Foreword: education for transformation at the nexus of justice and the environment
Julian Agyeman
Whether we look at the global, national, or local scale, the magnitude and intensity of our intersecting justice and environmental crises become clearer day by day. From racism and segregation to Indigenous and immigrant rights; from threats to public health to threats to public space; from extreme floods to intense fires; from housing affordability and homelessness to gentrification; and from food waste to food security and food justice.
These, and many other crucial policy and planning issues cannot be thought of – as they were in the past – as separate issues, demanding discrete, measurable, technically feasible, economically doable policy solutions. Rather, they represent our systemic and systematic failure to develop holistic, inclusive governance systems; to recognize the value of both big data, and community story and narrative; and to develop and center proven universal human values such as equity, justice, empathy, dignity, and trust. These failures bolster our current system that prioritizes profit over people and planet.
The big question is: can we resolve these fundamental issues by reformative policy change, as we are largely doing now; or do we need a reset; a transformative paradigm shift? Whatever the answer, and I strongly favor the latter, the role of education will be critical in the shift. But what kind of education? The paradigm shift will not happen with or through “education as normal” approaches. It will not happen with or through individually empowered teachers, however excellent they and their pedagogies may be. This shift will require, as this book elegantly demonstrates, a “communities of practice” approach:
Where experienced educators, who may not have a foundation in evidence-based teaching practices learn, innovate, and develop their teaching together, supported by those of us who spend our time deep in the research on teaching, learning, and equity. (this volume)
Modeling this approach through the book, the chapter authors were seen by the editors as a learning community, reflecting on pedagogies and practices, vulnerabilities and visions. With both off-the-shelf projects in Part I, and more reflective essays in Part II, the book offers myriad possibilities for educators who want to experiment, collaborate and be part of a transformative process.
Inspiring off-the-shelf projects vary from Fuentes-George’s “Protest music: using music to challenge (environmental) hegemony” to Pellow’s “Epochs of domination and liberation: expanding students’ understanding of human– environment relationships in the service of environmental justice” and from Anantharaman and Tucker’s “Rethinking sustainable development practice: from intervention to reparation” to Jinnah and Moreno-Cruz’s “Should solar geoengineering be used to address climate change? An ethics bowl-inspired approach.”
Thoughtful, reflective essays vary from Allison’s “Using contemplative practice to sustain equitable environmental engagement” to Kolden’s “Colonization of fire: why biophysical sciences must teach environmental justice”; and from Daniel and Ramirez-Ruiz’s “How relational learning can disrupt the scientific cultural status quo: lessons from astronomy” to Kroeker’s “Community-engaged research in the natural sciences: centering listening in the classroom.”
In all, this volume makes a significant contribution to a transformative and decolonized curriculum, pedagogy, and practice that centers justice and equity in three major ways. First, it is an excellent resource for people currently engaged in teaching and learning around the intersectionalities of environmental/human well-being and justice. Second, it provides holistic ideas and insights for teaching/curriculum theory and practice at the nexus of environment and justice. And finally, it acts as a guide to the types of critical investigation and cross-learning that can occur through truly interdisciplinary scholarly teams, or communities of practice.