Power Literacy

Power relationships either act as barriers or enabling conditions to the transition to a sustainable society. These essays discuss social power.

Educating for Climate Activism, Autonomy, and System Change

4 Comments / Building Autonomy, Ecological Literacy, Economic Literacy, Power Literacy, Technological and Energy Literacy

To meet growing calls for system change, climate curriculums need to synthesize several disciplines. The broad literacies described here provide a foundation that can help people grasp the multiple dimensions of the climate crisis. By remaining focused on the goal of cultivating autonomy, educators can prepare learners to become activists who are capable of reshaping the interconnected systems at the root of the problem.

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Mass Education and the Climate Crisis: Lessons from the Pandemic

1 Comment / Building Autonomy, Economic Literacy, Power Literacy

There are political lessons highlighted by elites’ response to the pandemic that, if internalized by the climate movement and much of the general public, can advance the fight for a Green New Deal. Climate activists must take on the task of mass education to ensure these lessons are learned.

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A Debt Reckoning is Unavoidable. Will Activists Seize the Moment?

Leave a Comment / Building Autonomy, Economic Literacy, Power Literacy

Published by Waging Nonviolence. A debt crisis mounting in the wake of the pandemic’s economic shutdowns has two modes of resolution. It will either unleash mass homelessness and widespread financial ruin or force elites to cancel debts long treated as sacred. Social movements must seize this moment: either route offers an essential lesson for the public that activists must ensure is learned.

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Defending and Driving the Climate Movement by Redefining Freedom

3 Comments / Building Autonomy, Ecological Literacy, Economic Literacy, Power Literacy

This is the Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in “Liberty and the Ecological Crisis: Freedom on a Finite Planet.”

This article begins by highlighting the need for a non-growing, steady state economy (SSE) in addressing climate change. With corporations having shaped the public’s understanding of freedom as the promise of unlimited consumption, social movements aiming to create a SSE must redefine freedom as the ability of ordinary people to collectively shape their own fate within natural limits. The article explores the history of corporations defining freedom as consumption, which is contrasted with ecological and democratic interpretations of the concept. By asserting the eco-democratic definition over the consumerist definition, activists can defend and drive the movement towards a SSE. Possible next steps for starting this discussion of freedom are suggested.

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Strengthening the Climate Movement: A Response to Bill McKibben

5 Comments / Building Autonomy, Ecological Literacy, Economic Literacy, Power Literacy

Published by Resilience.

This is a response to an article by Bill McKibben on the development of the climate movement. Activists must recognize that addressing the climate crisis requires economic and cultural transformation. We’ll need to cultivate a citizenry ready and willing to step into the role we’re currently denied: that of self-governing equals.

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Limits and Liberation: The Next Steps of the Climate Movement

4 Comments / Building Autonomy, Ecological Literacy, Economic Literacy, Power Literacy, Technological and Energy Literacy

The recent youth organizing around national climate politics represents a serious step forward for the climate justice movement. Until now, there had not been a sustained, movement-driven push for federal climate legislation. These efforts have signaled activists’ desire for action at the scale of the crisis we face. But we should remain aware that the Green New Deal (GND) resolution is not legislation, and any climate policies discussed by political figures are just words until they are enacted and implemented. Whether we ultimately take action at the appropriate scale will be determined by how the movement continues to progress.

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