It is worse, much worse, than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible. In California, wildfires now rage year-round, destroying thousands of homes. Across the USA, ‘500 year’ storms pummel communities month after month, and floods displace tens of millions annually (Wallace-Wells, 2019: inside cover).
Every day a new extreme weather event confronts us through the media. As adult learning and education (ALE) is often embedded in everyday life, I will start with contemporary stories from two different parts of the world.
Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico on 20 September 2017. It was the most intense tropical cyclone worldwide during that year and it caused catastrophic damage to the environment and a major humanitarian crisis, including destruction of roads, bridges, the electricity grid, water supplies, agriculture, and so on. There was major flooding, a lack of food, housing was destroyed and businesses wiped out, with the related jobs. Puerto Rico is in a hurricane zone – they know about them; they plan for them. But nothing they did helped them prepare for the vengeance of Hurricane Maria. The catastrophe was compounded by the slow relief processes and the disdain shown to Puerto Ricans by President Trump (Kolhatkar, 2019). Puerto Rico is referred to by some citizens as ‘a colony’ of the United States, and as with the 2005 Hurricane Katarina which devastated New Orleans and resulted in 1833 deaths, the citizens, who are largely Hispanic or African-Americans, experienced a lack of urgency in the relief efforts to mitigate the devastation (Klein, 2018).
The second story is situated in southern Africa. On 14 March 2019, Cyclone Idai devastated central Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe and southern Malawi. Catastrophic flooding has killed more than 1 000 people in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi (Arndt, 2019; Fitchett, 2019). Officials have warned that the toll is likely to be much higher once bodies are found when flood waters recede. This is the worst cyclone to hit southern Africa in recorded history. The city of Beira has been 90% destroyed. Entire villages have been wiped out. The cholera outbreak has grown rapidly, with governments and aid agencies trying to contain it. Many health centres in the cyclone-affected communities have been swept away by flood waters, while the health centres run by relief agencies are barely enough to support thousands of displaced people. Many affected areas are still inaccessible by road, complicating relief efforts and further heightening the threat of infection due to water contamination. While various relief agencies are doing their utmost to help, there has been limited financial aid or political will coming from the African Union, including the South African government, to support relief efforts. The South African Defence Force budget has been slashed and citizens are preoccupied with, for example, electricity outages, national elections and other local concerns. This results in much more muted responses to the tragedies (Bloom, 2019).
Hurricane Maria and Cyclone Idai are just two of many contemporary examples around the world of climate turmoil and disasters. Both illustrate how people are left largely to fend for themselves in appalling conditions.
People of all ages and in all parts of the world have to learn to respond appropriately at times of crisis and, importantly, to mitigate the possibilities of, for example, increased floods, droughts and fires. The purpose of this article is to suggest some ways in which adult educators can contribute to collective efforts at navigating climate crises. I begin by highlighting some pertinent aspects of ‘climate crises’.
Climate crisis
There are growing numbers of scholars who, on the available evidence, are predicting the possibility of human extinction within this century (Scranton, 2015; Bendell, 2018; Selby & Kagawa, 2018).
Fossil fuels are heating the planet at a pace and scale never before experienced. Extreme weather patterns, rising sea levels and accelerating feedback loops are commonplace features of our lives. The number of environmental refugees is increasing and several island states and low-lying countries are vulnerable. Some argue that we are on an ecocidal path of species extinction. We are losing species 1 000 times more quickly than we have ever before (Johnson, 2019), and governments and the international platforms such as the United Nations Paris Climate Agreement deliver too little, too late – this is reinforced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report (IPCC, 2018). Most states continue on their carbon-intensive energy paths, with devastating results. There are growing numbers of environmental activist-scholars warning that political leaders across the world are failing to provide systemic solutions to the climate crisis; the private sector are both complicit and often inhibited by the current economic paradigm; and civil society is mostly too ill-equipped and uninformed to pressure for change. As highlighted previously (Walters, 2018), there are numbers of governments who deny the reality of accelerated climate change and continue to support fossil-fuel extraction and use.
A small number of countries have declared a ‘climate emergency’, but the Secretary-General of the United Nations (United Nations, 2019) says in his report on progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that ‘progress has been slow on many Goals, that the most vulnerable people and countries continue to suffer most, and that the global response thus far has not been ambitious enough’.
Linking climate crisis and ‘othering’
Naomi Klein (2017b: 35) presented the Edward Said Memorial Lecture in 2016. She made the compelling link between climate crises and ‘othering’. She quotes from Edward Said’s seminal work, Orientalism, where he describes `othering` as ‘disregarding, essentialising, denuding the humanity of another culture, people or geographical region’. Once `the other` has been firmly established, the ground is laid for any transgression: be it a terrorist attack, violent expulsion, land theft, occupation, or invasion. Because the whole point of `othering` is that the other doesn’t have the same rights, the same humanity, as those making the distinction. What does this have to do with climate change? As Naomi Klein (2017a) argues, ‘perhaps everything’. It also has everything to do with adult learning and education.
Fossil fuels aren’t the sole driver of climate change – there is industrial agriculture and deforestation – but they are the biggest. The thing about fossil fuels is that they are so inherently dirty and toxic that they require sacrificial people and places: people whose lungs and bodies can be sacrificed to work in the coal mines, people whose lands and water can be sacrificed to open-pit mining and oil spills. According to Klein (2017b), as recently as the 1970s, scientists advising the US government openly referred to certain parts of the country as ‘national sacrifice areas’. As Naomi Klein argues, there must be theories of `othering` to justify sacrificing an entire geography – theories about the people who live there being so poor and backward that their lives and culture doesn’t deserve protection. Turning all that coal into electricity requires another layer of `othering` too: this time for the urban neighbourhoods next door to the power plants and refineries. In southern Africa, North America and elsewhere, these are overwhelmingly communities of colour, forced to carry the toxic burden of the collective addiction to fossil fuels, with markedly higher rates of respiratory illnesses and cancers. It was in fights against this kind of ‘environmental racism’ that the climate justice movement arose.
According to Klein (2017b), fossil fuel `sacrifice zones` dot the globe. This kind of resource extraction is a form of violence, because it does so much damage to the land and water that it brings about the end of a way of life, the death of cultures that are inseparable from the land and which sever indigenous people’s connection to their culture. It is well known that these practices were enacted through colonisation and imperialism over centuries (Carpenter & Mojab, 2017). Fossil fuels require sacrifice zones: they always have. And you can’t have a system built on sacrificial places and sacrificial people unless intellectual theories that justify their sacrifice exist and persist, and refer to others as `less than`.
Climate crises affect poor and marginalised people disproportionately, as seen in the two examples described earlier. This is unsurprising. The majority of people in the world are poor and they live on land that is least protected from extreme climate occurrences. They have few resources to mobilise in order to protect themselves. This is not to say that they do not do what they can under extreme conditions. However, they do not necessarily have sophisticated equipment for forewarning nor are they able to mobilise resources quickly to escape the onslaught of extreme weather. It is also convenient for governments and corporations to focus on what individuals should do when it is they who must lead (Byskov, 2019). The media attention is also muted – such occurrences are away from the public gaze of international media hubs. For example, if there is a dramatic incident in Paris in France, compared to one in Beira in Mozambique, or in an urban centre like Cape Town compared to a peripheral town like Beaufort West in South Africa, it is obvious which one will gain more coverage. Climate injustice and inequity are the order of the day, and while everyone is affected, the majority of people who bear the burden of these realities are people of colour and people who are poor.
How can adult educators help with navigating climate crises?
In this section, I expand on some of the issues raised previously (Walters, 2018): heartfelt pedagogies, active citizenship, challenging ‘othering’, deep adaptations and lifelong learning orientations.
Heartfelt pedagogies: Climate crises are changing the world, as we know it. They are systemic forces that threaten our collective and personal well being. The changes are coming thick and fast and are creating a range of emotions, from uncertainty, fear and anger to denial and deep senses of loss. Leonie Joubert (2019) describes how climate activists are ‘canaries in the coal mine of mental health decline’. She describes how the medical community is giving unprecedented attention to the mental health fallout from the acute stress of surviving extreme weather events or the chronic distress of facing the existential threat of our own extinction.
The impact of the pervasive trauma and grief in communities affected by climate crises may be similar to other difficult circumstances of trauma, loss and violence of various kinds propelled by devastating economic, health or political conditions. As educators we need to acknowledge the traumatic situations that many adult learners experience. I have written elsewhere (Ferris & Walters, 2012), in an HIV and AIDS context, that educators need to develop ‘heartfelt pedagogy’ as we design and facilitate interventions which take account of traumatic lived experiences. As the impact of climate crises intensifies, pedagogical approaches that acknowledge the trauma will be extremely important. These include a raft of methodologies that engage the whole person through embodied learning, including playfulness (Gordon, 2019), feminist pedagogies (Manicom & Walters, 2012) and mindfulness practices. (Berila 2015)
Active citizenship: Climate crises raise many questions about natural resources and forms of energy. It is within entangled economic, political, social and cultural contexts that debate about climate change lives. The debates are highly charged politically and economically. It is therefore no wonder that governments or corporations do not necessarily want to encourage citizen participation – clandestine deals made in secret out of the public gaze are more common. We need to acknowledge that what we are required to do will not be approved of universally by the authorities – it sometimes requires subversion of the status quo. There are powerful people with vested interests who will do anything to continue to make a profit and will spread ‘fake news’ rather than confront the deep climate crises. It is therefore important that we as educators and activists critically engage with and question what we are told so that we are more able to help our students and others to be curious and more sceptical of what appears in the popular media.
There is a well-known slogan among many of the social movements which proclaims, ‘we don’t need climate change, we need systems change’. This is recognition that it is the current economic system that is causing much of the problem. Therefore, if we as citizens and educators are to imagine an alternative economic system, fundamental questioning of contemporary taken-for-granted values and beliefs is required – this relates to what we eat, what we buy, how we live and what we value. Encouraging all people to recognise their own agency as active citizens is compelling: the climate crisis requires collective efforts of all sectors and levels of society to work and learn together if there is to be any chance of success. The issues are far too important to be left to politicians alone. As a poster at a recent climate change protest of scholars reads: ‘There is no Planet B.’ Adults who have been socialised into a world of consumerism and waste need to be open to learn from the children who are demonstrating a greater sense of urgency. As Greta Thunberg (2018), the young Swedish climate activist, proclaims – ‘we need to act with urgency, as if our house is burning!’
Others, like George Monbiot (2018), argue for a new politics in an age of crisis – one that encourages all citizens to participate actively in finding solutions. Educators and adult learners are also citizens – active citizenship is for everyone, and involvement in social movements, as we did for example, in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa or through forms of community-based participatory research, are important responses.
Challenge ‘othering’: A critical aspect of a lifelong learning (LLL) orientation across all generations is the challenging of ‘othering’ – be it based on gender, ‘race’, ethnicity, class, language, religion, age, geography or ability. Building tolerance, mutual respect, compassion and a sense of community is critical to challenging the strategy of ‘divide and rule’ that is so powerfully applied. As Wallerstein (2009) urges, we need to have at the forefront of our consciousness and our actions the struggle against the three fundamental inequalities of the world – gender, class and race/ethnicity/religion. The ways in which we confront such deep prejudices and discrimination within our society and ourselves call for life-deep learning ourselves and with others. This is central to a `heartfelt pedagogy`. There are many examples of these through anti-racism education, through feminist pedagogies, popular education, including through pedagogical responses to HIV and AIDS – we do not have to reinvent the wheel as there are many radical traditions that can be drawn on in order to induct educators through professional development programmes.
Deep adaptations: The innovative work of Jem Bendell (2018) is instructive when he argues for the deep adaptations that are required by all of us as citizens. He argues for processes which have everything to do with us as educators: building resilience; relinquishment and restoration. He states, in summary:
Resilience: ‘is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress … bounding back from the experiences’ (American Psychology Assoc, as quoted by Bendell). The key question to ask is: How do we keep what we really want to keep?
Relinquishment: It involves people and communities letting go of certain assets, behaviours and beliefs where retaining them could make matters worse. For example, withdrawing from certain coastlines, shutting down vulnerable industrial facilities or giving up expectations of certain types of consumption. The key question is: What do we need to let go of in order not to make matters worse?
Restoration: This involves people and communities rediscovering attitudes and approaches to life and organisation that have been eroded. For instance, acknowledging different ways of knowing, changing diets back to matching seasons, re-wilding landscapes, rediscovering non-electronic powered forms of play, increased community-level productivity and support. The key question is: What can we bring back to help us with the coming difficulties and tragedies?
Accompanying accelerated climate change are inevitable experiences of loss. We need to come to terms with deep loss of what we care about and value. We therefore need to embrace grieving as part of living. In many cultures this does not happen; therefore learning from those who do integrate bereavement into their lives more easily would be a place to turn to in order to learn from them. This raises the question of which and whose knowledge counts at times of climate crisis.
It is poor, working-class and indigenous individuals and communities who often have the experiences and knowledge of how to respond to immediate crises. We do need to promote local indigenous knowledge and strategies, which shows how populations living under multiple interrelated risks employ specific strategies for coping and recovery. Middle class and wealthier people are more mobile and can often choose to leave and go elsewhere. Climate crises can invert who knows more when and where in order to deal with the situations. The knowledge and strategies of many indigenous peoples around the world about how to live in harmony with Mother Earth are sorely needed. Climate crises can invert where expertise and deep knowledge lie. It is up to educators to help broaden what is considered as ‘really useful knowledge’ and ensure that the knowledge hierarchies that currently exist are challenged.
Lifelong learning orientations: All of the above point to the importance of lifelong learning (LLL) orientations and approaches as being fundamental to responding to the deep adaptations that climate crises demand. People of all ages are affected: from birth to death. From birth we are required to learn respectful relations to water and all natural resources; to respect the diversity of fauna and flora and all living things, as crucial to our collective survival. Capitalism thrives on rampant consumerism and waste, whereas what is needed is an attitude of conservation, preservation and appreciation of the finiteness of the planet.
If we accept Naomi Klein’s (2014) argument, that the climate crisis is a confrontation between capitalism and the planet, then virtually everything as we know it has to be rethought and relearnt. We are challenged personally and collectively to rethink how we live, what we value and what we stand for. It demands that we have concern for those with little or no voice in governance, the poor and the unborn. It calls for new and imaginative thinking across all spheres of economic, social, environmental and cultural life, including in education.
A lifelong learning orientation has implications for the diffuse learning environments of home, work, the media and society in general. It is also important to have the infrastructure through media, ICT and systems of education and training institutions to be able to communicate and engage citizens when crises arise. The inculcation of an approach to learning throughout life, which encourages all people to remain curious and creative, will support society’s abilities to take on the environmental challenges as they manifest themselves across different social classes, cultures, beliefs and traditions.
Building resilience through a lifelong learning orientation across all generations at personal, organisational, community and societal levels should help our collective abilities to respond. Taking the use, preservation and conservation of water, as an example, across all spheres and stages of life, when severe droughts set in, society is more able to adapt and respond appropriately when all of society has an understanding of the finiteness of water.
As rapid climate change can be turbulent, we do not know what is coming at us, so we do need to be open to learning and adapting fast. The role-modelling of education and training institutions in school and post-school education and training systems is vitally important to demonstrating the values for a resilient future – for example, including the reuse of water, recycling, avoiding the use of plastics, the use of renewable energy; valuing conserving, preserving, reusing as important values in every aspect of institutional life; maximising land for food production; building capacities for disaster mitigation; deepening understanding of the dramatic changes in the biosphere; encouraging sustainable innovations to respond to climate crises with the long-term future in mind; and applying heartfelt pedagogies to lifelong learning orientations and approaches.
The curricula in all education and training institutions, and in other learning spaces such as the home, work and cultural centres, and through the media, would do well to learn from holistic approaches to education and learning by many indigenous peoples around the world who live the interconnections among all life forms, including Mother Earth (Solon, 2018).
Concluding thoughts
The climate crisis raises fundamental questions about the kind of economic and political futures that are possible if life on the planet is to be sustained and/or regenerated. As Naomi Klein (2017a) argues, there are urgent choices to be made to avoid catastrophic climate disruption, which includes changing just about everything about the economy, as we currently know it. There are growing numbers of scholars, activists, politicians and educators who are putting forward ideas for alternative futures: Fioramonti (2018) describes the ‘well-being economy’ as one such example.
Wallace-Wells (2019) argues that it is time both to resist that which is compounding the climate crisis today and also to dream, to imagine alternative futures. Adult learning and education have vital roles to play in both – but these are not neutral or technical undertakings. They involve thinking politically as we teach/learn and organise, so that we can become climate-crisis resilient.
I have argued that adult educators and adult learners are also citizens. Our identities as citizens merge with our identities as educators and learners. As in other political struggles, such as that of the anti-apartheid movement and the mobilisation for access to anti-retroviral medication at the height of the HIV and AIDS pandemic, educators and students were in many instances allies fighting for social and economic justice. Pedagogies and curricula were shaped very much by these struggles. At this time of massive threat to life as we know it, it is time to draw on past experience in order to act with even more urgency. The climate crises demand that scholars and practitioners work across disciplines to address many of the intractable problems. It is clear that we need a range of adaptive skills, expertise, and commitments, all enhanced through processes of learning. Adult educators and all other educators have extremely important roles to play – both as citizens and in their professional capacities – to act urgently ‘as if our houses are on fire’!
“Treat the earth well. It was not given to you by your parents. It was loaned to you by your children.” Native American Proverb
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A version of this ‘Thought piece’ will be published in the Journal of Vocational, Adult and Continuing Education and Training (JOVACET) in October/November 2019. It follows on from a previously published article Walters, S. 2018. ‘The drought is my teacher’: Adult learning and education in times of climate crisis. Journal of Vocational, Adult and Continuing Education and Training (JOVACET), 1(1): 146–162, South Africa.
Source: PIMA Bulletin No. 26 - September 2019 [14]