What role for geography in justice-focused climate change education?

Abstract

ABSTRACT As the effects of climate change are felt around the world, the stakes for what climate change education (CCE) is and what it can achieve have never been higher. Young people’s climate concerns are widely known, and students around the world have expressed wishes for action- and justice-oriented CCE. This article draws from research conducted with migrant-background young people and secondary educators (including geography educators) in Manchester, UK, and Melbourne, Australia, which explored intergenerational and cross-cultural responses to climate change. The article reflects on students’ and educators’ accounts of CCE and considers how geography – in conjunction with other disciplines – can sharpen students’ understandings of climate justice. It argues that geography’s key concepts and curricular foci provide a strong foundation for teaching climate justice, but that learning about distributive justice must be accompanied by greater application of recognitional and procedural justice to better support students to respond to climate change.