Extending Empathy in Environmental Justice Movements: Understanding Missing Voices and Utilizing Transformational Praxis

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Movements for sustainability and rights of nature are becoming not only much more prevalent, but more crucial to the overall health of Earth and the inhabitants therewithin. These movements value addressing global change in policies and actions concerning ecological, economical, and hierarchical consistencies that have led to unsustainable lifestyles. However, current literature concerning the human-nature relationship and the gap therewith can aid in understanding how stakeholders view nature, and therefore view these movements. By opening these movements to empathy and empathetic reasoning, the human-nature gap can be relieved and greater environmental justice can occur. This panel will analyze the Extinction Rebellion and other youth movements for actions that minimize the human-nature gap, expand empathetic relationships to more-than-human entities, and consider, ecopedagogically, how this movement can transform our knowing and understanding of the climate crisis as connected through a deeper understanding of our collaborative and reciprocal relationship with more-than-human elements.

In 2018, Extinction Rebellion was born out of a desperate need to push for urgency and change around the planetary climate crisis. Their aims are threefold: to act now, to tell the truth, and to go beyond politics. They believe we are currently facing the climate crisis and have taken a stance of non-violent disruptive civil disobedience to counteract further destruction of the environment. As a decentralized movement, they support local formations and often utilize crowdfunding to support Volunteer Living Expenses to further these local expansions. Great efforts have been achieved in many localities globally - messaging has created knowledge of climate struggle and education efforts in rural communities have further aided in sustainable movement. Their ongoing goal for 2023 is to continue to expand these efforts.

Extinction Rebellion follows many tenets of Ecopedagogy. Firstly, it operates from a local to global to local perspective - moving away from lobbying, petitions, and protesting for participative democratic action in the hands of a collaboratively localized to globalized community. Secondly, this is a transformational movement as it utilizes nonviolent disruptive civil disobedience to motivate action. It is a different scope of action than the oft-politicized and policy-centered orientations. Thirdly, it seeks communion of voices to fight neoliberal actions that have caused and lead to greater environmental and Earth distancing. However, an element of connection with Earth and the scope of different elements therewith is missing.

The human-nature connection speaks to a greater unity and reciprocity between humans and more-than-human entities. Empathy extending to humanity can extend to our more-than-human entities as well. In a neoliberal society, we often see empathy extended to mediums of profit-gain—corporations, self-care, and land ownership. Extending empathy to nature can speak to the rights of nature, the oft-missing voice of nature, and the reciprocity of our human-nature relationship.

In this panel, we explore the meaning of empathy, empathy expanded to nature—dispositional empathy for nature, ecopedagogy and the human-nature connection extended to the human-food relationship, and storytelling through activist voices. Exploration into different social movements, protests, and activism will be discussed in regards to extending empathy as a relationship-building function to better serve and understand humans' relationship with nature, natural spaces, and the rights of nature.

Sub Unit

• Environmental and Sustainability Education SIG

Chair

• AnnaLise Hoopes, UCLA

Individual Presentations

• Extending Environmental Activism through Dispositional Empathy for Nature - AnnaLise Hoopes, UCLA

• Environmental Justice Storytelling for a Sustainable Future - Leire Agirreazkuenaga, UCLA Paulo Freire Intitute

• The Human-Food Gap and Empathy: How Ecopedagogy Transformation Can Aid in Disrupting Hegemonic Foodways - Michaela Ensweiler, UCLA

Discussant

• Greg William Misiaszek, Beijing Normal University