Turn it around! An education guide to climate futures, 2022
For more than six decades, scientists have warned us of the catastrophic effects of the escalatin... more For more than six decades, scientists have warned us of the catastrophic effects of the escalating climate crisis on the planet and people. The United Nations (UN) member states have met annually since the mid-1990s at the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings, setting goals and delivering metrics, making promises and offering hope, but failing to enforce policy action. The recent UN COP 26 in Glasgow fell short of keeping the goal of 1.5°C global heating alive as measured against its own objectives. Despite booming policy declarations and deafening science alarms, we have yet to see the radical change in the existing systems and institutions, lifestyles and behaviors, and mindsets and hearts. Perhaps by their very objectivity, the words and numbers distance us from the searing heat of a wildfire or the smell of fear and despair as animals and humans watch the floods wash away their homes and witness the fires burn their habitats. They also reduce the complexity of intertwined webs of life by fragmenting our common planetary home into isolated ‘problems’ to be managed and fixed without addressing a much larger challenge of dismantling unjust systems and reconfiguring our relationships with each other and the planet.Building on the scientific evidence and keeping in focus policy promises made over the decades, this report mobilizes the power of socially engaged art to bring together visions and voices of youth from across the globe in a collective effort to address the root causes of the climate crisis. It starts with the premise that education is directly implicated in the climate crisis and our failure to imagine alternatives. But it can also be the catalyst for radical change. Aiming to shift and shuffle the dominant knowledge systems and categories with the cards from the Turn It Around! deck, this report urges you to turn toward the reality of the climate crisis by capturing its devastating impacts from youth perspectives in a way statistical data might not. It challenges existing education policies, practices, and patterns as no longer possible, tolerable, or even thinkable. With the powerful imagination and creativity of youth, the report activates a series of turning points — intergenerational, decolonial, methodological, and pedagogical — in order to turn around the environmental catastrophe, while reconfiguring the role of education toward ecologically just and sustainable futures. Recognizing that most of the human-induced damages on earth are irreversible, we invite you to follow these turns in order to unlearn harmful patterns and begin relearning how to be a part of the Earth’s ecological community. The invitation to Turn it Around! is more than an urgent call to action — it is now the responsibility of every reader to re-imagine education and work out new ways of living with the Earth.
Building on the scientific evidence and keeping in focus policy promises made over the decades, t... more Building on the scientific evidence and keeping in focus policy promises made over the decades, this report mobilizes the power of socially engaged art to bring together visions and voices of youth from across the globe in a collective effort to address the root causes of the climate crisis. It starts with the premise that education is directly implicated in the climate crisis and our failure to imagine alternatives. But it can also be the catalyst for radical change. Aiming to shift and shuffle the dominant knowledge systems and categories with the cards from the Turn It Around! deck, this report urges you to turn toward the reality of the climate crisis by capturing its devastating impacts from youth perspective in a way statistical data might not. It challenges existing education policies, practices, and patterns as no longer possible, tolerable, or even thinkable. With the powerful imagination and creativity of youth, the report activates a series of turning points — intergenera...
This study evaluates an experiential learning civic engagement model of leadership education at a... more This study evaluates an experiential learning civic engagement model of leadership education at a liberal arts university in Ghana. The extracurricular program, in which students apply for and receive funding for service projects aimed at impacting children and youth, includes ideation, project management and diversity training, coaching, and structured reflection. Key objectives include positive impacts on the community, growth in students’ leadership and project management competencies and increased civic engagement on campus. Document analysis, interviews with student project leaders and focus groups of community stakeholders were used to assess the degree to which the program met these objectives. Findings indicate that student led projects, particularly those in schools, can lead to academic and non-academic benefits for pupils, and that relationships between university student volunteers and pupils, teachers and parents are an important mechanism for pupils’ academic gains in ...
Turn it around! An education guide to climate futures, 2022
For more than six decades, scientists have warned us of the catastrophic effects of the escalatin... more For more than six decades, scientists have warned us of the catastrophic effects of the escalating climate crisis on the planet and people. The United Nations (UN) member states have met annually since the mid-1990s at the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings, setting goals and delivering metrics, making promises and offering hope, but failing to enforce policy action. The recent UN COP 26 in Glasgow fell short of keeping the goal of 1.5°C global heating alive as measured against its own objectives. Despite booming policy declarations and deafening science alarms, we have yet to see the radical change in the existing systems and institutions, lifestyles and behaviors, and mindsets and hearts. Perhaps by their very objectivity, the words and numbers distance us from the searing heat of a wildfire or the smell of fear and despair as animals and humans watch the floods wash away their homes and witness the fires burn their habitats. They also reduce the complexity of intertwined webs of life by fragmenting our common planetary home into isolated ‘problems’ to be managed and fixed without addressing a much larger challenge of dismantling unjust systems and reconfiguring our relationships with each other and the planet.Building on the scientific evidence and keeping in focus policy promises made over the decades, this report mobilizes the power of socially engaged art to bring together visions and voices of youth from across the globe in a collective effort to address the root causes of the climate crisis. It starts with the premise that education is directly implicated in the climate crisis and our failure to imagine alternatives. But it can also be the catalyst for radical change. Aiming to shift and shuffle the dominant knowledge systems and categories with the cards from the Turn It Around! deck, this report urges you to turn toward the reality of the climate crisis by capturing its devastating impacts from youth perspectives in a way statistical data might not. It challenges existing education policies, practices, and patterns as no longer possible, tolerable, or even thinkable. With the powerful imagination and creativity of youth, the report activates a series of turning points — intergenerational, decolonial, methodological, and pedagogical — in order to turn around the environmental catastrophe, while reconfiguring the role of education toward ecologically just and sustainable futures. Recognizing that most of the human-induced damages on earth are irreversible, we invite you to follow these turns in order to unlearn harmful patterns and begin relearning how to be a part of the Earth’s ecological community. The invitation to Turn it Around! is more than an urgent call to action — it is now the responsibility of every reader to re-imagine education and work out new ways of living with the Earth.
Building on the scientific evidence and keeping in focus policy promises made over the decades, t... more Building on the scientific evidence and keeping in focus policy promises made over the decades, this report mobilizes the power of socially engaged art to bring together visions and voices of youth from across the globe in a collective effort to address the root causes of the climate crisis. It starts with the premise that education is directly implicated in the climate crisis and our failure to imagine alternatives. But it can also be the catalyst for radical change. Aiming to shift and shuffle the dominant knowledge systems and categories with the cards from the Turn It Around! deck, this report urges you to turn toward the reality of the climate crisis by capturing its devastating impacts from youth perspective in a way statistical data might not. It challenges existing education policies, practices, and patterns as no longer possible, tolerable, or even thinkable. With the powerful imagination and creativity of youth, the report activates a series of turning points — intergenera...
This study evaluates an experiential learning civic engagement model of leadership education at a... more This study evaluates an experiential learning civic engagement model of leadership education at a liberal arts university in Ghana. The extracurricular program, in which students apply for and receive funding for service projects aimed at impacting children and youth, includes ideation, project management and diversity training, coaching, and structured reflection. Key objectives include positive impacts on the community, growth in students’ leadership and project management competencies and increased civic engagement on campus. Document analysis, interviews with student project leaders and focus groups of community stakeholders were used to assess the degree to which the program met these objectives. Findings indicate that student led projects, particularly those in schools, can lead to academic and non-academic benefits for pupils, and that relationships between university student volunteers and pupils, teachers and parents are an important mechanism for pupils’ academic gains in ...
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