Learning climate, ocean and geoethics: A research project for Earth education

Ecological overshoot and unfettered growth are wreaking havoc on our environment (Daly, Meadows, Rees, et al.).  The result is, what appears to be accelerating, global warming (incl climate change) giving rise to increasing intensity and frequency of drought, wildfire, flooding and hurricanes, accelerating ice melt and sea level rise, ocean acidification and hypoxia, biodiversity loss, desertification, permafrost thawing, soil degradation, atmospheric pollution, water insecurity and so on.

The human consequences are huge, e.g., migration, war, starvation, increased health risk, greater spread of disease, lower life expectancy, social upheaval, increasing wealth gap and gender inequality and political extremism.  All these are, of course, excruciatingly unethical.  The issue seems bleak.

The above results and impacts vary greatly across geographies, social norms and individual lifestyles.  The question then arises is how people, from all walks of life, manage to learn how to cope, manage to learn about global warming, ocean degradation and eke out a tragic life for their families, especially for the poorest?

The second question that arises is how do these results (global warming, climate change, etc.) and these human consequences impact the ways in which people learn (informally) and the ways in which education is organized and delivered (formally)?  What are the main positive contributing factors and what are the destructive factors, and how do they work?

What kind of geoethics do people develop (formally and informally, influenced by culture, circumstance, livelihood and events)?  How do people’s and communities’ sense and practice (or non-practice) of geoethics improve or hinder their lives and resilience?

Our research project aims to delve into these complex, but crucial, questions.  If you think that you might be interested in joining the project, please drop by our poster to discuss.