Climate Justice Education
Climate justice is born out of the lived experience of climate
injustice – the struggle to meet needs for water, food, shelter
and clean air – it’s experienced by the global majority who have contributed least to the causes of ecological breakdown. Since 2019, within PIMA we have focused on climate justice education as a critically important concern for educators across the lifespan. In this section, we look back in order to move forward. There are five articles which describe the current times as ‘collapsing’, ‘between order and chaos’, and ‘unmoored’ – we are in ‘space between what was and what is coming’. There are critically important insights in how we as educators can be in these times. As Jim Falk suggests, “The last 10 years of PIMA may seem a doddle as we enter this period of enhanced disruption.”
Articles
Learning from/with Sankofa
by Shirley Walters, Astrid von Kotze, and Shauna Butterwick
As PIMA celebrates its 10th anniversary, we look back to move forward, building on the image of the Sankofa bird symbolizing the importance of looking back for wisdom and lessons learned to take us into the future. Specifically, we review previous PIMA activities organized by the Climate Justice Education (CJE) working group including several webinars and special issues of the PIMA bulletin. We conclude this review with several key themes to carry forward in future PIMA CJE initiatives.
Reflecting on Seaweed Harvesting, Ecological Justice and Climate Justice Education
by Buhle Francis
Many women along the Eastern Cape coastline in South Africa are custodians of the sea, vital stewards of the ocean’s bounty. Seaweed harvesting is their livelihood and part of their tradition, intertwined with identity and cultural heritage. However, their efforts are seldom rewarded in ways that benefit communities, as large corporations dominate the industry. Recognising their roles as custodians is an important step towards community and ocean health.
Land black, clouds back
by Katie Ross
To understand actions available for us to balance our climate, we can look at two sides of the climate coin. One side focuses on the atmosphere, specifically anthropogenic greenhouse gases. The other complementary side explores how climate is created from the ground up, by diverse, living ecological systems, which – powered by the sun – keep water, carbon, and energy flowing in ways that cool and balance the climate.
Between order and chaos - a critical challenge
by Jim Falk
Using several examples, from the environment, political systems, to the human brain, we are operating at the edge of chaos. The need to find a way forward through the increasing fog of disrupting change makes the need for adult and lifelong learning ever more important and topical.
Flux and Flows of Pasts and Futures
by Elizabeth Lange
In the retreat of climate goals and growing authoritarianism, the holocaust, survival, and recovery of the Haida people is instructive. Educators are encouraged to see and hear more deeply than the time and space of our literalist and dualist perceptions, to the narrative multiplicity of the more-than-human world, the sensory capacity of our bodies, the wisdom held in the Land and Deep Time, which can keep us ethically grounded in an unmoored time, possibly prefiguring a Symbiocene era.