Teaching as if the Future Matters: Climate, Community, and Twenty-First-Century Citizenship

Fires, floods and violent storms – the climate crisis is reshaping life across the planet. As educators, we have a responsibility to prepare students to survive and thrive in a hotter, more volatile world.

Teaching about climate can be challenging. But doing so offers opportunities for transformative civic engagement and career learning. As students grapple with the “wicked problem” of climate change, they not only build climate literacy but also develop capacities for agile problem-solving, integrative thinking, and the ability to collaborate across difference – competencies of global citizenship and 21st century careers.

The literature on climate pedagogy highlights the power of experiential civic engagement. This session spotlights examples from Arizona, Los Angeles, and Minnesota, including a special video presentation from Sarah Fortner at Carleton College, whose thinking informs the session. It connects these examples to a framework for transformative climate pedagogy and engages participants in applying it to their own practice.