Empowering Youth to Confront the Climate Crisis in English Language Arts

Discover how English teachers and their students confront the climate crisis using critical inquiry, focusing on justice, and taking action.

Working in today’s politically polarized environment, these teachers know first-hand about teaching and learning in communities that support and resist climate education. This much-needed book describes outstanding English instruction that includes creative and analytical writing; critical place-based learning; contemporary "cli-fi"; young adult, Indigenous, and youth-authored literature; Afrofuturism; critical media analysis; digital media production; and many other ways in which students can explore the crisis and have their voices heard and respected. While the focus is on high school and middle school English Language Arts, there are also relevant and inspiring elementary and college examples.

This resource provides everything teachers need to help young people understand and address the climate emergency through supportive and empowering transformational learning.

Book Features:

• Emphasizes addressing the climate crisis as an important dimension of English language arts. 
• Illustrates relevant and effective ways to use writing, critical inquiry, literature, media, speaking, the arts, and publishing. 
• Provides examples of students connecting local climate impacts with national and global events; critically analyzing climate denial, delay, and inaction; considering questions of justice; imagining different futures; and developing their voices and activism.
• Shares teaching methods, classroom stories, and student work from cities, suburbs, and rural classrooms.
• Examines questions of climate justice: Who causes the crisis? Who suffers? Why do governments fail to act? What is the experience of climate refugees? What type of world will young people inherit? 
• Explains how students can take action, join with others, and become involved in solutions.
• Additional resources are available for each chapter at http://climatecrisisela.pbworks.com

Allen Webb is a professor of English at Western Michigan University. Richard Beach is professor emeritus of literacy education at the University of Minnesota and coauthor of Inquiry-Based English Instruction. Jeff Share is a lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles and a former bilingual primary school teacher.

“This book arrives at the turning of the tide. . . . English teachers have a particularly important role in educating and informing—and indeed, engaging—the youth of our country as we mobilize for the greatest battle we have yet faced: the battle for our planet.”
—From the Foreword by Michael E. Mann, Presidential Distinguished Professor and director of the Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media, University of Pennsylvania

“Empowering Youth to Confront the Climate Crisis in English Language Arts is an essential resource for educators seeking to equip students with the knowledge and tools necessary to tackle the urgent issue of climate change. This book provides a comprehensive and engaging approach to climate education, emphasizing inquiry, justice, and action to inspire a new generation of environmentally conscious citizens.”
—Antonio López, professor of communication and media studies, John Cabot University

“A timely and much-needed resource that equips English teachers with innovative and inspiring strategies that empower students to confront the ongoing climate crisis—and to fight for a better future!”
—James Damico, professor of curriculum and instruction, Indiana University

"I wish my teachers had Empowering Youth to Confront the Climate Crisis when I was in school. Its practical strategies for engagement, understanding, and action are invaluable tools for training my peers to tackle the climate crisis. As someone who lived through the gaps in K–12 climate education, I know this book could have changed my life."
--Mia Breznau, co-founder, National Youth for the Climate Emergency

Contents

Foreword: Michael E. Mann  ix

Acknowledgments  xi

Introduction  1

Part I: CRITICAL FRAMEWORKS

1.  Teaching With Climate Literacy Capabilities and Knowledges  15
Marek Oziewicz and Nick Kleese

2.  Critical Inquiry Through Systems Thinking About the Climate Crisis  22
Richard Beach

3.  Ecocriticism as a Frame for Teaching Climate Change  30
Rich Novack

4.  Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Ideas as a Framework for Teaching the Climate Crisis  37
Beth Spinner

Part II: TEACHING LITERATURE AND NONFICTION

5.  Creating a Climate Literacy Context for Reading Literature  47
Mark A. Sulzer

6.  From Awareness to Action: Using Literature to Teach Climate Change in Middle School  54
Kasey Short

7.  Climate Justice and the Forbidden Question of Violence  61
Todd DeStigter

8.  Decolonizing the Climate Crisis: Teaching Africanfuturism  68
David Shackleton

9.  Stories of Struggle and Solidarity: Reading Nonfiction by Young Climate Activists  74
Lara Saguisag

Part III: WRITING AND ACTION

10.  Student Voices and Public Writing  83
Allen Webb

11.  Engaging Elementary Students in Inner-City LA  91
Amber Medina

Part IV: CRITICAL MEDIA ANALYSIS AND PRODUCTION

12.  Critical Media Literacy and the Climate Crisis  99
Jeff Share

13.  Challenging Climate Disinformation Through Critical Media Literacy and Ecowriting  106
Andrea Gambino

14.  Local Ecologies and Critical Media Production  113
Noah Asher Golden and Kateri Avila

Part V: OVERCOMING RESISTANCE AND EMPOWERING STUDENTS

15.  Education for Sustainability in Appalachia  123
Tiphani Davis

16.  Place-Based Inquiries Into Local Climate Impacts in Florida  130
Katharine Werthwine and Alexandra Panos

17.  The Digital Yawp: Small-Town Teens Leverage Their Voices  136
Kathryn Fleury Eldridge

Conclusion  143
Allen Webb, Richard Beach, and Jeff Share

Appendix: Additional Resources  147

Index  151

About the Editors and Contributors  157