Climate justice education: Connecting culture, ethics and values with ecology in the college classroom and in faith-community justice and sustainability programming.

Dorothy Boorse, Biology, Gordon College, Wenham, MA and Leanne M. Jablonski, University of Dayton Hanley Sustainability Institute, Marianist Environmental Education Center, Dayton, OH

Background/Question/Methods
Climate justice (CJ) integrates environmental justice (EJ) and climate change. It is an increasingly prominent concern of faith-based, environmental, and educational organizations as they increasingly address concerns of diversity, equity and inclusion. Within the ESA 4DEE framework, CJ falls within Section III: Human accelerated environmental change. The subareas of #2 global climate change, #3 which incorporates mitigation/adaptation solutions in how humans shape and manage resources, and #4 Ethical dimensions, (including both environmental ethics and EJ) are particularly related To CJ. College environmental science textbooks already contain examples of environmental ethics/ EJ, especially differences in pollution exposure. In ecology texts, core concepts are given, while socio-ecological connections of Human-Environment Interactions are often not emphasized. We investigated the emergence of CJ in ecology education over the past ten years. We also conducted surveys of faith-based organizations and other CJ practitioners to investigate what resources they need from ecologists and ecology education.
Results/Conclusions
We found that frequency of use of the term “climate justice” has increased over the past decade, with few papers being in ecological science journals, and the majority being in the social sciences. We identified ways to incorporate CJ into college ecology courses, and found, similar to EJ, most examples were from introductory, non-majors or environmental science courses. In climate change education, student ecologists need examples that connect concepts of justice, the science of ecology, and actions toward a better world. “Natural experiments” such as megastorms and long-lasting droughts highlight the need for CJ. As the confluence of colonialism, racism, and climate change increase conflicts and displacement, ecologists have a ripe opportunity to incorporate justice dimensions in teaching and research.
CJ is a prevalent term in national and international faith-based organizations that are integrating the human and non-human environmental dimensions as equally important. They are conducting workshops and encouraging environmental actions that would benefit from ecology education, such as in enhancing clean water, native plant restoration/conservation initiatives and local food initiatives/agro-ecology. The contribution of ecologists to CJ issues requires expanding our integrative approach within ecological fields to include the social sciences, including praxis for building mutual relationships, survey techniques and communications. Incorporating world views, ethics, and cross-cultural communication into ecology education experiences (including community-based research) would benefit research and teaching from local to international scales. Addressing CJ can transform ecologists, promote the field of ecology, and advance the common good of all.