Source: Illustration by stoatphoto, stock photo ID: 538907086, modified by author.
In my last blog, I made the analogy that Climate Change Education is much like Sex Education in Canada. Both are notoriously uncomfortable topics for parents to talk about with their kids, yet both forms of education can help young people make important decisions that affect their futures. For example, those that are in favor of progressive ‘Sex Ed’ know that it can help young people in making informed decisions about their own bodies and sexual experiences, including their own sexual identities. When it comes to climate change, I argue the outcomes of education are not that different. For advancing Climate Change Education in schools across Canada may also help young people in making informed decisions about their own lives in terms of their climate futures. Such as with developing coping skills to climate anxiety, or potentially finding alternative climate solutions that can make positive social change. But to do this, I argue much like ‘Sex-Ed’ advocates do, that we need a holistic approach to Climate Change Education nationally. To do that, parents must drive this change with teachers, school boards and education systems. To illustrate the kinds of ‘calls to action’ parents can make, here are three examples of holistic approaches to education on climate change:
1. Re-narrativizing the Climate Story
One approach to a holistic Climate Change Education is the use of storytelling and art. For in many ways these are ‘communication tools’ that have the ability to not only share information through narrative devices or forms of expression, but they can also explore difficult emotions while fostering relational connections with others. Indigenous cultures – including First Nations, Inuit and Metis – have a long and rich history in the practice of storytelling including oral tradition to pass on knowledge through the generations. In the context of Climate Change Education, inter-generational knowledge is not always possible, but teachers and schools that struggle with the topic due to their own values or who lack resources and training on the topic can instead find a plethora of publicly available material to spark open dialogue about climate change using films and art. For example, the award-winning Japanese animation artist, Hayao Miyazaki, of the hit films Spirited Away (2001) and Princess Mononoke (1997) has used artistic expression to narrativize environmental crises with children in an appropriate way that is not fear-mongering while still addressing complex issues. In the climate crisis, there is an assortment of such films to encourage open dialogue in the classroom, including a list of resources by the Climate Change Education Exchange.
Alternatively, ‘eco-art therapy’ is emerging as a valuable therapeutic service for those struggling psychologically with ecological crises. This has important implications as eco-art therapy may be an educational tool for addressing hard to digest emotions and developing coping skills for youth struggling with climate anxiety. It could also be a vehicle for imagining alternative futures that shift the dominant narrative of ‘doom and gloom’ over our fears-based perception of our climate future to one of hope, transformation and renewal by re-narrativizing the climate story with youth through art. Hence, both storytelling and artistic expression can move the pendulum forward, from an education that ignores the psychological impacts of the climate crisis on youth to an education that metabolizes hard emotions and even helps youth to thrive in a warming world ahead.
2. A Climate Justice Lens
Climate Change will affect us all, but it will not affect us all equally. That is why a holistic approach to Climate Change Education must incorporate teaching about climate justice and not just climate science alone. However, in Canada and elsewhere, Climate Change Education is primarily taught in a single discipline of the sciences. In a review of Canada’s climate science curriculum, it was found that the primary focus of this education is on the mechanics of the climate system and warming temperatures with the effects of increased greenhouse gas emissions. However, what is often less discussed is the human rights side of the climate crisis, including moral and ethical discussions. Namely how Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) face the disproportionate share of climate-risks and burdens.
For example, in a special report by the United Nations Human Rights Special Procedures, it is found that marginalized communities in Global North like Canada and marginalized nations in the Global South face a higher level of climate-risks, while contributing the least to global emissions and having the least capacity to adapt to a warming world. While in the same report it is found that the wealthiest populations of the Global North who have contributed the most to global emission will be the most advantaged in protecting themselves and adapting to these climate risks. This is just one reason, among many, of why climate change cannot solely be understood in terms of the mechanics of emissions, but as part of a larger picture of climate justice. To date, there are several educational resources that exist in teaching about climate justice, but one that exists in the Canadian context is the The Climate Justice Curriculum Package. The package consists of eight modules for students in grades 8 to 12, and while it is tailored to the province of British Columbia it can be adapted for teachers in other localities and for specific classroom needs.
3. Taking Climate Action
Finally, when it comes to a holistic approach to Climate Change Education, the question over civic engagement must be addressed. In school settings, pro-environmental behaviors are often taught as changing LED light bulbs or tree planting. While these kinds of activities had their place in the 20th century by sending the message to young people that ‘if we all do our part, we can save the world.’ However, in the 21st century, it must be understood that the climate crisis is unlike any other environmental crisis before it and it will require mobilizing public action at a level only seen in history in the World Wars. While I do not usually support war analogies, it is to say that individual changes like the ones mentioned above, including ‘green’ consumer choices and personal mitigation activities, are simply not adequate in matching the magnitude of the climate crisis today. For it is well understood in the scientific community, academics and climate advocates alike that a crisis of this scale requires drastic and far-reaching mitigation measures across all sectors – economic, political and social – in order to decarbonize global society, while simultaneously developing means to fill the adaptation gap in addressing the oncoming climate impacts. Hence, the climate crisis is an ‘all-hand on deck’ scenario in which schools too will need to evolve the way in which they engage youth in these climate goals.
However, taking ‘climate action’ can mean a wide range of activities for young people – from political organizing and protest, to engaging in climate policy and public speaking, or even engaging youth in ecological restoration and adaptation projects like improving the local habit with native species or flood dykes. However, there are important distinctions here that make these kinds of activities very different to the above mentioned forms of public action. All of these activities have the explicit purpose of influencing democratic processes, and therefore they are political in nature instead of politically neutral, or they are attempting to reach climate goals through collective action, and therefore not through individual-action. These are important distinctions to make as the scale of the climate crisis calls on all of us to engage in political and collective action. In the context of Climate Change Education, countries like New Zealand are not shying away from these kinds of activities as their new national standards in climate change curriculum encourage students to participate in student climate protests like the Fridays for Future for extra credits. Meanwhile, a group of educational researchers in Canada argues that youth can play a key role in climate policy if given the opportunity, by “imagining, negotiating, and co-creating futures” with policy makers through alternate climate solutions that only young minds can see. In essence, moving young people from knowledge to action will take more than simply talking about the problems, as our current education on the issue is centered around, and instead it will take empowering youth with real-world experiences in climate action.
Final Remarks
These are just some of the approaches emerging towards holistic approaches in Climate Change Education. But until parents mobilize teachers, school boards and educational systems to implement a more robust curriculum on the crisis, this education may be destined to follow the history of ‘Sex Ed’ in Canada. However, where this analogy painfully differs is in timing. Sex Education has been established in Canada for over forty years and we are still struggling to meet the needs of youth in this country when political partisanship threatens new Sex-Ed standards, such as in the protests against new standard in Ontario. Yet, when it comes to climate change we simply do not have the same luxury of time to debate about the importance of this education. According to the latest assessment report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it is estimated that we will reach or exceed the crucial 1.5℃ warming limit in the early 2030s by most emissions scenarios. Beyond which even half a degree more will significantly worsen the climate future of our children with higher risks of flooding, droughts, extreme weather events and rising inequality.
As parents, whether we like it or not, our children will eventually encounter sex and the climate crisis. But like sex, I argue young people may be able to avert negative encounters of the climate crisis if they are properly educated, in terms of possibly averting some of the worse effects of the crisis. For example, whether it is stopping the spread of STD’s with the use of contraception or stopping the spread of false information about climate-related events, the more knowledge someone has about a situation the better decisions they can make about their own lives. In essence, I believe education can save lives. That is why it is our time now as parents to step up to the challenge in calling for a robust Climate Change Education in Canada. By ensuring that our children get the quality education they deserve (and need) to make informed decisions about their own climate futures.
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