We’ve been writing a story. Black oil drips down the pages, coating our hands as we try to make out the next word. The paper is dead trees and wildfire; the print is indecipherable, churned into a hurricane. However, the chapter headings are clear: Extraction. Greed. Profit. Denial. Extinction. The pen we’re writing with is about to run dry. Can we add a plot twist in time? Will we continue to dictate the narrative?
To rework our societal story to address the climate crisis, we must implement rapid change in our education system. To ensure widespread environmental literacy, climate change needs to be taught in all subjects, no matter what age or grade level. In fact, California’s Environmental Principles and Concepts call for environmental literacy to be integrated into science, social studies, English, math and visual and performing arts by this year. To achieve that, we need to use an overlooked tool: storytelling.
Why storytelling? Why can’t we just use facts to educate and inform? In her book “Saving Us,” climate scientist Dr. Katherine Hayhoe writes, “This approach [using facts] can work if we’re talking about issues that don’t have any moral and political baggage attached to them … but when politics, ideology, identity and morality get tangled in science … then all the bets are off. And what if the science implies that urgent widespread action is needed? That’s when the gloves come off, too.” Dr. Hayhoe continues to make a powerful case for climate discussions. And what can help these discussions are stories; in fact, research has shown that stories engage more of the brain than stating facts. Tales have been a central part of human existence for a long time — because of this, they are an emotional connection for us, a tool that we can all use to communicate.
It seems easy enough to apply storytelling into curricula. Yet, the question now is not if we can do it, but how we can do it. How can we mobilize teachers, school boards, admin and students to integrate climate storytelling? Most importantly, how can we have the courage to teach hope and solutions, when the world is getting destroyed?
The answer was found during my participation in the Sequoia Union High School District Sustainability Committee. Founded in 2020 when a group of students got the district to declare a climate emergency, the committee is dedicated to ensuring accountability and fostering change for sustainability in our school district. By interacting with teachers, students and administrators, I learned that the key lies in not immediately revising curriculum — though that is needed — but instead in taking it one step at a time. That means introducing storytelling by means of connecting what is being taught in classes to the ecological challenges we face today. As much as rapid change is needed, there are constraints: budgets, grant writing and asking teachers to pivot once again just as the school system is recovering from COVID-19. If environmental themes are implemented in classes, students not only get environmental literacy, but a real-world connection between their homework assignment and the climate crisis.
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As a high school student, I have found numerous connections. Need something hands-on for geometry class? Consider calculating the diameter of a tree. Reading Shakespeare in English? One can discuss how weather and nature are used to keep the plot turning, showing us how connected human creativity is to this planet. Once connections are fostered, storytelling can follow. When we understand that we have been drawing inspiration from our planet for centuries, the connections we make help us tell our own climate stories.
Teachers have expressed interest in utilizing climate storytelling. When the committee surveyed teachers in the school district, the vast majority got behind hands-on projects, creative expression (art, writing, music, all things storytelling) and event-based learning as a way to educate their students. Although scientific facts should always be valued and be at the forefront of environmental literacy, memorizing a list of facts and their impacts does not make students understand the beauty of this planet, neither does it equip them with the motivation and knowledge to combat the climate crisis.
By using and sharing climate storytelling, we cannot only educate and inspire others, but tell the world that the human story is still worth telling; that we can still add the plot twist.
So I invite you. We’ve been writing a tale, and through compassionate and action-based storytelling, it’s time to give it a much-needed revision.
Iris Yan is a 14-year-old high schooler and climate activist dedicated to spreading environmental literacy. She loves writing and aims to use it as a tool to raise awareness about the climate crisis.
Hello Iris - a wonderful essay and beautifully written. I have one problem with your premise and you even quoted it. "Tales have been a central part of human existence" because the so-called climate crisis is a tale. I can tell that many of your generation are falling for fear mongering mostly perpetrated by teachers who have no life experience themselves and do not bother with fact checking. Your talents as a writer are quite obvious so I hope you will find additional topics that can be corroborated to enlighten us.
An interesting viewpoint, Ms. Yan, but who is responsible for determining what “facts” to use to educate and inform? Perhaps climate storytelling should first be tested out in a philosophy or logic class, or better yet, a history class, where Earth’s past experience with higher global temperatures and higher carbon emissions would be discussed. Of course, we can always ask a simple math question and combine with a vocabulary lesson. For instance: Out of all the predictions of the end of the world due to “climate change” how many have come true? Once you arrive at the answer, how many synonyms can you associate with the answer?
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(2) comments
Hello Iris - a wonderful essay and beautifully written. I have one problem with your premise and you even quoted it. "Tales have been a central part of human existence" because the so-called climate crisis is a tale. I can tell that many of your generation are falling for fear mongering mostly perpetrated by teachers who have no life experience themselves and do not bother with fact checking. Your talents as a writer are quite obvious so I hope you will find additional topics that can be corroborated to enlighten us.
An interesting viewpoint, Ms. Yan, but who is responsible for determining what “facts” to use to educate and inform? Perhaps climate storytelling should first be tested out in a philosophy or logic class, or better yet, a history class, where Earth’s past experience with higher global temperatures and higher carbon emissions would be discussed. Of course, we can always ask a simple math question and combine with a vocabulary lesson. For instance: Out of all the predictions of the end of the world due to “climate change” how many have come true? Once you arrive at the answer, how many synonyms can you associate with the answer?
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