Taught By:
Erin Gallay
PhD candidate in Environment and Sustainability, Resource Policy and Behavior
School for Environment and Sustainability
University of Michigan
Read profile here.
Course Description:
This seminar will explore how to approach environmental education, communication, and social change from a justice-oriented perspective. The course is grounded in the beliefs that socio-environmental issues must be addressed as social justice concerns and transformative education is critical for cultivating the skills, values, and sense of agency needed for collective action on political, structural, and societal policies and practices at the root of these issues.
We will focus on theory and practice that further environmental justice and action, the design of learning environments that empower and foster social change and on building capacity in ourselves and others to become agents of change for democratic, socially just, and sustainable communities. Building on foundational pedagogy in critical education, social movement learning, environmental justice organizing, and justice-oriented science education, we will explore educational resources and frameworks designed to broaden who is represented in environmental decision-making. We will draw upon these frameworks and interactions with guest speakers to understand and build our own vision of best strategies used to advance social change and public engagement in community environmental decision-making. We will develop our own organizing and civic/community engagement skills (e.g. power and asset analysis, communication) through praxis of social action by creating and implementing a plan of action for a change to environmental policy or practice on campus or in the surrounding communities.
