The Revolution Starts in the Classroom (Unit 2)

Source: Gaulkin, T. (2019). Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Climate Change Education (CCE) is an emerging field with ever-growing importance. According to the United Nations Paris Agreement in Article 12, signatory nations like Canada have agreed to advance CCE in a manner that ‘enhances public action under the Agreement’ (UNFCCC, 2015, p.16). Yet, in Canada and elsewhere, the limited scope of teaching climate change in schools has limited potential for engagement and therefore, reducing the ability to meet our commitments under Article 12. In the Canadian context, it is not only a lack of national curriculum standards when it comes to teaching and learning about the climate crisis (Nicholas & Wynes, 2019), but the way in which we teach CCE may actually do more harm than good in reaching the goal of climate action. Which begs the question, what kind of education is necessary to empower climate action? 

In many ways, this is the key issue to a design challenge I am encountering in the Masters of Arts in Climate Action Leadership (MACAL) program at Royal Roads University. In the course CALS 501: Leading Climate Action in Society Part 1 led by Dr. Robin Cox and Dr. Elizabeth Childs, my fellow colleagues and myself are tasked with the challenge to develop a prototype of an open educational program for empowering the public to act on the climate crisis (MACAL, 2021). In my design team, we are focusing on youth in Canadian secondary schools by developing a prototype for an open-access climate educational program. But as the courses in the MACAL program have taught us thus far, this is no easy task as climate change is a transdisciplinary issue with multiple and often conflicting worldviews, values and perspectives that requires new kinds of thinking and being in the world to address this ‘wicked’ issue of our times  (Alexander et al., 2011; Hine et al., 2015; Jampel, 2018; Moser, 2016; YPCCC, 2016). Hence, what follows is the conundrum set forth in our design thinking challenge, specifically with developing a program in CCE for Canadian secondary schools that incorporates new ways of thinking and being towards the goal of climate action. Essentially, igniting a climate revolution inside the classroom. 

In Canada and elsewhere, CCE is primarily taught in a single discipline of the sciences (Field et al, 2019; Nicholas & Wynes, 2019). Climate science has contributed significantly to our understanding of the climate system and enhanced climate modelling in a way that has shown anthropogenic climate change is ‘unequivocal,’ according to the latest assessment report (AR6) by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Masson-Delmotte, et al., 2021). However, by solely teaching climate change in terms of Western science, we are privileging the Euro-centric worldview over alternative perspectives, that problematizes the crisis namely in terms of atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, while the solutions are predominantly techno-economic fixes (Allen et al., 2001; Funtowicz & Ravetz, 2003). Instead, alternative perspectives exist in re-framing climate change as a social justice and equity struggle, which lends itself to solutions oriented towards anti-oppression and systemic change across sectors beyond just fossil fuel industries (Alston, 2019; Boyd, 2019; Jampel, 2018; Gram-Hanssen, Schafenacker, Bentz, 2021; Moser, Coffee & Seville, 2017). 

As we’ve been learning throughout the MACAL program, Indigenous scholars and Climate Justice leaders reframe the issue by highlighting the systemic root causes of climate change in terms of power and oppression, such as linking the crisis as part of an ongoing trend in colonialism (Jampel, 2018; Whyte, 2017). This critical perspective makes transparent the ways in which Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) face the disproportionate share of climate-risks and burdens (Jampel, 2018; Pellow, 2016). For example, marginalized communities and nations 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 (​​Boyd, 2019). While, the wealthiest populations of the Global North have contributed the most to global emission and will be the most advantaged in protecting themselves or adapting to these climate risks (Ibid.). Climate-related risks include impacts to health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security, economic growth and more (Masson-Delmotte et al., 2018). Furthermore to this point, climate change could unravel 50 years of progress in human rights development (Alston, 2019). Hence, climate change cannot solely be understood in terms of the mechanics of emissions, but as part of larger socio-historical trends of inequality and colonial oppression that necessitates a wider scope in teaching and learning about the climate crisis beyond science alone. While teaching climate science is important it is not the entire picture, as a wider lens to the problems and solutions are necessary if we are to enact systemic change. 

However, it is not just what we teach that needs broader educational practice, but how we teach it. In the climate change communications field, there is growing evidence to support storytelling as a legitimate epistemology and methodology for research as a device for not only sharing information and gathering data, but inciting change through emotional and relational connection (Iseke, 2013; McRaney, 2017; Rotman, 2017). Indigenous cultures including First Nations, Inuit and Metis have held a long and deeply rich practice of storytelling, including oral tradition, to pass on knowledge this way through the generations (FNPO, 2009; Sium & Ritskes, 2013). As of late, there is growing research across Western scholars that is incorporating the use of storytelling into qualitative and quantitative research, including even using story in energy behavior research (Rotman, 2017). In the educational context, there is an important role in storytelling or even artistic expression as a vehicle for discussing complex issues of the Anthropocene to youth, as seen in the works of Japanese animation artist Hayao Miyazaki (Maclear, 2018). However, the message of CCE in the Canadian curriculum is often of the problem, and very seldom of solutions (Nicholas & Wynes, 2019). Hence, we are fostering a ‘doom and gloom’ narrative around climate change in our very education system. 

That is why I argue here, like many others before me, that we need to tell better stories if we are to incite climate action (Segel, 2019). Specifically, if education is to be a vehicle for public action as stipulated under the Paris Agreement, then we need to evolve our climate narratives past the age-old ‘doom and gloom’ narratives that have been deeply embedded into the ethos of the environmental movements of the past. Of course, there is research to support that conventional climate messages like the negative impacts to the natural world and human health have ‘staying power’ especially among interpersonal communication on social media networks (Connor et al., 2015). However, there is much evidence to support the theory that framing the climate crisis in a positive light – such as the positive benefits that come with climate mitigation and adaptation including development, competence building and community building – can be a key psychological motivator for the public in taking action on the issue (Connor et al., 2015.; Hine, 2015). Moreover, there is research that shows engaging in climate action directly as a form of pedagogy – such as with ecological restoration, rehabilitation and stewardship projects – can further educational attainment and positive psychology that reinforces further climate action (Krasny, Peters & Schusler, 2009; Krasny & Tidball, 2009; Krasny, 2020). 

Hence, returning back to the previously mentioned design challenge, if we are to create a climate education that empowers the public to act it is going to take a holistic approach to pedagogy. That means, as argued here, taking a wider lens to the problem and solutions than teaching the issue in a siloed way with the sciences alone. In part, this means telling better stories about climate change across disciplines that facilitate a sense of possibility, wonder and creativity in the future than normative apocalyptic narratives. But perhaps most importantly, it is going to take an education that puts climate action at the center by not only teaching about what this means, but practicing it in the real world. After all, what is education for if not for sustaining and even thriving our world?

References:

Alexander, C. et al. (2011). Linking Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge of Climate Change. BioScience 61(6), pp. 477-484. DOI; https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/bio.2011.61.6.10  

Allen, T. F. H., et al. (2001). Dragnet Ecology—“Just the Facts, Ma’am:” The Privilege of Science in a Postmodern World. BioScience, 51(6), 475-485. Retrieved from: https://academic-oup-com.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/bioscience/article/51/6/475/240648

Alston, P. (2019). Climate Change and Poverty: Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights (Section III A. Human Rights, B. Poverty, C. Inequality). UN Human Rights, Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR), report to UN Human Rights Council, A/HCR/41/39. Retrieved from: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3810720?ln=en

Boyd, D. (2019). Safe Climate: A Report of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment (paragraphs 45-51 and 84-86). UN Human Rights, Office of the High Commissioner. Report to the UN General Assembly, A/74/161. Retrieved from: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Environment/SREnvironment/Report.pdf

Field, E., Schwartzberg, P. & Berger, P. (2019). Canada, Climate Change and Education: Opportunities for Public and Formal Education (Report). Learning for a Sustainable Future. Retrieved from: https://lsf-lst.ca/media/National_Report/National_Climate_Change_Education_FINAL.pdf

FNPO. (2009). Storytelling. First Nations Pedagogy Online (web page). Retrieved from:  https://firstnationspedagogy.ca/storytelling.html  

Funtowicz, S., & Ravetz, J. (2003). Post-normal science. In International Society for Ecological Economics (Ed.), Online Encyclopedia of Ecological Economics. Retrieved from: http://isecoeco.org/pdf/pstnormsc.pdf

Gram-Hanssen, I., Schafenacker, N., Bentz, J. (2021). Decolonizing Transformations Through ‘Right Relations.’ Sustainability Science. doi: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11625-021-00960-9

Hine, D.W. et al. (2016). Preaching to different choirs: How to motivate dismissive, uncommitted, and alarmed audiences to adapt to climate change? Global Environmental Change 36, 1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.11.002 

Homer- Dixon, T. (2011). Complexity Science. Oxford Leadership Journal 2(1). Retrieved from: https://homerdixon.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Homer-Dixon-Oxford-Leadership-Journal-Manion-lecture.pdf 

Iseke, J. (2013). Indigenous storytelling as research. International review of qualitative research 6(4), pp. 559-577. 

Jampel, C. (2018). Intersections of disability justice, racial justice and environmental justice. Environmental Sociology 4(1), 122-135.

 Krasny, M.E., Peters, S.J., & Schusler, T.M. (2009). Developing citizens and communities through youth environmental action. Environmental Education Research, 15 (1), 111-127. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13504620802710581

Krasny, M.E. & Tidball, K.G. (2009). Applying a resilience systems framework to urban environmental education. Environmental Education Research 15(4), pp. 465-482. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504620903003290

Krasny, M.E. (2020). Advancing Environmental Education Practice. Cornell University Press: Ithaca, United States.

MACAL. (2021). CAL 501–Course Design Challenge Worksheet. (PDF). Unit 2: Ideate September 6-12, 2021 (webpage). CALS 501: Leading Climate Action in Society Part 1 (WordPress Blog). Royal Roads University. Retrieved from: https://commons.royalroads.ca/cals501/schedule/unit-2/ 

Maclear, K. (2018). Protected or Prepared? Children in a Stormy World. Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, 15 92), pp. 127-157.

Masson-Delmotte, V. et al. (2021). Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis (Summary for Policymakers, Working Group 1). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. Retrieved from: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/#SPM

McRaney, D. (2017). YANSS 113: Narrative Persuasion. You Are Not So Smart. [Podcast].  Retrieved from: https://youarenotsosmart.com/2017/10/24/yanss-113-the-power-of-fiction-to-change-peoples-minds/’

Moser, S., Coffee, J., & Sevile A. (2017). Rising to the Challenge, Together: A Review and Critical Assessment of the State of the US Climate Adaptation Field (Report). Kresge Foundation. Retrieved from: https://kresge.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/rising_to_the_challenge_together_linked_0.pdf

Nicholas, K.A. & Wynes, S. (2019). Climate Science Curricula in Canadian Secondary Schools Focus on Human Warming, Not Scientific Consensus, Impacts or Solutions. PLOS ONE, 14(7). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218305

Pellow, D.N. (2016). Toward a Critical Environmental Justice Studies: Black Lives Matter as an Environmental Justice Challenge. Du Bois Review, Hutchins Centre for African and African American Research, 13 (2), pp. 1-16. DOI; 10.1017/s1742058x1600014x

Rotman, S. (2017). “Once upon a time…” Eliciting energy and behaviour change stories using a fairy tale story spine. Energy Research & Social Science, 31, pp. 303-310. doi: 10.1016/j.erss.2017.06.033 

Segel, M. (2019). To fix the climate movement, tell better stories: The missing climate change narrative. Nautilus. Retrieved from:  http://nautil.us/issue/75/story/to-fix-the-climate-tell-better-stories-rp  

Sium, A., & Ritskes, E. (2013). Speaking truth to power: Indigenous storytelling as an act of living resistance. In Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 2(1), I-X.  Retrieved from: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/1962

UNFCCC. (2015). Paris Agreement. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), United Nations Treaty Council, 1-27. Retrieved from: http://unfccc.int/files/essential_background/convention/application/pdf/english_paris_agreement.pdf

Whyte, K. (2017). Indigenous Climate Change Studies: Indigenizing Futures, Decolonizing the Anthropocene. English Language Notes 55 (1-2), pp. 153-162. Retrieved from: https://kylewhyte.marcom.cal.msu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2018/07/IndigenousClimateChangeStudies.pdf 

YPCCC. (2020).  Global warming’s six Americas. (2020). Yale program on climate change communication (YPCCC). Retrieved from: https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/about/projects/global-warmings-six-americas/