https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6700-4231
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Abstract
In this article, we take up the overlapping nature of crises, and reflect on the knowledge we have gained vis-a-vis learning in a time of pandemic. COVID-19 and climate change have both, in overlapping ways, changed our understanding of what constitutes just and empowering approaches to crisis risk communication. In both areas of concern, the public has had to appropriate and interpret technical knowledge, and apply the same to risk situations. At times, whether it concerns the efficacy of masks for preventing COVID-19, or evacuating ahead of an impending tropical cyclone, the public has had to become their own local experts. Our work is guided by the ethic of relationality, which eschews objectification of the public, instead aiming for their full inclusion as partners in risk reduction. The challenge is to re-orient the role of the public from a passive recipient of expert knowledge to an active agent capable of acquiring, translating, and acting upon risk information. One interesting strategy has been to craft empowerment workshops where community members gain competencies in acquiring risk knowledge and translating the same into narrative forms that they can, in turn, share with others. This was translated into a lesson plan for elementary students in Tacloban, Philippines, on the risks of storm surge. We also describe how the same lesson was repurposed for COVID-19 risk communication. The case studies speak to an emerging form of environmental education that is relevant to crises of the Anthropocene.
Acknowledgments
We thank Mr. Raul C. Basa, Principal IV of Sagkahan Central School for supporting and allowing the conduct of the demo-teaching with the Grade 5 learners. We also thank the other Grade 5 teachers for assisting and contacting their students to participate in the demo-teaching.
Notes
2 The lesson plans can be accessed on the project website at: https://www.environmental-communication.space/learningmodule
Additional information
Notes on contributors
E. V. Casas
E. V. Casas Jr. is a faculty member of the Master of Science in Environmental Science (MSES) Program of the University of the Philippines Visayas-Tacloban College (UPVTC). He holds a PhD degree in Environmental Science with specialization on Protected Areas Management and Development. His professional practice and research interests include Biodiversity conservation, Climate change adaptation and management, Risk communication, Climate proofing and Domestic water governance.
M. M. Pormon
M. M. Pormon is a faculty member of Economics at UP Visayas-Tacloban College. She finished her MA Economics in UP School of Economics, with specialization in Environmental and Energy Economics. Her research interests are Energy, Health Economics and Disaster Studies. Currently, she is involved on climate change and disaster related projects focusing in Eastern Visayas and on a power outages study with the Philippine Competition Commission.
J. J. Manus
J. J. Manus is a Master Teacher 1 of Sagkahan Central School, Tacloban City. She finished her Master of Arts in Teaching major in General Science at Leyte Normal University. She is currently the School DRRM coordinator. Which gave her an inclination on research about climate change, resiliency and disaster risk management.
R. P. Lejano
R. P. Lejano is a Professor of Environmental Education at New York University. His work on a relational theory of environmental knowing has led to improvements in risk communication, policy analysis, and environmental education. His latest book if The Power of Narrative: Climate Skepticism and the Deconstruction of Science (Oxford University Press).