A Thought piece by Shirley Walters was the reference text for PIMA’s first webinar held on 23 October 2019, including a response by Han Soonghee and an article by Jim Falk which both appeared in PIMA Bulletin 26. Shirley gave a brief introduction to the text, then two invited respondents, Sandy Morrison from Aotearoa/New Zealand and Jim Falk from Australia, deepened the conversation before it was opened up to other participants. 

Shirley’s comments covered: contextualisation of the article as complementing a previously written article entitled ‘The drought is my teacher’ⁱⁱ. She elaborated on critical ideas as an extension from the previous article; and how adult educators can help navigate the climate crisis, quoting from a contemporary novel by Amitav Gosh (2019) Gun Island. These two passages hold the tension with which educators grapple:

Talking about Rani, the river dolphin: ‘There is she, perfectly adapted to her environment, perfectly at home in it – and then things begin to change, so that all those years of learning become useless, the places you know best can’t sustain you anymore and you’ve got to find new hunting grounds. Rani must have felt that everything she knew, everything she was familiar with – the water, the currents, the earth itself – was rising up against her.’ (Gosh 2019:97) and secondly: ‘the possibility of our deliverance lies not in the future but in the past, is a mystery beyond memory.’ (Gosh 2019:286)

This latter quote is the recognition that we perhaps know more than we realize as we draw on our collective, ancient histories and traditions. We don’t necessarily start from a blank sheet but have to rearticulate, recalibrate from previous practices and understandings. And from the first quote, we have to learn, unlearn, and relearn under very new and changing conditions and contexts.

Shirley pointed out that the ideas offered in the text are in no particular order. Some certainly look backward in order to go forward; some relate to needing to learn, relearn, unlearn in very new situations; she is certainly not attempting to be comprehensive. She expressed appreciation for points made by Han Soonghee highlighting links to global citizenship, broadening understandings of learning cities, and the need to unlearn, relearn ‘completely new thought systems’ which link to ‘relearning the purpose of life’. In addition, he linked the importance of developing collective ecological consciousness going beyond the learning of individuals to the ‘pedagogy of systems’. This needs further exploration. Shirley valued Jim Falk’s detailed understandings of the science, and his emphasis on the urgency of the issues we collectively face.

After expressing appreciation of the article, Sandy elaborated some of the challenges that we face. Many people still lack access to information about the climate emergency: some believe that it’s ‘God’s will’; others do not see the linkages between climate crisis food sovereignty, good health, and poverty. There are Maori women who are tapping into cultural practices to reach people – sacred places and spaces are relevant. Some people believe that given colonialism over so many centuries, ‘this is just another crisis’. Sandy emphasized the importance of risk mitigation in many poor communities, and appreciated the acknowledgement of the trauma and violence. This needs compassionate response with use of heartfelt pedagogies from educators.

Sandy described a challenging intervention with 6-12 year olds who wanted to know ‘why we are making holes in the blanket’ around the planet; she felt that working across generations calls for use of intergenerational stories and getting scientific knowledge to people.

Jim has been working, notably with Greenpeace, in the area of climate change and emergency over decades; he expressed appreciation of the article and wanted to extend the conversation, with an emphasis on the extremely serious situation we are facing. Indications are that calculations relating to carbon emissions and the heating of the planet are in fact far worse than some of the latest UN reports have projected. We are in a race against time. All the indications are that societies are not prepared to respond in a timely way: the need to inject a sense of dynamic urgency is critical. He believes that there are the technologies to assist, but not the necessary political will and new cultural attitudes.

Jim felt that the scale of the problems was not adequately addressed in the paper, with the relevant tools to respond. He stressed the need to organize to get the best science to everyone: we need to form coalitions with major NGOs, social movements etc. Drawing on the adult education experiences of mass campaigns could be helpful. Waiting for governments is foolish.

In conversation, the importance of working with youth at the grassroots level was acknowledged; also the need to engage with the vocational trainers, where talk of the 4^th Industrial Revolution is capturing their imagination rather than climate catastrophe. Work at community and organizational levels is important, as are interventions at national, regional and global levels.

The question for PIMA is:  with whom do we collaborate in order to help inject urgency and mount a significant response? With whom do we build alliances to make a difference? There was a strong sense of a call to action.

This was an engaged, thought-provoking webinar. It was recorded, so anyone who would like to access it can send an email to [email protected]. Additional responses from PIMA members are most welcome. This is the big issue of our times, and the PIMA network must decide how we respond. Any members who would like to be more active in pursuing the questions raised should be in touch with Shirley at [email protected]

i Walters, S. 2019 Thought piece: Navigating climate crises: Deepening the conversation about contributions of adult educators. Journal of Vocational, Adult and  Continuing Education and Training  2(1) 1/11/2019 DOI: 10.14426/jovacet.v2i1.37

ii Walters S. ‘The drought is my teacher’: Adult learning and education in times of climate crisis”, in Journal of Vocational, Adult Continuing Education and Training (JOVACET), Volume 1, Issue 1, 2018. Bellville, South Africa

A response to ‘Navigating climate crises: Deepening the conversation about the contributions of adult educators’ Hans Schuetze

Hans Schuetze

Here are four brief comments/questions on Shirley's and Soonghee's PIMA think-pieces for the PIMA Webinar that technology prevented by joining live.

The case is made strongly that climate change is the most urgent issue we must address and solve.  It cannot be denied, and urgent action can no longer be delayed. So: what kinds of 'urgent actions' are required from us?

1. More up-to-date information, spreading it among our families, friends, neighbours, colleagues and students, and fighting against  'fake news' (outright denials or advocating delayed action) through speaking up, writing letters (for example to newspapers, or the professional associations that we belong to), Speaking up wherever we have a chance to do so. These are obvious answers.

2. Education at all levels is most important, and not just in schools, colleges, evening classes, synagogues, churches, neighbourhood cultural centres, etc., and not just in terms of 'teaching' but, as both of you argue, Shirley and Soonghee, by trying to influence, support and lead public manifestations, protests, strikes.

3. Although I agree in principle that ‘virtually everything as we know it has to be rethought and relearnt’, we must be realistic. Learning is an incremental process, and we must start with the knowledge and behavioral consequences that can be realistically expected from people. We can change our own consumption (food, clothing, transportation, the materials we use, energy); vote for, and hold elected politicians (at the different levels of government), accountable for their decisions about land use, city planning, building materials, the use (e.g. re-cycling) of water, etc. There are numerous organizations and alliances which do research, educate their members on climate and the environment, and take action trying to influence politics and politicians. See for example https://connect.pachamama.org/

In other words: we have to become more specific when educating people (including ourselves), and not just appeal to people to become, and act as responsible citizens.

4. My last remark is on the connection between 'capitalism' and climate, thus also with environmental, crises. Yes, of course there is a close connection, but it is not irreversible; new clean, green technologies sell well, for example, windmills, solar panels, incineration plants to treat waste, etc.

 Also, such environmental crises do not just happen only under a capitalistic system of economics. There are impressive examples of complete disregard for nature and the environment in communist countries. I recall a visit to Bitterfeld in the former communist Germany: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/04/16/e-germanys-bitterfeld-grimiest-town-in-dirtiest-country/b3fd8888-6936-43ee-9041-b69add42cd6f/

And more recently in China where I have travelled quite a lot over the last 30 years: https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/285/2016/05/nyt_kahn.pdf

Source: PIMA Bulletin No. 27 - November 2019