Circle of Life: Generating Empathy and Recognition in Eco-Justice Education

• In Event: 15.059 - Fairmont Royal York Roundtable Session One
  In Roundtable Session: 15.059-8 - Toward Pedagogies for Eco-Ethical Becoming: International Collaborations for Eco-Justice Education

Abstract

Addressing climate change and other eco-systemic problems is not just about gaining more information, but also internalizing these issues to the extent that we would genuinely change our destructive behavior. In other words, the problem of climate change is not only a technical matter but an emotional one as well; we have difficulties handling emotional responses to ecological catastrophe (Pihkala, 2017). People react to ecological problem in various ways: with anger, denial, anxiety, or apathy. Renee Lertzman (2015) calls this phenomenon 'environmental melancholia'.
Empathy (Aaltola, 2018) has been shown to have a connection with environmentally sensitive attitudes and actions (Berenguer 2007; Milfont & Sibley 2016; Pfattheicher et al. 2015; Schultz 2002). Passivity in addressing the problem of climate change can be understood as a lack of empathy towards other species, or more distant people. In this presentation we demonstrate how focusing on empathy in EcoJustice education could contribute to the realization of more climate-friendly lifestyles.
Supporting empathy - in both individuals and communities - requires recognition (Värri, 2014). Recognition, defined as a particular form of mutuality accepting the intrinsic value of the other, has for a long time been one of the main subjects of political philosophy (Ricoeur, 2005), but it has not been studied widely in education (Foster, 2012), especially education focused on environmental problems. We argue that pedagogical recognition could support not only social justice but also the right of other animals and our environment to be recognized as having intrinsic value. Decisive action in front of climate change requires the will to extend the circle of empathy as well as recognition beyond humans to the other animals and ecosystems.
Mutual recognition of all living beings cannot be achieved by only securing and following external rules and laws; we also need to love and respect for each other (Honneth, 1995). In love we recognize each others' mutuality. In contrast, degradation and disgrace denying the existence of the other (Ricoeur, 2005). (Eco)Justice requires bringing together the other and the norm of freedom, which happens primarily through respect (Ricoeur, 2005). Negative feelings - toward humans as well as other creatures - can function as significant signs of experiences related to mis- and non-recognition resulting in isolation, instrumentalization, and invalidation.
Pedagogical recognition (Foster 2012, 2018) requires the understanding of dissymmetry between the self and the other (Ricoeur 2005). EcoJustice Education (Martusewicz & Edmundson, 2005, 2013) requires that we learn to accept, even embrace, the otherness of the other as we recognize the complexities of interdependence. In order to act as an ethical being we must recognize the diversity of lives in the world. To grow as an ethical, responsible, and free individual one must also recognize and assess one's own capabilities and actions. Increasing our technical knowledge of the world is insufficient to address the problems we face. Pedagogies of responsibility in EcoJustice Education must also recognize and activate our emotions via an active sense of ethics.

Authors

• Raisa Hannele Foster

• Sami Keto