Climate Literacy in Education

Implementing Ecojustice Praxis in Children's Literature Courses

2024-01-02T12:48:29-06:00

Faculty must do more to include ecojustice pedagogy, including climate change education, in higher education. This article describes how I infused ecojustice pedagogy into my undergraduate children's literature course. I share my experiences on developing an ecojustice praxis over a three-semester period. Using the three prongs of sustainability (ecology, economics, and equity), I provide suggestions for incorporating texts, vocabulary, and heuristics, specific activities and assignments.

The HOPE Framework

2024-08-16T08:45:39-05:00

This article outlines the Healing Opportunities for Processing Eco-grief (or HOPE) framework. Modeled on hope theory research, the framework includes four textual markers for hope: 1) Motivation for Change, 2) Belief that Change is Possible, 3) Plans for a Path Forward, and 4) Agency to Take Action. This article introduces the HOPE framework as a pedagogical strategy to assist educators in climate literacy practices that spark dialogue and healing through centering hope as a lived practice.

Staying with the Climate Trouble

2024-08-25T08:48:56-05:00

In teaching about climate, when it comes to the troubling question of “what can we do?” I’ve argued that we try to help students stay with, rather than prematurely and inadequately, resolve that trouble and that we do this by inviting them into our own state of not knowing. How to stay with the pedagogical trouble of doing that, including the trouble of trying to contain the despair that an honest account of the climate crisis may provoke? This essay suggests that one approach to that question in the literature classroom is to teach texts in which characters themselves grapple with the question of “what can we do?” Ultimately, the pedagogical challenge is to help shape these textual encounters into an awareness that, especially as it is shared, despair might be something other than a terminal condition—indeed, might be a necessary passage through to whatever comes next.

Climate Change Denialism

2024-04-22T12:10:44-05:00

Climate denialism is a spectrum spanning outright denial and degrees of skepticism about the reality of climate change. Denialism is fueled by disinformation or imprecise information that finds fertile ground on social media and takes advantage of the users’ fears and vulnerabilities, such as a lack of climate literacy and critical thinking. In this article, we offer examples of how to refute climate change denialism and expand notions of climate literacy to include the capacity to both identify and respond to climate disinformation.

“Playing your part”

2024-06-12T09:55:33-05:00

I was granted an interview with Sarah Guillory with the intention of publishing this in tandem with my article “After the Flood.” The conversation develops many of the themes of the article, especially the author’s belief in the importance of resilience as a trait that will help young people in tackling the climate crisis.

Social Justice, Human Rights, and Environmental Crisis in Álvaro Colomer's Ahora llega el silencio (2019)

2024-03-22T13:01:35-05:00

The novel Ahora llega el silencio (2019) by Álvaro Colomer is a recent example of Spanish ecofiction, exploring themes of environmental and social justice in a post-apocalyptic setting. This article shows the novel’s potential to address human rights, gender equality, social justice, climate and environmental issues. Through a story of survival and unity in the face of chaos, Colomer's work delivers a timely message about the need for cooperation, respect, and environmental stewardship for a better future.

The Black Snake

2024-07-12T11:29:45-05:00

We Are Water Protectors presents a complicated example of the role horror can play in children’s literature. This article looks at terrifying, yet powerful imagery in this book, with its implications for both children’s literature as a form of activism and a critical discussion of the topics brought up by Lindstrom and Goade. I argue that horror functions as a mediator capable of bringing topics such as ecocriticism, activism, climate emotions, and colonialism to fruitful discussions in both elementary and university literature classes.

After the Flood

2024-07-08T10:22:04-05:00

Sarah Guillory’s 2022 novel Nowhere Better Than Here explores how young people can take a proactive role in helping their community to mitigate the effects of ecological damage caused by climate change. The novel tells the story of Jillian Robichaux, whose Louisiana home is threatened by coastal erosion. Upon rescuing a box of old photographs of her town, Jillian is forced to contend with the extent to which her town is now almost unrecognizable due to the constant intrusion of flood waters. Jillian and her friends launch a project to plant marsh grass to counter the creeping erosion. In this way, Guillory balances dystopian aspects with a more optimistic outlook, in exploring the role of child agents in engaging in tangible actions to offset the effects of climate change.

Democracy and Kinship in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

2024-05-15T04:20:45-05:00

This article argues that Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind provides generative openings for young people to imagine egalitarian political relations with non-human animals. At the same time, the film also reproduces the all-too-common image of the young monarch who almost single-handedly saves their people from destruction: an autocratic and authoritarian impulse that runs contrary to what a truly ecological democracy might look like. Nevertheless, I propose that educators might still use Nausicaä to help young people think through the politics of climate-minded media.

Confronting Climate Denial with an Intergenerational Conversation/Song

2024-06-18T15:22:58-05:00

On September 19, 2019, millions of people worldwide participated in youth-led climate strikes. This article considers an artistic response to one of these strikes in a small Midwestern community in the United States. The response is a song and video framed as a conversation between youth and adults about climate change denial. Climate justice requires ongoing conversations with adults bearing responsibility for listening intently to the voices of youth advocating for climate justice. Educators can help foster a deeper understanding of our current reality and inspire more timely and comprehensive climate action with arts-based approaches. There is potential for songwriting, as a form of literacy practice, to be more widely applied in K-12 schools and teacher education to further enrich a collective understanding and commitment to addressing climate challenges.