My writings - and those of others.
Polarization around climate change
Photo Credit::University of Virginia Race and Democracy Lab
A recent conversation with one of my sons centered on the importance of curation in the age of too much information. I’m interested in how what I read frames and changes my own knowledge. I came upon this video recently which tackles this important divergence. While the video is quite long I urge you to watch the whole thing. If you can’t because of your own information overload, you could use the trailer which I have also posted below.
We sometimes forget that any point of view in the present has a history of formation in the past as well as implications for how it plays out in the future. The University of Virginia created a Religion, Race & Democracy Lab and explored how these elements interface. It tells us:
“The video addresses decades of what it calls “religious polarization, political propaganda, corporate deal-making, and environmental injustice based on systemic racism.”
You can find the full version here.
Or view the trailer here
Another woman to celebrate
A top environmental and climate lawyer, Dianne Saxe brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the community. with more than forty years of experience in environmental law. From 2015-2019 she was the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario until a change of government thought that the stand-alone position was unnecessary and transferred its responsibility to the office of the Auditor General. Legal organizations have presented her with many awards and regard her as one of the world’s 25 best environmental law experts.
At a Massey College environmental conference in November 2020, Saxe and a co-presented focused on the arts and its role in communicating the importance of environmental care. The arts energize and touch the heart in a way that science is not always able to do, she says. Though institutions often are slow to change, museums have taken up the cause of environmental issues. It doesn’t help that fossil fuel industries are among their largest donors. Some of us have been around long enough when the same issue happened with the tobacco companies. She interviewed a number of artists in different fields and also had young activists interview some of their elders like David Suzuki.
Her website, is rich in resources. Her podcasts where she interviews climate heroes doesn’t include herself, but she clearly is one..
Celebrating Women
Begun in 19111 and marked annually on March 8th, International Women's Day (IWD) is one of the most important days of the year to:
celebrate women's achievements
raise awareness about women's equality
lobby for accelerated gender parity
fundraise for female-focused charities
The theme this year is Choose to Challenge. It directs people to do so by looking a statements on social media, through images that show bias and stereotypes, and to foster discussions, The Canadian Women’s Foundation has been particularly active in sponsoring gender justice.
And as the pandemic’s effects continue and there is a call to return to “normal” it may also well to to rethink the less attractive aspects of normal. You can see some of them.
Values and strategies
Continuing on the report of Climate Action.
These are the values that the Alberta study found need to focus upon in engaging young people. While they were specific, they also have broader application.
Security - learning needs to suggest that climate changes and the actions we are asked to take bear a relationship to a predictable future.
Achievement and self direction - a desire to learn the skills to build the world they want to create.
Place attachment - focus on the locality where students live and love.
Continuity - young people want to see new energy initiatives create the prosperity that former ones did.
Responsibility and agency - Young people realize that the future is theirs - and they are prepared to take responsibility for it.
The study noted that only a small number - 10% - dismissed the reality of climate change. Building on the previous studies of Alberta adults, these are the narratives that are seen as relevant to teens
Love of locale (in this case, Alberta, but the same could apply to any province or region.
Early adulthood - high school students are the next generation and are eager to take responsibility for their world.
Climate - it will be challenging to talk about when parents’ employment or family history has depended upon fossil fuel industries. This must be a starting point. We do have to talk about it and recognize climate science based facts. It also helps to face the fact that we have overcome hard issues in the past by facing them realistically and honestly
Energy - Clean energy solutions are under development. There have been energy transitions in the past and we have survived them.+
Student perceptions
Continuing from the Climate Outreach Study, here are some of the findings from workshops with Alberta students on energy and climate change.
When adequate education is missing, students develop negative narratives about energy and climate change and literacy on these subjects is missing.
They feel overwhelmed by the issues
They are more than happy to talk about it. There was enthusiasm to take part in the workshops
They value their provincial natural environment
They want to know more about the connections between energy and climate change - but in a way that is action oriented so that they can make a difference.
They see effects in their own local communities and this can be used as an opportunity for education
Many of the words used around climate change - like pollution, waste, climate, energy were used in an imprecise way. These contribute to confusion.
Younger kids focused more on nature’ older ones were more aware of social and political issues.
Not surprisingly, older students were far more concerned about their future.
Most students obtained their information from social media. The study notes that the impression from these sources are often “Dystopian” and “Catastrophic” accounting for an increase level of anxiety.
Older students are more aware of debate and disagreements on these matters ranging from households to local, provincial and national levels.