How to Confront Climate Denial

Climate change and climate denial have remained largely off the radar in literacy and social studies education. This book addresses that gap with the design of the Climate Denial Inquiry Model (CDIM) and clear examples of how educators and students can confront two forms of climate denial: science denial and action denial. The CDIM highlights how critical literacies specifically designed for climate denial texts can be used alongside eco-civic practices of deliberation, reflexivity, and counter-narration to help students discern corporate, financial, and politically motivated roots of climate denial and to better understand efforts to misinform the American public, sow doubt and distrust of basic scientific knowledge, and erode support for evidence-based policymaking and collective civic action. With an emphasis on inquiry-based teaching and learning, the book also charts a path from destructive stories-we-live-by that are steeped in climate denial (humans are separate from nature, the primary goal of society is economic growth without limits, nature is a resource to be used and exploited) to ecojustice stories-To-live by that invite teachers and students to consider more just and sustainable futures.

Book Features:

• An innovative model to help educators address climate science denial and climate action denial.
• Clear examples of how to integrate critical literacies designed specifically for climate denial.
• Concrete climate- and inquiry-based teaching and learning pathways in literacy and social studies with much potential for connections across other content areas.
• A path from destructive stories steeped in climate denial to more just and sustainable futures.

James S. Damico is a professor of literacy, culture, and language education at Indiana University, Bloomington and a former elementary and middle school teacher from New Jersey. Mark C. Baildon is an associate professor in foundations of education at the United Arab Emirates University and a former middle and high school social studies teacher in schools around the world (United States, Israel, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan).

“Fascinating! Instead of ignoring climate denial in the hope that it will go away, the authors grapple with it directly in the hope that it will provide a way for young minds to understand the power dynamics at work in our society.”
—Bill McKibben, author, educator, and environmentalist

“This book is one of great urgency, for confronting climate disinformation is an all-hands-on-deck education emergency. By drawing on a range of disciplines and sources to model a holistic method of analysis, the Climate Denial Inquiry Model offers a timely, innovative, and accessible approach for teaching climate disinformation literacy in the classroom. It should be required reading for all educators.”
—Antonio López, chair and associate professor, John Cabot University

“Now more than ever, our youth need to be equipped with the tools of inquiry and literacy to confront our greatest challenge as global citizens: the environment. In How to Confront Climate Denial, Damico and Baildon provide a scholarly, thoughtful, and also highly practical guide to empower teachers, administrators, and parents to do just that. This book gives me hope that students today across age levels will be better equipped to create a sustainable world for us all.”
—Kathy Swan, professor, University of Kentucky; lead writer and project director of the College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies (C3 Framework)