For those tuned in to the state of our climate, the need for urgent change can be hard to get past. However – as the last two presenters in the Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable World seminar series have pointed out – there is also great utility in looking forward, in imagining different positive futures and using them to colour action in the now.
In August, this topic was explored by Swedish researcher Ruben Ritzén, who shared details and insights from the innovative project Carbon Ruins – an exhibition of the fossil era. Based in the year 2053, visitors to the ‘museum’ learn that Sweden has met its climate targets and that global efforts have limited warming to 1.5C, ushering in a new era – one in which previous ways of doing things have now come to seem very strange.
In order to commemorate this shift, the exhibition focuses on a number of physical objects, from the aluminium drink bottles that were repurposed for industrial uses once coal-fired aluminium smelters had phased out (and the price increased!) through to the petroleum-derived plastics of Lego – the focal point for an emotive protest movement as parents stood up to protect their children’s future. Ritzén explained how these objects and their provided stories were paired with an invitation for visitors to imagine new objects and histories; shifting focus away from the challenges of the present to a world where they have been overcome, ‘looking back’ at the many different ways this change was advanced.
In a similar vein, September’s presentation by Dr Julia Bentz from the University of Lisbon and the Freie Universität Berlin – honed in on the importance of imagination, likening it to a muscle that grows weak with disuse, and emphasising the importance of a populist movement where people start to exercise their own imagination and its world-building powers again.
Drawing on her research, Dr Bentz highlighted not just that today’s world is imagined and re-imagined in countless ways (creating many opportunities for difference), but also the close links between imagination and action, where imagining desired outcomes has been demonstrated to help sportspeople and musicians realise those outcomes physically.
Focusing on some ways that these insights can be incorporated into teaching, Dr Bentz explained how their programme exploring different future ‘imaginaries’ for Lisbon involved both story-telling and embodied aspects: as students walked around the physical streets, they were prompted and completed exercises to enrich their understanding and sense of possibility; not imagining a placeless future, but one that is specific to that place, rich in sensory experience and personal meaning. Imagining difference in this way shouldn’t be understood as escapism, avoiding present challenges, but rather offers a pedagogical sleight of hand, a way to side-step existing mental blocks while creating the sense of personal validation and possibility necessary for marshalling real world change. As Dr Bentz pointed out, the guiding question “what if?” can open up much not considered before…
The Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable World seminar series, hosted by the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland, continues in October with educators Rachel Bolstad and Bridget Glasgow sharing their experiences on empowering learners through Mana Ora – Students Decarbonising Schools project. Tune in at 1pm on October 4 to hear more. For calendar invites, or to be added to the email list for upcoming seminars, email dkel042@aucklanduni.ac.nz
Photo credit: Carbon Ruins. Climaginaries website: https://www.climaginaries.org/carbon-ruins, [Accessed 10 September 2024]
Article written by Daniel Kelly, PhD candidate in the School of Psychology, University of Auckland, and TLSW research assistant.
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