Environmental Crises and Inequality: Responding to Learning Disruption and Countering Misinformation

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

The climate crisis is a global issue with disparate impacts on marginalized communities. Scientists,
policymakers, and youth and community advocates have raised alarms about the consequences of
climate crises and extreme weather events on food security, public health, displacement, and
infrastructure. Schools and institutions of higher education play a central role in these climate crises,
educating youth about climate change and strategies to counter global warming and enhance
environmental justice, but schools are also sites of closures due to climate-related disruptions and
storms, which appear to be intensifying. In this panel, researchers discuss how schools and universities
can contribute to remedies for environmental crises and environmental racism, how educators can
counter misinformation and denial about climate change, and how leaders can prepare to respond to the
real threats to communities, school facilities, and learning caused by climate-related disruptions.

Sub Unit

• AERA Presidential Session

Participants

• Gale M. Sinatra, University of Southern California

• Fikile Nxumalo, University of Toronto - OISE

• Cassandra R. Davis, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• David E. Long, Morehead State University

Discussant

• Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy, Northwestern University