In researching and writing a unit of study focused on the climate crisis, it is necessary to question the dominant narratives about the systems that have brought us to this point in the Anthropocene. Oxford defines this term as the “current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.”5 It is interesting to note that even within the Climate Justice movement, there are dominant and counter narratives about whether or not the climate crisis “has to be explained as a human problem for which we are all equally responsible.” Vishnas Satgar continues,
The Anthropocene-centered discourse lets capitalism off the hook...[This] discourse is blind to the power wielded by capitalism as a historical imperial system that has devastated and destroyed planetary ecosystems…since its origins. Moreover, it does not appreciate the extent to which the structural and political power of capital has made it the main geological force on planet Earth. As a result, by failing to realize that the climate crisis is a product of, and induced by, capitalism, this discourse provides a warrant to affirm solutions that reproduce the same capitalist system and imperial logic that destroys life on the planet.6
This example shifts the focus from a human centered analysis of climate change to a capitalism centered analysis of the climate crisis, serving to remind us that these narratives exist on spectrums. Students can and should situate themselves on these spectrums during classroom discussion and throughout the course of the unit.
Implicit and explicit cultural and political messaging minimizes the role that capitalism, racism, patriarchy, and imperialism play in the climate crisis. As a result, this unit supports students as they compare, discuss, and interrogate dominant and counter narratives. For students to construct their own narratives inspired by history, art, and current events related to these critical issues, they need practice with the themes, vocabulary, and controversies contained in the narratives. The ideas that follow describe how to approach teaching this content with specific reading, discussion, and engagement strategies to accompany both visual and text-based sources.
Teachers can set up a Gallery Walk and post the narratives where students read, annotate, and discuss these ideas while determining where they stand on these issues. Students will also generate questions, highlighting misunderstandings, topics of interest, and opportunities for deeper analysis. Here is a brief overview of the four dominant and counter narratives that serve as the unit’s foundation. Teachers will find a more detailed analysis of these narratives, along with a discussion of the relevant sources, artwork, and teaching strategies to support student understanding and engagement. In the culminating performance-based assessment, students curate their own Black Art and Climate Justice Museum Exhibit that incorporates art, along with a description and review, as it relates to the students’ newly synthesized narratives.
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Dominant Narratives
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Counter Narratives
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The extraction and commodification of natural resources is necessary for economic and social progress.
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The protection and restoration of resources, and the stewardship of the natural world, is necessary for planetary survival.
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Colonization and capitalism are justified political and economic systems to be venerated and celebrated. They are not connected to the Climate Crisis. The Climate Crisis is inevitable.
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Anti-imperialism and democratic socialism are viable alternatives to the current global capitalist system. Colonialism and capitalism have caused the climate crisis. A rejection of these systems is necessary for planetary survival. Another world is possible.
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The global presence of the US military is necessary. The US military is an efficient organization that promotes stability around the world.
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As the largest institutional producer of greenhouse gases in the world, the US military exacerbates the climate crisis and increases instability. A global anti-imperialist peace movement is a necessary response to the violence and pollution caused by the US military.
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The solutions to the economic and political problems facing the world today will be market driven. Those individuals with power, money, and racial privilege are best suited to address current crises.
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The healing that is necessary today is feminist, indigenous, youth led, queer, anti-racist, and intersectional. Radical change depends on commitment, love and hope from the collective.
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Joy Harjo’s Poetry Brings Counter Narratives to Life
One additional teaching resource for this introduction to the narratives is the Joy Harjo poem, “Advice for Countries, Advanced, Developing and Falling A Call and Response,” found in An American Sunrise. Using seven call and response conversations between two opposing voices, Harjo captures how compelling, reasonable, and necessary counter narratives are, particularly with respect to historical analysis and resistance movements. For example, in the fourth conversation, she writes: “We cannot own anyone else, people, the lands, or resources. We are here to care for each other. We are right. We build walls to keep anyone who is not like us out of here. God gave us these lands. We separate children and cage them because they are breaking our God’s law.”7 Her choice to situate the so-called counter narrative first is powerful; the voices, experiences, and culture of indigenous people in the Americas predate the white supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy, and settler colonialism associated with the so-called dominant narrative. Her poetry calls into question the premise that resource extraction and carceral systems are necessary or appropriate. She centers indigenous knowledge as the most significant narrative.
Students will read this poem and match the conversations within to narratives included in the chart above. They can periodically return to the poem as they become more familiar with the art included in this unit. Students should be encouraged to write not only standard prose as they curate their museum exhibits but to also write poetry using Harjo’s work as a model. Just as climate justice curriculum need not remain in a science classroom, poetry need not be trapped in an English class. Science, poetry, current events, history, and art belong in the social studies classroom. These purposeful interdisciplinary inclusions are the best tools to engage students and model for them approaches to learning that mirror life outside of school and the classroom.
