Prof. Marek Oziewicz. Creating Universal Climate Literacy with Children’s Literature and Media

This talk suggests that narrative fiction is good for thinking with, and that we need to think our way out of the challenges facing us in the Anthropocene. The notion of climate literacy is introduced as a narrative competence, and the argument is that the achievement of universal climate literacy is necessary for our world to transition to an ecological civilization. Climate literacy presents us with multiple pedagogical and conceptual challenges but it may also be the greatest opportunity for our education systems. How do we go about building grassroots climate awareness that will change the world? How can English arts teachers and literature scholars be part of this global shift? What tools can we use and where do we begin? This talk suggests that one good place to start is narrative fiction and that young people’s literature and media are ground zero for building a climate literate society.