RESEARCH
Community Climate Resilience and Environmental Education: Opportunities and Challenges for Transformative Learning
Summary
This research explores how community-based climate resilience projects, which are local efforts to cope with and adapt to climate change, integrate environmental education to engage young people. The study focuses on two such initiatives in Barcelona, Spain: one involving kids gardening in tree pits (the soil around trees on sidewalks) and another that educates students about energy efficiency. Through interviews and analyzing project documents, the researchers examined how these projects try to promote critical thinking, responsibility, and action among young people to create more climate-resilient cities. The study found that while these educational activities did boost individual agency and empowerment, translating this into collective action was challenging.
The researchers found that connecting agency, empowerment, and transformative learning on a community level was difficult due to a lack of effective ways to strengthen social connections and local identity, as well as insufficient evaluation methods. The study emphasizes the importance of fostering a sense of community and ensuring that educational programs are designed to engage the wider community, not just the students. By highlighting these opportunities and challenges, the study aims to connect the fields of environmental education and urban community resilience to promote transformative learning and encourage climate action.
