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