Brent Simmonds

When Greta Thunberg established ‘Fridays for the Future’ in 2018, she raised awareness of the climate crisis and offered a wealth of materials educators could use in our classrooms. However, Thunberg is concerned about ‘The Other Gretas’, whose voices are unheard.  

Although there are many environmental campaigners, in some cases risking their lives around the world, this workshop will focus on the climate crisis through the eyes of four African climate activists, Vanessa Nakate, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Elizabeth Wathuti, and Adenike Titilope Oladosu, who are witnessing increasingly devastating climate events in two areas, the horn of Africa and Lake Chad. 

Attendees will discuss classroom activities that could be used in their teaching environments, as well as explore activities that the presenter has developed that show the activists’ communities in a positive way as well as raising awareness of the challenges they face. Teaching about the environment should not make the students feel terrible or cause climate anxiety but encourage them to listen to the voices that are not heard and look at solutions that can make the world a better place to live in. 

Keywords 

Climate crisis, climate justice, climate reparations, Eco-feminism, climate anxiety, ‘Open your Hearts’.

Presenter

Brent Simmonds who teaches at three universities in Nagoya and Gifu came to Japan in 2005. He has an MA in Applied Linguistics from Macquarie University and has served in several positions in JALT including on the Environmental and Code of Conduct committees as well several officer positions in JALT Gifu. He is obsessed with cricket, enjoys gardening and watches FC. Gifu with some trepidation, but tries to incorporate his interests and global issues into his lessons as often as possible.