Invisible audiences, unlikely educational spaces: the “Descarboniza! Que non é pouco…” project as education for climate change
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7179/PSRI_2020.36.05Keywords:
Environmental education, climate change, gender issues, adult education, community actionAbstract
The current climate emergency situation requires a social agenda which accompanies and promotes the transition to low-carbon societies. In such a transformation, Education and Environmental Communication have proved essential.
In this context, the research group in Social Pedagogy and Environmental Education (SEPA-Interea), from the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, has been developing —for over a decade now— a line of research under the acronym RESCLIMA, focusing on the analysis of how citizens perceive Climate Change (CC) and what kinds of socioeducational initiatives foster the interpretation and implementation of actions which contribute to turning climate change into an essential element in the design of any public agenda. With the goal of transferring this knowledge to society, the academic year 2015-2016 saw the start of a educational experience called “Descarboniza! Que non é pouco” [Decarbonise! It’s no small feat].
This initiative was specifically designed and targeted at an adult audience, as this was identified as the most influential age group as far as constructing the social relevance of CC is concerned. As a participatory action research process, the project evolved to adjust to the participants’ needs —mostly women— and to the municipal structures where it was put into practice —the Santiago de Compostela and Donostia/San Sebastián city councils— and became an educational action with its own methodology in which notions such as gender, collective memory or emotion management acquired a key role, since the targeted audience was far removed from climate concerns but held a strong influence on their communities.
A somewhat paradoxical outcome was that this group, most often described as vulnerable (older people, rural women), proved more resilient and committed to the ecosocial transition. Given their role as true catalysts to address the climate emergency, there is a pressing need to increase their public visibility and to empower them.
Downloads
References
Aguilar, L. (2009). Manual de capacitación en Género y Cambio Climático. Global Gender and Climate Aliance. Costa Rica: UICN, PNUD. Retrieved from http://www.mimp.gob.pe/files/capacitacion_en_genero_y_cambio_climatico.pdf
Alston, M., & Whittenbury, K. (eds.) (2013). Research, action and policy: addressing the gendered impacts of climate change. Dordrecht: Springer.
Azevedo, J., & Marques, M. (2017). Climate literacy: a systematic review and model integration. International Journal of Global Warming, 12 (3/4), 414.
Benayas, J., & Marcén, C. (Eds.) (2019). Hacia una Educación para la Sostenibilidad. 20 años después del Libro Blanco de la Educación Ambiental en España. Informe 2019. Red Española para el Desarrollo Sostenible (REDS). Madrid: Centro Nacional de Educación Ambiental (CENEAM), Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales, Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica.
Boyle, D., Cordon, C., & Potts, R. (2008). Are You Happy? New Economics Past, Present and Future. London: The New Economics Foundation.
Buendía, L., González, D., Gutiérrez, J., & Pegalajar, M. (1999). Modelos de análisis de la investigación educativa. Madrid: Alfar.
Carvalho, A. (2011). As alterações climáticas, os media e os cidadãos. Coimbra: Grácio.
Contreras, C. (2020). Redes vecinales y emergencia climática. Una oportunidad para la transformación. Firma del mes. Junio 2020. Madrid: CENEAM.
Escudero, J. (2004). Análisis de la realidad local. Técnicas y métodos de investigación desde la Animación Sociocultural. Madrid: Narcea.
Fuhem (2017). Educacion ecosocial: cómo educar frente a la crisis ecológica: La situación del mundo 2017: Informe Anual del Worldwatch. Erik Assadourian y Lisa Mastny (Ed.). Madrid: Icaria.
González G. E., & Meira-Cartea, P. A. (2019) Environmental education under siege: Climate radicality, The Journal of Environmental Education, 50 (4-6), 386-402.
Helliwell, J. F. (2014). Social Norms, Happiness, and the Environment: Closingthe Circle. Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy, 10 (1), 78–84.
Heras, F. (2009). Eficiencia tecnológica. Ecologista, 60, 22-24.
Heras, F. (2016). La dimensión social del cambio climático en el Quinto Informe del IPCC. En Mónica Arto Blanco, María Barba Núñez, Francisca Marli Rodrígues, de Andrade, Pablo Ángel Meira Cartea. Primeiro Seminario Internacional RESCLIMA Investigar o cambio climático na interface entre a cultura científica e a cultura común ACTAS. Santiago de Compostela: Servizo de Publicacións e Intercambio Científico Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. 9-22.
Heras, F., Meira, P. A. & Benayas, J. (2016). Un silencio ensordecedor. El declive del cambio climático como tema comunicativo en España 2008-2012. REDES.COM, 13, 31-55.
Hobson, K. & Niemeyer, S. (2012) What sceptics believe: the effects of information and deliberation on climate change skepticism. Public Understanding of Science, 4 (22), 396–412.
Hulme, M. (2009). Why we disagree about climate change. Understanding controversy, inaction and opportunity. New York: Cambridge University Press.
IPCC (2018). Calentamiento global de 1,5 °C. Informe especial para responsables de políticas. Unidad de apoyo técnico del grupo de trabajo I. Retrieved from https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/IPCC-Special-Report-1.5-SPM_es.pdf IPCC: OMM / PNUMA.
Lehtonen, A., Salonen, A. O., & Cantell, H. (2019). Climate Change Education: A NewApproach for a World of Wicked Problems. En J. W. Cook (ed.), Sustainability, Human Well-Being, and the Future of Education, Palgrave Macmillan. 339-374. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78580-6_11
Lombardi, D., Sinatra, G. M. & Nussbaum, E. M. (2013). Plausibility reappraisals and shifts in middle school students’ climate change conceptions. Learning and Instruction, 27, 50-62.
McCright, A. (2010). The effects of gender on climate change knowledge and concern in the American public. Population and Environment, 32 (1), 66-87.
Meira, P. A. & Pardellas, M. (2010). Proxecto Fénix. Proceso de Diagnóstico e Actualización da Estratexia Galega de Educación Ambiental. Documento de síntese. Santiago: Xunta de Galicia.
Meira, P. A. (2013). Problemas ambientales globales y educación ambiental: Una aproximación desde las representaciones sociales del cambio climático. Revista Integra Educativa, 6 (3), 29-64.
Meira, P. A., Arto, M., Heras, F., Iglesias, L., Lorenzo, J. J., & Montero, P. (2013). La sociedad ante el cambio climático. Conocimientos, valoraciones y comportamientos en la población española. 2013. Madrid: Fundación Mapfre.
Meira, P. A., González-Gaudiano, É. & Gutiérrez-Pérez, J. (2018): Climate crisis and the demand for more empiric research in social sciences: emerging topics and challenges in environmental psychology / Crisis climática y demanda de más investigación empírica en Ciencias Sociales: tópicos emergentes y retos en Psicología Ambiental, Psyecology, DOI: 10.1080/21711976.2018.1493775
Minkov, M. (2009). Predictors of Differences in Subjective Well-Being Across 97 Nations. Cross-Cultural Research, 43 (2), 152-179.
Monroe, M. C., Plate, R. R., Oxarart, A., Bowers, A., & Chaves, W. A. (2017). Identifying effective climate change education strategies: a systematic review of the research. Environmental Education Research, 25 (6), 791-812.
Moriana, G. (2017). Educación en igualdad de género para prevenir la violencia machista, Cuestiones de género: de la igualdad y la diferencia, 12, 267-286.
Moscovici, S. (1979) [1961]. El psicoanálisis, su imagen y su público. Buenos Aires: Huemul.
Moscovici, S. (1986). Psicología social. Barcelona: Paidós.
Nigbur, D., Lyons, E. & Uzzell, D. (2010). Attitudes, norms, identity and environmental behaviour: using an expanded theory of planned behaviour to predict participation in a kerbside recycling programme. British Journal of Social Psychology, 2 (49), 259-284.
Ojala, M. (2012). Regulating Worry, Promoting Hope: How Do Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults Cope with Climate Change? International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 7 (4), 537-–561.
Pardellas, M., & Meira, P. A. (2020). Descarboniza! Que non é pouco…Una experiencia educativa para la emergencia climática. Cuaderno de apuntes. San Sebastián: Observatorio de la Sostenibilidad. Fundación Cristina Enea. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwij68i21u3pAhUKKBoKHSGJCNMQFjACegQIAxAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cristinaenea.eus%2Fes%2Fdownload%2Fcontenidos%2Fficheros%2FCA_Descarboniza_cast.pdf&usg=AOvVaw28vi9gl2f8wxrhYX1LGV48
Pardellas, M. (2019). Manual de instrucións Proxecto “Descarboniza! Que non é pouco…”. SEPA-Interea/Universidade de Santiago: Santiago de Compostela. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf-fUI1dTxaw3kmrDjDcVaLc9hVFMb2tDOFPNSnBuO6PlOWtA/viewform
Pardellas, M., Meira, P. A., Iglesias, L. (s.d.). O Proxecto “Descarboniza! Que non é pouco…” Resiliencia comunitaria a través da memoria colectiva. Actas IV Seminario Internacional RESCLIMA, Santiago de Compostela 2018.
Poma, A. (2018). El papel de las emociones en la respuesta al cambio climático. INTERdisciplina, 6 (15), 191-214.
Puleo, A. H. (2019). Claves Ecofeministas. Para rebeldes que aman la Tierra y los animales. Madrid: Plaza y Valdés.
Randall, R., & Brown, A. (2015). In time for tomorrow. The Carbon Conversations Handbook. carbonconversations.org
Roeser, S. (2012). Risk communication, public engagement, and climate change: a role for emotions. Risk Analysis, 6 (32). 1033-1040.
Sauvé, L. (2006). La Educación Ambiental y la globalización: desafíos curriculares y pedagógicos. Revista Iberoamericana de Educación, 41, 83-101.
Selby, D. (2010). ‘Go, Go, Go, Said the Bird’: Sustainability-Related Education in Interesting Times. In F. Kagawa & D. Selby (Eds.), Education and Climate Change: Living and Learning in Interesting Times. New York: Routledge. 35-54.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2020 Pedagogía Social. Revista Interuniversitaria
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright and right to archive
The published version of the articles can be self-archived by their authors in open access institutional and thematic repositories. However, Pedagogía Social. Revista Interuniversitaria must authorize partial or global reutilisation on new papers or publications.
Published papers must be cited including the title of the journal Pedagogía Social. Revista Interuniversitaria, issue, pages and year of publication
Ethical responsibilities
Pedagogía Social. Revista Interuniversitaria does not accept any material that has been previously published in other documents or publications. Authors are responsible for obtaining the required permissions for partial or global reproduction any material from other publications, and to correctly quote its origin.
Pedagogía Social. Revista Interuniversitaria is obliged to detect and report fraudulent practices.
Only those who have intellectually contribute to the development of the paper must appear as authors.
The journal expects authors to declare any commercial partnership that might entail a conflict of interest with respect to the submitted article.
Authors must mention in the article, preferably in the “methodology” section, that the procedures used during the samplings and controls have been made after getting informed consent.
The journal will not use any received contribution in a way other than the goals described in these guidelines.
Copyright Notice
© Pedagogía Social. Revista Interuniversitaria. Papers published in both the printed and online versions of this Journal are property of Pedagogia Social. Revista Interuniversitaria, being required to cite the source in any partial or total reproduction.
Unless otherwise stated, all content of this electronic journal is distributed under "Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial 3.0 Spain" (CC-by-nc) license for use and distribution. The informative version and the legal text of this license is available here. This has to be expressly stated in this way when necessary.
