The Age of Possibilities: Innovative Approaches in Sustainability and Environmental Education

• In Event: The Power of Pedagogy for Sustainability Transformation

Proposal

Introduction
Climate change has imposed numerous pressing challenges for our planet earth and society in recent years. However, our education seldom considers this issue with severity. The 2021 UNESCO report has shown existing curricula about climate change are inadequate and ineffective. On top of this, fewer than 40% of the teachers are aware of climate change as an increasingly urgent global crisis. Nor are they able to explain the impacts of climate change. As educators, we believe that not only should our educational system include climate issues in the curriculum design, but also consider how to better explain this intricate topic in our classrooms. Additionally, we would like to work more closely with youths around the world to engender systemic progress in climate education. Our study proposes the pedagogies of educating the younger generations about climate change based on the efforts by a project-oriented NGO. By presenting our findings, we hope to inspire scholars and educators to better integrate climate education in both formal and informal settings so that we are able to organize direct actions for a sustainable future together with today’s youths.

Key Aspects in Our Pedagogy
As active agents of social change, youths around the world are the architects of our everyday reality and the future. Millions of young people nowadays are increasingly passionate about exploring their identity and caring about urgent social issues that directly affect their lived experiences. Furthermore, they are confident in their agency to engender positive societal impacts. This is especially profound among Gen Z, a tech-savvy and innovative new generation of youths. They leverage social media as platforms for voicing their concerns and raising awareness of topics like climate change, at the same time seeking relevant knowledge via the infographics by professional or academic accounts. We see the huge potential in young people and their social media presence, for they can put forward new ideas and methods in tackling environmental issues. Our pedagogy should therefore recognize the voices of Gen Z, while also properly guiding them to avoid harm and mental exhaustion. This requires open, respectful and empathetic conversations in the classroom between teachers and youths.
Climate change is a complex issue encompassing both scientific and social aspects. Our pedagogy must incorporate a human-centered and intersectional lens. We need students to understand that climate change is not just a natural disaster but also a social crisis, the impacts of which differentiate according to gender, race, geography, socioeconomic class, etc. In this sense, pedagogies in sustainability education involve the plurality of knowledge and cultural responsiveness. Educators ought to remind young students that marginalized communities are disproportionately jeopardized amidst global climate change. Teachers should create a diverse and inclusive environment for insightful discussions, rather than the lecture-heavy banking model. In a student-centered setting, youths are able to become global citizens with a cosmopolitan worldview and also local change-makers rooted in communities. To accomplish this, we should provide time, space, and resources for the younger generation to learn about and resolve social issues derived from environmental degradation.

Program Description
Our work exemplifies the aforementioned pedagogies with a working panel series titled The Age of Possibilities initiated by a local NGO in New York City. This program connects the younger generation with global youth pioneers, business leaders, scholar-activists, and educators to join intergenerational conversations about combating climate crises. This multi-stakeholder panel series is based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It celebrates the efforts of all the frontline and behind-the-scenes practitioners for a more sustainable future. Through intersectoral collaboration, this series hopes to cultivate accessible resources for young people to practice climate activism and integrate climate-related knowledge into our educational practices. The program consists of 8 sessions covering 2 main topics, Sustainable Diets and Climate Justice. Each topic discusses 4 subthemes respectively. The Sustainable Diets section focuses on food choices that not only improve individual wellness but also reduce wastes for the environment. Specific subsections encompass Indigenous food culture, clean energy in food production, the future of innovative food, and food waste reduction. The Climate Justice section touches upon the social issues induced by climate change and relevant tactics for climate activism. The following subthemes discuss issues of ecofeminism, climate migrants or refugees, Indigenous wisdom in human-nature harmony, and youths’ mental well-being.

Findings and Conclusions
Based on our experience and observations from the NGO programming, we have identified several practices beneficial for future instructors in sustainability education. First, storytelling is a powerful tool for community-building and cooperation. Youths’ narratives help them situate themselves in the environmental justice discourse and develop strong social ties with other experts and stakeholders. In this way, they are able to make more informed decisions on approaching climate issues. Storytelling also voices youths’ concerns with creativity, stimulating empathy among the audience. This facilitates intergenerational and interdisciplinary conversations that break down stereotypes. Second, leveraging multimedia or digital platforms can open up new ways of knowledge sharing. For instance, youths in this program have devised prototypes of game-based educational materials for sustainable development and uploaded the demo on online archives for public access. Young people also utilize short videos on social media to share easy, economical but also nutritious recipes for a more sustainable diet. These digital interfaces allow youths to interact with the international community and exchange innovative ideas more effectively. Teachers thus may consider improving the digitization of the classrooms, extending educational sites to virtual space. Furthermore, the involvement of various levels of personnel helps simplify dense jargons into more age-appropriate language. Instructors and activists can contextualize researchers’ abstract terms into specific practices with tangible examples. Youths in return may also bring in their own vocabularies. Multilevel participation bridges the gap between theories and practices. Last but not least, teachers should cultivate the plurality of knowledge. That requires them to connect youths with community members and activists from underrepresented backgrounds both domestically and internationally. The various knowledge systems can be combined with the previous practices, weaving together fruitful stories that reach out to a global audience.

Authors

• Shuhan Li, Columbia University Teachers College

• Gege Dong, Columbia University