Abstract:

‘There is No Planet B’ was one amongst thousands of slogans chanted by young climate protestors at Glasgow in November 2021. Having studied many UN climate conferences since 2009, I can see why ‘for the first time the adult delegates [at COP26] were more afraid of the kids outside than they were of one another or the press’ (Friedman, 2021). In this paper, I will attempt to address some of these gaps using a self-deterministic prism. I will argue that the new youth climate activism could be better explained from a needs satisfaction perspective in psychological theory of self-determination (Ryan and Deci, 2000). Specifically, the theory focuses on social-contextual factors that foster or hinder students thriving through the satisfaction of their basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Ryan and Deci, 2017). From SDT’s perspective, all students are inherently prone to learning, mastery and connection with others, but these human tendencies are not spontaneous—they require nurturing conditions, such as need-supportive teaching behaviors, inclusive structures and learning environments. In this paper, I will focus on several critical tasks for educators to undertake. First, they need to take bolder steps themselves to integrate climate awareness into their daily teaching practice. Second, teachers should act early to mitigate the negative side-effects of youth climate protests on the quality of and access to education in the long run. The key to both tasks lies in designing and implementing inclusive pedagogies to address the needs and expectations of the climate-conscious generation, as well as those who have not yet grasped the extent of the looming planetary collapse.

Keywords:

Climate Change Education, Self-Determination Theory, Environmental Education.