-promotion.pdf">integrating an understanding of past and current experiences of trauma into all aspects of school life</a>.”</p>
<p>From curriculum guidelines to teaching approaches, schools must seek to operate out of an awareness of the historically and culturally specific ways that students are vulnerable to both climate trauma and other forms of trauma resulting from intersecting forms of injustice and marginalization.</p>
<h2>Life chances</h2>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the ways in which severe and sustained changes to children’s social world via, prolonged <a href="https://theconversation.com/child-and-youth-mental-health-problems-have-doubled-during-covid-19-162750">periods of social distancing</a> and <a href="https://thehub.ca/2022-01-06/canada-needs-a-plan-for-kids-hurt-by-school-closures-experts-say/">school closures</a>, for example, may alter children’s development, prospects for educational attainment <a href="https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/%7Ewright/Found-c2.PDF">and life chances</a> — chances people have for “sharing in the <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429494642-24/class-structure-advanced-societies-anthony-giddens">socially created economic or cultural ‘goods’ … in any given society</a>,” as explained by sociologist Anthony Giddens.</p>
<p>Extreme-weather events create the possibility for similar personal and social upheaval, along with significant impacts to the natural environment, communities and built infrastructure. However, involving children meaningfully (in age- and stage-appropriate ways) in making change can promote feelings of agency and resilience in the age of the climate crisis.</p>
<p>We look forward to continuing to understand specific ways educators, parents and role models are teaching about climate change in resilience-building ways, and what insights this may yield for future directions for climate change education.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174036/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maya Gislason receives funding from Michael Smith Health Research BC, SFU's Community Engagement Initiative, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for this work. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angel M. Kennedy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some children and youth find the effects of climate change are traumatic. Taking a trauma-informed approach to education can nurture resilience.Maya K. Gislason, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser UniversityAngel M. Kennedy, PhD Student, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1702022021-10-24T12:25:37Z2021-10-24T12:25:37ZPeatland folklore lent us will-o-the-wisps and jack-o-lanterns, and can inspire climate action today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427894/original/file-20211021-20-drimbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=790%2C511%2C4607%2C2532&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Northern European folklore had different ways of referring to distant lights known to spontaneously appear on peatlands, including will-o’-the-wisp, and the more familiar jack-o’-lantern.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In northern European cultural and literary traditions, peatlands — an umbrella term for various types <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/bog">of bogs</a>, <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/beauty/California_Fens/what.shtml">fens and</a> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/moor-grassland">moors</a> — all have associations with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1751696X.2020.1815293">fear, danger and uncertainty</a>. Folklore associated with peatlands has also lent us some Halloween symbols, <a href="https://owlcation.com/humanities/Jack-OLanterns-and-Swamp-Lights-Mythology-and-Science">like the jack-o’-lantern</a>.</p>
<p>And yet, fears or dangers associated with Halloween don’t hold a candle to the clear and present planetary threat of climate change. Learning about and protecting peatlands matters for taking positive climate action today.</p>
<p>Peatlands act as carbon sequestration units (or sinks) — where carbon dioxide (CO2) is captured from the atmosphere and stored over many millennia. In fact, <a href="https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/peatlands-and-climate-change">peatlands are the largest natural terrestrial carbon storage</a> on the planet (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00355-3">about 25 per cent of all soil carbon</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-00944-0">double the amount held in forests</a>). </p>
<p>Peatlands have been central to how northern European folklore has explored fear, a sense of the uncanny and the supernatural for hundreds of years. Their persistence is also key to slowing down climate change.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/peatlands-protect-against-wildfire-and-flooding-but-theyre-still-under-attack-in-canada-168170">Peatlands protect against wildfire and flooding, but they're still under attack in Canada</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Landscapes of mystery and fear</h2>
<p>In my book, <em><a href="https://www.corkuniversitypress.com/Boglands-in-the-Irish-Postcolonial-Gothic-p/9781782052043.htm">Contentious Terrains: Boglands, Ireland, Postcolonial Gothic</a></em>, I examined how cultural and literary narratives about peatlands in Ireland often evoke gothic elements through the mysterious and macabre as a response to colonial histories. The gothic refers generally to modes, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Gothic-novel">themes and stylistic representations of horror or the uncanny across European cultural history dating back to the 18th century</a>.</p>
<p>Northern European storytellers have often relied on peatland landscapes to capture a frightening or spooky mood or atmosphere, such as in English classic novels like <a href="https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/restoring-rugged-landscaped-behind-wuthering-heights-272838">Emily Brontë’s <em>Wuthering Heights</em></a> or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/oct/31/dartmoor-devon-hound-of-baskervilles-tour-halloween">Arthur Conan Doyle’s <em>Hound of the Baskervilles</em></a>. Such tales drew on longer-standing oral and cultural traditions that looked to peatlands as liminal spaces, places that appealed to a sense of the uncanny and the supernatural. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A farmhouse ruin on an English moor." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427646/original/file-20211020-66011-1tmjqsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427646/original/file-20211020-66011-1tmjqsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427646/original/file-20211020-66011-1tmjqsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427646/original/file-20211020-66011-1tmjqsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427646/original/file-20211020-66011-1tmjqsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427646/original/file-20211020-66011-1tmjqsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427646/original/file-20211020-66011-1tmjqsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ruins of the farmhouse that some believe inspired Emily Bronte’s ‘Wuthering Heights,’ set in the West Yorkshire windswept moorlands. Both wet and dry moors are peatlands, but if wet, a moor is generally synonymous with a bog.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Folkloric accounts</h2>
<p>A rich folklore involving fear and death, in addition to ghosts and hauntings, emerges from accounts of peatlands. According to Irish folklore, the <em>púca</em> or “pooka” is a shape-shifter that uses the <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pooka">mysterious terrain of bogs to either deceive</a> or assist people.</p>
<p>Often appearing in rural or marine environments, the pooka is a trickster figure capable of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9SSmJCrJgQ">morphing into various forms: black horses</a>, goats, rabbits and cats, as well as humans. In <em><a href="https://archive.org/details/originhistoryofi01joycuoft/page/188/mode/2up?q=Pooka">The Origin and History of Irish Names and Places</a></em>, under the “fairies, demons, goblins and ghosts” section, Irish historian and etymologist P.W. Joyce describes the pooka as a contradictory mix of merriment and malignity.</p>
<p>Folklore commonly referred to distant lights known to spontaneously appear on peatlands as will-o’-the-wisps (or <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095957220"><em>ignis fatuus</em> — Latin for “foolish fire”</a>) — a type of ghost also <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4140913">known as “bog sprites,” “water sheeries,” “fairy lights” and even the more familiar jack-o’-lantern</a>. </p>
<p>Science journalist Kit Chapman explains that a scientific theory for these lights exists, but is still debated. Some scientists maintain that in some peatland environments, <a href="https://www.chemistryworld.com/podcasts/phosphine/3007120.article">the highly flammable chemicals of phosphine and diphosphane that are produced from the fermentation process in these highly anaerobic marshy lands can spontaneously ignite with exposure</a> to oxygen at various temperatures on the surface.</p>
<p>Storytellers told of how flickering forms, often resembling candles or fire bursts, would sometimes help wayward travellers find their way. Or, according to other accounts, will-o’-the-wisps sometimes led travellers <a href="https://www.manchesteropenhive.com/view/9781526150196/9781526150196.00010.xml">to an untimely death</a>. Wet peatlands (bogs) can be visually deceptive: what looks like solid ground can give way and claim a person by suffocation or drowning. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A painted wood engraving" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427432/original/file-20211020-19033-t015om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427432/original/file-20211020-19033-t015om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427432/original/file-20211020-19033-t015om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427432/original/file-20211020-19033-t015om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427432/original/file-20211020-19033-t015om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427432/original/file-20211020-19033-t015om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427432/original/file-20211020-19033-t015om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Plate 25: ‘The Ignis Fatuus’ in the book, ‘Phenomena of Nature,’ 1849, from Science Museum Group Collection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Bog bodies’</h2>
<p>Peatlands are also associated with the now-famous mummified “bog bodies” <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/europe-bog-bodies-reveal-secrets-180962770/">found in various parts of northern Europe</a>. </p>
<p>These bodies have been preserved for thousands of years, including fingerprints, nails, hair and facial features, all due to the <a href="https://sustainable-nano.com/2018/10/31/bog-bodies">decay-defying, oxygen-deficient (anaerobic) environment</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bogs-are-unique-records-of-history-heres-why-100627">Bogs are unique records of history – here's why</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Commentary about the environmental insights afforded by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2016.1220327">studying and contemplating bog bodies</a>, and the <a href="https://twitter.com/Emma_niDhulaing/status/1449617677442498561">ethical issues inherent in excavating, displaying</a> or writing about them, point to how peatlands continue to encourage deep reflection about our relationships with cultures and environmental history.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A head of a mummified person with eyes closed." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427641/original/file-20211020-63293-gojqyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427641/original/file-20211020-63293-gojqyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427641/original/file-20211020-63293-gojqyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427641/original/file-20211020-63293-gojqyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427641/original/file-20211020-63293-gojqyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427641/original/file-20211020-63293-gojqyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427641/original/file-20211020-63293-gojqyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Head of bog body known as ‘Tollund Man.’ Found in 1950 near Tollund, Silkebjorg, Denmark, and about 2,300 years old.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The wonder of peatlands</h2>
<p>This year, Halloween falls on the first day of the <a href="https://ukcop26.org/">26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26)</a> in Glasgow, Scotland. </p>
<p>This is a fitting location considering <a href="https://www.wwf.org.uk/node/40261">the history of peatlands</a> in the North Atlantic archipelago, but also in face of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2021/oct/14/climate-change-happening-now-stats-graphs-maps-cop26">climate disaster</a>. </p>
<p>The world has much to fear about the degradation of peatlands, much more than wandering spirits. Based upon the most recent <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/factsheets/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Regional_Fact_Sheet_North_and_Central_America.pdf">projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)</a>, we are in dire circumstances. </p>
<p>In the past 10,000 years, peatlands absorbed <a href="https://www.wetlands.or.id/PDF/chapter_1-3.pdf">up to 1.2 trillion tonnes of carbon dioxide</a>, producing a significant amount of net cooling on the Earth. The bad news is that the sustained destruction of peatlands <a href="https://theconversation.com/peatlands-keep-a-lot-of-carbon-out-of-earths-atmosphere-but-that-could-end-with-warming-and-development-151364">accounts for five to 10 per cent of annual carbon emissions</a> from humans. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kYqygTcO-YQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>Ultimately, the removal or disturbance of peatlands accelerates climate change for two interconnected reasons: it reduces the land where carbon can be captured and stored, and it also releases stored carbon over several millennia back into the atmosphere, increasing carbon levels. </p>
<h2>Think of peatlands this Halloween</h2>
<p>This Halloween, rather than only being lured by jack-o’-lanterns across neighbourhood streets, perhaps we can also consider peatlands and their impact on climate.</p>
<p>The same <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1751696X.2020.1815293">fear of danger</a> and sense of awe associated with peatlands for thousands of years can be redirected in a contemporary context to increase climate education and awareness. Peatlands remain central to climate action around the world.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/peatlands-keep-a-lot-of-carbon-out-of-earths-atmosphere-but-that-could-end-with-warming-and-development-151364">Peatlands keep a lot of carbon out of Earth's atmosphere, but that could end with warming and development</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>Consider learning about the peatlands nearest to you this Halloween, such as those peatlands across Canada <a href="https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/19d24f59487b46f6a011dba140eddbe7">that are part of traditional territories of many Indigenous Peoples</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v6K7jASVzl8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Larry Grant, member Of The Musqueam Nation, speaks about the Camosun bog.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Perhaps also consider joining some global peatland organizations, such as the youth-led collective <a href="https://www.re-peat.earth/">RE-PEAT</a>, <a href="https://peatlands.org/">International Peatland Society</a> or <a href="https://www.globalpeatlands.org/">Global Peatlands Initiative</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170202/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek Gladwin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Peatlands have been central to how northern European folklore has explored fear and a sense of the supernatural for hundreds of years. Their persistence is also key to slowing down climate change.Derek Gladwin, Assistant Professor, Language & Literacy Education, and Sustainability Fellow, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1697352021-10-19T03:30:05Z2021-10-19T03:30:05ZChildren deserve answers to their questions about climate change. Here’s how universities can help<p>Our children are growing up in a volatile climate. It’s already damaging their <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-resulting-in-profound-immediate-and-worsening-health-impacts-over-120-researchers-say-151027">health</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-will-cost-a-young-australian-up-to-245-000-over-their-lifetime-court-case-reveals-161175">wealth</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-harming-childrens-mental-health-and-this-is-just-the-start-168070">well-being</a>. Universities can be leaders in helping young people gain the knowledge they need to navigate this uncertain future. <a href="https://curiousclimate.org.au/schools/">Curious Climate Schools</a>, a project that connects young people directly with experts who can answer their climate questions, is a model for just this kind of leadership.</p>
<p>Universities across the globe come together this week to support climate action leadership in their communities as part of <a href="https://www.globalclimatechangeweek.net/">Global Climate Change Week</a>. In Tasmania, our Curious Climate Schools project has connected over 1,000 school students, aged 10-18, with 57 climate researchers from diverse disciplines to answer students’ questions.</p>
<p>Climate change will increasingly affect our children’s lives, even if we take the profound action needed this decade to avert the worst of it. Young people will need to be climate-literate for the world they are inheriting. Although learning about climate change is established as vital in enhancing understanding and action, climate literacy education is <a href="https://theconversation.com/ever-wondered-what-our-curriculum-teaches-kids-about-climate-change-the-answer-is-not-much-123272">not mandated</a> in the <a href="https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/">Australian Curriculum</a>. </p>
<p>Our aim is to empower children to develop essential climate knowledge through student-led enquiry. Our experts’ answers to questions from schools across the state will be made public on the <a href="https://curiousclimate.org.au/schools/">Curious Climate Schools website</a> on November 1. This will coincide with the <a href="https://ukcop26.org/">COP26 climate summit</a>, connecting local and global climate leadership.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-reasons-for-optimism-on-climate-change-than-weve-seen-for-decades-2-climate-experts-explain-159233">More reasons for optimism on climate change than we've seen for decades: 2 climate experts explain</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What do young people want to know?</h2>
<p>Students have submitted questions to our project that range from the global to the local. Key themes in their questions included:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>who is responsible?</p></li>
<li><p>how urgent is action?</p></li>
<li><p>how do we adapt and care for the planet and its future inhabitants?</p></li>
<li><p>why aren’t politicians listening?</p></li>
</ul>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1448773884010848257"}"></div></p>
<p>The children had many queries about the science of climate change, but even more about our social and political responses. For example:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I’m 13. What do you think climate change will alter about the world in my lifetime, and what can I do about it?”</p>
<p>“Does the climate crisis have the potential to unite humanity in response?”</p>
<p>“When it comes to future generations, how will they feel about what we have done?”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While children are interested in the physical science behind climate change, their questions show they are equally concerned with how we should act on climate as a society. This suggests that when climate change is taught in schools, it should be taught holistically. While understanding the drivers of climate change is important, teaching must also address the social challenges we face and the decision-making processes this wicked problem demands. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/free-schools-guide-about-inclusiveness-and-climate-science-is-not-ideological-its-based-on-evidence-162423">Free schools guide about inclusiveness and climate science is not ideological — it's based on evidence</a>
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<h2>A way to counter climate anxiety</h2>
<p>The current silence on climate in schools’ teaching is bad for children’s mental health. <a href="https://climateoutreach.org/reports/how-to-have-a-climate-change-conversation-talking-climate/">Research has established</a> that speaking about climate change is an important first step in easing legitimate climate anxiety. Education that enables students’ agency through climate literacy could reduce the mental health burden on young people.</p>
<p>We need climate-literate young people. Empowering them to talk about climate change could both improve their mental health and help to build the engaged citizenry and leadership we need to face the climate crisis. </p>
<p>Acknowledging that children have a stake in climate action and decision-making is vital. Without this, they feel disempowered and frustrated. We saw this in some of the questions submitted to Curious Climate Schools.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Do you believe that we as the future leaders are being heard enough? For example, Scott Morrison or the other politicians, are they listening?”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These students are our future leaders. They deserve to be heard.</p>
<h2>A model for university climate leadership</h2>
<p>Many universities are well equipped to address local climate challenges in partnership with their communities. Curious Climate Schools is an example of how universities can engage with the public to enhance climate knowledge and action. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/this-is-how-universities-can-lead-climate-action-147191">This is how universities can lead climate action</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Our project is harnessing the knowledge, care and enthusiasm of 57 experts. They work in a range of fields, including climate modelling, biodiversity conservation, pyrogeography, chemistry, law, social science, engineering, geology, oceanography, paleoclimatology, Indigenous knowledges and health. </p>
<p>The Curious Climate Schools website will equip students with holistic climate knowledge and help teachers to address a subject at the forefront of students’ minds – if not the Australian Curriculum.</p>
<p>With initiatives like Curious Climate Schools, universities can be <a href="https://theconversation.com/this-is-how-universities-can-lead-climate-action-147191">leaders in climate action</a>. In this decisive moment, it is crucial that we harness our collective talents in whatever ways we can to ensure a liveable world for our children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169735/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabi Mocatta received funding from the Centre for Marine Socioecology, the University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Climate Change Office for the research and engagement reported in this article. She is co-lead of the Climate Change Communication and Narratives Network, funded by Deakin University, and vice-president of the Board of the International Environmental Communication Association.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chloe Lucas received funding from the Centre for Marine Socioecology, the University of Tasmania, and the Tasmanian Climate Change Office for the research and engagement reported in this article. She is also funded by the Australian Research Council. Chloe is a member of the Centre for Marine Socioecology, the Institute of Australian Geographers and the International Environmental Communication Association, and is a member of the Editorial Board of Australian Geographer.</span></em></p>University experts are well placed to equip students with holistic climate knowledge and help teachers cover a subject that’s neglected by the Australian Curriculum.Gabi Mocatta, Research Fellow in Climate Change Communication, Climate Futures Program, University of Tasmania, and Lecturer in Communication - Journalism, Deakin UniversityChloe Lucas, Research Fellow, Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1347762020-05-12T19:08:37Z2020-05-12T19:08:37ZSchool-community gardens plant the seeds of change to address global warming<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334169/original/file-20200511-49579-1hu0aba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=98%2C520%2C5883%2C3044&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cedar Street Elementary School in Beloeil, Que, developed a butterfly and bird perennial garden. Here, a monarch butterfly.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Youth rallied around the world in 2019, making it <a href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/woty">the year of global climate strikes</a>. About <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/27/climate-crisis-6-million-people-join-latest-wave-of-worldwide-protests">six million protesters</a> <a href="https://fridaysforfuture.org/what-we-do/strike-statistics/">walked out of their classrooms</a> and workplaces in a week of organized strikes and demonstrations in late September, calling on governments to address the escalating ecological emergency. </p>
<p>People’s frustration at the inaction of political leaders and corporations on the climate crisis is clear. But what more is needed if we are serious about striking to “<a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2019/9/11/greta_thunberg_swedish_activist_climate_crisis">disrupt the system</a>,” as climate activists like Greta Thunberg have called for? </p>
<p>This need to disrupt and re-imagine our society sits at the core of <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/opinion-preparing-our-students-for-the-climate-future/">our work</a> addressing climate change and education in the faculty of education at McGill University. One practical project to realize this aim is a community partnership approach to developing and supporting school-community gardens. Through this project and others, we hope to transform Québec’s education system to better prepare students (and ourselves) for a fast-changing and uncertain world.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333798/original/file-20200509-49573-xnamvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333798/original/file-20200509-49573-xnamvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333798/original/file-20200509-49573-xnamvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333798/original/file-20200509-49573-xnamvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333798/original/file-20200509-49573-xnamvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333798/original/file-20200509-49573-xnamvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333798/original/file-20200509-49573-xnamvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Beehives and garden at McGill University’s faculty of education.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Blane Harvey)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Learning across settings</h2>
<p>Proponents of what’s called “systems leadership” argue that leaders must help people collaborate across different systems to tackle complex challenges like climate change. They stress the need for <a href="https://networkpeninsula.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/The_Dawn_of_System_Leadership-1.pdf">deep listening and efforts to see through others’ eyes that encourages the openness needed to allow new ways to emerge</a>.</p>
<p>Fundamental transformation is needed to address the looming impacts of climate change. This transformation needs more than education, <a href="http://www.economy4humanity.org/commons/library/s41893-018-0085-1.pdf">research</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/government-action-isnt-enough-for-climate-change-the-private-sector-can-cut-billions-of-tons-of-carbon-79728">government policies</a> alone. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/teaching-young-people-what-really-matters-for-the-sake-of-our-collective-life-on-earth-121549">Teaching young people what really matters for the sake of our collective life on Earth</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Rather, we need strategies for harnessing our collective wisdom and learning together across settings and disciplines. Collaboration between the private sector, members of the wider public and researchers is imperative.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, many of our institutions remain siloed, hierarchical and therefore ill-equipped for the collaboration and flexibility needed to drive collective change. How then can we proceed? Based on recent research and experimentation, we see two closely related paths forward.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334171/original/file-20200511-49556-d7dftb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334171/original/file-20200511-49556-d7dftb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334171/original/file-20200511-49556-d7dftb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334171/original/file-20200511-49556-d7dftb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334171/original/file-20200511-49556-d7dftb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334171/original/file-20200511-49556-d7dftb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334171/original/file-20200511-49556-d7dftb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">At the Cedar Street Elementary School in Beloeil, a suburb of Montréal, Kindergarten and Grade 4 students worked together to plant seeds to grow food with the aim of sharing it with the community.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Focus on bright spots</h2>
<p>Large systems challenges like climate change are often likened to icebergs — daunting in their size and difficult to appraise. By shifting focus to smaller, more tangible challenges or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1309">bright spots</a>, we can cultivate the relationships, ways of working and insights that can help us tackle larger challenges.</p>
<p>School gardens are a way of engaging students in experiential learning about their environments, food production and global environmental change. Many teachers, like their students, are keen to bring climate change and sustainability tools and topics into their classrooms. But they’re limited by a lack of financial and administrative support, a lack of preparation for teaching these issues and a lack of clarity on how their efforts fit into highly standardized curricular requirements. </p>
<p>As a result, these efforts are often relegated to extracurricular or optional activities led by a small number of educators <a href="http://nationnews.ca/community/how-chisasibis-school-greenhouse-is-growing-a-healthier-future/">doing it out of their own conviction</a> (not to mention with their own time and money).</p>
<h2>School-Community Garden Institute</h2>
<p>Partnering <a href="https://www.learnquebec.ca/home">with LEARN</a> Québec, we co-host the School-Community Garden Institute. Gatherings bring together teachers, educational support workers, researchers, non-profits and businesses from around Montréal to share knowledge and resources on how to establish and sustain a garden. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334344/original/file-20200512-175235-1l5ly69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334344/original/file-20200512-175235-1l5ly69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334344/original/file-20200512-175235-1l5ly69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334344/original/file-20200512-175235-1l5ly69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334344/original/file-20200512-175235-1l5ly69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334344/original/file-20200512-175235-1l5ly69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334344/original/file-20200512-175235-1l5ly69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334344/original/file-20200512-175235-1l5ly69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Participants in the School-Community Garden Institute meet to share knowledge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Blane Harvey)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Participants who joined were interested in <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SLIHS.IB/posts/our-sli-staff-hard-at-work-making-our-courtyard-and-outdoor-garden-even-more-spe/2314435441946015/">expanding and improving their gardens</a>, their partnerships and deepening knowledge of using gardens for learning and teaching. They wanted to connect with others with similar interests.</p>
<p>The meetings foster mutual learning and collaboration. Participants examine the many dimensions of school-community gardens that must fit together to ensure success: fundraising, community engagement, planting and tending to the garden, planning lessons, developing curriculum and more. </p>
<h2>Peer-to-peer problem solving</h2>
<p>We share <a href="https://www.learnquebec.ca/garden-project#content-367920">examples of what’s going well</a>. In facilitated peer-to-peer problem solving sessions, attendees from quite different contexts bring their collective knowledge to bear on real-world challenges. We host these events at McGill University using <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/garden/">the faculty’s community garden</a> as a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1389224X.2014.991115">collective space for knowledge exchange and innovation</a>.</p>
<p>These collaborations have generated much richer understandings of the realities faced by those bringing gardens to life. They’ve also advanced a shared commitment to grow the conversation.</p>
<p>Together we’ve addressed strategic challenges like funding, engaging other teachers and community partners, as well as practical issues like building raised garden beds. Participants’ roles evolve from seasoned expert in one moment to curious learner in another.</p>
<h2>Universities as innovation brokers</h2>
<p>As the case of our garden institute illustrates, Canadian universities enjoy the networks, public trust, infrastructure and convening power needed to facilitate knowledge sharing and to scale up <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01123-z">collective action</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333801/original/file-20200509-49569-1i4954p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333801/original/file-20200509-49569-1i4954p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333801/original/file-20200509-49569-1i4954p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333801/original/file-20200509-49569-1i4954p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333801/original/file-20200509-49569-1i4954p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333801/original/file-20200509-49569-1i4954p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333801/original/file-20200509-49569-1i4954p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333801/original/file-20200509-49569-1i4954p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mitchell McLarnon, PhD candidate and project lead of McGill’s community garden, guides participants in planting garlic cloves for the winter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Blane Harvey)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our work seeks to promote a model where universities serve as community meeting places that bring together diverse sources of knowledge and experience to catalyze collective action — as “<a href="https://cies2020.org/wp-content/uploads/Harvey-Chestnutt-Essa-_Transdisciplinary-collaboration-on-sustainability-challenges_.pdf">innovation brokers</a>.”</p>
<p>Innovation brokers create and influence contexts to facilitate mutual learning and innovation. They strive to connect like-minded partners, stimulate out-of-the-box thinking and encourage mutual learning and knowledge exchange among people who might not otherwise have the opportunity to work together.</p>
<h2>Re-thinking how universities work</h2>
<p>For universities to become innovation brokers in significant ways, however, we must rethink how universities work. Universities will need to move from being the main architects of innovation to being brokers of diverse knowledge. </p>
<p>Policy-makers, administrators and researchers will need to tackle what are now barriers and disincentives to more diverse, interdisciplinary and engaged forms of research. Such barriers are now embedded in how universities recruit, fund and promote people. For instance, many universities still tend to discount the value of contributing to projects led by community partners. And some fields assign higher status to sole-authored research than to collaboratively written publications.</p>
<p>These changes will also mean, crucially, educating future scholars in new <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2019.1624495">ways of thinking about the role of science and the university in society</a> .</p>
<p>The seeds of change found in small projects can show us the shape that future systems might take, but the task of transforming the relationships, values and incentives that define success in academia still remains. Much work is still needed for universities, schools and communities to work together to grow our sustainable futures.</p>
<p><em>The authors would like to acknowledge community partner Ben Loomer at LEARN for the important contributions he has made to the initiatives described above.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134776/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Blane Harvey acknowledges the financial support of Canada's Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emily Diane Sprowls receives a doctoral fellowship from FRQSC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ying-Syuan (Elaine) Huang previously hold a scholarship from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC).</span></em></p>Picture this change: Through collaborative garden networks, teachers, schools, children, community partners and universities inspire real learning and transformation for a more sustainable world.Blane Harvey, Assistant professor, Department of Integrated Studies in Education, McGill University, McGill UniversityEmily Diane Sprowls, PhD Student, Faculty of Education, McGill UniversityYing-Syuan (Elaine) Huang, Associate research scientist, Faculty of Education, McGill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1233362019-12-01T13:37:10Z2019-12-01T13:37:10ZStudents become school boiler-room sleuths to assess climate change risks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303361/original/file-20191125-74588-fkyukh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5184%2C3166&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students involved with the Resilient Schools Consortium in New York City quickly grasped the need for climate resiliency in their school buildings. Students from Mark Twain Intermediate School are seen here in October 2017.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Heather Sioux)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the fall of 2012, New York City received the brunt of an unprecedented storm. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, also referred to as Superstorm Sandy, the stock market closed for two days. Some of the city’s subway tunnels, including six under the East River, flooded and were <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/sirr/downloads/pdf/final_report/Ch_1_SandyImpacts_FINAL_singles.pdf">out of service</a> for several days. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2013/04/29/sandy-and-new-york-citys-public-schools-an-annotated-history/">New York City public schools</a> closed down. A week after the storm, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hurricane-sandy-school-days_b_2360754">86 schools remained closed and 24 were so badly damaged that they were ultimately relocated</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302755/original/file-20191120-554-1ckiaur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302755/original/file-20191120-554-1ckiaur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302755/original/file-20191120-554-1ckiaur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302755/original/file-20191120-554-1ckiaur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302755/original/file-20191120-554-1ckiaur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302755/original/file-20191120-554-1ckiaur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302755/original/file-20191120-554-1ckiaur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302755/original/file-20191120-554-1ckiaur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Joseph Leader, New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority vice president and chief maintenance officer, shines a flashlight on standing water inside the South Ferry 1 train station in New York in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, Oct. 31, 2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sandy left an impact and raised awareness that the city was indeed vulnerable to the effects of extreme weather and climate change.</p>
<p>In the aftermath, funding from the <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a> allowed <a href="http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/home.php">Brooklyn College of the City University of New York</a>, the <a href="https://blog.nwf.org/2017/10/risc-the-resilient-schools-consortium-nwf-and-brooklyn-college-partner-with-nyc-schools-to-educate-hundreds-of-students-about-climate-change-and-resilience/">National Wildlife Federation</a>, the <a href="https://www.srijb.org/">Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay</a> and <a href="https://seagrant.sunysb.edu/">New York Sea Grant</a> to create the <a href="https://www.riscnyc.org/partner-schools">Resilient Schools Consortium (RiSC)</a>. </p>
<p>This in-school and after-school education program teaches students in Grades 6 to 12 about climate change, resiliency and vulnerability. More importantly, it is designed to centre youth voices and to support youth action for their schools, city and wider communities. </p>
<p>Authors Alexandra Gillis and Jennifer Adams served as evaluators, and Brett Branco as the principal investigator for the project. </p>
<h2>Students investigate</h2>
<p>RiSC <a href="https://coast.noaa.gov/slr/?Six%20schools%20participated%20in%20the%20first%20iteration%20of%20the%20program,%20three%20of%20which%20had%20previously%20been%20inundated%20by%20Sandy.%20ll=-8228904.717068935%3B4931348.231242768&level=7&CurSLR=6&CurTab=4">uses online tools and interactive lessons</a> to teach students about the changing climate and how to prepare for increased risks and hazards. In 2016, six schools participated in the program, three of which had been affected by Hurricane Sandy. </p>
<p>At one middle school in Brooklyn — the New York City borough just across the East River from Manhattan — the RiSC team did a routine classroom visit that highlights typical RiSC activity.</p>
<p>First, the students learned about how coastal cities are facing climate change. Then, as part of RiSC, students walked around the school building and grounds to assess the school infrastructure and report on damages and identify future weak spots or problem areas. Students were fascinated by visits to the boiler rooms and basements, seeing up close for the first time some of the lasting damage of the storm.</p>
<p>At this particular Brooklyn middle school, students reflected on their experiences. Lots of eager hands jumped up to share ideas for improving the school. One student shared the idea of expanding the maximum capacity of the school during a storm event. Since the students’ school is a <a href="https://maps.nyc.gov/hurricane/#">designated shelter</a> in a key high ground location in Brooklyn, the class conceptualized how to make sure as many people as possible can use the space.</p>
<p>Students went on to make connections between the integrity of the school’s roof, the water quality in the building, the location of the exits and the size of the auditorium — all of which contributed to the school being a viable shelter choice. </p>
<p>The class continued with a collective brainstorm on how to improve the safety of the school. They asked for information about how to make maps and who they should talk to about buying a water purification system.</p>
<p>One of the standout observations of this program is that students quickly agreed that there was a need for climate resiliency in their school buildings and responded: “What can we do right now?”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303364/original/file-20191125-74603-14012jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303364/original/file-20191125-74603-14012jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303364/original/file-20191125-74603-14012jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303364/original/file-20191125-74603-14012jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303364/original/file-20191125-74603-14012jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303364/original/file-20191125-74603-14012jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303364/original/file-20191125-74603-14012jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ariana Baksh, a student at Middle School 88 in Brooklyn, displays her redesign of the school perimeter to make it more resilient to climate change and extreme weather.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Heather Sioux)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reducing eco-anxiety</h2>
<p>There has been a surge in the youth climate movement. Young people are making it clear that they don’t want <a href="https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2019-09-22/un-climate-summit-youth-activists-disappointed">anyone to pay lip service to climate change</a> — they want action. Both common sense and research backs up why this generation seems to be at the end of their rope.</p>
<p>Factors that predict <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0013916510385082">student interest in environmentally friendly practices</a> (like picking up trash, recycling and finding a job that helps the environment) include a perception of self-confidence and a sense of oneness with a community. </p>
<p>Youth climate movements like these suggest young people understand they’ll be the ones who will have to manage impending climate disaster.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/young-activists-are-boosting-the-climate-movement-so-why-all-the-flak-124220">Young activists are boosting the climate movement, so why all the flak?</a>
</strong>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>Youth <a href="https://theconversation.com/young-activists-are-boosting-the-climate-movement-so-why-all-the-flak-124220">know they’re not responsible for the political decisions that have harmed the planet, but must make their voices heard</a> in order to have brighter futures. </p>
<p>The American Psychological Association and ecoAmerica released a <a href="https://ecoamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/eA_Beyond_Storms_and_Droughts_Psych_Impacts_of_Climate_Change.pdf">report outlining the mental health impacts of climate change</a> and guidance for scientific communicators. Their first recommendation was to “give people confidence that they can prepare for and mitigate climate change” — in other words, focus on action. </p>
<p>Schools, communities and people, <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780203866399/chapters/10.4324/9780203866399-12">especially those who are the most marginalized</a>, need to feel empowered to respond and adapt to climate events and climate change. </p>
<h2>Listening to students’ voices</h2>
<p>When students are given the opportunity to present their ideas, talk to their community and design and implement resiliency projects, they feel like they are able to make changes. One student shared: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I told my friends and family that the RiSC program can make a great impact on the city’s actions and even the country.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>At the end of the school year, RiSC students presented their findings, recommendations and projects to local climate and resilience professionals at a Youth Climate Summit in Brooklyn.</p>
<p>This was a positive experience for many students. One noted:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I like to talk to professional(s) and share my ideas. I get to communicate and find ways and other ideas from others to solve these problems.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>These types of experiences allow students to feel part of a larger collective of problem-solvers. </p>
<p>The adults also benefited from hearing from the students. One Federal Emergency Management Agency official said the youth’s work is “just so encouraging and just gives me optimism and hope for the future.”</p>
<p>When youth are empowered to generate solutions to climate change, it allows them to imagine positive alternative futures. </p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123336/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer D. Adams receives funding from National Science Foundation-US and NOAA </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexandra Gillis receives funding from NOAA.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brett Branco receives funding from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the US National Science Foundation (NSF). </span></em></p>After Hurricane Sandy, educators in New York City partnered with environmental and governmental organizations to put youth at the centre of preparing for risks and hazards in their school buildings.Jennifer D. Adams, Canada Research Chair of Creativity and STEM and Associate Professor, University of CalgaryAlexandra Gillis, Graduate Teaching Assistant, Earth and Environmental Sciences department, Brooklyn CollegeBrett Branco, Executive Director of the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay, hosted by Brooklyn College, and Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Brooklyn CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1234472019-10-21T21:36:06Z2019-10-21T21:36:06ZNature stories: Children experience the seasons with Indigenous knowledge keepers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297822/original/file-20191021-56228-1520tty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C17%2C974%2C663&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children in a forest nature program learn about the ‘mitigomin’ (red oak acorns) not buried by the ‘miadidamoo’ (eastern grey squirrels).</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On the winding trails the ground is covered with red and yellow maple tree leaves. These are <em>ininaatigobagaa</em>, the children and adults in our <a href="http://humber.ca/today/news/humber-college-forest-nature-program-receives-edward-burtynsky-award">forest nature program</a> have learned, in the Ojibwe language. </p>
<p>In the Humber Valley in the northwest end of Toronto, children examine and learn about the red oak acorns (<em>mitigomin</em>) that are not buried by the eastern grey squirrels (<em>misagidamoo</em>) and will grow into trees and feed future generations of squirrels. They are learning about the language of nature of that area. </p>
<p>Humber’s nature-based program is located on 250 acres of forest, meadows, wetlands and ponds, a place called <em>Adoobiigok</em>, known as “Place of the Black Alders” in the Michi Saagiig language. Uniquely situated along the Humber River watershed, it historically provided an integral connection for Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and Wendat peoples between the Ontario lakeshore and the Lake Simcoe/Georgian Bay regions.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297768/original/file-20191019-56234-1m7hlbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297768/original/file-20191019-56234-1m7hlbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297768/original/file-20191019-56234-1m7hlbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297768/original/file-20191019-56234-1m7hlbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297768/original/file-20191019-56234-1m7hlbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297768/original/file-20191019-56234-1m7hlbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297768/original/file-20191019-56234-1m7hlbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Lost Words by Robert McFarlane, illustrated by Jackie Morris.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Hamish Hamilton)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But <em>mitigomin</em> aren’t only disappearing from the ground. Writer Robert McFarlane and illustrator Jackie Morris created the book <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-friday-edition-1.4889158/the-lost-words-book-gives-new-life-to-nature-terms-cut-from-oxford-junior-dictionary-1.4889465"><em>The Lost Words</em></a> to draw attention to English-language words pertaining to nature and the ecosystems we know (heron, moss, willows, dandelion) that were <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/13/oxford-junior-dictionary-replacement-natural-words">removed from the <em>Oxford Junior Dictionary</em></a>. </p>
<p>Oxford University Press claimed the words were not being used by children. It introduced words like blog, broadband, attachment and voicemail.</p>
<p>The book is a lyrical protest against the loss of sentient nature words, digitalized play and childhoods, and a call to wonder for both children and adults.</p>
<h2>With Indigenous partners</h2>
<p>Canada has a history of <a href="http://www.trc.ca/assets/pdf/Honouring_the_Truth_Reconciling_for_the_Future_July_23_2015.pdf">making Indigenous words and languages disappear</a>. I work both as faculty in the early childhood education program at <a href="https://humber.ca/arboretum/">the Humber Arboretum</a> and as a researcher exploring how early childhood programs can develop relationships with Indigenous communities and knowledges.</p>
<p>With gratitude for the generosity of <a href="http://humber.ca/aboriginal/">Indigenous Elders and colleagues</a> who share with our children’s forest nature program, we are dedicated to ensuring nature — and an awareness of Indigenous people and knowledges — are part of children’s experiences. We are learning to understand the relationship <a href="https://ojibiikaan.com/ojiibikens-earlyon-program/">between Indigenous knowledge</a> and ecosystems.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wonder-and-wisdom-in-a-childrens-forest-nature-program-106692">Wonder and wisdom in a children's forest nature program</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We learn new words and how language is a key transmitter of Indigenous knowledge and culture. This is particularly <a href="https://en.iyil2019.org/">timely in the International Year of Indigenous Languages</a>, dedicated to preserving languages, cultures and knowledge systems. </p>
<h2>Revitalizing words and knowledge</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://europeansting.com/2019/09/11/children-are-forgetting-the-names-for-plants-and-animals/">recent study</a> of 1,000 children aged five to 16, living in the United Kingdom, found that more than 80 per cent of children could not identify a bumblebee, dandelions were unknown to 42 per cent and 23 per cent could not recognize a robin. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292247/original/file-20190912-190026-1tk19gb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292247/original/file-20190912-190026-1tk19gb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292247/original/file-20190912-190026-1tk19gb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292247/original/file-20190912-190026-1tk19gb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292247/original/file-20190912-190026-1tk19gb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292247/original/file-20190912-190026-1tk19gb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292247/original/file-20190912-190026-1tk19gb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A child in a land-based program in B.C., knows about robins: ‘We found this robin egg, it was a blue baby egg and there was nothing in it. The daddy flies away with the pieces so the babies are safe in their nest.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Becky Bristow)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A 2018 survey conducted for the <a href="https://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/blog/archive/nine-out-of-10-canadians-are.html#.YIBRf5NKhQI">Nature Conservancy of Canada</a> with Ipsos Public Affairs found that nine out of 10 Canadians are happier in nature and benefit from being in nature, yet 66 per cent increasingly spend more time indoors than in their youth. They say this is because of busy schedules and barriers such as rain, snow and insects. </p>
<p>Euro-western <a href="https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/jcs/issue/view/881">early learning and education tends to see nature as separate from culture</a>. </p>
<p>In response to growing awareness of the environmental crisis in recent decades, Euro-western <a href="https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/jcs/issue/view/881">early learning and education is being challenged to expand a long-standing approach to nature as separate from culture</a>. In Canadian early childhood education and care settings, rigid schedules and environments have been emphasized over <a href="http://commonworlds.net/childrens-relations-with-place/">Earth-centred worldviews</a> characterized by <a href="http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/outdoor-play/according-experts/indigenizing-outdoor-play">reciprocal relationships with nature</a>. </p>
<h2>Reciprocal relationships</h2>
<p>Given <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/">global ecological challenges</a>, nature-based programs can engage children and adults in ethical and reciprocal relationships in and <a href="http://harmonywithnatureun.org/dialogue/YIncgsUE4FutNIcjm19GEsYoLu08IkvEfvE1OWULjTfcCdEdfxQzzF1iKof5oO39!c8WgzGuIGGyyUc5sISOpQ">with nature</a>. </p>
<p>My research and our program explores how Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators can create ethical partnerships and space where Indigenous ways of knowing, doing and being shape what we do. </p>
<p>Children share the forest and meadows with chickadees, woodpeckers and <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-extensive-study-finds-number-of-north-american-birds-has-dropped-by/">wrens, which are in steep decline</a>.</p>
<p>Through multi-sensory explorations, observations and wondering, in all seasons and <a href="https://weathercollaboratory.blog/2019/04/04/weathering-lively-ongoingness-scales-and-temporalities/">weather</a>, we not only learn the names of plants, animals and creatures, we learn their stories. </p>
<p>Sacred Tobacco (<em>Asayma</em>) harvested from the Indigenous medicine garden is offered to the towering sugar maple trees that drip sap into metal pails. We ask for permission before tasting the clear maple water — <em>aninaatig'waboo</em> — and give thanks for Elder James Dumont’s teaching about the <em>Maple Tree</em> story and the sweet syrup to come. </p>
<h2>Climate resilience</h2>
<p>Children and adults in our nature program return to known places. </p>
<p>When we walk through the forest, we notice what is, what has changed and wonder what may become. We are attuning ourselves to the rhythms around us. These daily experiences are part of what we call “slow play”: together we live in <a href="http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/outdoor-play/according-experts/indigenizing-outdoor-play">reciprocal relationships</a> with other animals, plants, water and rocks. </p>
<p>We wonder how the sap will run during the day when nights have not been cold enough. In learning to leave acorns and pine cones in their natural habitats, we imagine future oak and pine trees. We witness the cycle of threatened <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/monarch-butterfly-populations-are-on-the-rise">monarch butterflies</a> that journey to Mexico from the arboretum. </p>
<p>In the familiar, we also experience the unknown, perhaps key to thinking <a href="https://thinkdivebiomimicry.com/category/biomimicry/">creatively</a>, adapting to change and empowering resilience. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297790/original/file-20191020-56198-nhdfjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297790/original/file-20191020-56198-nhdfjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297790/original/file-20191020-56198-nhdfjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297790/original/file-20191020-56198-nhdfjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297790/original/file-20191020-56198-nhdfjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297790/original/file-20191020-56198-nhdfjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297790/original/file-20191020-56198-nhdfjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A child in the Willows Forest Nature Program drew a map of the arboretum: ‘I’m with the bees; they’re making honey.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Louise Zimanyi)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Children map their own experiences of nature: how bees make honey, the smell of winter, deer prints in the snow, the adventures of blue-green insects. We learn that dandelion flowers are an early source of nectar for pollinating wild bees and not to pick them. At home, children successfully protest parental attempts to mow the lawn, instructing that dandelions are the first juice for the bees. </p>
<h2>Benefits outweigh risks</h2>
<p>In <a href="http://humberpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Jipe-Zimanyi-Rossovska-Final.pdf">surveys and focus groups</a>, parents note that the benefits of nature play and learning in the <a href="https://youtu.be/Hl-h1fBlhy0">forest nature program</a> far outweigh perceived risks related to weather and insects. </p>
<p>They see increasing confidence and <a href="https://www.childrenandnature.org/research/young-children-from-disadvantaged-backgrounds-show-increased-well-being-and-academic-development-after-participating-in-a-3-year-forest-school-experience/">resilience</a> through problem-solving and embracing new challenges. The benefits they see include nurturing compassion and care for other living creatures and developing a respect for nature through awareness of Indigenous cultures, communities and knowledges. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/srccl/">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)</a> acknowledges the importance of <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/unpfii-sessions-2.html">Indigenous</a> and local knowledge to address climate change. </p>
<p>Earth-centered programs that <a href="https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/research-news/2018-04-03-where-and-how-children-connect-to-nature.html">integrate</a> education and environment goals, and that seek to build ethical partnerships with Indigenous communities, have an important role today. </p>
<p>They could help inform <a href="https://www.sdgsforall.net/index.php/goal-13-14-15">climate change goals</a> such as learning about mitigating human impact on the land and becoming sensitized to caring for and protecting biodiversity.</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123447/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Zimanyi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Earth-centred children’s programs that seek to build ethical partnerships with Indigenous communities have an important role in learning about weathering climate change.Louise Zimanyi, Candidate, Doctor of Social Sciences; Professor ECE, Royal Roads UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1216822019-08-13T22:17:19Z2019-08-13T22:17:19ZSwampScapes: A virtual reality field trip through South Florida’s Everglades<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287572/original/file-20190809-144855-bmrg2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=50%2C25%2C5611%2C3704&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Betty Osceola, a Miccosukee educator and water activist who runs her own airboat business, is one narrative guide into the Everglades in SwampScapes. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Grant Bemis)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Before cities there were swamps. Wetlands and swamps globally have been sacrificed to pave the way for housing, agriculture and industry. Urban developers and dwellers have largely overlooked the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-world-needs-now-to-fight-climate-change-more-swamps-99198">vital role that swamps play in buffering storms, capturing carbon, fostering life and filtering water</a>.</p>
<p>One of the biggest threats to swamps today is a lack of understanding of swamps’ role in human survival. This is especially true in South Florida, home to the Everglades, one of the largest swamps in North America, and the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature/cerp.htm">site of a huge and expensive wetland restoration project</a>. </p>
<p>In a time of climate emergency, it is especially important to listen and learn from the swamps around us. But what if you don’t live near a swamp? </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287611/original/file-20190811-144862-621pcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287611/original/file-20190811-144862-621pcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287611/original/file-20190811-144862-621pcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287611/original/file-20190811-144862-621pcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287611/original/file-20190811-144862-621pcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=660&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287611/original/file-20190811-144862-621pcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=660&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287611/original/file-20190811-144862-621pcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=660&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Florida butterfly orchid found in the Everglades.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Rita Bauer)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I spent a semester as the visiting Knight Chair at the <a href="https://com.miami.edu/center-for-ccc">Center for Communication, Culture and Change at the University of Miami</a>, teaching a production course in interactive documentary and the Everglades. As a filmmaker and teacher who is invested in participatory processes, my goal was to explore media methods to promote what I’ve come to think of as swamp literacy. </p>
<p>Over several months, I worked in collaboration with university students, community organizations, biologists and co-directors Kim Grinfeder and Juan Carlos Zaldivar. We developed <a href="http://swampscapes.org">SwampScapes,</a> a multi-platform documentary that involved a 13-minute <a href="https://vimeo.com/316306541">Virtual Reality (VR) film</a>, a <a href="http://www.swampscapes.org/swamp-symphony">Swamp Symphony</a>, and a <a href="http://www.swampscapes.org/dist/guide.pdf">study guide</a>. For those who could not access the VR film, we shot video <a href="http://www.swampscapes.org/guides">portraits</a> that can be viewed online. </p>
<p>We were curious to explore how we could use <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2013.07.033">VR to cultivate care about a site</a> that is inaccessible to most people. Our idea was to create a virtual field trip for youth with no means or interest in wading through a swamp.</p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/316306541" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">SwampScapes VR film trailer. The 13-minute VR film can be experienced with an Oculus Go headset.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Part of the appeal of the virtual field trip was to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.05.060">mitigate the impact of visitors on the ecosystems we were trying to protect</a>. We wanted to <a href="https://thetilt.org/democratizingvr-c13c29711ea2">democratize VR</a> by creating stories informed by environmental justice and participatory methods. </p>
<h2>Shared input</h2>
<p>A central challenge guiding the project was how we might make the process as meaningful as the final product. </p>
<p>We were inspired by activist David Bollier’s articulation of <a href="https://thenextsystem.org/commoning-as-a-transformative-social-paradigm">“commoning”</a> as a method where people foster social connections with each other and with nature to challenge the competitive logic of the market economy and its focus on resource extraction. His analysis draws on ideas about protecting and interacting with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316423936">resources that people depend on and share in common</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287573/original/file-20190809-144847-1yl4v15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287573/original/file-20190809-144847-1yl4v15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287573/original/file-20190809-144847-1yl4v15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287573/original/file-20190809-144847-1yl4v15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287573/original/file-20190809-144847-1yl4v15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287573/original/file-20190809-144847-1yl4v15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287573/original/file-20190809-144847-1yl4v15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Liz Miller and graduate student Evan Karge in Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Grant Bemis)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Media scholars Patricia Zimmerman and Helen De Michiel describe participatory documentaries as an open space where <a href="https://www.crcpress.com/Open-Space-New-Media-Documentary-A-Toolkit-for-Theory-and-Practice/Michiel-Zimmerman/p/book/9781138720978">diverse forms of engagement can emerge to expand the public commons</a>.</p>
<p>To start our own <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11266-018-0006-y">process of media commoning</a>, I asked students to identify a personal goal, skills they might contribute and their hopes for impact. </p>
<p>This simple exercise helped to establish that the project would be shaped by our shared input, the people we met in the field and the research we developed as a group. </p>
<p>Kyle Powys Whyte and Matt Ferkany, professors of philosophy and education at Michigan State University, advocate for the need to integrate <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1761029">participatory virtues</a> such as fairness, empathy, humility or compromise into environmental education. I wanted my students to gain experience in collaborative problem solving and negotiating differences. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287614/original/file-20190811-144843-1rn8cfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287614/original/file-20190811-144843-1rn8cfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287614/original/file-20190811-144843-1rn8cfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287614/original/file-20190811-144843-1rn8cfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287614/original/file-20190811-144843-1rn8cfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287614/original/file-20190811-144843-1rn8cfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287614/original/file-20190811-144843-1rn8cfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Our team filming biologist and guide Mike Owen in Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Rita Bauer)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Shimmering waters’</h2>
<p>Environmental justice speaks to the power imbalances in environmental struggles. It’s a framework that encourages people to think through critical questions like: “Whose perspectives are included in a media project?” </p>
<p>Anishinaabe scholar Deborah McGregor suggests that in addition to considering power imbalances between people, we must also rethink our <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/speaking-for-ourselves">relationships to other beings</a>. In a VR film, place itself becomes a lead protagonist, so our challenge was to limit human narration and to let users experience the place’s presence. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287610/original/file-20190811-144843-d9qssv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287610/original/file-20190811-144843-d9qssv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287610/original/file-20190811-144843-d9qssv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287610/original/file-20190811-144843-d9qssv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287610/original/file-20190811-144843-d9qssv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287610/original/file-20190811-144843-d9qssv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287610/original/file-20190811-144843-d9qssv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In SwampScapes, local fisherman Larry Pace describes how he respectfully shares his fishing hole with a resident alligator, explaining, ‘this is <em>his</em> territory.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Rita Bauer)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We wanted to ensure that if we were hosting a virtual field trip or teleporting visitors to a fragile, sacred or faraway place, that we were careful about how a user entered the space. </p>
<p>We relied on the concept of guides, people with deep relationships to the place, to situate the user in a respectful way. Seven guides worked with us including algae specialist Larry Brand, raptor biologist Donna Molfetto, and Miccosukee educator and water activist Betty Osceola.</p>
<p>Betty explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It’s important to me to help people who visit the Everglades to understand and connect with the Everglades, but also to understand my culture.” </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287613/original/file-20190811-144847-1gae7ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287613/original/file-20190811-144847-1gae7ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287613/original/file-20190811-144847-1gae7ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287613/original/file-20190811-144847-1gae7ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287613/original/file-20190811-144847-1gae7ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287613/original/file-20190811-144847-1gae7ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287613/original/file-20190811-144847-1gae7ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Betty Osceola shared that the Miccosukee people call the Everglades <em>Kahayatle</em>, meaning shimmering waters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Grant Bemis)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>From audience to community</h2>
<p>Throughout the process, we tried to be self-reflexive about the intended and unintended impacts our project might have. By developing a virtual field trip to cultivate swamp awareness were we inadvertently encouraging students to be more interested in screens rather than getting outside to explore local landscapes? </p>
<p>Virtual field trips aren’t a replacement for outdoor education and technology alone does not help to cultivate care. While VR documentary projects have potential for education they can also be associated with new forms of consumerism, spectacle or electronic waste. Acknowledging entanglements is a necessary part of critical media literacy. </p>
<p>Our SwampScapes project is taking a new direction as we begin outreach. </p>
<p>We have shared our project with 85 Grade 8 students in Miami as part of their biology curriculum and we hope to reach more students.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287695/original/file-20190812-71940-eszmr6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287695/original/file-20190812-71940-eszmr6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287695/original/file-20190812-71940-eszmr6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287695/original/file-20190812-71940-eszmr6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287695/original/file-20190812-71940-eszmr6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287695/original/file-20190812-71940-eszmr6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287695/original/file-20190812-71940-eszmr6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students at Carver Middle School in Miami watch SwampScapes VR film on Oculus Go headsets.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Konstantia Kontaxis)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This summer we attended the <a href="https://docsociety.org/climate-story-lab/">Climate Story Lab</a>, a workshop where producers of environmental media and climate change experts explored how to transform audiences into communities to foster climate awareness. </p>
<p>We not only want to cultivate care about swamps — we also want to build our capacity for collaborative education.</p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121682/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth (Liz) Miller as a Knight Chair received funding from the Knight Foundation to carry out this research project.</span></em></p>A filmmaker, her students and community partners create a multi-platform documentary and study guide to teach swamp literacy and care through a trip into the Everglades.Elizabeth (Liz) Miller, Professor in Communication Studies, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1161032019-05-02T13:09:10Z2019-05-02T13:09:10ZWhy my fears about climate change made me cross the line that separates academia from activism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271992/original/file-20190501-113852-p5v40z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The author as presenter.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Climate Race Film</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Everybody seems to be <a href="https://twitter.com/CarbonBrief/status/1123571071951757312">talking about climate change</a> again. This time, a great deal of the coverage has been sympathetic to the idea that we are facing an emergency that demands drastic action. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/extinction-rebellion-disruption-and-arrests-can-bring-social-change-115741">Extinction Rebellion’s protests</a> caused some outrage, but also some <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/04/22/time-denial-conservatives-have-take-climate-crisis-seriously/">surprising support</a>. Swedish campaigner Greta Thunburg has been <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48017083">widely admired</a>, David Attenborough has been <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/on-television/with-the-netflix-series-our-planet-david-attenborough-delivers-an-urgent-message">spreading the word</a> with urgency, and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00049b1">primetime programming</a> has led to serious discussions about climate change across living rooms, offices and social media. </p>
<p>So is this the fabled tipping point in public opinion which will see widespread support for radical changes? That is a question that can only be answered in hindsight. </p>
<p>Yet despite the significant surge in interest and concern, most people are probably unaware of what climate change really means: that it’s not just about nudging our emissions a bit lower or taking incremental action generally. This is a challenge that is perhaps unprecedented in all of human history. </p>
<h2>Crossing the line</h2>
<p>Given that I teach climate change to university students, I can (and do) talk for hours about the importance of global temperature change, or ecological impacts. </p>
<p>But these are academic concerns in the sense that they are almost completely separated from what climate change means to me, my family, friends and pretty much everything else I care about. It’s taken me some time to realise that I was in a sort of denial about climate change. I was able to compartmentalise it. </p>
<p>Reflecting on this led me to take a step over the line that separates academia from activism. I have colleagues and friends who are strict observers of this separation of states. Some of them have deeply principled concerns that advocating for particular climate related policies could undermine their professional objectivity. </p>
<p>Others have little desire to be the subject of the online abuse which often comes with sticking your head above the parapet and into the public debate. </p>
<p>I had these same reservations. But over time they have been gradually worn down by the steady drum beat of bad news and insufficient action. My personal tipping point was an otherwise unremarkable lecture to one of my undergraduate classes. </p>
<p>I was discussing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over time, and pointed out that this has been increasing ever since they were born. On each one of their birthdays, there was more CO₂ in the atmosphere than on the same day the previous year. Every additional birthday cake candle celebrated another one, two, or even three per cent annual increase. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pVYt9ZDDfBs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrarion Carbon Tracker.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As I spoke, I looked into the faces of a generation that had been completely failed by their predecessors. It is a failure which came despite two decades of the science being perfectly clear that increasing CO₂ concentrations would produce further warming, and that dangerous changes to the global climate were lurking. </p>
<h2>And… Action</h2>
<p>That was when I realised that the positive professional and personal changes I had managed to make were hopelessly inadequate. Yes, I avoided flying where possible, and yes, I had largely eliminated meat and dairy from my diet. </p>
<p>I cycle rather than drive. I had switched to a green energy supplier. All that was good. All that was important. But I keenly felt the need to do more. </p>
<p>So I decided to make a documentary about climate change – about what drives it and what we can do individually, and together, to ensure a stable natural world for our children and future generations. </p>
<p>Why a film? It was a chat with a good friend, film maker Paul Maple of <a href="https://www.globaldocumentary.org">Global Documentary</a>, about our shared frustrations over the lack of climate change programmes being broadcast which led to plans to make our own. </p>
<p>I had no idea what would be involved, and Paul didn’t tell me – perhaps from fear of scaring me off. That was over three years, a thousand miles of travel around the UK, terabytes of data, and countless coffee-fuelled hours in the editing suite, ago. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271223/original/file-20190426-194616-1wc97xy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271223/original/file-20190426-194616-1wc97xy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271223/original/file-20190426-194616-1wc97xy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271223/original/file-20190426-194616-1wc97xy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271223/original/file-20190426-194616-1wc97xy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271223/original/file-20190426-194616-1wc97xy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271223/original/file-20190426-194616-1wc97xy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Filming in London.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All of that work has now been rendered down to the 39 minutes of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jA8k4YDzlo">The Race Is On: Secrets and Solutions of Climate Change</a>. In making the film, we were extremely fortunate to be able to interview leading figures in climate change science, economics and activism. I wouldn’t be able to name them all here without also naming the 67 people who contributed to the crowdfunding of the project and so help turn our initial sketchy plans into reality. </p>
<h2>A film for a future</h2>
<p>Early on, we agreed that a film, no matter how slick, could only be one part of an engagement strategy. So we planned community screenings, in which the film would be followed by panel discussions and town hall style meetings. We also produced a <a href="https://climateracefilm.org">companion website</a> containing information on practical steps we can all take to reduce our climate impacts. </p>
<p>The journey from academic to film maker activist is not something I can unreservedly recommend. I’ve had to park aspects of my professional and personal life, given how all consuming the project was. And now I seem to have taken up a new role as distributor and promoter, as the film will have no value unless people watch it. </p>
<p>But while I hope that this will be more than offset by generating positive impact, it’s also true that on a personal level it’s been worth it. I’ve met some incredible people, been allowed to go places and do things that otherwise would have been out of bounds (it’s amazing what you can get away with when accompanied by a film crew), and learnt new skills that have helped both my teaching and research. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_jA8k4YDzlo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Race is On.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The film project has been a labour of love. At times, a stress test, and finally a ragged race to deadlines – so something like a microcosm of the civilisation-scale climate challenge we all now face. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/imagine-newsletter-researchers-think-of-a-world-with-climate-action-113443?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Imagineheader1116103">Click here to subscribe to our climate action newsletter. Climate change is inevitable. Our response to it isn’t.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116103/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Dyke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We’re running out of time – so we can’t leave it all to Greta Thunburg and David Attenborough.James Dyke, Senior Lecturer in Global Systems, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1111592019-02-14T11:38:59Z2019-02-14T11:38:59ZClimate change: young people striking from school see it for the life-threatening issue it is<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258786/original/file-20190213-181589-fv9ckb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C0%2C5431%2C3309&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/brussels-belgium-20th-nov-2018activists-hold-1235514247?src=a0v5nlN2TSYypcPtIsPG7A-1-3">Alexandros Michailidis/Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Students around the world are walking out of school once more, as part of ongoing strikes to protest governments’ inaction on climate change. Since August 2018, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/08/global-school-strikes-over-climate-change-head-to-the-uk">tens of thousands</a> of young people have taken part in strikes across Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Canada and Australia. The movement continues to grow, with fresh protests <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/08/global-school-strikes-over-climate-change-head-to-the-uk">occurring in the UK</a> and <a href="https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/unions-back-next-school-strike-in-australia-ahead-of-2019-federal-election/news-story/50dcdc9aae668636129232bdc0518841">elsewhere</a>. </p>
<p>Today’s young people are the first generation to have lived their entire lives under the threat of catastrophic climate change. They’re now positioned as future leaders, forced to take urgent action on an issue which older generations have lacked the political will, organisation and authority to address. </p>
<p><a href="http://theconversation.com/greta-thunberg-at-davos-why-gen-z-has-real-power-to-influence-business-on-climate-change-110409">Speaking at the World Economic Forum</a> in Davos in January, 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg called on the young people of her generation “to hold the older generations accountable for the mess they have created, and expect us to live with”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1079354162070994946"}"></div></p>
<p>During the school strikes, young people have emphasised their concerns about the Earth’s future. But the fact is, many children and young people <a href="https://www.unicef.org.uk/what-we-do/how-climate-change-affects-children/">are already living</a> with the effects of global climate change, which include forced migration, food scarcity, drought, rising sea levels, extreme weather events and toxic contamination of water catchments.</p>
<p>Political debates about climate change manipulate environmental facts, values and concerns, which is contributing to a state of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/04/climate-fear-or-hope-change-debate">fear and anxiety</a> among children and young people in many parts of the world. For example, neo-conservative and populist movements in the United States, Europe and Australia <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/05/trumps-disbelief-wont-stop-dangerous-climate-change">spread messages</a> denying the scientific evidence for climate change, and challenging attempts to address it on moral, religious or political grounds. At the same time, young people are exposed to apocalyptic visions of the disastrous impacts of climate change through the internet, social media, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2017/oct/19/climate-change-hollywood-new-supervillain-geostorm-blade-runner-2049-downsizing">literature and films</a>. </p>
<h2>Overlooked and underestimated</h2>
<p>As far back as 2007, <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/32381005?q&sort=holdings+desc&_=1549900311276&versionId=39354962">an Australian study</a> of children aged ten to 14 found that half were deeply concerned about climate change, while a quarter were worried that the world would end within their lifetimes. In spite of all the anxiety and divisiveness in the world today, the climate strikes reveal a growing international movement of young people, committed to political resistance and hope for a better future. </p>
<p>Political leaders <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global/video/2018/nov/27/scott-morrison-tells-kids-going-on-climate-strike-to-get-back-to-school-video">have scolded</a> young people for skipping school to strike. And while it’s true that education can and should help young people to engage with the environmental, social and political dimensions of climate change, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14733285.2018.1467556">our new review</a> of academic literature from around the world suggests that this vital issue is rarely addressed with any depth, nuance or rigour in schools. </p>
<p>In many cases, climate change only makes a brief appearance as a minor topic in the science curriculum. What’s more, we found that schools, communities and governments rarely engage with young people’s ideas, experiences and understandings of climate change. In many cases, young people are simply left to cope with the overwhelming threat and responsibility of climate change, without support from the wider community. </p>
<h2>A creative response</h2>
<p>Another research project called <a href="http://www.climatechangeandme.com.au/">Climate Change and Me</a>, which ran from 2013 to 2017, helped to establish a platform for children and young people to express and connect their attitudes, awareness and understandings of climate change in New South Wales, Australia. We worked with 135 children and young people, aged nine to 14, and encouraged them to generate their own lines of anthropological and creative research. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258760/original/file-20190213-181612-1kas61p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258760/original/file-20190213-181612-1kas61p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258760/original/file-20190213-181612-1kas61p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258760/original/file-20190213-181612-1kas61p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258760/original/file-20190213-181612-1kas61p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258760/original/file-20190213-181612-1kas61p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258760/original/file-20190213-181612-1kas61p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Making a statement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Climate Change and Me.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Their responses ranged from ethnographic studies within their own communities, to artworks, photo-essays, science fiction stories, poetry and films. Through this project, we found that young people’s lives were deeply affected by climate change, and that they were politically and creatively motivated to take action. As one 11-year-old said, in an interview with one of their peers:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s quite scary, the effects of climate change are occurring now and it’s very devastating. It’s selfish and horrible how humans are causing animal and plant species to die. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This sense of a combined ethical and existential crisis was echoed in young people’s interviews, stories, poems and films over the course of the project. One ten-year-old envisioned a near future “in which humans fulfil every one of their selfish desires, a world that I would not want to live in”. Another created a photo-essay featuring felled trees in her local neighbourhood, with the caption:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We kill many things. We are malicious killers. We do not realise that we are destroying our homes and the homes of all other organisms.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet these dark perspectives were accompanied by expressions of empowerment and calls to action. A 12-year-old participant in the research argued:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The difference must begin with us. We must change our values and what we believe is important to us. We must make drastic changes to how we think and make choices about our everyday activities. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>As one nine-year-old in our study simply put it, “only people who care can help”. Our study helped young people translate this sense of ethical care and responsibility into social actions, including a travelling exhibition viewed by over 10,000 people, and an interdisciplinary Climate Change Curriculum which has since been adopted by over 30 schools in Australia. </p>
<p>This contagious sense of young people caring and daring to stand up against climate inaction became one of the most salient and hopeful findings of the Climate Change and Me project. And now, we see this finding playing out on a larger scale: while climate change is darkening young people’s lives, along with their prospects for a liveable future, we see children and young people using powerful and creative tactics to claim a voice and a political platform in society, and confront the greatest challenge of our age.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111159/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Rousell receives funding from NSW Environmental Trust. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles receives funding from the NSW's Environmental Trust. </span></em></p>In these divided times, young people are uniting to claim a political platform and fight climate change.David Rousell, Research Fellow in Childhood, Youth and Education Studies, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityAmy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, Professor of Sustainability, Environment & Education and Deputy Dean Research, School of Education, Southern Cross UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/587742016-06-07T20:18:52Z2016-06-07T20:18:52ZIt’s time for a new age of Enlightenment: why climate change needs 60,000 artists to tell its story<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125482/original/image-20160607-31942-1re6hn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A electric screen showing Shanghai Pudong financial area in a clear day, is seen amid heavy smog in Shanghai. What can art do to make climate change more real?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Aly Song</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2013, one of the world’s leading public relations experts, <a href="http://bobpickard.com/biography/">Bob Pickard</a>, cried out to the climate world: “mobilise us!” In a <a href="http://bobpickard.com/the-climate-change-pr-disaster/">frustrated op-ed</a>, he listed 20 key problems with climate communication. One of them was “story fatigue”: bland stories with “highly repetitive and stale” themes. </p>
<p>Climate information is still often confusing, unengaging and absent from the wider public discourse. <a href="http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v6/n3/full/nclimate2824.html">Linguistic</a> analysis found that the most recent IPCC report was less readable than seminal papers by <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/10/13/einstein-easier-to-understand-than-ipccs-climate-change-language-study-says.html">Einstein</a>. Last year, in America, climate news media coverage rates <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2016/03/07/study-how-broadcast-networks-covered-climate-ch/208881">dropped</a> despite the historical Paris Climate Summit and Pope Francis’ <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html">climate Encyclical</a>. </p>
<p>One key risk is complacency – a perception that the issue is now resolved. This is despite the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/23/science/global-warming-sea-level-carbon-dioxide-emissions.html?_r=0">risk increasing</a>, as our <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-energy-idUSKCN0XO16W">response lags</a>. </p>
<p>One <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378015000758">study</a> found that Australia had the highest percentage of climate sceptics in the world, (17% as compared to 12% in the USA). Analysis of <a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2015/11/Pew-Research-Center-Climate-Change-Report-FINAL-November-5-2015.pdf">global attitudes in 2015</a> found that, while across the world, 54% of people considered climate change a “very serious problem,” in Australia this figure was only 43%.</p>
<p>Communicating the climate message to inform, but also engage and influence behaviour has proven intensely difficult. Over a decade of research on this issue has highlighted the need for communication to engage with people’s “deep frames” – beliefs formed over a lifetime, which are mostly subconscious.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125487/original/image-20160607-31966-3emmha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125487/original/image-20160607-31966-3emmha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125487/original/image-20160607-31966-3emmha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125487/original/image-20160607-31966-3emmha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125487/original/image-20160607-31966-3emmha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125487/original/image-20160607-31966-3emmha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=632&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125487/original/image-20160607-31966-3emmha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=632&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125487/original/image-20160607-31966-3emmha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=632&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A girl holds an umbrella over an ice sculpture, made from water taken from the Yellow, Yangtze and Ganges rivers, at an exhibition by Greenpeace.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jason Lee</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My research paper, recently published in <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wcc.410/abstract">WIRES Climate Change</a> draws upon cognitive science, evolutionary psychology and philosophy, among other fields, to explore the emerging idea that global warming exceeds modern humans’ cognitive and sensory abilities.</p>
<p>To overcome this impasse, climate communication needs to engage people at a philosophical, sensory and feeling level. People need to be able to feel and touch the new climate reality; to explore unfamiliar emotional terrain and be helped to conceive their existence differently. </p>
<p>How is this to be done? The world must turn to its artists: storytellers, film-makers; musicians; painters and multi-media wizards, to name a few.</p>
<p>Under the global <a href="http://www.futureearth.org/projects">Future Earth</a> initiative, a team of around 60,000 scientists and social scientists has been assembled to understand and report on the physical, tangible dimensions of the problem. I argue we need 60,000 arts and humanities experts to focus upon the intangibles – the communication, engagement and meaning-making aspects of the problem. </p>
<p>Eco-philosopher <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/hyperobjects">Timothy Morton</a> has developed a new way of telling the climate story. He recasts global warming as a hyperobject – something which is “massively distributed in time and space relative to humans.” Its arrival, he has said, renders humans “weak, lame and vulnerable.”</p>
<p>Unlike the Anthropocene conception, which puts humans conspicuously at the center of the problem, the Hyperobject narrative pushes humans to the side. They are no longer “masters” of Earth, they are now subject to its whims. Human laws, institutions and other systems of responding to problems are, in the face of this “hyperobject”, revealed as trivial.</p>
<p>Artworks Morton discusses which capture this new “hyperobject” include <a href="http://papunyatula.com.au/yukultji-napangati-solo-exhibition/">Yukultji Napangati’s</a> depictions of an interconnected, “mesh-like” reality, Marina Zurkow’s <a href="http://www.o-matic.com/play/friend/mesocosmWINK/">Mesocosm</a> multi-media series which presents “nature” as being dynamic and interconnected with humans and <a href="http://www.wissenskunst.ch/uk/contemporary/2/">Cornelia Hesse-Honegger’s</a> microscopic bugs suffering radiation-induced deformities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125485/original/image-20160607-31928-79v5ls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125485/original/image-20160607-31928-79v5ls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125485/original/image-20160607-31928-79v5ls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125485/original/image-20160607-31928-79v5ls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125485/original/image-20160607-31928-79v5ls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125485/original/image-20160607-31928-79v5ls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125485/original/image-20160607-31928-79v5ls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125485/original/image-20160607-31928-79v5ls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Screen shot of Marina Zurkow’s computer-driven animation Mesocosm (Wink, Texas)</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course many artists are already grappling with climate change. <a href="http://www.artcop21.com/">ARTCOP21</a>, a gigantic global climate art festival, coincided with the Paris Climate talks, while the <a href="http://zkm.de/en/event/2016/04/globale-reset-modernity">Reset-Modernity</a> exhibition in Germany “offers a set of disorienting/reorienting procedures…” </p>
<p>Amitav Ghosh’s new novel <a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo22265507.html">The Great Derangement</a> (2016) considers why modern humans seem disabled in the face of the climate threat. Olafur Eliasso’s installation art, <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/unilever-series-olafur-eliasson-weather-project">The Weather Project</a>, alludes to the prominent role the sun now has in the consciousness of the climate-aware citizen. </p>
<p>Australian artists are undertaking similar explorations. John Reid’s participatory performance art, <a href="http://www.artcop21.com/events/invitation-walking-the-solar-system/">Walking the Solar System</a> asks people to hold a frozen walking stance for one minute, during which time they imagine the Earth turning 1,800 kilometres. This helps them connect to planetary rather than human notions of existence, thereby perhaps starting to bridge the cognitive and sensory disconnect.</p>
<p>A collaboration of poetry, art and sculpture in the <a href="http://sharonfield.com.au/exhibition-on-the-verge/">On the Verge</a> exhibition revealed the global warming lived experience as a precarious one. Meanwhile, Gotye’s Eyes Wide Open music video contrasted pictures of present day industrialisation with images of the earth as a barren wasteland.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oyVJsg0XIIk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="http://www.aehhub.org/">Australian Environmental Humanities</a> hub and <a href="http://climarte.org/">Climarte</a> help to network Australian creative responses to climate change, while the <a href="http://www.psi2016.com/">Performance Climates</a> event to be held in Melbourne this July, examines the role of performance art and theatre in responding to it. In November, Sydney will host the <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/environment-institute/events/global-ecologies-local-impacts-conference/">Global Ecologies – Local Impacts Conference</a>, which considers the Environmental Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.</p>
<p>But the scale of effort, when compared to the role artists have played in other significant societal shifts, is piecemeal.</p>
<p>Consider the artistic and cultural flourishing that accompanied the rise of Ancient Greece, supported by the agents of change Pericles and Alexander the Great. </p>
<p>Or the Islamic Golden Age of the 8th and 9th centuries, which saw a boom in both art and science. Or the Enlightenment, which featured arrays of great scientists, philosophers, musicians and artists such as Galileo; Newton; Descartes; Spinoza; Kant; Hobbes; Voltaire; Goya; Bach and Mozart.</p>
<p>If a new human civilisation is to emerge that can live within its ecological limits, artists and communicators must have a prominent place, alongside the great scientific and technological innovators of our times. </p>
<p>Humanity will never be able to defeat a threat it cannot perceive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58774/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This study has been supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) PhD Scholarship. Ms Boulton is a serving member of the Australian Army.</span></em></p>Climate change is such a big problem it’s almost impossible for us to really understand. We need artists to mobilise on a huge scale to render the problem comprehensible.Dr. Elizabeth Boulton, PhD Candidate, cross-disciplinary approaches to climate and environmental risk, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/489272015-10-13T05:20:57Z2015-10-13T05:20:57ZNew international climate chief faces a serious communication challenge<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97960/original/image-20151009-9124-9wqwoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s all change at the most important climate science body in the world, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). <a href="http://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2015/09/the-carbon-brief-interview-dr-hoesung-lee/?utm_source=Weekly+Carbon+Briefing&utm_campaign=658eb75303-Carbon_Brief_Weekly_081015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3ff5ea836a-658eb75303-303418709">Hoesung Lee of South Korea</a> was named the new chair – and it’s fair to say he is much less well-known than his European and American rivals.</p>
<p>Raising his profile will be one challenge, but much more important will be improving the way the IPCC communicates with its many audiences. Lee has promised to do exactly that, but so far he has been short on specifics and new ideas.</p>
<p>He will have to get up to speed quickly as the <a href="http://www.cop21paris.org/about/cop21">crucial Paris summit</a> is almost upon us. In the run-up to the last (potentially) breakthrough UN summit in Copenhagen in 2009, the IPCC was very slow to rebut the challenges to mainstream science launched by sceptics.</p>
<p>As the president of the Copenhagen meeting, Connie Hedegaard, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-hope-success-at-the-paris-climate-talks-in-conversation-with-connie-hedegaard-46928">was quoted as saying</a>: “Millions were put into international campaigns, yet when <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/jul/07/climate-emails-question-answer">Climategate</a> emerged the IPCC had almost no one employed to take care of communications. They did not even have a communications team.”</p>
<p>The IPCC has come a long way since its inept handling of the Climategate and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/climatechange/7031403/UN-climate-panel-admits-mistake-over-Himalayan-glacier-melting.html">Himalayagate</a> controversies. For a start, it now has professional communications staff, but it has an equally long way to travel.</p>
<p>Academics and others have identified some of the obstacles to more effective IPCC communication – <a href="http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/a-top-task-for-the-new-chair-of-the-u-n-climate-panel-a-communication-reboot/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%2520Main&contentCollection=Climate%2520Change&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs&region=Body">a lack of resources</a>, <a href="http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v4/n6/full/nclimate2194.html">over-reliance on technical language</a>, and <a href="http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v5/n4/full/nclimate2528.html">failure to take advantage of new media</a> have all been identified.</p>
<p>To his credit, Lee did mention in his first press conference as chair one area of communication he wants to develop: he will increase the amount of outreach work directed at a wider audience around the world. This is one of the recommendations coming out of a recent survey of users of the IPCC’s blockbuster volumes known as the assessment reports, which the IPCC publishes every five or six years.</p>
<p>In this survey (to be published soon as part of a <a href="http://www.cicero.uio.no/en/posts/projects/ipcc-ar5-in-europe">research project</a> analysing how the IPCC reports inform policy making) my colleagues and I interviewed 30 representatives of the groups identified by an independent review of the IPCC as their target audiences – policy makers, the business sector, NGOs, higher education and the media. We wanted to know their views on the usefulness of the IPCC reports, their language and clarity, and recommendations for the future.</p>
<h2>Bad communication</h2>
<p>One of the recommendations is that one highly effective way of communicating the science is when IPCC authors talk directly to local, regional or sector-specific users, particularly when they combine their own expertise and scientific rigour to communicate the findings clearly. But another clear message from the research is that although the IPCC reports sets the standard for high-quality science, overall they still suffer from low-quality communication.</p>
<p>Part of the problem is that the often impenetrable or jargon-ridden language used by the scientists may be fine for other scientists in their peer group but not for policy makers and other non-expert groups. Many of the interviewees recommended bringing in specialist writers (who are familiar with the science) early in the writing process.</p>
<h2>Inadequate staffing</h2>
<p>Another issue is the appropriate level of resources for communication. The IPCC rightly parades the large numbers of scientists (running into the thousands) who write and review its reports.</p>
<p>But it is not as widely known that the communications team consists of just one head, former Reuters journalist <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/organization/organization_secretariat.shtml">Jonathan Lynn</a>, backed up by one or two colleagues.</p>
<p>It may not be the best use of IPCC funds to substantially increase its permanent media staff as demands on them peak mostly at the time of publications. However, a strong case can be made for increasing selected funding in the following areas: outreach work, building an online and social media strategy, graphics development, learning good practice from other reports and developing better metrics for assessing how widely the IPCC reports are used.</p>
<h2>Tailored reports</h2>
<p>Lee wants more input from the finance and business sectors into the IPCC reports. He’s right, but how should he do it?</p>
<p>Again, our survey recommends that policy makers and businesses should have more input into the early stages of scoping the reports to help ensure that policy concerns are flagged more clearly in the final reports.</p>
<p>More so-called “derivative products” would also be very helpful. These are reports aimed at specific audiences that take parts of the IPCC reports and communicate them in formats that work for those audiences. Those produced by the <a href="http://www.cisl.cam.ac.uk/business-action/low-carbon-transformation/ipcc-briefings">Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership</a> are a good example.</p>
<p>The challenge is to adapt the IPCC process to allow more deployment of IPCC authors to work with these types of reports, perhaps instead of devoting so much effort to the mammoth assessment reports. The IPCC could provide some accreditation and recognition to authors and universities for participating in this manner.</p>
<p>A huge body of climate science is now agreed upon by the large majority of scientists. Of course, the most important knowledge gaps need to be identified and reduced – but just as much intellectual energy needs to be directed at the thorny challenge of how best to communicate the science, particularly in a digital world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48927/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Painter receives funding from the Joint Programming Initiative AR5 project in Europe to do this research, which analyses how the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report informs policymaking. He has also received funding from the European Climate Foundation, the Grantham Institute and the Norwegian Environment Agency. </span></em></p>There are three things the new head of the IPCC can do now to help people understand climate science.James Painter, Head of the Journalism Fellowship Programme, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/305572014-08-25T05:19:44Z2014-08-25T05:19:44ZMulti-discipline courses will help solve emerging global problems<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/57167/original/v65cpscy-1408700414.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Studying one subject won't help save the world. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-210697081/stock-photo-world-map-on-green-leaves.html?src=dt_last_search-6">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Across the globe, we are experiencing rapid changes to our environment and social structures. Climate change, population growth, and social unrest are causing ever increasing problems. The rate of change poses serious challenges for education and how we prepare graduates for an unpredictable future.</p>
<p>Courses addressing environmental change and social adaptability are slowly appearing in university prospectuses around the world. For the most part, these topics come in the form of new post-graduate courses. </p>
<p>For example, Harvard University has a graduate program in <a href="http://www.extension.harvard.edu/degrees-programs/sustainability-environmental-management">sustainability and environmental management</a>. The prospectus states students will be “primed to create solutions to the crises affecting our global community”. Many other universities also now run similar masters-level courses on environmental sustainability.</p>
<h2>Combining different subjects</h2>
<p>But sustainability as a subject can only be taught by drawing from several academic disciples. The answers to the big global questions cannot be found within single traditional disciplines such as biology or politics on their own. </p>
<p>The new courses tend to combine elements of environmental science, economics and politics. They often include modules covering new topics such as global environmental politics or the sustainability of food production. Enabling students to learn from multiple disciplines is a crucial step towards helping them address the big problems facing society. This is particularly important since we cannot predict what the future problems might be.</p>
<p>Undergraduate courses have lagged behind, but there are some truly interdisciplinary degree courses beginning to appear. Several universities now provide a diverse education via new BASc degrees in arts and sciences. The most successful examples are from <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/basc">University College London</a> in the UK and <a href="http://artsci.os.mcmaster.ca/about-the-program">McMaster University</a> in Canada. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/57082/original/rtgbz8b4-1408631489.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/57082/original/rtgbz8b4-1408631489.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/57082/original/rtgbz8b4-1408631489.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/57082/original/rtgbz8b4-1408631489.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/57082/original/rtgbz8b4-1408631489.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/57082/original/rtgbz8b4-1408631489.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/57082/original/rtgbz8b4-1408631489.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Helping to solve tomorrow’s problems.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-211373263/stock-photo-businessman-hand-shows-light-bulb-with-planet-earth-as-concept.html?src=i2AcOVxB4bsObelzE58F5w-2-5">Lightbulb image via Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The BASc degrees typically include new modules on multi-disciplinary working and communicating knowledge. These enable students to then pick and mix from pre-existing modules across many different departments. Additional features of these degrees include interdisciplinary research projects and substantial work placements, which are likely to improve employability.</p>
<h2>Flexibility and online learning</h2>
<p>Broad interdisciplinary degrees are unfortunately not yet widely available. However, more international universities are now offering flexible combined honours degrees. This approach is similar to the US major/minor model of higher education. </p>
<p>Many university students also now routinely use <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/oct/22/study-mooc-top-universities">Massive Open Online Courses</a> to extend their learning beyond their degrees. Supplementing learning with online courses provides broader training than is available through standard degrees. </p>
<p>Such approaches are well placed to provide the diversity of knowledge students need to address the global environmental and social problems that don’t stay within the realms of a single subject. But diversifying education is only part of the change needed. The methods we use to teach and assess students also play critical roles in making them adaptable. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/subjects/medev/Problem-based_learning-_a_practical_guide_%2815%29">Problem-based learning</a> is already at the heart of many <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/326/7384/328">medical</a> and <a href="http://www.ukcle.ac.uk/resources/teaching-and-learning-practices/pbl/">law</a> degrees. It provides the opportunity to practice broad thinking under real-world situations. Problem based learning also encourages self-directed and explorative learning. This approach could be used more broadly to encourage the ability to adapt that students need in the current climate. </p>
<p>For example, students could be faced with a local farmer who is experiencing crop failures, or a small business which is struggling due to the increasing cost of raw materials. The students then research the underlying problems and potential solutions. Both scenarios are broadly related to climate change, but the first might require pulling together subjects such as ecology, soil science, engineering, and economics. The second scenario might require research on climate forecasting, ecosystem services, and business. </p>
<p>Some universities now offer cross-disciplinary problem-based <a href="http://www.exeter.ac.uk/grandchallenges/">learning events</a> focused around global challenges such as food security or even educational reform itself. Assessment can be directly built into these new forms of teaching, reducing the reliance on traditional exams, which have been widely <a href="http://edukologija.vdu.lt/en/system/files/ConstrutivismAligment_Biggs_96.pdf">criticised</a> for being a poor test of understanding. </p>
<h2>Skills for unpredictable situations</h2>
<p>Rolling out modern teaching and learning approaches more broadly could help students to integrate the many disciplines needed to address global change, and to apply their knowledge to unpredictable situations.</p>
<p>Our education system was designed for a bygone time, and is not equipping students with the skills to thrive in our changing world. It is clear that <a href="http://www.socialtalent.co/blog/graduate-hiring">employers</a> increasingly need staff who are capable of working in unstructured situations. Broader society also needs the same flexibility in this time of great change. Reluctance to change is common, but universities will need to embrace new approaches educate tomorrow’s society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30557/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amber Griffiths is scientific adviser for cultural laboratory, FoAM Kernow. She currently receives funding from the EU, the Royal Society, the Natural Environment Research Council, and the Fishmongers' Company. Her ORCID ID is 0000-0002-7455-6795.</span></em></p>Across the globe, we are experiencing rapid changes to our environment and social structures. Climate change, population growth, and social unrest are causing ever increasing problems. The rate of change…Amber Griffiths, Lecturer in Natural Environment, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.