What is climate change education in Trump Country?

Abstract

Objective Research in social psychology and the learning sciences indicates that political ideologies shape how learners and teachers engage climate change science. Because conservative worldviews prioritize the maintenance of existing social hierarchies—specifically race, class, and gender—conservative learners often engage in motivated reasoning by minimizing cognitive dissonance when learning climate change. Social and psychological research on climate change denial affirms that these hierarchies influence how individuals engage, generating a socially situated identity-protective effect vis-à-vis status quo maintenance. What kinds of educational projects might be capable of mitigating resistance to climate change science among political conservatives?Method This paper uses cases from rural New York and rural Kentucky to illuminate pedagogical interactions around climate change science in conservative communities as bases for considering alternative educational projects.Results We argue that teaching about climate change in conservative contexts demands specificity to particular cultural-psychological conditions, including historical legacies related to patterns of natural resource extraction. These broader shifts in rural political and cultural economy shape ethical-cultural conceptions of teacher and learner identities at geographic scale.Conclusion In light of these findings, we discuss pedagogical pathways for overcoming such challenges—some actionable today, others requiring more development—relative to broader conversations in the climate change education literature.