Climate Activism, Digital Media, and Political Affect: Co-Designing a Climate Education App With Young People

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: Sociopolitical Lens to Climate Change Education and Implications for Action

Abstract

Set within the dynamic unfolding of youth climate movements, this paper explores the role of digital media in staging new possibilities for climate change education and activism. We engage theories of affective politics to explore how young people are using digital platforms to both learn about climate change and perform climate activism. We develop this analysis by describing the co-development of a climate education App with young people, a co-design project that brought together elements of climate science, speculative fiction, crowd sourcing, and hacktivism. The paper aims to advance understandings of how digital practices can help young people navigate climate change as a ‘theatre of problems’ through the cultivation of political affects and subjectivities.

Authors

• David Rousell, RMIT University

• Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, Southern Cross University

• Thilinika Wijesinghe, Southern Cross University