Letters from a dying college: How the climate crisis demands a wilder pedagogy and wilder policies

Abstract

This paper takes the academically unorthodox form of personal correspondence. This method, of letters between two educators writing to one another across the distance of two continents and different experiences, seeks to create an inclusive, confessional tone, one that invites the reader to get closer to the lived experience of those struggling within the educational and environmental crises. Critically, this correspondence also seeks to open discussion about the difficult demands of state secondary and tertiary education. The authors explore issues regarding their denuded experiences of working in formal education settings while bearing witness to environmental degradation and ecological collapse. In light of their exploration, the authors argue for an ‘agrios’, a wilder, more expansive polis, coupled with more ecologically-inclusive governance, to address the current potentially catastrophic political leadership that has seemingly turned away from ecological responsibility. This paper culminates in direct letters that focus on a series of practical proposals for action and on four premises for developing agriocy – the policy that supports the agrios/agriocity.