Author:
Walter Mariana,Weber Lena,Temper Leah
Abstract
AbstractThis chapter examines how the Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas), an online platform that was initially developed by ICTA-UAB—during the EJOLT international project—to make visible and systematize contemporary struggles against environmental injustice worldwide is becoming an attractive interactive tool to teach and learn about Environmental Social Sciences such as Political Ecology, Ecological Economics, Environmental Sociology, Human Geography, Critical Cartography; as well as Environmental Humanities, in Peace and Conflict studies. In this vein, the EJAtlas has unexpectedly become a tool for teaching at undergraduate and graduate levels that is already being used in diverse countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, China, Mexico, Spain, Turkey, the UK, or the USA. This chapter examines why and how the EJAtlas is used for teaching/learning Environmental Social Science–related contents. We analyze the main challenges and lessons around what is taught, to whom, and why. We discuss how The EJatlas has the potential to not only raise awareness on environmental sustainability but also to address some key concerns regarding the demotivating ‘remoteness’ students might feel due to distance from on-the-ground issues and activism, and the lack of diverse voices present in course material (particularly voices from the frontlines of environmental injustices and resistance movements), along with the difficult balance to strike between theory and practice. The Atlas offers a platform that students and educators can use to help bridge these gaps- by providing a way for students to tangibly engage with important environmental resistance movements, visibilizing diverse, frontline voices and experiences, and connecting the theoretical to the practical via a range of opportunities for promoting environmental justice work outside of the classroom including advocacy, documentation, networking, and solidarity-building.
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Reference19 articles.
1. Besong, F., & Holland, C. (2015). The Dispositions, Abilities and Behaviours (DAB) framework for profiling learners’ sustainability competencies in higher education. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 17(1), 5–22.
2. Bonta, M. (2008, January 3). How do we diversify? Grist. http://grist.org/article/how-to-diversify-environmentalism
3. Clover, D. (2002). Traversing the gap: Concientizacion, educative-activism in environmental adult education. Environmental Education Research, 8(3), 315–322.
4. Cotton, D., & Winter, J. (2010). It’s not just bits of paper and light bulbs. A review of sustainability pedagogies and their potential for use in higher education. In Sustainability education: Perspectives and practice across higher education (Vol. 1, pp. 39–54). Earthscan.
5. Dillenbourg, P., Schneider, D., & Synteta, P. (2002). Virtual learning environments. In A. Dimitracopoulou (Ed.), Information & communication technologies in education (pp. 3–18). Kastaniotis Editions.