An Existential Toolkit for Climate Educators (Zoom Webinar and Workshop)

Purpose of the Workshop: The workshop's primary, tangible purpose is to produce a globally-accessible climate educator's existential toolkit, and a secondary purpose is to plan how we will cultivate a global network of people working on this.

Given the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, we feel an even greater urgency to provide tools for engaging students' emotional responses to climate disruption. This event gives as a unique opportunity to intervene.

Artifacts Resulting from the Workshop (all of which will be hosted on a new Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators landing page via the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society):

• Lightning Videos in a range of languages from our participant pool

• Open Access Toolkit of Resources

• Open Access Video Archive of the Opening Roundtable event (July 2)

Next Steps for each Participant:

1. If you wish to contribute, please view the sample lightning videos and prepare to record and submit your own video no later than June 26. The RCC will send a link for uploading these in the coming weeks.
2. Mark your calendars for July 2, 8-10am PST to join our Opening Roundtable. (details below)
3. Watch for an email registration link in mid-June to select a Breakout Session of your choice for July 3 (these will be in various time zones so folks can participate during a convenient time - details below)

Schedule

July 2, 8-10am PST: Opening Roundtable. This event will be hosted on Zoom.

Our round table panelists include:

• Leslie Davenport, Climate Psychology Author and Therapist at the California Institute of Integral Studies

• Matthew Kamakani Lynch, Director of Sustainability Initiatives, University of Hawaiʻi

• Elin Kelsey, Faculty in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria, Canada. Spokesperson, scholar and educator in the area of hope and the environment

• Panu Pihkala, Adjunct Professor in Theology & Multidisciplinary Environmental Studies at the University of Helsinki

• Frances Roberts-Gregory, PhD Candidate in Society & Environment at the University of California, Berkeley

• Yuan Yuan, Assistant Professor at University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. Primary fields: American Literature; Spatial Literary Studies; Environmental Humanities

July 3, Breakout Sessions (approx 2 hours, running in various time zones throughout the day).

These breakout sessions will be facilitated by regional facilitators. Participants will receive an email in mid-June listing various times they may choose from, and should register then. The intention is to harvest tools from participants and commit to a plan to submit those tools to the online toolkit. These breakout sessions are where the knowledge-sharing and commitments to action will take place, and will be capped around 12 participants to create a more intimate group for discussion. The purpose of the breakout sessions is to harvest our best tools for the educator toolkit. The desired deliverable will be a short summary of main takeaways from your session, modules/resources that the group proposes to be included in the toolkit, and a 2-minute video from each participant in the language of their choice. Summaries and videos will be uploaded to the new Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators landing page in the RCC's Beyond Doom and Gloom virtual exhibition.

July 5, 8am-10am PST: Culminating Workshop (CORE MEMBERS ONLY).

In this final session, our core workshop members will summarize what was provided by the breakout sessions, workshop the shape of the toolkit, discuss next steps, and close the event. We will publicly launch the videos and additional resources on the new Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators landing page hosted by the RCC.