The article begins by establishing the urgency of addressing climate change, noting that human-induced climate change represents an unprecedented existential threat to life on Earth, with 2023 being the warmest year on record. Importantly, the author highlights how the climate crisis increases intergenerational injustice and violates children's rights to clean, healthy environments, even though young children are not responsible for the current crisis. Despite this, early childhood education has received less attention in relation to climate crisis activism compared to other educational sectors.
Drawing from her personal experience as a researcher in Malta, a small island state more prone to the impacts of climate change than larger countries, the author defines climate crisis activism as "a political act aimed at inspiring behavior change towards curbing the climate crisis." She frames intergenerational learning as "the reciprocal learning that happens between people of different generations, where both children and adults can teach and learn from each other, over a lifetime."
The author outlines several key insights from existing research:
- Education plays a crucial role in achieving behavior change in response to climate change, but has been underutilized by governments as a tool for reducing carbon emissions.
- Climate change is rarely addressed in early childhood education, and research considering early childhood education in the context of climate change education is still in its infancy. This may be due to:
- The dominance of Global North frameworks where environmental learning is positioned "about" rather than "for" the environment
- Adults' climate anxiety
- Adults' desire to shield young children from the stark reality of the climate crisis
3. While traditional approaches assumed that young children need to be taught about environmental issues (parent-to-child learning), emerging research indicates that young children can also influence adults' understanding and behavior change (child-to-parent learning). This reciprocal relationship offers opportunities for both generations to correct misunderstandings and engage in climate crisis activism cooperatively.
The article advocates for participatory pedagogical approaches that empower both children and adults to work together for climate crisis activism, including:
- Play-based learning: Through open-ended, modeled, or purposeful play activities based on children's socio-cultural experiences, young children and adults can construct relevant knowledge together around climate change without becoming emotionally overwhelmed.
- Place-based approaches: These promote environmental stewardship and intergenerational relationships for humans and more-than-human systems over time, as demonstrated by research on a "pumpkin-weather-child collaboratory."
- Arts-based approaches:
- Storytelling: Can help teachers and parents draw on children's cultural ways of understanding climate issues and make better use of community resources.
- Digital technology: Using appropriate digital devices like smartphones, tablets, and robotic sets can open possibilities for pedagogical practices that enhance climate crisis activism in formal and informal settings.
- Photovoice: This flexible approach uses children's photographs to provide detailed information about knowledge construction while shifting negative emotions related to climate change.
The author notes several challenges to implementing effective intergenerational climate activism:
- Climate activism is oppressed in many countries around the world
- Many countries don't include children in climate governance plans, or their participation is tokenistic
- Adults hold decision-making power, which can lead to frustration and disengagement among children
Looking forward, the author identifies several areas for future research:
- Analyzing the potential of intergenerational learning and climate crisis activism across generations
- Exploring the range of climate activism topics that could originate from children's interests
- Investigating climate crisis activism with young children across diverse socio-cultural and geographical contexts
- Examining pedagogical strategies that could empower climate crisis activism
- Finding ways to ensure children's voices are heard by authorities and policymakers in ethical ways and acted upon
The author concludes that intergenerational learning for climate crisis activism has the potential to transform early childhood education programs and society toward sustainable practices, giving early childhood education a more prominent role in creating sustainable societies both now and in the future.
The Bottom Line
This viewpoint article explores the potential of climate crisis activism through participatory pedagogical approaches that foster intergenerational learning in early childhood education (children up to eight years of age). Despite young children being disproportionately affected by climate change and having the right to engage with issues that affect their future, early childhood has received less attention in climate crisis activism than other educational sectors. The author argues that intergenerational learning—where children and adults learn from each other in a reciprocal process—provides a powerful pathway for climate action that empowers both young children and adults to work together. The article highlights several participatory pedagogical approaches, including play-based activities, storytelling, digital technology, and photovoice, that can facilitate meaningful climate crisis activism with young children. By fostering intergenerational knowledge co-creation around climate change, these approaches can help overcome adults' resistance to change while empowering young children as agents in addressing the climate crisis without overwhelming them emotionally.