How to Confront Climate Denial: Literacy, Social Studies, and Climate Change

This book addresses the lack of attention to climate change and climate denial in literacy and social studies education by introducing the Climate Denial Inquiry Model (CDIM) and providing examples of how educators and students can confront these forms of denial. It emphasizes the importance of critical literacies and eco-civic practices to help students discern the corporate, financial, and political roots of climate denial and understand efforts to misinform the public. The book also offers teaching and learning pathways that lead from destructive stories steeped in climate denial to more just and sustainable futures.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 176 pages
Publication date: 23 September 2022
Publisher: Teachers' College Press

Climate change and climate denial have remained largely unnoticed in literacy and social studies education. This book aims to bridge that gap by introducing the Climate Denial Inquiry Model (CDIM) and providing clear examples of how educators and students can confront two forms of climate denial: science denial and action denial.

The CDIM emphasizes the importance of critical literacies tailored specifically for climate denial texts, which can be effectively combined with eco-civic practices of deliberation, reflexivity, and counter-narration to help students identify the corporate, financial, and political motivations behind climate denial. It also sheds light on efforts to misinform the American public, sow doubt and distrust of basic scientific knowledge, and erode support for evidence-based policymaking and collective civic action.

With an emphasis on inquiry-based teaching and learning, the book charts a transformative path from destructive stories steeped in climate denial to ecojustice stories that invite teachers and students to consider more just and sustainable futures.

Key Features:

An innovative model to assist educators in addressing climate science denial and climate action denial.

Clear illustrations of how to integrate critical literacies designed specifically for climate denial.

Practical climate- and inquiry-based teaching and learning pathways in literacy and social studies, with significant potential for connections across other content areas.

A roadmap from destructive stories steeped in climate denial to more just and sustainable futures.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780807767207