Cultivating Environmental Literacy in the English Classroom and Beyond

• Main Author: Huebert, David
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Western Libraries 2016
• Subjects: Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/tips/article/view/3714

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently stated that along with ecological threats such as massive-scale extinction, loss of freshwater marine ecosystems, and drastic ocean acidification, “[a]ll aspects of food security are potentially affected by climate change” (IPCC 18). Storms, droughts, and sea levels aside, continuing under the “business as usual” paradigm of carbon output and environmental waste means that a rapidly increasing percentage of the human population may die of starvation. Faced with the task of “educating ‘leaders for the future’” (Cotton et al., 2015, p. 456), it is critical that educators foster active engagement with such climate-change related issues. Following Cotton et al.’s (2015) claim that “developing students’ energy literacy is a key part of the ‘greening’ agenda” (p. 456), this workshop will focus on cultivating environmental literacy in English pedagogy at the post-secondary level. While there is ample research to support the general importance of environmental literacy (EL), there are few substantive outlines for implementing this material in the English classroom. This workshop offers English instructors hands-on assignments, exercises, and teaching strategies to help them cultivate EL as part of their pedagogy. In addition to practical pedagogical suggestions made throughout this article, three appendices offer detailed descriptions of particular classroom exercises.