Climate Change Education Approach: Place-based Climate Change Education
Kristen Sbrogna
As leaders and educators take on the relatively new challenge of educating students of all ages about climate change, a place-based framework offers experiential and community-based approaches designed to go deeper than the ubiquitous “calculate your carbon footprint” activity.
My own journey as a climate change educator has arrived at place-based frameworks as a result of my desire to carry students beyond behavior change modalities to reach more profound personal transformations with global and ecological impact. Grounding students in their geographic place and community does not dismiss global perspectives, but rather offers a jumping off point for understanding the larger context of climate justice. In seeing themselves as part of a network that is interconnected, students can begin to understand how their choices are felt not only in their own lives and communities but also across the world. Educators can leverage this foundation as a window through which to consider broad and far-reaching experiences. Combined with experiential community-based activities, students begin to see themselves as agents of change, not just in their behavioral choices but in their ideas, actions, and personal value systems. Place-based frameworks can support this shift in consciousness through connecting place to culture.
Critics of environmentalism and of climate change are quick to dismiss both movements as elitist, White, and privileged; however these critiques fail to recognize that inherent in race, class, and gender is a deep association with place, or many times, places. “Conversations about diversity, culture, and schooling, focused as they often are on race, class, gender, and so forth, make it very difficult to talk about “the land” or “the environment” --all the diverse ecological places that make possible any cultural formation, any identity, and any idea”(Gruenewald & Smith, 2014, p. 144). A place-based approach to climate change education has the potential to bridge for students the persistent gaps between the academy and experience, between the green-washed local and the emergent global, offering for students the potential of a new way of learning and seeing the world. Linking place-based climate change curriculum to topics such as nature connection, local economy, and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) offer experiential and community-based opportunities inside and outside the classroom.
By connecting with place, students are able to relate climate change and climate change patterns to their own lives. This nature connection, or intimacy with nature, can widen human perspective to include the nature world. Changes in the natural world and concern for its health and that of its inhabitants - human or not - become real, noticeable, and relevant. (Lopez, 1992; Louv, 2008). As David Selby points out in Education and Climate Change: Living and Learning in Interesting Times, this “nature connection” can serve climate change education by “a reengagement with dynamical interconnectedness as a form of spirituality”(11). Incorporating experiential practices such as nature observation, gardening, and climate and seasonal mapping with students offer ways to reach differentiated learning styles and make climate change personal for students.
This understanding of climate justice can be enhanced with place-based experiential activities connects students to their community. I have offered some ideas below. Community-based approaches are often included under the umbrella of place-based approaches, and many use the terms quasi-interchangeably. (Schipper, 2014). Place-based learning naturally encourage engaged learning, service-learning, and community-based approaches that equip students with real-life skills while enabling students as leaders, activist, and change-makers. Through direct experience working with community organizations or non-profits, or through direct or indirect action on their schools, campuses, or neighborhoods, students can track the impact of their work. Through online initiatives, social media, and other web-based projects, students can increase their reach exponentially and globally. Combining experiential approaches and climate justice education within a place-based or community-based framework has the potential to transform students into global citizens capable of catalyzing lasting change on a personal level and beyond.
Curricular Crossovers for A Place-based Approach to Climate Change Education
Traditional Ecologic Knowledge and Climate Change
A place-based approach to climate change honors traditional ecologic knowledge (TEK) by looking to indigenous and cultural traditions rooted in place for adaptive management and responses to climate change. Vitality Index of Traditional Environmental Knowledge (VITEK) defines TEK as “our invaluable heritage and our hopeful future” (Zent & Maffi 2009, p. 1). When coming from a perspective of place in education, honoring the history of the land and those species - human and not - who have come before is not only beneficial but also imperative when working within a sustainability framework. As academia trends toward multi-species and post-human perspectives, TEK frameworks are ahead of the curve, recognizing that culture is inherent in place, not separate from or second to concern over human identity constructs. “The education of the twenty-first century must be about healing this cultural and ecological split” (Cajete, 1999, p. 18). The seemingly small social actions of students embarking on a diet challenge or circulating a petition on campus when combined with learning and reflection on climate justice, I think get at healing the split that Cajete writes about.
Economic Theory and Climate Change
Using a place-based approach, theory of localized sustenance and economy follow naturally. When individuals have an intimate understanding of their place they are more likely to value local products and services, eat local food, and utilize local resources. As Vandana Shiva states in Earth Democracy, “Localization of economies is a social and ecological imperative. Only goods and services that cannot be produced locally --using local resources and local knowledge--should be produced nonlocally and traded long distance” (Shiva, 2006, p. 10). Perhaps if people have a deep understanding of the place-based foodways of their locales, they will eat in accordance with those foodways, and collective food miles could be reduced significantly.
Lesson Plan
Personal Climate Challenge
Climate Challenge Possibilities
Change-maker Activity
*Students (in groups of individually) design a change-maker activity that they carry out throughout the last month of the semester. Must include a direct action, a direct impact on a specific community, and must be relevant to climate justice.
Change-maker possibilities
References
Kagawa, F., & Selby, D. (Eds.). (2009). Education and climate change: living and learning in
interesting times. Routledge.
Lopez, B. H., Prentice, M., & Tilcock, S. (1992). Children in the woods. Lone Goose Press.
Louv, R. (2008). Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit
disorder. Algonquin Books.
Shiva, V. (2006). Earth democracy: justice, sustainability and peace. Zed Books.
Zent, S., & Maffi, L. (2009). Final report on indicator no. 2: Methodology for developing
a vitality index of traditional environmental knowledge (VITEK) for the project
“Global indicators of the status and trends of linguistic diversity and traditional
knowledge.”. British Columbia, Canada. Retrieved from
http://www.terralingua.org/vitek/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2012/03/ VITEK_Report.pdf
Kristen Sbrogna
As leaders and educators take on the relatively new challenge of educating students of all ages about climate change, a place-based framework offers experiential and community-based approaches designed to go deeper than the ubiquitous “calculate your carbon footprint” activity.
My own journey as a climate change educator has arrived at place-based frameworks as a result of my desire to carry students beyond behavior change modalities to reach more profound personal transformations with global and ecological impact. Grounding students in their geographic place and community does not dismiss global perspectives, but rather offers a jumping off point for understanding the larger context of climate justice. In seeing themselves as part of a network that is interconnected, students can begin to understand how their choices are felt not only in their own lives and communities but also across the world. Educators can leverage this foundation as a window through which to consider broad and far-reaching experiences. Combined with experiential community-based activities, students begin to see themselves as agents of change, not just in their behavioral choices but in their ideas, actions, and personal value systems. Place-based frameworks can support this shift in consciousness through connecting place to culture.
Critics of environmentalism and of climate change are quick to dismiss both movements as elitist, White, and privileged; however these critiques fail to recognize that inherent in race, class, and gender is a deep association with place, or many times, places. “Conversations about diversity, culture, and schooling, focused as they often are on race, class, gender, and so forth, make it very difficult to talk about “the land” or “the environment” --all the diverse ecological places that make possible any cultural formation, any identity, and any idea”(Gruenewald & Smith, 2014, p. 144). A place-based approach to climate change education has the potential to bridge for students the persistent gaps between the academy and experience, between the green-washed local and the emergent global, offering for students the potential of a new way of learning and seeing the world. Linking place-based climate change curriculum to topics such as nature connection, local economy, and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) offer experiential and community-based opportunities inside and outside the classroom.
By connecting with place, students are able to relate climate change and climate change patterns to their own lives. This nature connection, or intimacy with nature, can widen human perspective to include the nature world. Changes in the natural world and concern for its health and that of its inhabitants - human or not - become real, noticeable, and relevant. (Lopez, 1992; Louv, 2008). As David Selby points out in Education and Climate Change: Living and Learning in Interesting Times, this “nature connection” can serve climate change education by “a reengagement with dynamical interconnectedness as a form of spirituality”(11). Incorporating experiential practices such as nature observation, gardening, and climate and seasonal mapping with students offer ways to reach differentiated learning styles and make climate change personal for students.
This understanding of climate justice can be enhanced with place-based experiential activities connects students to their community. I have offered some ideas below. Community-based approaches are often included under the umbrella of place-based approaches, and many use the terms quasi-interchangeably. (Schipper, 2014). Place-based learning naturally encourage engaged learning, service-learning, and community-based approaches that equip students with real-life skills while enabling students as leaders, activist, and change-makers. Through direct experience working with community organizations or non-profits, or through direct or indirect action on their schools, campuses, or neighborhoods, students can track the impact of their work. Through online initiatives, social media, and other web-based projects, students can increase their reach exponentially and globally. Combining experiential approaches and climate justice education within a place-based or community-based framework has the potential to transform students into global citizens capable of catalyzing lasting change on a personal level and beyond.
Curricular Crossovers for A Place-based Approach to Climate Change Education
Traditional Ecologic Knowledge and Climate Change
A place-based approach to climate change honors traditional ecologic knowledge (TEK) by looking to indigenous and cultural traditions rooted in place for adaptive management and responses to climate change. Vitality Index of Traditional Environmental Knowledge (VITEK) defines TEK as “our invaluable heritage and our hopeful future” (Zent & Maffi 2009, p. 1). When coming from a perspective of place in education, honoring the history of the land and those species - human and not - who have come before is not only beneficial but also imperative when working within a sustainability framework. As academia trends toward multi-species and post-human perspectives, TEK frameworks are ahead of the curve, recognizing that culture is inherent in place, not separate from or second to concern over human identity constructs. “The education of the twenty-first century must be about healing this cultural and ecological split” (Cajete, 1999, p. 18). The seemingly small social actions of students embarking on a diet challenge or circulating a petition on campus when combined with learning and reflection on climate justice, I think get at healing the split that Cajete writes about.
Economic Theory and Climate Change
Using a place-based approach, theory of localized sustenance and economy follow naturally. When individuals have an intimate understanding of their place they are more likely to value local products and services, eat local food, and utilize local resources. As Vandana Shiva states in Earth Democracy, “Localization of economies is a social and ecological imperative. Only goods and services that cannot be produced locally --using local resources and local knowledge--should be produced nonlocally and traded long distance” (Shiva, 2006, p. 10). Perhaps if people have a deep understanding of the place-based foodways of their locales, they will eat in accordance with those foodways, and collective food miles could be reduced significantly.
Lesson Plan
Personal Climate Challenge
- Over the course of a designated time period (usually one week or ten days) students embark on a “climate challenge.” Educators can assign one challenge or can offer options for students to choose from.
- All of the challenges have to do with a behavior change in the student that results in a lowered carbon footprint (these calculations can be included as part of the exercise).
- Students engage in reflection through a journal, or other reflective writing and discussion.
- Students consider the direct and direct impacts of their actions, behaviors and attitudes on both local and global scales, exhibiting understanding of climate justice.
Climate Challenge Possibilities
- Vegetarian diet (or other diets limiting meat consumption)
- Local diet (within 100 miles, or other designated miles)
- Car-free Challenge
- Buy local challenge
Change-maker Activity
*Students (in groups of individually) design a change-maker activity that they carry out throughout the last month of the semester. Must include a direct action, a direct impact on a specific community, and must be relevant to climate justice.
Change-maker possibilities
- On-campus initiative
- Complete a project with a non-profit
- Educational campaign
- Online resource or something viral with potential for large-scale impact
References
Kagawa, F., & Selby, D. (Eds.). (2009). Education and climate change: living and learning in
interesting times. Routledge.
Lopez, B. H., Prentice, M., & Tilcock, S. (1992). Children in the woods. Lone Goose Press.
Louv, R. (2008). Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit
disorder. Algonquin Books.
Shiva, V. (2006). Earth democracy: justice, sustainability and peace. Zed Books.
Zent, S., & Maffi, L. (2009). Final report on indicator no. 2: Methodology for developing
a vitality index of traditional environmental knowledge (VITEK) for the project
“Global indicators of the status and trends of linguistic diversity and traditional
knowledge.”. British Columbia, Canada. Retrieved from
http://www.terralingua.org/vitek/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2012/03/ VITEK_Report.pdf