1.3 Climate Optimism! What an impactful and necessary lesson(s). I am loving the conversations in class about perspectives from different generations - it has actually led to a large personal reflection on myself and if I am a Climate Doomer or a Climate Optimist as well as the message I may unconsciously present on different days or different topics to my Gen Z students.
I wanted to ask here if other teachers had any Youth Climate Optimist examples to share? Or really any generation; it could be interesting to show a video/article clip from different generations and ask students if there is any pattern to optimism vs pessimism related to history.
Xiye Bastida is one youth activist that I shared with students. Check out her TEDtalk video “If Adults Won’t Save The World, We Will”; she leans into ‘optimism’ at the end.
And how about Amanda Gorman and her poem “Earthrise”. I printed the poem, students listened/watched the video of Amanda reciting the poem, and they were tasked with highlighting any sentence of Optimism. Afterwards, each student shared one statement aloud to everyone and it filled the room with an amazing vibe. The poem followed the first step of 1.3 Climate Optimism, called Worst Day Ever - which was super powerful with my students!
We briefly discussed Robert Redofrd as well, who recently passed, but was a big environmental education advocate from an older generation.
Thank you for your insight!
