Leaders of change: Children and the climate change movement

Yıl 2024, Cilt: 42 Sayı: 4, 957 - 964, 01.08.2024

Beyza Karacaoğlu Mehmet Fatih Akbaba

Öz

Climate change is a global crisis associated with the increase in greenhouse gas emissions and is associated with many environmental, psychological, and health problems today. One of the problems of the past, present, and future is children’s limited knowledge about climate change and their inability to take an active role as participants in the struggle. Children are the greatest pioneers of change, and their ability to change the world is undeniable. Children need to know the facts about climate change, make their voices heard in climate crisis management, and be involved in the struggle. In this regard, it is crucial to conduct various sustainability trainings and activities, both in school and after school, using effective communication strategies. These strategies should include explaining and conveying climate change using positive language, utilizing methods such as localization, visualization, and storytelling with children. In the meantime, it is very important that educators, families, and society also gain awareness and become equipped about climate change, and that children take responsibility and become active participants, because the fight against climate change is intergenerational and climate change has mutual effects on attitude and behavior change. The scope of this review is to examine the role of children in combating climate change and to compile literature studies and real-life examples to understand the importance of the subject. This study will make an original contribution to different communication strategies and educational programs that present solutions to the climate crisis, as well as lead the way for families and communities to guide children.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Awareness, Children, Climate Change, Communication, Education

Kaynakça

• REFERENCES
• [1] McCool WC, Anderson AS, Baide AJ, Gonzalez T, Codding BF. Evaluating the relationships between climate change, population pressure, economic intensification, and childhood stress in the Prehispanic Nasca region of Peru. Quaternary Int 2024;689–690:120–134. [CrossRef]
• [2] Venegas Hargous C, Strugnell C, Allender S, Orellana L, Corvalan C, Bell C. Double- and triple-duty actions in childhood for addressing the global syndemic of obesity, undernutrition, and climate change: A scoping review. Obesity Rev 2023;24:e13555. [CrossRef]
• [3] Springmann M, Mason-D’Croz D, Robinson S, Garnett T, Godfray HCJ, Gollin D, et al. Global and regional health effects of future food production under climate change: a modelling study. Lancet 2016;387:1937–1946. [CrossRef]
• [4] Sheffield PE, Knowlton K, Carr JL, Kinney PL. Modeling of regional climate change effects on ground-level ozone and childhood asthma. Am J Prevent Med 2011;41:251–257. [CrossRef]
• [5] Wang, SP, Stefanovic N, Orfali RL, Aoki V, Brown SJ, Dhar S, et al. Impact of climate change on atopic dermatitis: A review by the International Eczema Council. Allergy 2024;79:14551469. [CrossRef]
• [6] Wright RJ. Influences of climate change on childhood asthma and allergy risk. Lancet Child Adolesc Health 2020;4:859860. [CrossRef]
• [7] Hanna R, Oliva P. Implications of climate change for children in developing countries. Future Child 2016;26:115–132. [CrossRef]
• [8] Martin G, Reilly KC, Gilliland JA. Impact of awareness and concerns of climate change on children’s mental health: a scoping review protocol. JBI Evid Synth 2020;18:516. [CrossRef]
• [9] Thiede BC, Randell H, Gray C. The childhood origins of climate-induced mobility and immobility. Popul Dev Rev 2022;48:767–793. [CrossRef]
• [10] Morrison SA. Moving in a hotter world: Maintaining adequate childhood fitness as a climate change countermeasure. Temperature 2023;10:179–197. [CrossRef]
• [11] Currie J, Deschênes O. Children and climate change: Introducing the issue. Future Child 2016;26:3–9. [CrossRef]
• [12] Lee N. Childhood and Biopolitics: Climate Change, Life Processes and Human Futures. Manhattan, New York City: Springer; 2013. p. 190.
• [13] Godden NJ, Farrant BM, Yallup Farrant J, Heyink E, Carot Collins E, Burgemeister B, et al. Climate change, activism, and supporting the mental health of children and young people: Perspectives from Western Australia. J Paediatr Child Health 2021;57:1759–1764. [CrossRef]
• [14] Hahn ER. The developmental roots of environmental stewardship: Childhood and the climate change crisis. Curr Opin Psychol 2021;42:19–24. [CrossRef]
• [15] Grauer SR. Climate change: The thief of childhood. Phi Delta Kappan 2020;101:42–46. [CrossRef]
• [16] Zhanda K, Dzvimbo MA, Chitongo L. Children climate change activism and protests in africa: reflections and lessons from greta thunberg. Bullet Sci Technol Soc 2021;41:87–98. [CrossRef]
• [17] Hickman C. Children and Climate Change: Exploring Children’s Feelings About Climate Change Using Free Association Narrative Interview Methodology. In: Hoggett P, editor. Climate Psychology: On Indifference to Disaster. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2019. p. 41–59. [CrossRef]
• [18] Han H, Ahn SW. Youth mobilization to stop global climate change: Narratives and impact. Sustainability 2020;12:4127. [CrossRef]
• [19] Mungai C, Muchaba T, Szilagyi L, Radeny MAO, Atakos V, Ntiokam D. Youth Engagement in Climate-Smart Agriculture in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges. 2018 May 31; Available from: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/92979 Accessed on Jun 04, 2024.
• [20] Harris C. Looking to the future? Including children, young people and future generations in deliberations on climate action: Ireland’s Citizens’Assembly 2016–2018. Innov Eur J Sci Res 2021;34:677–693. [CrossRef]
• [21] Hilder C, Collin P. The role of youth-led activist organisations for contemporary climate activism: the case of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition. J Youth Stud 2022;25:793–811. [CrossRef]
• [22] Larson LR, Castleberry SB, Green GT. Effects of an environmental education program on the environmental orientations of children from different gender, age, and ethnic groups. J Park Recreat Adm 2010;28:95–113.
• [23] Bentz J. Learning about climate change in, with and through art. Clim Change 2020;162:1595–1612. [CrossRef]
• [24] Cincera J, Kroufek R, Simonova P, Broukalova L, Broukal V, Skalík J. Eco-School in kindergartens: the effects, interpretation, and implementation of a pilot program. Environ Educ Res 2017;23:919–936. [CrossRef]
• [25] Leopardi V, Chang YM, Pham A, Luo J, Garden OA. A Systematic review of the potential implication of infectious agents in myasthenia gravis. Front Neurol 2021;12:618021. [CrossRef]
• [26] Raby R, Sheppard LC. Constructs of childhood, generation and heroism in editorials on young people’s climate change activism: Their mobilisation and effects. Child Soc 2021;35:380–394. [CrossRef]
• [27] MacDonald M. Early childhood education and sustainability: A living curriculum. Child Educ 2015;91:332–341. [CrossRef]
• [28] Collado S, Sorrel MA. Children’s environmental moral judgments: Variations according to type of victim and exposure to nature. J Environ Psychol 2019;62:42–48. [CrossRef]
• [29] Hahn ER, Garrett MK. Preschoolers’ moral judgments of environmental harm and the influence of perspective taking. J Environ Psychol 2017;53:11–19. [CrossRef]
• [30] Richards DP. Not a cape, but a life preserver: the importance of designer localization in interactive sea level rise viewers. Commun Des Q Rev 2018;6:57–69. [CrossRef]
• [31] Lumley S, Sieber R, Roth R. A framework and comparative analysis of web-based climate change visualization tools. Comput Graph 2022;103:19–30. [CrossRef]
• [32] Fish C. Storytelling for Making Cartographic Design Decisions for Climate Change Communication in the United States. Cartographica 2020;55:69–84. [CrossRef]
• [33] Schneider CR, Zaval L, Markowitz EM. Positive emotions and climate change. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2021;42:114–120. [CrossRef]
• [34] van de Wetering J, Leijten P, Spitzer J, Thomaes S. Does environmental education benefit environmental outcomes in children and adolescents? A meta-analysis. J Environ Psychol 2022;81:101782. [CrossRef]
• [35] Balvin N, Christie DJ, editors. Children and Peace: From Research to Action. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2020. [CrossRef]
• [36] Smith GA. Place-based education: Learning to be where we are. Phi Delta Kappan 2002;83:584–594. [CrossRef]
• [37] Beaver BC, Borgerding LA. Climate Change Education in Early Childhood Classrooms: A Nature-Based Approach. Int J Early Child Environ Educ 2023;11:3.
• [38] Trott CD. Reshaping our world: Collaborating with children for community-based climate change action. Action Res 2019;17:42–62. [CrossRef]
• [39] Rousell D, Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles A. Uncommon Worlds: Toward an Ecological Aesthetics of Childhood in the Anthropocene. In: Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles A, Malone K, Barratt Hacking E, editors. Research Handbook on Childhoodnature : Assemblages of Childhood and Nature Research. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2020 p. 1657–1679. [CrossRef]
• [40] Cutter-Mackenzie A, Rousell D. Education for what? Shaping the field of climate change education with children and young people as co-researchers. Child Geogr 2019;17:90–104. [CrossRef]
• [41] Meyer KD, Coren E, McCaffrey M, Slean C. Transforming the stories we tell about climate change: from ‘issue’ to ‘action’. Environ Res Lett 2020;16:015002. [CrossRef]
• [42] Vaughan-Lee C. The Power of Immersive Storytelling: A tool for transformative learning. Child Educ 2019;95:23–31. [CrossRef]
• [43] Byman J, Kumpulainen K, Wong CC, Renlund J. Children’s emotional experiences in and about nature across temporal–spatial entanglements during digital storying. Literacy 2022;56:18–28. [CrossRef]
• [44] Ebersbach M, Brandenburger I. Reading a short story changes children’s sustainable behavior in a resource dilemma. J Exp Child Psychol 2020;191:104743. [CrossRef]
• [45] Bloomfield EF, Manktelow C. Climate communication and storytelling. Clim Change 2021;167:34. [CrossRef]
• [46] Daigle JJ, Michelle N, Ranco DJ, Emery MR. Traditional lifeways and storytelling: tools for adaptation and resilience to ecosystem Change. Hum Ecol 2019;47:777–784. [CrossRef]
• [47] Douglas BD, Brauer M. Gamification to prevent climate change: a review of games and apps for sustainability. Curr Opin Psychol 2021;42:89–94. [CrossRef]
• [48] Khalaim O. Climate Change Games as an Effective Tool for ESD Practices. Stud. Perieget 2017.
• [49] Wu JS, Lee JJ. Climate change games as tools for education and engagement. Nat Clim Change 2015;5:413–418. [CrossRef]
• [50] Mazur-Stommen S, Farley K. Games for Grownups: The Role of Gamification in Climate Change and Sustainability. Indicia Consulting LLC. 2016;405.
• [51] Abraham BJ, Jayemanne D. Where are all the climate change games? Locating digital games’ response to climate change. 2017 Nov 8; Available from: https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/handle/10453/121664
• [52] Spyrou S. Children as future-makers. Childhood 2020;27:3–7. [CrossRef]
• [53] Sabherwal A, Ballew MT, van Der Linden S, Gustafson A, Goldberg MH, Maibach EW, et al. The Greta Thunberg Effect: Familiarity with Greta Thunberg predicts intentions to engage in climate activism in the United States. J Appl Soc Psychol 2021;51:321-333. [CrossRef]
• [54] Haugseth JF, Smeplass E. The Greta Thunberg effect: A study of Norwegian youth’s reflexivity on climate change. Sociology 2023;57:921939. [CrossRef]
• [55] Catana MM, Brilha JB. The role of UNESCO global geoparks in promoting geosciences education for Sustainability. Geoheritage 2020;12:1. [CrossRef]
• [56] Cheeseman S, Sumsion J, Press F. Infants of the knowledge economy: the ambition of the Australian Government’s Early Years Learning Framework. Pedagogy Cult Soc 2014;22:405–424. [CrossRef]
• [57] Kidman G, Chang CH. Sustainability education: meeting the demands of climate change aspirations Gillian Kidman and Chew-Hung Chang. Int Res Geograph Environ Educ 2024;33:15. [CrossRef]
• [58] Mintoff Z, Andersen P, Warren J, Elliott S, Nicholson C, Byfield-Fleming H, et al. The Effectiveness of a Community-Based Playgroup in Inspiring Positive Changes in the Environmental Attitudes and Behaviours of Children and their Parents: A Qualitative Case Study. Aust J Environ Educ 2024;40:22–34. [CrossRef]
• [59] Ginsburg JL, Audley S. “You don’t wanna teach little kids about climate change”: Beliefs and Barriers to Sustainability Education in Early Childhood. Int J Early Child Environ Educ 202;73:42.
• [60] Trott CD. Youth-led climate change action: multi-level effects on children, families, and communities. Sustainability 2021;13:12355. [CrossRef]
• [61] Jones CA, Davison A. Disempowering emotions: The role of educational experiences in social responses to climate change. Geoforum 2021;118:190–200. [CrossRef]
• [62] Rule AC, Zhbanova KS. Guardians of the Earth: Teaching Children to Care for All Living Things. In: Renck Jalongo M, editor. Teaching Compassion: Humane Education in Early Childhood [Internet]. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands; 2014. p. 197–211. [CrossRef]
• [63] Rooney T. Weather worlding: learning with the elements in early childhood. Environ Educ Res 2018;24:1–12. [CrossRef]
• [64] Andrea V, Petkou D. Exploring the attitudes and views of pre-primary and primary school teachers for climate change education. J Int Bus Entrep Dev 2022;14:287–303. [CrossRef]
• [65] Inoue M, O’Gorman L, Davis J, Ji O. An international comparison of early childhood educators’ understandings and practices in education for sustainability in Japan, Australia, and Korea. Int J Early Years Educ 2017;49:353–373. [CrossRef]
• [66] Petkou D, Andrea V, Anthrakopoulou K. Τhe impact of training environmental educators: environmental perceptions and attitudes of pre-primary and primary school teachers in Greece. Educ Sci 2021;11:274. [CrossRef]
• [67] Winter V, Kranz J, Möller A. Climate change education challenges from two different perspectives of change agents: Perceptions of school students and pre-service teachers. Sustainability 2022;14:6081. [CrossRef]
• [68] Baldwin C, Pickering G, Dale G. Knowledge and self-efficacy of youth to take action on climate change. Environ Educ Res 2023;29:1597–1616. [CrossRef]
• [69] Hall C, Slembrouck S. Communication with parents in child welfare: skills, language and interaction. Child Fam Soc Work 2009;14:461–470. [CrossRef]
• [70] Howells R, Lopez T. Better communication with children and parents. Paediatr Child Health 2008;18:381–385. [CrossRef]
• [71] King G, Desmarais C, Lindsay S, Piérart G, Tétreault S. The roles of effective communication and client engagement in delivering culturally sensitive care to immigrant parents of children with disabilities. Disabil Rehabil 2015;37:1372–1381. [CrossRef]
• [72] O’Brien K, Selboe E, Hayward BM. Exploring youth activism on climate change: dutiful, disruptive, and dangerous dissent. Ecol Soc 2018;23:42. [CrossRef]
• [73] Stratford E. ‘Dear Prime Minister ...’ Mapping Island Children’s Political Views on Climate Change. In: Children, Young People and Critical Geopolitics. London: Routledge; 2016. [CrossRef]
• [74] Walker C. Embodying ‘the Next Generation’: children’s everyday environmental activism in India and England. Contemp Soc Sci 2017;12:13–26. [CrossRef]
• [75] Cloughton I. Global Youth Activism on Climate Change. Social Work & Policy Studies: Social Justice, Practice and Theory 2021;41:112.
• [76] Goymer P. A trillion trees. Nat Ecol Evol 2018;2:208–209.
• [77] Sporre K. Young people – citizens in times of climate change? A childist approach to human responsibility. HTS Teol Stud 2021;77:18.