Fostering Hope in Sustainability Education: Three Techniques
About the Presenter(s)
Erin Gibbemeyer, Lecturer, Chemical Engineering
Rebecca Potter, Professor, English
Sarah Richard, Student Engagement Coordinator, Hanley Sustainability Institute
Location
Kennedy Union Room 331
Start Date
4-1-2023 2:10 PM
End Date
4-1-2023 3:00 PM
Abstract/Description
Our population, particularly women and young people, is facing eco-anxiety to the point where it can impact how they function in daily life. While anxiety is a reasonable response to the threat of climate change, it becomes counterproductive when people feel paralyzed and unable to take action. We offer hope as a partial solution to addressing this anxiety. This workshop will demonstrate three techniques that we have found helpful to moving students toward hope and agency. We will look at one technique that allows students to name their emotions and then describe how that emotion can both hinder and promote action. The next technique asks students to identify what they are good at, what the world needs, and what brings them joy. The last question of joy allows the students to see that there is still space in the world for joy even while facing significant challenges. It asks students to create positive scenarios of what they want the world to look like in the future and using backward design to see how we can realistically address the impacts of climate change. This allows the students to construct more positive yet feasible futures than what they may otherwise imagine.
Goals for Attendees
Learn techniques to bring into their own interactions with students to bring hope to difficult topics
Fostering Hope in Sustainability Education: Three Techniques
Kennedy Union Room 331
Our population, particularly women and young people, is facing eco-anxiety to the point where it can impact how they function in daily life. While anxiety is a reasonable response to the threat of climate change, it becomes counterproductive when people feel paralyzed and unable to take action. We offer hope as a partial solution to addressing this anxiety. This workshop will demonstrate three techniques that we have found helpful to moving students toward hope and agency. We will look at one technique that allows students to name their emotions and then describe how that emotion can both hinder and promote action. The next technique asks students to identify what they are good at, what the world needs, and what brings them joy. The last question of joy allows the students to see that there is still space in the world for joy even while facing significant challenges. It asks students to create positive scenarios of what they want the world to look like in the future and using backward design to see how we can realistically address the impacts of climate change. This allows the students to construct more positive yet feasible futures than what they may otherwise imagine.
Comments
we would like the attendees to actively participate, so would like to present in a room with tables so attendees can do the work we would ask students to do