When Teachers Adopt Environmental Behaviors in the Aim of Protecting the Climate

Abstract

The authors invited teachers participating in a climate change education course to voluntarily demonstrate new environmental behaviors. They were interviewed and described the process of change they experienced. Facilitating professional development activities were participation in a community of change, construction of knowledge of climate change, a solo activity in nature, and a continuum of values. Organizational skills, personal advantages, and ease of chosen actions were facilitating factors. Limiting factors included lack of time and lack of awareness of people around them and the difficulty of affirming one's differences. Participants experienced positive feelings in their process, except for guilt when they forgot to do the new actions.

Keywords:

• climate change
• environmental behavior
• environmental education
• teacher training