Abstract

An important step towards climate justice (and towards reversing the damage done to our planet) is to critically examine the ‘normal’ we live within, and to question the systems, values, and everyday decisions that shape our world. This exercise is an invitation to look at the world through a climate justice lens: to observe more closely, to reflect, and to feel. We hope it encourages people to recognise their own capacity to contribute to change, and to imagine how they might take part in building the more just and sustainable futures that climate advocates are working towards.

Session and activities

We are the LCC Climate Advocates. Climate Advocates are student partners. We work to co-create initiatives that improve the student experience and embed climate, racial and social justice into LCC’s curriculum and culture. We bring justice principles to life through our advocacy, questioning the status quo from a place of hope and optimism – where we can find it! – in our changing world. We are passionate about interrogating and imagining more for the way we teach, and we know CEdFest attendees are passionate about this too. 

We propose designing a short pamphlet, raising questions and offering prompts about climate justice, that festival attendees can collect and take with them throughout the day as they experience the festival. We hope it will spark conversations and reflections on how the teaching and learning they encounter at CEdFest surfaces, or could be adapted to respond to climate, racial and social justice. We envisage this as at least partly printed (perhaps on scrap paper) so that festival attendees can jot down thoughts on something tactile, but there could be a digital version accessible via QR code as well. We also envisage holding a discussion and composting event near the end of the day where people can share their thoughts, we can capture these, and then participants can compost their physical pamphlets. Some suggested copy/questions for the pamphlet below: Today, we invite you to look at this festival, and our shared world, through the lens of climate justice. 

Questions to carry with you as you engage with the projects and workshops: 

• How much material or resources does this project use?
• Has the project considered its environmental or climate impact in its execution?
• Could this work be made more sustainable or regenerative?
• Who is most affected by the environmental impacts of this work?
• What kinds of labour, care, or extraction make this project possible?
• Are the materials reusable, recyclable, or locally sourced?
• Does the process encourage slowness, care, repair, or reuse?
• How are questions of equity and access considered alongside sustainability?