Buds of collectivity: student collaborative and system-oriented action towards greater socioenvironmental sustainability

Abstract

This qualitative study explores how middle school students in the Western United States participated in a curricular unit that focused on action for socioenvironmental sustainability. Using inductive coding and building on prior research, I examined actions that students took during this sustainability unit and how students talked about action after the unit concluded. I developed a visual tool for analyzing action in terms of scale: the action scale framework. I used this tool to examine students’ enactment of action and ideas about action on a continuum from individual to collaborative changemaking and the intended outcome of action as directed at behavior transformation or system transformation. Action across scale is necessary for addressing socioenvironmental challenges more justly. These findings suggest possibilities and challenges for designing action-oriented learning environments that support heterogeneous outcomes and more collective action.

Keywords:

• Climate change
• sustainability
• action
• secondary
• pro-environmental behavior

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Acknowledgements

I am appreciative of funding from University of Colorado Boulder’s Office of Outreach and Engagement and the Women Investing in the School of Education (WISE). I am grateful to Susan Jurow and Erin Furtak for their extensive mentorship and support and to my dissertation committee for their generous feedback. Thank you to Jeff Writer, Blaire Rodriguez, David Oonk, and Anne Gold for support and partnership across this project. Thank you to the teachers who welcomed me into their classrooms and to the students who shared their ideas and aspirations with me. Finally, thank you to Jeff Bush, my graduate student colleagues, and my family who provided me with tremendous support throughout this project.

Notes

1 The ballot title for Proposition 112 was as follows: ‘Shall there be a change to the Colorado Revised Statutes concerning a statewide minimum distance requirement for new oil and gas development, and, in connection therewith, changing existing distance requirements to require that any new oil and gas development be located at least 2,500 feet from any structure intended for human occupancy and any other area designated by the measure, the state, or a local government and authorizing the state or a local government to increase the minimum distance requirement?’ Setback distance refers to the minimum required distance between an oil and gas well and a building or other location. The proposition was ultimately defeated by a margin of approximately 10% (Ballotpedia 2020). Arguments in favor of Proposition 112 focused on negative impacts that oil and gas activity can have on human and ecosystem health (e.g. Pétron et al. 2012), safety (e.g. CBS 2017), and justice (e.g. McKenzie et al. 2016), and the contribution of oil and gas to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions (e.g. Schwietzke et al. 2016). Environmentally hazardous sites disproportionately impact racially and economically marginalized communities (e.g. Maantay, Chakraborty, and Brender 2010) and local communities have limited power in influencing whether or not oil and gas activity occurs near their homes, schools, and recreation areas (e.g. Malin and DeMaster 2016) Arguments against Proposition 112 focused primarily on negative impact that restricting oil and gas activity could have on local jobs and Colorado’s economy, including projected decreases in tax revenue from industry activity (e.g. PricewaterhouseCoopers 2017)

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by Women Investing in the School of Education (WISE); University of Colorado Boulder Office of Outreach and Engagement

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Notes on contributors

Kelsey Tayne

Kelsey Tayne holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Colorado Boulder. Her primary research focus is on designing learning opportunities that support youth action towards more sustainable and just futures.