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![Tables
2.1 Possible subject areas to be included in thematic plan on climate
change (younger children (3-7 years) or children of an early
developmental stage) 33
2.2 Possible subject areas to be included in thematic plan on climate
change (older children (8-13 years) or children of an advanced
developmental stage) 35
2.3 Blank KWL chart 38
2.4 Curriculum planning grid for climate change 39
3.1 Belief Circles Game: some suggested topics for educators 49
4.1 Retrospective review 64
4.2 Stepping into the uncertainty of climate change 67
4.3 A framework of questions for reviewing an experience of teaching
climate change education adapted from Rolfe et al. (2001) 68
5.1 Overview of the IBL process in the infant (children 4-6 years)
classroom 78
5.2 Sunflower investigation 80
5.3 Activity plan: making a bug hotel 83
9.1 What is Science Capital? 124
9.2 PMI (Plus, Minus, Interesting) activity to encourage higher
order thinking about topics related to climate change 126
9.3 Global warming investigation 127
9.4 Characteristics of STEM education and STEM lessons 129
9.5 Stages in the engineering design process 131
9.6 Pedagogies incorporated into engineering for sustainable
development activities 133
10.1 Scaffolding design & make skills 145
10.2 Suitable activities to scaffold scientific and geographical
skill development at home 147
11.1 A suggested framework for STEAM workshops constructed
around children’s findings (using the Science Foundation
Ireland [SFI] framework) 161
13.1 Rethinking our relationship with plastics 185
13.2 How long does it take to break down? 190
13.3 What the numbers mean: numbers used on plastics 191
14.1 Find Someone Who Statements for Climate Change Go Bingo
(statements should be adapted in line with local social, economic
and cultural factors) 199
14.2 Why is Zaria worried about the animals on her family farm
in Uganda? 206
14.3 Why did Jack miss the bus to Cork? 207
14.4 Climate Action Project: A framework for enquiry 211](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28027674-250512091748-22b757a9/75/Teaching-Climate-Change-In-Primary-Schools-An-Interdisciplinary-Approach-Anne-M-Dolan-18-2048.jpg)
![Contributors xvii
Brighid Golden lectures in Global Education at Mary Immaculate College. She is a
member of the national DICE (Development and Intercultural Education) Project and
through this project delivers CPD on issues of global social justice to staf, students
and community members at Mary Immaculate College. Brighid has a joint masters
in International Approaches to Education and International Development from the
University of Birmingham and is currently undertaking her PhD at the University of
Glasgow exploring the area of critical thinking and its interconnections with teacher
education and global education.
Kathleen Horgan is a former member of the Faculty of Education, Mary Immaculate
College. During her early career, she worked as a primary teacher with a specialism in
early years’ education. She subsequently held the position of Education Ofcer with a non-
governmental development agency where she devised curricula and provided professional
development for teachers in Ireland and abroad in the areas of environmental sustainability,
social justice education and development education. In recognition of her contributions
to research and teaching, she has been awarded a Government of Ireland Senior Research
Scholarship and a National Award for Excellence in Teaching in Higher Education.
Her primary research interests embrace refective pedagogy, professional development
and teacher learning. She has undertaken longitudinal research studies on the evolution
of student teachers’ personal theories of teaching through undergraduate and induction
years. She has published and presented her work nationally and internationally and has
collaborated with educational institutions, government agencies and philanthropic organ-
isations at home and abroad.
Patricia Kieran is a British Foreign and Commonwealth Chevening Scholar who
teaches Religious Education at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick.
She was a team member of the Enquiring Classroom Project which sought to develop
strategies to support teachers and students in engaging in difcult ethical conversations
about identity, religions and beliefs, democratic values, diversity, belonging and violence
(O’Donnell, A., Kieran, P., Cherouvis, S., Bergdahl, L., with Langmann, E. [2019] The
Enquiring Classroom: Values, Identity, Exploratiion). She is a member of the Mid-West
Interfaith Network and the Religions and Beliefs in Changing Times Research team as
well as Director of the Irish Institute for Catholic Studies. She has co-written and edited
books on a range of topics including Children and Catholicism, Catholic Theology,
and Religious Education in an Intercultural Europe. Her most recent book Connecting
Lives: Inter-Belief Dialogue in Contemporary Ireland (2019) focuses on dialogue among
belief diverse communities. She has published numerous chapters and articles on the
subject of inter-religious education, Catholic Education, Roman Catholic Modernism
and gender.
Miriam Hamilton is a lecturer in education in Mary Immaculate College, Limerick,
Ireland and a member of the Department of STEM Education. Having spent much of her
career teaching at second level, she transitioned in recent years to teacher education, where
she teaches science education to undergraduate and postgraduate pre-service teachers.
Her research studies and publications span a variety of educational domains including;
the social context of education, student experience, cultural pedagogy and refective self-
study inquiry. This writing of this chapter facilitates a new challenge with the exploration
of storytelling as a pedagogy for teaching biological and climate change concepts.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28027674-250512091748-22b757a9/75/Teaching-Climate-Change-In-Primary-Schools-An-Interdisciplinary-Approach-Anne-M-Dolan-22-2048.jpg)
![their native press, and showing their dislike in every possible
fashion. Their one idea is to be rid of the U.S.A. to have their
government in their own hands, for good or evil, and to be free of a
burden of taxation which may be just, but is heavier than any the
Spaniards laid upon them. The present burden is more obvious to
the Filipino mind than the ultimate blessings.
They have no real say in their own affairs, you see, as the
government of the Philippines is in the hands of a Commission
consisting of five Americans, nominated by the President of the
U.S.A. and three Filipinos, chosen by the Governor-General of the
Philippines.[4] This body, however, does not govern the Islands
according to what experience teaches, but is responsible to the
Senate at Washington, whose members having their own interests to
push or preserve, hamper the Philippine Commission at every turn.
It does seem extraordinary to think that there is no Colonial
Office, or Civil Service examinations, and that anyone in America
who has a “pull” can get sent out here to fill any sort of post
anyhow, anywhere. Tremendous salaries come out of the miserable
Island Revenues to make these posts acceptable. So it is hardly
surprising that, without the faintest glimmering of the language,
customs, climate, or anything beyond their own State, these eager,
well-meaning, bustling Americans tumble into pitfalls, and rub the
Oriental the wrong way, and that the dislike and mistrust on both
sides are about equal.
I did not mean to let you in for this political dissertation, but now I
am on the subject I am reminded of a new tax, which has lately
been levied, and is causing much vexation. It will give you a good
idea of the methods in vogue. This is an order requiring every owner
of a horse to take his beast to the Philippine Government, or rather
its local and selected representatives, who will brand the animal on
one flank with certain marks by which it may at once be known.
Then the owner is to brand it twice on the other flank, and to find
two sureties of 250 dollars gold (about £50) each, that the horse has](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28027674-250512091748-22b757a9/75/Teaching-Climate-Change-In-Primary-Schools-An-Interdisciplinary-Approach-Anne-M-Dolan-58-2048.jpg)
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- 8. Teaching Climate Change inPrimary Schools This important and timely book provides an overview of climate change and high- lights the importance of including climate change education in primary schools. It emphasises the importance of cross-curricular pedagogical approaches with a focus on climate justice, providing in-depth assistance for teaching children aged 3–13 years. Informed by up to date research, the book helps teachers to remain faithful to climate change science whilst not overwhelming children.Accompanied by online resources, this book includes practical and easy to follow ideas and lesson plans that will help teachers to include climate change education in their classrooms in a holistic,cross-curricular manner. Specifc chapters address the following topics: • Inter-disciplinary approaches to climate change • Early childhood education • Pedagogies of hope • The importance of refective practice • Ideas for including climate change education in curricular areas such as literacy, geography, science, history and the arts Designed to promote climate change education in primary schools, this resource will help primary teachers, student teachers, geography specialists and all those interested in climate change education develop their own conceptual knowledge and that of the children in their class. Anne M. Dolan is a lecturer in primary geography with the Department of Learning, Society and Religious Education in Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Ireland.
- 10. Teaching Climate Change inPrimary Schools An Interdisciplinary Approach Edited by Anne M. Dolan
- 11. First published 2022 byRoutledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park,Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52Vanderbilt Avenue, NewYork, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of theTaylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2022 selection and editorial matter,Anne M. Dolan; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Anne M. Dolan to be identifed as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Dolan,Anne M., editor. Title:Teaching climate change in primary schools: an interdisciplinary process/edited by Anne Dolan. Description:Abingdon, Oxon; NewYork, NY: Routledge, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifers: LCCN 2021003678 | ISBN 9780367631673 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367631680 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003112389 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Climatic changes--Study and teaching (Primary) | Environmental justice--Study and teaching (Primary) | Environmental education. Classifcation: LCC QC903 .T4295 2021 | DDC 372.35/7--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021003678 ISBN: 978-0-367-63167-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-63168-0 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-11238-9 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
- 12. In memory ofProfessor Emeritus Peadar Cremin: Former President of Mary Immaculate College and eternal development education pioneer.
- 14. Contents List of fguresxi Foreword xxi Acknowledgements xxiii List of tables xiii Case studies xv List of contributors xvi Introduction 1 Anne M. Dolan SECTION 1 Theory and philosophical approaches 7 1 Teaching climate change: Setting the context 9 Anne M. Dolan 2 A thematic approach to teaching climate change 29 Fionnuala Tynan 3 The world’s religious traditions and global climate disruption 46 Patricia Kieran 4 A refective approach to climate change education 60 Kathleen Horgan 5 Early beginnings: Fostering positive dispositions towards climate education in early years classrooms 72 Deirdre Breatnach, Mary Moloney and Jennifer Pope SECTION 2 Climate change education: Literacy-based approaches 87 6 Climate change, picturebooks and primary school children 89 Mary Roche 7 Listening, re-acting and acting: Stories from plants and animals to elicit empathy and dialogue about climate change, in the classroom and beyond 99 Miriam Hamilton 8 Using climate change as the context for a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach in the primary classroom 110 Siobhán Ní Mhurchú
- 15. x Contents SECTION 3 Climatechange education: STEAM 119 9 Bringing climate change alive in the science classroom through science, communication and engineering STEM challenges Maeve Liston 121 10 Exploring climate change education outside the classroom Anne O’Dwyer 138 11 Do you see what I see? A visual lens for exploring climate change Anne Marie Morrin 152 12 The Grow Room:An artistic exploration of climate change Tanya de Paor 168 13 Is plastic really fantastic or is it something more drastic? Anne M. Dolan 181 SECTION 4 Climate change education: Pedagogies of hope and action 195 14 Geography, global learning and climate justice: Geographical aspects of teaching climate change Anne M. Dolan 197 15 Exploring climate change with an historical lens Anne M. Dolan and Eileen O’Sullivan 214 16 Climate change education through active citizenship Margaret Nohilly 226 17 Ecological awareness:A cornerstone to developing a healthy Christian spirituality Maurice Harmon 238 18 Creating teaching resources in response to the rapidly changing nature of climate change Brighid Golden 247 19 Negotiating environmental protection through drama Margaret O’ Keeffe and Joanna Parkes 258 20 Moving towards change:The contribution of physically educated communities Richard Bowles 272 21 Pedagogy of hope: Futures teaching for climate change Anne M. Dolan 284 Appendix 1: Climate Change Glossary Appendix 2: Sample lesson plans (as Gaeilge) Appendix 3: Sample lesson plans Appendix 4: Letter from the President of Ireland to the children in St.Augustine’s NS, Clontuskert, Ballinasloe Appendix 5: Timeline cards: History of climate change Index 305 313 317 322 323 328
- 16. Figures 1.1 The KeelingCurve: A graph showing the ongoing change in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere 11 1.2 Presentation of the greenhouse experiment presented by children from St. Nessan’s primary school at the Science Blast exhibition in Limerick 13 1.3 The Lost Words of Walney (title page of children’s self-published work) 16 1.4 Elements of climate change 21 1.5 Four dimensions of learning needed to explore climate change effectively 23 2.1 When you think of climate change, what topics come to mind? 32 2.2 Examples of climate change topics 33 2.3 Blank flowchart for curriculum planning 37 3.1 Young Buddhist monks learning using a mobile phone 47 3.2 Aim of Belief Circles Game 49 3.3 Interbelief dialogue café 51 3.4 Sacred cow in Hinduism 53 3.5 Origami moments 54 3.6 Muslim girl enjoying nature 55 3.7 Extension activities 56 3.8 The land: general pointers for exploring this theme with students 57 4.1 The process of critical reflection 62 4.2 River of formative experiences 63 4.3 A time to change 65 4.4 Imagine the future 66 5.1 Positive dispositions that enable young children to engage with climate education 75 5.2 Image of a bug hotel taken in O’Briensbridge, Co. Clare, Ireland 82 6.1 Cover image You’re Snug with Me 94 8.1 The benefits of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) 112 9.1 Prensky’s Tomorrow’s ‘Better Their World’ Paradigm 123 9.2 Engineering design process (EDP) for STEM lessons and activities 130 10.1 Central role of the child as Climate Change Champion at home, in school and in the community. 141 10.2 A rain gauge designed by a 10-year-old child 143 10.3 An anemometer designed by a 9-year-old child 143 10.4 A weather vane designed by an 11-year-old child 144 10.5 Suggested sequence to develop a school-community garden project - ready, steady grow 149
- 17. xii Figures 11.1 Thefive sequences of design thinking 154 11.2 Researching bee vision - extract from a journal (12 years) 158 11.3 Researching bee vision - extract from a journal (12 years) 159 11.4 Researching bee vision - extract from a journal (12 years) 159 11.5 Constructing insect-inspired pseudoscopes in the classroom (child 11 years) 161 11.6 Children investigating how light travels by using lenses and mirrors. Findings documented in their personal journals (child 12 years) 162 12.1 Daniel with sunflower, Limerick 173 12.2 Student’s design work for bee bombs 175 13.1 The Mobius Loop 188 13.2 The Green Dot 188 13.3 Art installation inspired by the impact of plastic on ocean life (Patrician Academy, Mallow) 190 14.1 The Sustainable Development Goals infographics 201 14.2 (a) Climate change haiku 209 14.2 (b) Climate change haiku 209 14.2 (c) Climate change haiku 209 14.3 Climate Action Project: Six-week plan for schools 210 14.4 Children from St. Augustine’s, NS, Clontuskert discussing climate change with a class teacher in Dubai 211 16.1 Sample Beliefs Circle on climate change 231 16.2 Sample ‘Diamond 9’ 236 17.1 Ecological Awareness Tree 244 18.1 Climate change around the world 249 18.2 Twisted game of climate change 250 20.1 The elements of Cooperative Learning 274 20.2 Five progressive levels for Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) 275 21.1 Sample cross-curricular plan for climate change education based on the book The Promise by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Laura Carlin 288 21.2 Examples of protest banners 290 21.3 Problem solving with LEGO 296 21.4 A selection of pages from Nabi’s Story: The picturebook created by second class (8 years) and fifth class (11 years) children 299
- 18. Tables 2.1 Possible subjectareas to be included in thematic plan on climate change (younger children (3-7 years) or children of an early developmental stage) 33 2.2 Possible subject areas to be included in thematic plan on climate change (older children (8-13 years) or children of an advanced developmental stage) 35 2.3 Blank KWL chart 38 2.4 Curriculum planning grid for climate change 39 3.1 Belief Circles Game: some suggested topics for educators 49 4.1 Retrospective review 64 4.2 Stepping into the uncertainty of climate change 67 4.3 A framework of questions for reviewing an experience of teaching climate change education adapted from Rolfe et al. (2001) 68 5.1 Overview of the IBL process in the infant (children 4-6 years) classroom 78 5.2 Sunflower investigation 80 5.3 Activity plan: making a bug hotel 83 9.1 What is Science Capital? 124 9.2 PMI (Plus, Minus, Interesting) activity to encourage higher order thinking about topics related to climate change 126 9.3 Global warming investigation 127 9.4 Characteristics of STEM education and STEM lessons 129 9.5 Stages in the engineering design process 131 9.6 Pedagogies incorporated into engineering for sustainable development activities 133 10.1 Scaffolding design & make skills 145 10.2 Suitable activities to scaffold scientific and geographical skill development at home 147 11.1 A suggested framework for STEAM workshops constructed around children’s findings (using the Science Foundation Ireland [SFI] framework) 161 13.1 Rethinking our relationship with plastics 185 13.2 How long does it take to break down? 190 13.3 What the numbers mean: numbers used on plastics 191 14.1 Find Someone Who Statements for Climate Change Go Bingo (statements should be adapted in line with local social, economic and cultural factors) 199 14.2 Why is Zaria worried about the animals on her family farm in Uganda? 206 14.3 Why did Jack miss the bus to Cork? 207 14.4 Climate Action Project: A framework for enquiry 211
- 19. xiv Tables 15.1 Activitiesfor children based on the Ps of history framework (Buchanan, 2013:25–26) 220 16.1 Ideas for discussion 230 16.2 Timelines for implementation 230 16.3 Belief Circle discussion: Rules of the game 232 16.4 Aims, target groups and actions of the project 233 16.5 Energy audit questionnaire administered to classroom teachers 233 16.6 Sample of children’s research 234 16.7 A child’s account of a visit to a windfarm 235 16.8 Outcomes of the project 235 18.1 Beginning the process 248 18.2 Choosing resource type 249 18.3 Sample cards for taboo game 251 18.4 Role cards for carbon cycle simulation 253 21.1 Three sources of hope from children’s investigative project work on plastic packaging and recycling symbols 286 21.2 Key sources of hope 287 21.3 Selection of slogans from protest banners 290 21.4 Key elements of climate change education 300 21.5 Actions for climate change 301
- 20. Case studies 1.1 ScienceBlast 12 14.1 Climate Action Project 210 21.1 Youth assembly on climate 291
- 21. Contributors Deirdre Breatnach isa lecturer in the Department of Refective Pedagogy and Early Childhood Studies at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. A former primary school teacher and principal, she teaches modules on curriculum, research and pedagogy in early childhood education. Her research interests include: communication, language and literacy in the early years; the transition from early years settings to primary school; immersion education within early years and primary school settings; refective practice and student learning during placement, and blended learning within the third level context. Richard Bowles is a member of the Department of Arts Education and Physical Education in Mary Immaculate College. He is a teacher educator with responsibility for undergraduate and postgraduate physical education modules. As a former primary teacher, he has a deep interest in issues pertaining to teaching and learning within primary school physical education and sport. His current research activities centre on using self-study to explore teaching, coaching and teacher education practices. Tanya de Paor is a lecturer in Visual Art Education, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. She has been lecturing in visual arts education since 1998 at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Her teaching, research and creative practice are informed by emergent developments in creative and critical pedagogies. Her research activities are informed by her multidisciplinary art practice, teaching preservice teachers, developments in STEAM education and through making art with children in formal and informal contexts. She sees art as a tool which can bring about societal transformation. She is currently a PhD candidate at the Burren College of Art and the National Uni- versity of Ireland, Galway. Her doctoral work is concerned with creative inquiry into the contested conceptual framework of the Anthropocene, defned as the Age of Man, in which the greatest impacts on the Earth System are infuenced by humans. Her work is framed by the interconnectedness of art, ecology, pedagogy, relational and collaborative practices. Her research deploys art education methodologies, socially engaged practices, aesthetics and speculative fabulation to co create pathways from the Anthropocene to a Symbiocene. Anne M. Dolan is a lecturer in primary geography with the Department of Learning, Society and Religious Education in Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Ireland. She is the author of Powerful Primary Geography: A Toolkit for 21st Century Learning (published by Routledge in 2020) and You, Me and Diversity: Picturebooks for Teaching Development and Intercultural Education (published by Trentham Books/IOE Press in 2014). Anne is particularly interested in creative approaches to geography, inter-disciplinary collaboration and the use of the arts in geographical explorations.
- 22. Contributors xvii Brighid Goldenlectures in Global Education at Mary Immaculate College. She is a member of the national DICE (Development and Intercultural Education) Project and through this project delivers CPD on issues of global social justice to staf, students and community members at Mary Immaculate College. Brighid has a joint masters in International Approaches to Education and International Development from the University of Birmingham and is currently undertaking her PhD at the University of Glasgow exploring the area of critical thinking and its interconnections with teacher education and global education. Kathleen Horgan is a former member of the Faculty of Education, Mary Immaculate College. During her early career, she worked as a primary teacher with a specialism in early years’ education. She subsequently held the position of Education Ofcer with a non- governmental development agency where she devised curricula and provided professional development for teachers in Ireland and abroad in the areas of environmental sustainability, social justice education and development education. In recognition of her contributions to research and teaching, she has been awarded a Government of Ireland Senior Research Scholarship and a National Award for Excellence in Teaching in Higher Education. Her primary research interests embrace refective pedagogy, professional development and teacher learning. She has undertaken longitudinal research studies on the evolution of student teachers’ personal theories of teaching through undergraduate and induction years. She has published and presented her work nationally and internationally and has collaborated with educational institutions, government agencies and philanthropic organ- isations at home and abroad. Patricia Kieran is a British Foreign and Commonwealth Chevening Scholar who teaches Religious Education at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick. She was a team member of the Enquiring Classroom Project which sought to develop strategies to support teachers and students in engaging in difcult ethical conversations about identity, religions and beliefs, democratic values, diversity, belonging and violence (O’Donnell, A., Kieran, P., Cherouvis, S., Bergdahl, L., with Langmann, E. [2019] The Enquiring Classroom: Values, Identity, Exploratiion). She is a member of the Mid-West Interfaith Network and the Religions and Beliefs in Changing Times Research team as well as Director of the Irish Institute for Catholic Studies. She has co-written and edited books on a range of topics including Children and Catholicism, Catholic Theology, and Religious Education in an Intercultural Europe. Her most recent book Connecting Lives: Inter-Belief Dialogue in Contemporary Ireland (2019) focuses on dialogue among belief diverse communities. She has published numerous chapters and articles on the subject of inter-religious education, Catholic Education, Roman Catholic Modernism and gender. Miriam Hamilton is a lecturer in education in Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Ireland and a member of the Department of STEM Education. Having spent much of her career teaching at second level, she transitioned in recent years to teacher education, where she teaches science education to undergraduate and postgraduate pre-service teachers. Her research studies and publications span a variety of educational domains including; the social context of education, student experience, cultural pedagogy and refective self- study inquiry. This writing of this chapter facilitates a new challenge with the exploration of storytelling as a pedagogy for teaching biological and climate change concepts.
- 23. xviii Contributors Maurice Harmonis a Lecturer in Religious Education and a member of the Department of Learning, Society, and Religious Education at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. He lectures across the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.), Professional Master in Education (PME) and Certifcate in Religious Education Programmes in the Faculty of Education. His research interests include Religious Education, Catholic Education, Spirituality, Student Voice and Initial Teacher Education at Primary Level. Maeve Liston is a Senior Lecturer in Science Education at Mary Immaculate College. She has extensive experience in teaching science and science education at all levels in education (primary, second and third level). Dr. Liston is also the Director of Enterprise & Community Engagement. In her role she manages, designs and delivers a wide variety of diferent STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths) Educational outreach initiatives promoting creativity, innovation and problem solving. She also runs a wide variety of programmes in the areas of Entrepreneurial Education, 21st Century Skills and careers, with a wide variety of key stakeholders in enterprise and industry. Mary Moloney is a researcher, author and lecturer in Early Childhood Education and Care at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. Mary believes in the critical importance of early childhood education and in supporting early childhood teachers to creating optimal learning environments for young children. Her work is infuenced by visits to a broad range of countries including Slovenia, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand, Reggio Emilia in Northern Italy and more recently by her work as a volunteer with refugee children and their families in Greece. Her latest book ‘Intentional Leadership for Efective Inclusion in Early Childhood Education and Care’ (Routledge) which she co-authored with Eucharia McCarthy motivates educators to work towards the common goal of creating a truly inclusive culture in which all children, with or without disabilities, are supported and enabled to fully participate in every aspect of daily life and learning. Anne Marie Morrin is a lecturer in Visual Art Education in the Department of Arts Education and Physical Education in Mary Immaculate College. As a researcher and teacher she is interested in interdisciplinary approaches to visual art education; educational environments as pedagogy; refective journals as a tool in the classroom, a/r/t/ography and other forms of art based research. Her art practice directly infuences her practice as a teacher – and vice versa. Within this binary role, Anne Marie places the role of practice and enquiry central to the acquisition of knowledge and explores new technologies to provide and adapt unique teaching and learning experiences for all involved. Before taking up her current position in Visual Art Education at Mary Immaculate College, Anne Marie worked in a variety of educational and cultural settings includ- ing, theatre, fashion industry, galleries, school and community projects. The collection of experiences has aforded her the creative capacity and skills to approach her teaching and art practice in an inter-disciplinary manner.The most recent research projects Anne Marie instigated were highly engaging art installations that were conceptualised in col- laboration with contemporary artists, pre-service students and primary school teachers and children.These projects include Art/Science participative urban intervention project
- 24. Contributors xix entitled Particlesor Waves? (City of Culture 2014),Visual notebooks for Hall of Mirrors (Farmleigh Gallery, Dublin and Limerick City Gallery of Art) andThe Studio Classrooms (educational art and research project involving visual artists, primary school teachers and children who develop their art practice through online residencies). Siobhán Ní Mhurchú is a lecturer in the Department of Language and Literacy Education in Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Ireland since 2004, where she works with undergraduate and postgraduate students in the teaching of the Irish language as a frst and a second language. She has a keen interest in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). Prior to her position in Mary Immaculate College, she worked as a Department of Education Inspector in the South East region, as a facilitator with the Primary Curriculum Support Programme (Gaeilge), as an education ofcer with Tiobraid Árann ag Labhairt in Nenagh and as an assistant principal in Scoil Gharbháin in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford. Anne O’Dwyer is a member of the Department of STEM Education at Mary immaculate College. She lectures in Science Education. She teaches undergraduate pre- service elementary teachers and teaches on the MA in STEM Education programme. Anne’s research interest is in Science Education and facilitating professional development to support learners. She is interested in self-study as a methodology to understand and improve teaching practices. Margaret O’Keefe is a lecturer in Drama Education in Mary Immaculate College and coordinator of the college’s Teacher Education Access Programme (TEAP). Margaret holds a B.Ed. from Mary Immaculate College and a M.Ed. from Dublin City University (DCU) (formerly St. Patrick’s College). She previously worked as drama lecturer in DCU, a primary school teacher and as an Education Director for TEAM Educational Theatre Company. During her time with TEAM theatre she devised theatre for young audiences and facilitated drama workshops in schools throughout Ireland for teachers and children. She supported the production of performances for young children in the Abbey and Project Theatre. Margaret is co-author of Discovering Drama:Theory and Practice for the Primary School (Gill & MacMillan, 2006). She is an active member of ADEI (Association for Drama in Edu- cation in Ireland) since its foundation in 1999. Margaret has led numerous professional development courses for teachers and is actively involved in community projects. She has presented her research both nationally and internationally. Her research interests include: Drama Education;Applied Theatre;Teacher Education;Teacher Identity; Socially Justice; Embodied Pedagogies and Assessment in Higher Education. Eileen O’Sullivan, is a lecturer in Primary History in the Department of Learning, Society and Religious Education in Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. Her research interests and publications include local history, children’s temporal cognition and related implications for policy and curriculum development. Eileen has engaged in an in-depth study of the degree to which history textbooks refect constructivist approaches to learning, as advocated in the Irish Primary Curriculum. In addition, she has worked as Director of School Placement in Mary Immaculate College and works as a Consultant Supervisor of student teachers while on placement. She has published a number of
- 25. xx Contributors community-based curriculumdevelopment projects in history for primary schools, a comprehensive curriculum project entitled ‘Viking Ireland’ for Primary Schools, as well as curriculum projects in Social, Personal and Health Education. Joanna Parkes has been working in the feld of Creative Arts Education as a Drama Facilitator for many years, in very diverse contexts. Primary education has been the focus of much of her work: designing and implementing educational drama projects, delivering teacher training and producing teacher resources. She co-wrote two popular Drama Resource books for teachers, called Step By Step Together – Drama and Development Education in the Primary Classroom (NAYD, 2010) and Step By Step Educational Drama- A cross curricular use of Drama in the Primary classroom (NAYD, 2006). She has been a part-time lecturer in several third-level institutions including Mary Immaculate College, Marino Institute of Education and Trinity College. Joanna was one of six lead Artists chosen for a National research initiative in 2014: called Exploring Teacher/Artist Partnership. Since 2013, she has also been working in Early Years contexts, completing a Masters in Early Childhood Education from Marino Institute of Education in 2018. In 2019, she was awarded a year-long residency at the Ark (the John Coolahan Early Years Artist Residency) where she is exploring the value of using drama, story and play to support children’s holistic creative and personal development. Jennifer Pope is an early childhood expert and has been lecturing in the Department of Refective Pedagogy and Early Childhood Studies in Mary Immaculate College since 2004. She graduated with a PhD in Paediatric Epidemiology in 2006 and has a particular interest in the role of early life experiences in promoting children’s health and well-being now and for the future. Jennifer’s recent research has focused on children’s experiences of outdoor play. Mary Roche is author of Developing Children’s Critical Thinking Through Picturebooks (Routledge 2015). The book received a United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA) Academic Book Award (2015). Mary lectured in teacher education, both primary and post-primary, and is now a tutor in the School of Education, University College Cork. An education consultant and school adviser, she is a co-convenor of Network Educational Action Research Ireland (NEARI) and co-author of several books on action research. Mary’s ‘Critical Thinking and Book Talk’ (CT&BT) approach, developed during her many years of research while a primary teacher, has been adopted by the National Council Curriculum Assessment Ireland (NCCA). You can follow Mary on Twitter @marygtroche. Fionnuala Tynan is a lecturer in inclusive educational methodologies in the Faculty of Education in Mary Immaculate College. She is the coordinator of the Graduate Certifcate in Autism Studies. Her research interests include inclusive and special education and wellbeing. Margaret Nohilly is a Lecturer in SPHE and Wellbeing at Mary Immaculate College. She teaches at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She coordinates the Professional Master of Education programme. Her research interests include Child Protection, SPHE, Wellbeing and Policy in Education. She is the co-author of the recently published ‘Wellbeing in School’s Everyday: A whole-school approach to the practical implementation of Wellbeing.’
- 26. Foreword Mary Robinson Climate changeis possibly the single most important issue facing humanity. Human behaviour is altering the planet’s ability to regulate itself, dramatically impacting lives and livelihoods.The UN’s COP 26 climate change summit due to take place in the Scottish city of Glasgow in November, 2020 has been postponed to November 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.While this may remove climate change from headline news, scien- tifc evidence is irrefutable and we face a climate crisis. There are many reasons why science has failed to convince citizens about the urgency of addressing climate change.These include a lack of leadership,the power of climate change deniers and the lack of a coherent education agenda.While environmental education has featured on the margins of the curriculum for many years,it remains under-resourced and low on the list of educational priorities.The need for climate change education with a clear focus on climate justice is now absolutely essential. Teaching Climate Change in Primary Schools:An Interdisciplinary Approach was born out of a collaborative climate change education project by teacher educators in Mary Immac- ulate College (MIC) Limerick. In their mission to help student teachers teach about climate change, MIC academics have pooled their expertise in this publication. Informed by the most up to date scientifc research and methodological approaches for primary teaching, the book moves from theory to practice in a way that is meaningful for primary teachers. Innovative approaches for teaching climate change are presented through early childhood education, literacy, science, history, geography, religious education, art, drama, physical education and cross-curricular themes. This book makes a coherent argument for climate change education in primary schools. Framed by the Sustainable Development Goals,it provides an overview of climate change including its causes and impacts. It recognises the agency of children and it is written in a spirit of hope. Despite the staggering evidence of climate change in our local and global communities, it is important for us to retain this sense of hope and agency. My own pub- lication Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience and the Fight for a Sustainable Future (Bloomsbury Publishing) features numerous accounts from innovative grassroots activists whose impres- sive results reveal how individuals can make a diference. Many groups and communities are responding with innovative approaches demonstrating resilience and the power of working together. Climate justice is at the heart of this publication.A transformative concept, climate jus- tice demands a shift from a discourse on greenhouse gases and melting icecaps into a civil rights movement, with the people and communities most vulnerable to climate change at its heart. Climate justice informed by science, responds to science and acknowledges the need for equitable stewardship of the world’s resources.The warnings contained within Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports couldn’t be clearer – the scientists tell us that, by 2030, we need to have reduced global emissions by 45% and set ourselves on a path to a safer, fairer future.The struggle to secure climate justice is a global struggle – from communities in California ravaged by forest fres, to communities in rural Kenya afected by drought to increased fooding here in Ireland – climate change
- 27. xxii Foreword is alreadyafecting all of our lives. Indeed, it was through my work on human rights in Africa that I came to understand that any advances in development were threatened by the impacts of climate change. Climate change is an intergenerational issue.As Chair ofThe Elders, a global peace and human rights organisation founded by Nelson Mandela, I am constantly reminded of the global impact of climate change as an issue of accelerating concern. However, it is young people who have the most to lose.When I was in the UN General Assembly during the Climate Action Summit in 2019, I heard Greta Thunberg (aged 16 at the time) say,‘You have stolen my childhood.’ This was a startling statement.Yet, it is young people who keep me hopeful. Greta has achieved more in her year of activism than many of us have achieved in a lifetime. Greta, and millions of children, call upon us all to be angry, to take action and to demand change.These young climate activists are articulate, efective and determined.They know what is at stake. Climate change education is having an efect. However,it needs to be established and indeed prioritised within curricula and education policies.We have the technological skills and knowledge required to solve this problem. A just transition to a zero carbon, zero poverty future is an enormous challenge, but we must succeed. Dealing with a theme that is close to my heart, this book is essential reading for the Department of Education and Science, the National Council for Curriculum and Assess- ment, for every primary teacher, student teacher and teacher educator. I would like to congratulate Dr.Anne Dolan and the staf of Mary Immaculate College,Limerick,for this important publication which will make an extraordinary contribution to our children’s education. I hope that my grandchildren will experience the wonderful ideas from this book.
- 28. Acknowledgements Personally,it is anhonour and privilege to write this note of appreciation to my colleagues and friends who participated in this important project.As teacher educators we are acutely aware of the importance of teaching about climate change.Yet, student teachers have expressed their worries and concerns about their own personal knowledge and ability to engage with this subject.Notwithstanding,their appreciation of the importance of climate change, sometimes it is easier to continue with a ‘business as usual’ approach to teaching. This book was written to help student teachers and primary teachers introduce climate change education into their classrooms. The contents are in line with the most recent research in curriculum, pedagogy and active enquiry-based learning. I am grateful to all of the authors who have journeyed with me for the last three years. Colleagues in the Faculty of Education and the Department of Learning, Society and Religious Education, Mary Immaculate College enthusiastically volunteered to write a chapter.An active community of practice was established. Once a month we met for cli- mate conversations where we ran workshops, invited guest speakers and discussed emerg- ing trends. In groups, we wrote, re-wrote and peer reviewed chapters.Thanks to Lorna Gold for travelling to Limerick to share her expertise with us.A special word of thanks is also due to student teachers who piloted some of the activities and shared their ideas with us.The highlight of this project was a visit to the Cloughjordan Eco Village in County Tipperary.Thanks to Professor Emeritus Peadar Kirby for facilitating this visit. A foreword from Mary Robinson sets the tone for this book.A passionate advocate for climate action,Mary Robinson the frst female President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, continues to raise the issue of climate justice locally, nationally and internationally. It is an honour to have such an esteemed contribution to this publication. I would like to thank my fellow geographers and friends from the Charney Primary Geography Group.My thinking and writing has been greatly enhanced as a result of feed- back from this insightful community. Special thanks are due to Professor Emeritus Simon Catling and Dr.Stephen Scofham for reading sections from the publication and providing me with feedback and encouragement. This book has been inspired by the wonderful teachers and children who have shared their work and ideas with us.A special word of thanks is due to the children and teach- ers in my own former school St. Augustine’s National School, Clontuskert, Ballinasloe. Their inspirational principal Kate Murray is a role model in exemplary climate change education. Kate introduced me to the wonderful Climate Action Project (https://www. climate-action.info). I would strongly encourage all teachers to become involved in this magnifcent project under the stewardship of Koen Timmers. This book showcases the development of creative and critical thinking in the context of climate change education.I would like to acknowledge the National Forum for the Enhance- ment of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education for funding received under the Strategic Alignment of Teaching and Learning Enhancement Funding in Higher Education 2019. A project entitled Developing Studio Habits of Mind Across the Curriculum: Creative Teaching
- 29. xxiv Acknowledgements and LearningApproaches has informed the philosophy of this book in general and Chapter 11 in particular. I would like to extend a word of thanks to my colleagues from this pro- ject Dr. Sandra Ryan and Anne Marie Morrin for their generosity, creativity and source of inspiration. I am grateful to Routledge for agreeing to publish this book and in particular I would like to thank Bruce Roberts and Molly Selby for their professionalism, diligence and attention to detail.The magnifcent artwork on the cover page of this publication was designed by my former student Saoirse Bradley and I will be eternally grateful to her for her dedication, art work and commitment to justice and global issues. I was fortunate to obtain both sabbatical and professional leave of absence for the com- pletion of this project. I would like to note my appreciation to the Research Ofce in Mary Immaculate College and Professor Michael Healy for facilitating my leave and for his ongoing support. Finally, thanks to my inspirational family, my husband Professor Padraic Kenna for his generous support,love and patience,my mother Margaret Dolan for always being a source of encouragement and my two wonderful daughters, Laura and Emily. Anne M. Dolan (Editor)
- 30. Introduction Anne M. Dolan The50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing was celebrated in 2019. In the aftermath of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union competed for nuclear dominance on Earth.With the launch of Sputnik, the contest expanded to space. During the Apollo 8 lunar mission on Christmas Eve,William Anders captured an image of the Earth appearing over the lunar horizon.The image of a fragile Earth hanging suspended in the void would later give rise to the metaphor ‘Spaceship Earth’. In 1972, astronauts from the Apollo 17 spacecraft captured another iconic image of the Earth, a stunning blue-green beacon in a vast black cosmos. The Blue Marble image, as it came to be known,was adopted by the environmental movement as a symbol of global consciousness. It remains the most famous photo of Earth ever taken and is still the most requested photo from the NASA archives. The descriptions of awe, connection and transcendence experienced by the astronauts have been well documented (Kluger, 2017). Interviews with astronauts have recorded the experience of a global consciousness, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world and a compulsion to do something about it. Psychologists call this cognitive shift of awareness during spacefight the ‘overview efect’.This state of mental clarity generates feelings of awe and wonder about the Earth and an inherent awareness of the fragility of the planet.It has also been linked with a sense of personal connection and an appreciation of the interconnected nature of life on Earth.These astronauts were blissfully unaware that half a century later,Planet Earth would be under threat from a human created catastrophe known as climate change. Ten years after the Apollo 11 moon landing, another scientifc event occurred.A group of climate scientists gathered for the frst meeting of the‘Ad hoc group on carbon dioxide and climate’.This led to the publication of the Charney Report (National Research Coun- cil and Carbon Dioxide Assessment Committee,1983),the frst comprehensive assessment of global climate change due to levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.While these predictions were controversial in the 1970s, the persistence of climate deniers continues today, despite irrefutable scientifc evidence and devastating frst hand experiences. Fortunately, many are beginning to accept the validity of the scientifc evidence. In her inaugural speech,A European Union that strives for more (2019), Ursula von der Leyen, the newly elected President of the European Commission, prioritised the issue of climate change as follows: Our most pressing challenge is keeping our planet healthy.This is the greatest responsi- bility and opportunity of our times. I want Europe to become the frst climate-neutral continent in the world by 2050.To make this happen,we must take bold steps together.
- 31. 2 Anne M.Dolan Tens of thousands of school children and students in more than 100 countries have organised Friday protests, demonstrating their frustration at the lack of local and inter- national political action. Inspired by a 16-year-old Swedish girl Greta Thunberg, young people have mobilised their voice in a spectacular and noteworthy manner.These protests have included a call for obligatory climate change education. As teacher educators, we are acutely aware of our responsibility to teach climate change education. Our student teachers need to be able to respond to complex cli- mate change questions raised in the classroom. Children are inherently curious – they want to understand the world around them, how it works, and how to interact with it. Their curiosity is evident through their questions. Enquiry-based learning (Roberts, 2013) encourages and supports a questioning approach. The research conducted for this publication was based on a constructionist, enquiry-based approach to teach- ing and learning. The frst step in the research is an acknowledgement that we, as teacher educators, have many questions about climate change. Our initial questions are summarised as follows: Questions about climate change Questions about impact of climate change (personal context) • How does climate change afect my life (or the life of a school child)? • What can I do in my day-to-day life to reduce my carbon footprint? • What are the likely local impacts of climate change? • What can we realistically do to adapt to/stop climate change? Questions about the science of climate change Causes • What are the causes of climate change? • How does the phenomena associated with climate change difer from extreme weather phenomena of the past? • How do we know about climate change? Efects • What are the physical efects of climate change? • What impact has climate on weather patterns and seasonal changes? • What impact has climate change on human life and lifestyles? Responses • What are the current individual, community-based, national and international responses to climate change? • How should we respond to climate change? (personally, regionally, nationally and internationally) • How is the natural world coping with climate change? • Who studies it? What evidence is there? What does the research tell us?
- 32. 3 Introduction Questions about childrenand climate change • What relevance does climate change have for children? • What can a child do about climate change? • How complex is the concept for young children? • How do children perceive climate change? • Howcanweengagechildreninimaginativetransformationtowardsa‘goodAnthropocene’? Questions about teachers and climate change • How can teachers talk about climate change without making young children anxious? • What is the best way to teach climate change? • How do we model climate action in our classroom, school, home and community? Questions about climate change and college community • As a college community, what can we do to raise awareness of climate change and act to reduce it? • What can we do to reduce our carbon footprint? • What kind of climate change education resources should be available for staf and students? Questions about climate change, teaching approaches and curricular areas • How can stories and resources be used to illustrate diferent elements of climate change? • What are the implications of the language of climate change for literacy education? • How can the curricular areas of PE, citizenship, history, geography and science sup- port climate change education? • How can climate change education be enhanced through spirituality and religious education? • How can art practice and drama education empower citizens to think about adapting to climate change for a more sustainable future? • In what ways can visual art practice facilitate co-creation of knowledge and under- standing of climate change among artists, teachers and children? This book has been written as a refective response to our climate change education questions. Indeed, the process of research and refection has generated further questions. As you begin reading this book, we strongly encourage you to list your own questions about climate change education.While this publication will not answer all of your ques- tions, it will provide a foundation for beginning to address climate change education in the primary classroom. The book is divided into four sections. Each section includes theoretical and practical dimensions. • Section 1: Climate change education: Theory and philosophical approaches • Section 2: Climate change education: Literacy-based approaches • Section 3:Climate change education:STEAM – An educational approach to learning that uses Science,Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics • Section 4: Climate change education: Pedagogies of hope and action
- 33. 4 Anne M.Dolan Section 1: Introduction to theories and practices of climate change education In Chapter 1,I set out the rationale for including climate change education as part of the core primary curriculum.The chapter explores the nature of climate change and climate change education. Climate change caused by global warming is already beginning to transform life on Earth.It is the defning challenge of our time,perhaps the most signifcant challenge fac- ing all citizens today.This chapter sets the context for the book. It provides a defnition and rationale for climate change education in primary schools.FionnualaTyson explains thematic teaching, provides a rationale for its use and presents appropriate models for the teaching of climate change thematically. Patricia Kieran’s chapter illustrates how the world’s spiritual and religious traditions can help us to address the ethical dilemma of climate change. Kathleen Horgan’s chapter examines how refective practice can be promoted and developed explicitly as a means of interrogating beliefs, culture, pedagogy and practice within the feld of climate change education. A review of selected theoretical per- spectives on refection is provided, as well as an overview of strategies and approaches which facilitate refection. Refective practice is viewed as a transformative approach to professional learning. It creates opportunities for exploration, discussion and debate about the nature of professional learning and its relationship to personal and social change. In essence, refective practice is about the processes through which we produce a shift in the way we see and make meaning of our personal and professional worlds and the nature of those changes.The chapter presents refective practice as a lens through which teachers and students can consider critically the dominant assumptions, values and beliefs which underpin modern society and how these are implicated in the cur- rent ecological crisis. It highlights the importance of creating spaces where teachers and students can refect critically on these dominant assumptions, their personal worldviews and relationships with the natural world. The fnal chapter in this section, discusses the importance of including climate change education in early years’settings.The authors Jennifer Pope,Deirdre Breathnach and Mary Moloney outline the importance of fostering positive dispositions in young children and provides practical examples for early childhood education. Section 2: Climate change education: Literacy-based approaches In her chapter, Mary Roche outlines how discussing picture books about conservation and climate change can help raise awareness and create in children a sense of agency around‘being part of the solution’.Miriam Hamilton uses narrative to introduce us to the colourful coral, the powerful polar bear, the busy bee, the ancient sea turtle and the alpine fora. Using dialogical methodologies motivated by the stories of these plants and animals from the air, land and sea, the text provides thought-provoking scenarios of danger, bal- anced with activities focused on exploring actions of hope to save these species. Siobhán Ní Mhurchu’s chapter provides some ideas, pedagogies and methodologies on how to approach a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) lesson using climate change as a context while teaching through the medium of a second or foreign language. Section 3: Climate change education: STEAM (Stem + art) This section focuses on addressing climate change education through STEM and STEAM. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math and the additional
- 34. 5 Introduction ‘A’ in STEAMstands for arts.The main diference between STEM and STEAM is that STEM symbolizes a modern approach to science and related subjects focusing on solv- ing problems with critical thinking and analytical skills. STEAM education explores the same subjects, but incorporates creative thinking and applied arts into teaching about real life situations. Art is about discovering and creating ingenious ways of problem-solving, integrating principles and presenting information. By adding the elements of art to STEM-based thinking, educators believe that students can use both sides of their brain – analytical and creative – to develop the best thinkers for today and tomorrow. Maeve Liston discusses the nature of STEM education and the potential of engineering projects for generating climate change solutions. Anne O’Dwyer encourages us to explore climate change outside the classroom.Anne Marie Morrin introduces us to an innova- tive arts project: The School of Looking. This project aims to develop an understanding and awareness around human and animal vision, exploring the biology and physics of insects (bees, fies and spiders) and the impact climate change and habitat loss have on a declining population.A second arts project is presented by Tanya de Paor: The Grow Room Project. This project is based around a greenhouse structure within an educa- tional institutional setting. In the project, undergraduate and postgraduate pre-service teachers have the opportunity to develop creative and critical pedagogies to explore new pathways to visually think about climate change. Chapter thirteen focuses on the connections between plastic and climate change and includes some children’s artistic responses to the plastic crisis. Section 4: Climate change education: Pedagogies of hope and action Climate change is considered by some teachers as a controversial topic especially as it challenges the neo-liberal consumerism promoted by so many sectors of society.Yet, if children are going to learn to think critically, teachers should be prepared to contest the prevailing dominant economic, political and social orthodoxies. Children need to have an opportunity to consider a diferent future and to imagine the world diferently. In this section, I discuss the central role of geography in addressing climate change issues.This is followed by a chapter co-written with Eileen O’Sullivan which deals with the importance of including an historical lens.Margaret Nohilly provides a range of prac- tical ideas to support climate change education through the lens of‘Citizenship Education’ as a component of Social, Personal and Health Education. Maurice Harmon argues that in addition to learning about climate change, hearts must be moved to feel passionately about it.Through practical activities, children can become active in saving their planet. Through the development of a spiritual identity within the education system, a keen sense of climate justice can be awakened. Brighid Golden provides guidelines on creat- ing educational resources for exploring climate change. In his chapter, Richard Bowles explores how climate change issues can be addressed within physical education curricula. By promoting a culture of movement, informed by a desire to be socially responsible, his chapter provides guidance for raising climate change awareness and action through phys- ical education. Finally, my chapter on a pedagogy of hope, focuses attention on futures education and possibilities of forging pathways to a sustainable future. A climate change glossary is included (Appendix 1) and further resources are avail- able on the padlet which accompanies this book: https://padlet.com/annedolan/ uir0u3bwz3octwz0.
- 35. 6 Anne M.Dolan References Kluger, J. (2017) Apollo 8:The thrilling story of the frst mission to the moon. New York: Henry Holt and Company. National Research Council and Carbon Dioxide Assessment Committee, (1983) Changing Climate: Report of the Carbon Dioxide Assessment Committee. National Academies. Roberts, M. (2013) Geography through enquiry. Shefeld: Geographical Association. von der Leyen, U (2019) A European Union that strives for more. http://europa.eu/rapid/ press-release_SPEECH-19-4230_en.htm Strasbourg, 16 July 2019.
- 36. Section 1 Theory andphilosophical approaches
- 38. 1 Teaching climatechange Setting the context Anne M. Dolan Introduction Climate change caused by global warming is already transforming life on Earth. It is the defining challenge of our time,the most significant issue facing all citizens today.Evidence of climate change is compelling.There is widespread consensus amongst the international scientific community that human-induced climate change is happening.According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (2015), greenhouse gas emissions from human activities driving climate change are now at their highest levels in history. Without action, the world’s average surface temperature is projected to rise over the 21st century and is likely to surpass 3° C this century – with some areas of the world expected to warm even more. Over 30 years ago, climate change was first declared a human-generated phenom- enon by NASA climatologist James Hansen. In the meantime, a steady drum beat of scientific reports have sounded warnings about climate change predictions (Dolan, 2018). While the situation is beyond serious, there is cause for hope. In response to the science of climate change, the issue is now being recognised as a serious threat by mainstream media, educators and some politicians. At the Paris Climate Conference (the 21st meeting of the Conference of the Parties, otherwise known as COP21) in December 2015, 195 countries adopted the first-ever universal, global climate deal. An agreement to maintain global warming below 2° C was the official outcome.This commitment marks an unprecedented international consensus on the need to transi- tion from fossil fuels within the next few decades. In 2015, 193 countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, one of which addresses climate change (United Nations, 2017).To maintain hope and a sense of agency, climate change education has to be part of the solution to the chal- lenges posed by a warmer Earth. Climate change is considered a controversial topic by some teachers. Causes of climate change are embedded in neo-liberal approaches to development which embrace capital- ism, excessive consumerism and unnecessary waste.Yet if children are going to learn to think critically, teachers should be prepared to contest the prevailing dominant economic, political and social orthodoxies. Children are currently affected by climate change albeit in differing ways depending on geographical, social and economic factors. As interested citizens, they have a right to a comprehensive and robust climate change education, to ensure they become responsible decision makers now and in the future. Children need to have an opportunity to consider a different future and to imagine the world differently (Andreotti, 2016; Hicks, 2014).
- 39. 10 Anne M.Dolan This chapter aims to: • Explore the science of climate change. • Examine the causes and implications of climate change. • Discuss the importance of teaching and learning about climate change. The science of climate change Climate change education requires in-depth teacher knowledge of climate change sci- ence. In 1859, Irish scientist JohnTyndall discovered that gases including carbon dioxide (CO2 ) and water vapour absorb heat. Subsequently, he realised that any change in the amount of water vapour or CO2 could potentially change the climate. Referred to as the greenhouse effect, this natural process warms the Earth’s surface. A simple expla- nation is as follows:A greenhouse constructed of glass allows sunlight to warm the air and plants inside.The heat not absorbed by the plants is trapped by the glass and cannot escape. Throughout the day, sunlight continues to warm the air, the air is trapped, so this heat remains even after the sun sets. Greenhouse gases build up in the atmosphere and act in a similar manner to the glass in a greenhouse, attracting and maintaining the heat from the sun. Some of the sun’s energy is reflected directly back to space, the rest is absorbed by land, ocean and the atmosphere. CO2 , methane (CH4 ) and other ‘green- house gases’ trap heat that would otherwise escape from the Earth’s atmosphere. The accumulation of greenhouse gases is a natural process and in the correct proportion, these gases ensure that the earth is sufficiently warm to support life.The problem arises when greenhouse gas levels increase exponentially due to human activity. Hence, the natural systems regulating our climate become disrupted. Children’s exploration of the greenhouse gas concept is discussed later in this chapter (Section “Case Study 1.1” and Figure 1.2). Since the industrial revolution, hundreds of millions of years’ worth of stored carbon have been released into the atmosphere. Fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas are stores of carbon buried deep below the earth’s surface.Once burnt,these fuels release carbon atoms which combine with oxygen atoms in the air to produce CO2 .The molecular structure of CO2 traps heat that would otherwise have been radiated back to space.The current use of the term ‘climate change’ refers to an increase in the planet’s temperature due to human-generated emissions of greenhouse gasses.These include CO2 , CH4 , nitrous oxide (N2 O), halogenated fluorocarbons (HCFCs), ozone (O3 ), perfluorinated carbons (PFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and water vapour. Even small changes in the global average temperature can cause major and dangerous shifts in climate and weather.The difference between 0 and 1° Celsius (or 32° and 33° Fahrenheit) for instance, is the difference between ice and water.The planet has warmed by 1° degree Celsius since we began to burn coal.If we continue with a‘business as usual approach’temperatures will rise by four times this amount by the end of the century.The last time there was this level of CO2 in the atmosphere, humans did not exist (Klein, 2019). Globally, we have emitted more industrial carbon since 1988 than in all of prior human history.The Keeling Curve is a graph of the accumulation of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere based on continuous measurements taken at the Mauna Loa Observatory on the island of Hawaii from 1958 to the present day (Figure 1.1). Dr. Charles David Keeling began studying atmospheric CO2 in 1956 by taking air samples and measur- ing the amount of CO2 they contained. Over time he noticed a pattern of consistent
- 40. Teaching climate change11 rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. In addition, he also noticed interesting seasonal patterns. In the Northern Hemisphere, during the Spring and Summer months, plants absorb a substantial amount of CO2 through photosynthesis, thus removing it from the atmosphere. During the Autumn and Winter months, trees and plants begin to lose their leaves and decay, increasing the release of CO2 in the atmosphere. Hence, concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere increase throughout the Winter, reaching a peak by early Spring. Since its creation, the Keeling Curve has served as a visual representation of Keel- ing’s data, which scientists have continued to collect since his death in 2005. By analysing the CO2 in his samples, Keeling was able to link rising levels of CO2 to an extensive use of fossil fuels.The results, which are now largely undisputed, are cata- strophic. Hence, the time for climate action is now.To enable teachers and children to engage with the science of climate change, a glossary of key climate change terms is included in Appendix 1. To illustrate the process of releasing CO2 , Gold (2018) uses a wonderful metaphor of blowing up a balloon (beyond its capacity). Initially, the balloon inflates slowly and when it is full, one usually stops blowing and ties a knot.There is only a certain amount of air we can put into a balloon which Gold equates to the notion of a carbon budget. If one keeps blowing air into the balloon, it will eventually burst.As greenhouse gases including Figure 1.1 The Keeling Curve: A graph showing the ongoing change in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere Source: https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/
- 41. 12 Anne M.Dolan CO2 are continuously being pumped into the atmosphere, we are now facing the pros- pect of the balloon bursting or in the case of the Earth, extreme climate change.A second powerful metaphor is that of driving a car. If one drives a car and skids towards a vehicle, one immediately tries to stop the car by engaging the break. Engaging the accelerator is akin to our continued release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.We have to stop driving this metaphorical car. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the authoritative voice of climate science. Established in 1988, by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organisation, the IPCC is a partnership between climate sci- entists and governments. It aims to supply an objective perspective of the current state of knowledge regarding climate change and its likely impacts. In 2018, the (IPCC; October 8, 2018) reported that the world has 12 years left for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5°, that’s 9 years from the publication date of this book.Any increase beyond this will significantly increase the risks of drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty for hundreds of millions of people.This IPCC report describes a world of extreme weather events, worsen- ing food shortages and wildfires combined with a significant reduction of coral reefs. The perceived complexity of climate change may discourage teachers from raising this issue in classrooms. Nevertheless, it is our duty as educators to assist children in under- standing this important local and global issue.While climate statistics and data maybe a little removed from our daily concerns,a personal timeline can help us to make links with the science of climate change. In a doodle on the back of an envelope, Lorna Gold places herself on the historical timeline of carbon emissions (Colour Plate, Section 1).A parent of two children, Lorna plotted out different scenarios for her world in line with different levels of carbon in the atmosphere.This doodle is a powerful image for helping teachers to make their own personal connections with climate change data. Case study 1.1 Science Blast In 2019, the inaugural primary science education festival, Electricity Supply Board (ESB) Science Blast took place in Ireland.The festival is designed to equip up to 13,000 primary school children with the fundamental skills of STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) at a crucially early point in their academic lives. Science Blast involves an entire class investigating the science behind a straight-forward question and conducting simple experiments with items commonly found in schools or homes, before displaying their findings at an exhibition in one of the three national venues: Dublin, Limerick and Belfast. Children from 35 Limerick schools participated in Science Blast at Mary Immac- ulate College. Typical questions for investigations include: ‘How can we make the best slime?’‘Why does cake go hard but biscuits go soft?’‘Can cows’ eyes be blue?’ and ‘Can I charge my mobile device with a fruit?’The children from St. Nessan’s Primary School, Mungret, Limerick investigated the following question: What is the Greenhouse effect and how do human activities affect it? (Figure 1.2). Using cling film (plastic covering) to trap heat, they illustrated the greenhouse effect with the following experiment: Equipment • Two transparent jars • Water • A teaspoon
- 42. Teaching climate change13 • Two thermometers • Clingfilm • Rubber band • Sticky tape • Soil Procedure 1 Fill each jar with some soil so that the bottom is covered.Add 2–3 drops of water. 2 Place the thermometers in the jars so that they do not touch the soil. Use the sticky tape to attach the thermometers to the jars. 3 Cover the top of one jar with the clingfilm. Use the rubber band to hold the cling film in place. 4 Leave the second jar open 5 Record the initial temperature of each thermometer. 6 Put both jars in the sun (or below a strong, warm light). Results 1 Did one of the thermometers in your experiment show a higher temperature? Yes, the ther- mometer in the jar with clingfilm was hotter because heat was trapped inside. 2 Which jars represents Earth with an atmosphere and Earth without an atmosphere? The jar without a cover represents Earth without an atmosphere. Figure 1.2 Presentation of the greenhouse experiment presented by children from St. Nessan’s primary school at the Science Blast exhibition in Limerick
- 43. 14 Anne M.Dolan Climate change and biodiversity Biodiversity refers to the variety of life that can be found on Earth including plants, ani- mals, fungi and micro-organisms, the communities they form and the habitats in which they live. As climate change threatens the habitats of numerous species, biodiversity is in decline. The World Wildlife Fund’s Living Planet Report (2020) reported that approxi- mately 68% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles have been wiped out since 1970.This is largely due to human’s overconsumption of land, food and natural resources. Moreover, this report proves that human activity is destroying eco-systems at an unacceptable rate, ultimately threatening the well-being of current and future populations. The situation with insects is even more alarming. Insects are essential for the functioning of all eco- systems, as pollinators, food for other creatures and recyclers of nutrients.According to a longitudinal international study, the world’s insects are moving towards extinction, threat- ening a ‘catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems’ (Sánchez-Bayo et al., 2019:17).There has been a 40% decline of insect species and a third of the remaining insect population is endangered.Indeed,the rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals,birds and reptiles.The total mass of insects is falling by a staggering 2.5% a year, suggesting they could vanish within a century (Sánchez-Bayo et al., 2019).The main cause of this decline is agricultural intensification and the way we produce our food. Furthermore, intensive farming is linked to climate change, the destruction of wildlife and the pollution of rivers and oceans. Our unsustainable food production and specifically our consumption of beef has been raised by scientists as part of the EAT – Lancet Commission on Food, Planet and Health Research Project (Willett et al., 2019).According to this research, beef consumption in western countries needs to drop by 90%, replaced by five times more beans and pulses. The importance of healthy ecosystems is a central concern of these scientific reports. Healthy ecosystems require a substantial variety of plant and animal life from soil microbes to predators such as tigers and wolves. If one or more species is removed from this envi- ronment, the ecosystem will be damaged in some way. Changing precipitation patterns can lead to desertification of once teeming ecosystems. Rising water temperatures and acidification are already fundamentally changing our oceans; while land degradation including deforestation and destruction of wetlands directly contribute to climate change and they are also responsible for the destruction of ecosystems. Biodiversity is important for our health, in terms of high quality food and access to pharmaceutical raw materials. Healthy functioning ecosystems are also important for a healthy economy. Biodiversity supports diverse industries including agriculture, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, horticulture, construction and waste treatment. Consequently, the loss of biodiversity threatens our food supplies, opportunities for recreation and tourism, and sources of food, medicines and energy. Trees are often referred to as the ‘lungs of the earth’ due to their ability to absorb and store CO2 from the atmosphere.The Amazon rainforest plays a significant role in mitigat- ing climate change.While forest fires are a natural occurrence during the dry season, the devastating 2019 fires led to international concern about the fate of theAmazon forest,the world’s largest terrestrial CO2 sink. Similarly, bushfires are a regular part of the Australian summer. Nevertheless, the scale and intensity of fires during the summer of 2019–2020 shocked and devastated local communities. Fewer trees reduces the Earth’s capacity to store and sequester atmospheric carbon. Furthermore, the process of deforestation generated by fire, a demand for fuel or a requirement for agricultural land, leads to more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and
- 44. Teaching climate change15 a further disruption of the climate system. Indeed, woodlands are particularly vulnera- ble to the effects of climate change. Storms and droughts weaken and break up habitats including woodlands. Seasonal patterns are knocked out of sync and climate change also increases the likelihood of tree pests and diseases. Notwithstanding their vulnerability, trees are part of the climate change solution. In addition to storing carbon, they help mitigate flooding, offer shade to reduce temperatures and provide renewable alternatives to fossil fuels. Planting trees, an enjoyable and accessible climate action for all children is discussed in greater detail in Chapter 10. Not only are we witnessing a loss of species, we are also experiencing a loss of words. In 2015, the Oxford children’s dictionary dropped 50 words relating to nature (including fern, willow, starling, bluebell, conker, heron, acorn and kingfisher) in favour of words/phrases such as broadband, cut and paste and analogue. Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris pro- tested with the production of a masterpiece ‘The Lost Words’ (Macfarlane and Morris, 2018). Robert Macfarlane, a prize-winning poet and writer, created ‘a book of spells’, the intention being to spell the lost words back into our memories and usage. Each spell is introduced by a double-page spread where letters blow and tumble among grasses or fern or trees – as if the lost words were being broken and scattered. The poems are powerful acrostics, as the word in danger of being lost is spelled, not only in the title, but also in the reading and writing of the spell.The book is beautifully illustrated with Jackie Morris’celebrated paintings of acorns,brambles,owls,bluebells and magpies.According to Macfarlane, the book is for everyone aged between 3 and 100, so it is an excellent starting point for beginning to consider the impact of climate on our locality. Many schools including South Walney Junior School in England are using ‘The Lost Words’ as a lens for exploring their own locality.The Isle of Walney is an island off the west coast of England, at the western end of Morecambe Bay in the Irish Sea. In a self-published book, the staff and children at South Walney Junior School produced their own version of ‘The Lost Words’ to celebrate their locality in poetry and art (Figure 1.3, Colour Plate, Section 2). A magnificent sequel ‘The Lost Spells’ (Macfarlane and Morris, 2020) conjures up the magic of British wildlife in a time of ecological crisis.This pocket-sized book celebrates barn owls, swifts, gorse and foxes through poems and art-work. Both of these books by Macfarlane and Morris are designed to re-awaken awe and wonder about our bewilder- ing, complex and interconnected world. Ultimately, they are about learning and relearn- ing to love nature. The interrelationships in the natural world are numerous and affect us in many ways. Relationships within ecology and between humans and nature have direct impacts on the food chain, water supplies, air composition and on the quality of life itself. The impact of climate change on biodiversity can be challenging to teach.The threats to biodiversity and species is unnerving. It is somewhat alarming to realise that climate change is no longer just about polar bears and penguins; it’s not only about coral reefs and sea turtles; it is about our survival on planet earth (Dolan, 2020). It is important for children and teachers to realise that we live within a system and our actions have a direct impact on other parts of the system. Indeed, the impact of humans is now so significant, a new epoch has been proposed – The Anthropocene.This epoch defines Earth’s most recent geologic time period as being influenced by humans or anthropo- genic, based on overwhelming global evidence that atmospheric, geologic, hydrologic, biospheric and other earth systems are now altered by humans. Geologic time is dis- cussed in greater detail in Chapter 15.
- 45. 16 Anne M.Dolan Covid-19 and climate change In Chapter 6, Mary Roche discusses her childhood memories of the potential threat of nuclear war,an apocalyptic scenario guaranteed to threaten the security and well-being of all.The Greek word apocalupsis means to reveal or disclose. In the final book of the Christain Bible, the Book of Revelation (or the Apocalypse of John) is an apocalyptic letter which relies on visions, symbols and Old Testament references to reveal the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise given to Abraham in Genesis.The book provides a vision of suffering enduring by people before the potential of eternal salvation. Many people refer to the end of the world as the Apocalypse or the time of the Apocalypse.As this book was being compiled, the global scourge of Covid-19 emerged.Transforming the way we live our lives, the pandemic provided the world with a crash course in apocalypse management. Similar to nuclear war, Covid-19 is deadly and similar to climate disruption, it is global. Covid-19 illuminated global interconnections through the spread of the virus and the resulting health, social and economic chaos which ensued. The greatest disaster since World War II, Covid-19 was an unanticipated event of epic proportions that exposed human fragility in an interconnected and interdependent world (Dolan and Usher, 2020). A global calamity, Covid-19 left thousands dead, millions vulnerable, supply lines col- lapsed, economies derailed, factories closed and cities under lockdown. A coronavirus is a type of common virus that causes an infection in the nose, sinuses or upper throat. Most coronaviruses are not dangerous and spread in the same fashion as the common Figure 1.3 The Lost Words of Walney (title page of children’s self-published work)
- 46. Teaching climate change17 cold.The coronavirus has the appearance of a crown (Latin for corona) images of which have been well documented in the media. Like other coronaviruses, it has transferred to humans from animals. Following theWorld Health Organization’s (WHO) declaration of a pandemic, mass quarantines and nationwide lockdowns were implemented by several countries across the globe.The year 2020 will forever be known as the year when time stopped. Not only did the virus infect hundreds of thousands of people across the planet, but it brought the global economy to a virtual standstill, crushing millions of businesses, large and small, while driving tens of millions of people out of work. Ironically, the virus was good for nature.The level of carbon emissions and air pollution were reduced while swans and fish returned to the canals of Venice.While the COP26 UN climate change conference,set to take place in Glasgow in November 2020 was postponed,the virus gen- erated an important discussion about nature, sustainability, resilience and community-based approaches to energy, security and co-operation. Although the virus originated in Asia, the global pandemic was a product of a multi- tude of factors including air links connecting every corner of the planet and the failure of governments to act quickly to stop its spread. Connections between the virus and climate change became apparent. Covid-19 was designated as a zoonotic disease, an emerging infectious disease transmitted between domestic or wild animals and humans.The human destruction of natural ecosystems increases the numbers of rats, bats and other animals capable of harbouring deadly diseases. Collectively, deforestation, haphazard urbanisation, climate change and our complete disregard for the important role of nature contributed to the emergence of the Covid-19. The effects of Covid-19 pandemic will be felt for some time to come. The fragile nature of the earth and its inhabitants have been highlighted.An awareness of our inter- dependent relationship with nature has been re-established.We have learnt so much about the management and distribution of risk. Many politicians ignored scientific advice and downplayed the warnings from health experts. Former President of the United States of America,DonaldTrump called it a‘hoax’.Similar instances of denial about climate change are evident, where political leaders have dismissed the warnings of scientists for years. Post Covid-19, a renewed appreciation of our environmental interdependence must be maintained. During the pandemic, there was much discussion about ‘a new normal’ or ‘building back better’.In the case of climate change,it is incumbent upon all of us to transi- tion from a carbon fuelled way of living.We do not have to face a choice between economic collapse and climate breakdown.An investment of trillions of dollars in decarbonisation will be required. Potentially, this offers a golden opportunity for economic development to be re-imagined in more sustainable terms. It is important to conceptualise new ways of living or ‘a new normal’ as we simply cannot return to a ‘business as usual’ approach. A climate justice response Climate justice involves sharing the burdens and benefits of climate change and its reso- lution equitably and fairly.The injustice of climate change continues to be raised by sev- eral environmental campaigners and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) including Oxfam, Christian Aid, Friends of the Earth and Trócaire. By calling for a climate justice response, there is a recognition that people who have contributed least are most affected (Waldron et al., 2016). Geographical and economic analysis demonstrates that the richest 10% of the world’s population pollute the atmosphere dramatically more than the rest (Dorling, 2018).
- 47. 18 Anne M.Dolan While everyone is vulnerable, the impact is far greater on those in low-income coun- tries. Those who have contributed least to the problem, people in the Global South, face the worst consequences of climate change, and are struggling to cope with drought, storms and floods.The compounded nature of the impact of climate change on the most vulnerable has been noted by several commentators. Khazem (2018:128) states,‘climate change can worsen the living conditions and human rights of people who may already suffer from human rights violations and so further contribute to social injustice and ine- quality and engender social ills and conflicts’. For instance, severe drought helped destabi- lise Syria, sparking the conflict which sent a million people to Europe in search of refuge (McKibben, 2019). Commentators such as Dorling (2018) argue that equitable income distribution has to be part of the response to climate change.Dorling claims that in coun- tries with more equitable income distribution, people including the rich consume and pollute far less. The world’s poorest and most vulnerable are seriously at risk with many having to migrate due to sea level rise, crop failure and pollution.Although there are few instances of climate change as the sole factor in migration, climate change is widely recognised as a contributing and exacerbating factor in both migration and conflict.A 2018 World Bank study predicted that further climate change will displace as many as 143 million people from Africa,South Asia and Latin America by 2050 (Rigaud et al.,2018).Indeed,the term ‘climigration’ is now used to describe large scale population displacement due to climate change. For example, in the South Pacific, 3,000 Carteret Islanders have to migrate to Papua-New Guinea as a consequence of rising sea-levels.The residents of Tuvalu, where the highest point is just 4.6 metres above sea level, are facing a similar threat. In Kenya, prolonged drought has forced many of the nomadicTurkana people into towns and relief camps.However,the legal protections afforded to refugees does not extend to climate ref- ugees as they are not covered by the 1951 Refugee Convention.The latter extends only to people who have a well-founded fear of being persecuted on grounds related to race, religion, nationality or membership of a particular social group or political opinion, and are unable or unwilling to seek protection from their home countries. Climate change has a direct impact on the realisation of internationally recognised human rights, including those protected by the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (UN General Assembly, 1966a) and the International Cove- nant on Civil and Political Rights (UN, General Assembly, 1966b). Climate justice links human rights and development to achieve a human-centred approach,whereby the rights of the most vulnerable are safeguarded and the burdens and benefits of climate change are shared by all. Climate justice begins at home, it begins with each decision we make in relation to energy, transport and lifestyle. Poverty and food security cannot be tackled without addressing the issue of climate change and helping people to adapt to it impacts. The moral dimension of climate change Climate change has been described as a ‘perfect moral storm’ as it brings together three major challenges to ethical action in a mutually reinforcing way (Gardiner,2011).The first challenge is the global nature of climate change. Once emitted, greenhouse gas emissions can have climate effects anywhere on the planet, regardless of their source. Many of the most vulnerable countries and people are those who have emitted the least historically, and whose levels of greenhouse gas emissions continue to be relatively low.The second challenge is the intergenerational aspect.Emissions of the most prominent greenhouse gas,
- 48. Teaching climate change19 CO2 , typically persist in the atmosphere for a long time, contributing to negative climate impacts for centuries, or even millennia.This places an unfair and unethical burden on future generations, especially if the impacts are severe and cumulative. The third challenge to ethical action is that our theoretical tools are underdeveloped in many of the relevant areas, such as international justice, intergenerational ethics, scientific uncertainty and the appropriate relationship between humans and the rest of nature. For instance, climate change raises issues about our moral obligations to care for nature and our environment. By contributing significantly to climate change, this current generation is passing most of the burden on to their children,grandchildren and people in other parts of the world.This illustrates the global and intergenerational dimensions of the perfect moral storm of climate change.The ongoing political inertia in developing robust climate action is an example of shoving one’s proverbial head in the sand hoping that somehow this crisis will go away. Pope Francis (2015), well known for his interest in environmental issues, dedicated his encyclical Laudato Si’ to the issue of climate change.The encyclical, discussed in greater detail in Chapter 17, draws from the deep well of Catholic teaching on creation. Pope Francis has criticised world leaders for their weak response to this global catastrophe. However, some commentators also raise questions about the Catholic Church’s response to climate change.While Woodworth (2020) credits the encyclical as a ‘remarkable doc- ument’, he notes the use of aspirational rather than pragmatic language, the focus on economic accounting rather than natural capital accounting and most importantly, the absence of a clear call for specific actions.Woodworth acknowledges the confined space of conservative Catholicism within which Pope Francis operates. Nevertheless, it behoves Pope Francis and other world leaders to make a clarion call to action in line with current scientific evidence. The Paris Agreement,which committed nations to limiting climate change to 2°,will necessitate extensive and substantial economic, political and lifestyle changes.We need a radical shift towards comprehensive solutions for the environmental and social aspects of our collective crisis. In religious terms, an ‘ecological conversion’ is required. The exploitative/extractive mindset that underpins global capitalism contrasts with the more holistic vision of a unified web of life that is central to a sustainability mindset and which forms part of indigenous wisdom.To date, many humans have subjugated and neglected the environment.The price of this abusive relationship is now obvious to all.We have a moral and ethical duty to reconsider our relationship with nature. Responding to climate change The threat of climate change increasingly recognised by young people. During 2019, hun- dreds of thousands of students in more than 2,000 cities from Australia and Uganda to Germany and Italy left their classrooms, to take to the streets in peaceful marches protesting about governments’ climate inaction.Young generations in 125 countries demanded atten- tion from politicians, international institutions and their elders.They have issued a call to save the planet under the banners ‘Youth Strike 4 Climate’ and ‘Fridays for Future’.This spontaneous global activism by young students,worried about the future,was inspired by the commitment and messages of (the then 16-year-old) Swedish schoolgirl, Greta Thunberg. This young climate activist who made headlines for her action against climate change was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Subsequently, she sailed from Europe to NewYork in a zero emissions sailboat.Upon arrival,she addressed international leaders at the UN Climate
- 49. 20 Anne M.Dolan Action Summit in NewYork. In December 2019, she was named TIME magazine’s Per- son of theYear. Her speeches have been published in several languages and her story has been retold in multiple publications for different age groups. In addition to the student strikes, many more have mobilised under the collective ban- ner of Extinction Rebellion, a global environmental movement with the stated aim, of using non-violent civil disobedience to compel government action. In response to the global mobilisation of young people, some governments are beginning to take climate change seriously. Global climate change is a complex issue. A complete reconceptualisation of how we view climate is required.The British newspaper The Guardian announced a style guide change for journalists writing about climate change. From now on, journalists are required to use terms such as climate crisis or breakdown, and global heating over the more common climate change and global warming. Furthermore in 2019, Oxford Dic- tionaries declared ‘climate emergency’ the word of the year, following a hundred-fold increase in its usage. Hundreds of cities, towns and even countries have also declared “climate emergencies” during 2019 – including Ireland, the UK, Canada and France. It remains to be seen how these declarations will influence industrial, economic and social policies. The Guardian columnist George Monbiot argues that the language we use to describe our world, our environment and our assault on life and beauty has become sanitised, neu- tral and somewhat disinfected. Even the term climate change he argues, confuses natural changes with the more serious catastrophic disruption caused by humans.While teachers have to be careful to minimise use of alarmist terminology, they must use environmen- tal and climate terminology honestly. Language frames the way we perceive the natural world.For instance,terms such as living planet and natural world are far more evocative than environment.The term ‘place of natural wonder’ communicates a sense of awe and wonder enjoyed by simply being in a place.Children can be invited to find better ways of describ- ing nature and their relationships with it. Teaching climate change education is conceptually challenging (Shepardson et al., 2012). It requires teachers who are knowledgeable about climate change, its causes and consequences. Children should be able to understand the processes that contribute to climate change and discuss its impact on living things, people and the environment. Responses to climate change include denial, adaptation and miti- gation. Figure 1.4 illustrates a framework for exploring different elements of climate change. Impacts Due to an increase in temperature, the world’s weather patterns are changing. Earth-or- biting satellites and other technological advances have enabled scientists to monitor these changes, collecting many different datasets about our planet and its climate on a global scale.This body of data, collected over many years, reveals the signals of a chang- ing climate.The planet’s average surface temperature has risen about 1.33° F (0.74° C) since the late 19th century, a change driven largely by increased CO2 and other human- made emissions into the atmosphere. The ten hottest years on record have occurred since 1998. Rising sea levels, declining arctic sea ice, changes in precipitation patterns resulting in extreme flooding, droughts and more extreme weather events such as heat
- 50. Teaching climate change21 waves, cyclones and tropical storms are just some of the effects of changes to the global climate. Other impacts include increased acidification and warming of the oceans, decreased snow cover, glacial retreats and shrinking ice sheets. Each of these changes are resulting in serious knock on effects such as increased poverty, species extinction, conflict and migration (Dolan, 2020). Causes It is now widely recognised that climate change is caused by human-instigated global warming, the result of burning fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas) and the use of their by-products in every area of modern life. Levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have increased dramatically since the Industrial Revolution and will continue to do so for centuries to come (Hicks, 2014). According to the United in Science Report (WMO and Science Advisory Group of the UN Climate Action Summit, 2019), carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere increased at a higher rate between 2015 and 2019 than in the previous five years.With levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases rising more quickly than heretofore, further warming is already locked in, according to the World Meteorological Association (WMO).The science is unequivocal. For more than 25 years,WMO has issued an annual Statement on the State of the Global Climate. It is based on data provided by international meteorological organizations. These reports have been published in the six official lan- guages of the United Nations (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) to inform governments, international agencies, other WMO partners and the general public about the global climate and significant climatic trends at global and regional levels. Figure 1.4 Elements of climate change Source:Adapted from Sheppard (2012) and Hicks (2019)
- 51. 22 Anne M.Dolan Denial In spite of devastating climatic events including flooding, forest fires and drought, climate change deniers continue to ignore scientific evidence. Certain political ideol- ogies along with the fossil fuel industry have collectively invested money in climate denial. In the United States, fossil fuel interests and ideological conservatives sponsor fierce disinformation campaigns to discredit climate-science warnings and resist pro- posed solutions. One of the most sinister examples has been the use of mass media to discredit climate change research. For example, in the United States, major business interests associated with the energy sector, fund reports by scientists willing to contest the universal research evidence linking human activities, the oil industry and climate change.These reports are then presented by segments of the US media including the Fox network (owned by Rupert Murdoch),certain radio stations and newspapers.Man- ufactured studies are presented as the ultimate research evidence, denying the culpa- bility of humans for climate change (Dunlap and McCright, 2010). Sustained attacks have been conducted against those endorsing the evidence of global warming including authors of scientific peer reviewed journal articles and institutions such as the National Academy of Sciences. Adaptation Adaptation seeks to lower the risks posed by the consequences of climate change. It involves learning to live with changing temperatures and seasons, extraordinary weather conditions, higher sea levels, extensive flooding and drought. Humans have always taken action in response to local climatic conditions including introduction of new crop types, revised building practices and flood relief schemes. However, climate shifts including temperature, storm frequency and flooding may place unbearable pressure on commu- nities.Those least responsible for climate change have few options available to them for adaptation. Adaptation measures include large-scale infrastructure changes and flood relief schemes as well as behavioural shifts such as water conservation and building of passive houses. However, not all adaptation is positive or well-intentioned. Klein (2019) uses the term ‘climate barbarism’ as a form of climate adaptation.This represents a marrying of white supremacist violence with vicious anti-immigrant racism. A rise of far right politics globally and stricter border controls, corresponds with higher levels of prejudice toward immigrants. Mitigation Climate change mitigation consists of actions to limit the magnitude or rate of global warming and its related effects. Mitigation involves reducing the flow of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere,either by reducing sources of these gases (for exam- ple, the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat or transport) or enhancing the sinks that accumulate and store these gases (such as oceans, forests and soil). Mitigation strategies in climate change education include education about renewable energy, the design of eco- technologies and energy conservation. Both climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies are required now. Even if emissions of greenhouse gases dramatically decrease in the next decade, adaptation
- 52. Teaching climate change23 will still be needed to deal with the global changes that have already been set in motion (Selby and Kagawa, 2013). Climate change education: Dimensions of learning There are increasing calls for the inclusion of climate change education in formal and non-formal education from religious, spiritual, environmental and civic groups (Francis and McDonagh, 2016; United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2015).Mainstreaming climate change education as part of formal education systems has to be one of the most important and effective means of developing capacities for addressing climate change (Mochizuki and Bryan, 2015).Article 12 of the Paris Agreement focuses on education as follows: Parties shall cooperate in taking measures, as appropriate, to enhance climate change education, training, public awareness, public participation and public access to infor- mation, recognising the importance of these steps with respect to enhancing actions under this agreement. (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2015:28) Shepardson et al. (2009:550) argue that understanding global warming and climate change ‘is essential if future citizens are to assume responsibility for the management and policy-making decisions facing our planet’. Our generation and future generations will have to learn how to live with the challenges posed by climate change. However, complex issues such as climate change will not be resolved by education programs which focus on knowledge alone (Hicks, 2019). Figure 1.5 outlines four important dimensions of effective climate change education namely: Knowing; feeling; choosing and acting. These dimensions represent a holistic, human, ecological and social understanding of A GENCY DISCERNM E N T 4 .Acting 3. Choosing HEAD HEART 1 . Knowing 2.Feelin g Dimensions of learning Figure 1.5 Four dimensions of learning needed to explore climate change effectively Source: Hicks, 2019:23
- 53. 24 Anne M.Dolan climate change.While climate change knowledge is important, it is not sufficient without attitudinal change; an ability to choose wisely and a sense of agency. The following reflections from student teachers illustrate some of the challenges raised by their experiences of climate change education: Student teacher reflections What I’ve learnt is that climate change is a huge problem which the young generation need to be educated about. As a teacher, I was surprised at how much I did not know. Now I know there are so many resources for teachers and children. Because it is affecting all of us, everywhere we live rural or urban areas, the ability to make it local can have a huge impact on pupil’s learning. They will be more engaged especially in the aftermath of an extreme weather event. As a teacher you need strong knowledge of climate change so that you can teach it ef- fectively. It is a topic which you can easily integrate with other subject areas and one which is of interest to children. I do not have much prior knowledge about climate change. However, I did teach a cli- mate change lesson during school placement. I realized that the children know more than me. They are aware of the effects and causes of climate change and they know about the role everyone has in order to solve the issue. There is definitely a major change occurring in our climate that needs to be addressed at every level of society. I don’t believe that our dependence on oil and gas will change due to the huge amount of revenue and wealth associated with fossil fuels. Educating children is our last hope before it’s gone too far. Sadly, I feel climate change is out of control. It’s no longer about switching off an appli- ance when it’s not in use or having a shower instead of a bath. The world needs something big or someone big to make a change. I am still horrified about the level of corruption in our society today and the level of collusion between fossil fuel industries and politicians. However, children are naturally full of hope. I will strive to educate future generations and hopefully educate that ‘someone big’ to make the changes we desperately need. Personally, climate change is a huge topic for me. I really see it as a global issue and as a teacher it is something I have always incorporated into my teaching particularly during school placement. I have found that children respond really well to the topic and have a significant interest and creative initiatives that are not being brought to light or being chal- lenged during their everyday school life. I find it’s an important topic for school children and it is completely diverse and can be used and integrated into every curricular subject. I love learning and exploring the topic of climate change however, the deeper I delve into it and the more information I gain the more it frustrates me to see government officials and even educators not doing enough to shed light on the topic. My views on climate change have remained the same. I am invested in the topic and wish to make a change. As a teacher I see that teaching climate change and what we can do about it as one of the most important things we will ever teach. It is all very well having literacy and numeracy schemes but what good is it if we have no planet to live on. I am optimistic that a positive change will come soon.
- 54. Teaching climate change25 Climate change has become the biggest threat and disregarded subject of our generation. It is unfortunate to see the economy overruling sustainability as people in power invest in fossil fuels instead of renewable sources. Power and money have skewed politicians and businesses into believing global warming and climate change are mythical in nature. We know the effects of things like war. We do not fully appreciate the impacts of climate change on our lives. Money is being pumped into cures instead of prevention e.g. flooding in Miami. More significant governmental and stricter UN policies must be demanded. Penalise with fines because money seems to be the only language that people understand. The reflections from student teachers demonstrate an awareness of the importance of the issue, high levels of children’s interest and anxiety about levels of personal climate change knowledge. However, some of the reflections illustrate a disconnect between awareness and action. In some cases, student teachers are not aware of the importance of their own personal agency in terms of lifestyle choices but focus instead on the importance of teach- ing others about climate change. Some student teachers are optimistic about the future whereas others are more pessimistic. Teaching about climate change involves scientific knowledge, familiarity with appro- priate pedagogy and resources and confidence to explore the complexities of the subject, including moral and ethical aspects (Hestness et al.,2011).Critical thinking and an appre- ciation of personal/collective agency is also essential. However, many teachers and stu- dent teachers are unsure about their own personal climate change conceptual knowledge. Some teachers are nervous about their ability to engage children in appropriate actions, while others have concerns about the perceived controversial nature of the issue. Conclusion The transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy has to be part of the solution as it makes economic, social and environmental sense (Hicks, 2014). Political will and leadership are needed for this to happen. Politicians will not gamble their political careers on climate actions unless the public call for them to do so.Without a comprehensive edu- cation programme, short-term political pay backs will remain more popular than long- term environmental actions. Often framed as a green or left wing agenda, climate action and holistic environmental protection are challenges for people of all political persuasions, ethnicities and religious beliefs. Humanity has the fundamental scientific, technical and industrial knowledge to solve the carbon and climate problem within the next 50 years (Pacala and Socolow, 2004). However, considerable buy-in will be required by citizens, corporations, businesses communities and agricultural sectors.The uneven responses from state, corporate and civil actors across the world clearly signify the challenges and oppor- tunities that lie ahead. Even though the scientific evidence is clear, the power of fossil fuel interests continues to influence policy and practice.Alternately, the reality of climate change is encouraging people to consider alternative sustainable ways of living. As humans,we are all living on this one interdependent planet with its incredible biodi- versity and natural wonders. Challenges faced by the planet will have direct consequences for us. Collectively, we need to appreciate the implications of our actions or inaction, hence the need to act co-operatively has never been greater. If we continue as we are adopting a ‘business as usual’ approach, experts predict that we face a global temperature rise of 5%. In other words, if levels of global consumption equalled levels of consumption in the United States of America, we would need four planets. Hence, the need for a com- prehensive, robust climate change education programme in schools.
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- 56. declaring that itis more expensive to exist in the Philippines than to “have a good time” in New York or San Francisco! The only comfort is that we are not in Manila, which is a shade worse, I am told. So, except for an occasional carriage lent us, we continue to walk about after sunset, but I find I can’t get very far, for though exercise may not be very tiring at the time it is being taken, it makes you realise how the climate is taking it out of you. There is no meeting-place like the club of an English garrison town, for the Americans seem to have no idea of anything of the sort; and I think this may, perhaps, be owing to their democratic principles, for, of course, it would be impossible to exclude the private soldiers from such a place, as in theory they are as good as the officers. I notice that in practice the officers don’t think so at all, though most of them have risen from the ranks themselves. The U.S.A. have a sort of Sandhurst, called West Point, but I have been told, by highly-placed officers themselves, that the only way to get on in their army is to obtain a commission from the ranks through “pull” (political influence), and that “pull” is even more a factor in the army than in any other profession in America. This can easily be verified by reading the extraordinary cases that occur from time to time, when an officer with a “pull” gets the decision of a Court- Martial reversed without any further controversy, and, after an undoubted misdemeanour, is simply re-instated somewhere else, and often in a higher grade, by order of the Government at Washington. This independence of military authority, together with the principles of extreme democracy which America professes, accounts, I think, for the curious behaviour of the private soldiers, who are really quite different from any others I have seen anywhere else in the world, for they lounge about when addressing an officer, and speak to him as an equal; which looks more than odd to anyone not accustomed to such ways. Men who were here during the American War have told me most amusing stories of the discussions that used to go on between officers and privates on active service; all
- 57. straggling about anyhow,and men, with no notion of saluting, just giving their opinion with a drawling “waal” by way of preface. All the same, they fight well, and perhaps, in modern warfare, individual intelligence may be a very good thing, and it is only in peace time that a lack of smartness and discipline jars upon the faddy European eye. Perhaps. But the oddest thing of all, to my mind, is to see officers in uniform salute ladies by taking their caps off. That I can’t get accustomed to! I call this a garrison town, though, as a matter of fact, the garrison is situated in the Island of Guimaras, at a place called Camp Josman, in the interior. This Camp, which is about 200 feet above sea-level, and possesses springs of good water, is supposed to be much healthier than Iloilo, where they only have the Hospital, Headquarters, and the Cavalry Barracks. It seems a strange and uncomfortable arrangement in a half-pacified country—the garrison half a day’s journey away; though the real object is, of course, to keep the American soldiers out of the towns, where they are no end of trouble. The town is well and even elaborately policed by the Constabulary, a Filipino corps of sturdy little “brown brothers” in dark blue linen suits. Each of these defenders supports an immense revolver in a leather case strapped to the back of his broad leather belt, and carries a short truncheon as well. I suppose they would fight all right, in reason, if there were a disturbance, and if the occasion were not of a patriotic nature. But that is not much consolation, as the occasion would not be likely to be of any character other than patriotic. The Americans give out and write in their papers that the Philippine Islands are completely pacified, and that the Filipinos love Americans and their rule. This, doubtless with good motives, is complete and utter humbug, for the country is honeycombed with insurrection and plots; the fighting has never ceased; and the natives loathe the Americans and their theories, saying so openly in
- 58. their native press,and showing their dislike in every possible fashion. Their one idea is to be rid of the U.S.A. to have their government in their own hands, for good or evil, and to be free of a burden of taxation which may be just, but is heavier than any the Spaniards laid upon them. The present burden is more obvious to the Filipino mind than the ultimate blessings. They have no real say in their own affairs, you see, as the government of the Philippines is in the hands of a Commission consisting of five Americans, nominated by the President of the U.S.A. and three Filipinos, chosen by the Governor-General of the Philippines.[4] This body, however, does not govern the Islands according to what experience teaches, but is responsible to the Senate at Washington, whose members having their own interests to push or preserve, hamper the Philippine Commission at every turn. It does seem extraordinary to think that there is no Colonial Office, or Civil Service examinations, and that anyone in America who has a “pull” can get sent out here to fill any sort of post anyhow, anywhere. Tremendous salaries come out of the miserable Island Revenues to make these posts acceptable. So it is hardly surprising that, without the faintest glimmering of the language, customs, climate, or anything beyond their own State, these eager, well-meaning, bustling Americans tumble into pitfalls, and rub the Oriental the wrong way, and that the dislike and mistrust on both sides are about equal. I did not mean to let you in for this political dissertation, but now I am on the subject I am reminded of a new tax, which has lately been levied, and is causing much vexation. It will give you a good idea of the methods in vogue. This is an order requiring every owner of a horse to take his beast to the Philippine Government, or rather its local and selected representatives, who will brand the animal on one flank with certain marks by which it may at once be known. Then the owner is to brand it twice on the other flank, and to find two sureties of 250 dollars gold (about £50) each, that the horse has
- 59. not been stolen,and should the animal prove to have been dishonestly acquired, the sureties are to be held criminally liable! This in a country where the crime of horse-stealing is entirely unknown! But it is believed that the Senators in far-off Washington have an idea that the Philippines are a sort of California, so they insist on applying exactly the same law here as obtains in that wide, wild State. It is hardly necessary to add that the examination, branding, papers to be signed, stamps upon same, and so on, cost the wretched owner a pretty sum before he is safe from the police with his poor, disfigured horse. I have wandered away from a walk through the town, which I meant to describe to you—only I never seem to get ahead at all with descriptions here, as there are such endless mazes of side-issues to lure one from the track. At the end of this street one comes on the Plaza, a very wide square bordered by odds and ends of houses, which include the Police Court, the Y.M.C.A., the Prison, and the Cathedral, the three former buildings being large, ordinary, two-storied houses, the latter a big, plain, grey stone front, with a belfry on each side, not unlike a miniature of the cathedral at Las Palmas, and, as far as I remember, in much the same style.
- 60. Spanish Architecture inthe Philippines. An old church at Daraga. To face page 89. The town must have been quite handsome in the Spanish days, but during the Insurrection the Americans stood off and bombarded it from the open sea, while on shore the natives set it on fire. You see, when the Americans had conquered the Spaniards, and the Philippines had been handed over to the United States, the Spanish garrisons cleared out, leaving the Filipinos in charge to wait for their saviours. But the Filipinos beginning to realise that they had only sailed from Scylla to Charybdis, fought tooth and nail to prevent the American troops garrisoning their towns. So it came about that when the Americans had officially conquered the Spaniards, and fêtes and rejoicings were in full blast in the U.S.A., the trouble here was really only just beginning, for though they had managed to dislodge an alien race like the Spaniards with the full help and concurrence of the natives of the country, it was a very different task to conquer the
- 61. disaffected people ofthe soil, even when it was being done “for their own good.” When the American fleet came to take Iloilo, the Filipinos showed fight, and the American Admiral said they must give up the place or he would bombard it, allowing them so many hours to decide in—which hours, by-the-bye, were not unconnected with some complication regarding the Christmas dinners of the sailors, who insisted on eating plum-puddings they had brought with them, or had had sent from America. Well, the Filipinos replied that the Americans might come ashore and fight if they liked, but if the Admiral bombarded the town, they would set it on fire, and make Iloilo not worth the taking. The end of this exchange of courtesies was that the Admiral chose the alternative of bombardment, whereupon the Filipinos promptly fired the town, and Iloilo was pretty well destroyed, and eventually taken for the Stars and Stripes. The loss of life was one mule and one old woman, neither of whom probably cared two straws who the Philippines belonged to, poor things. One or two people were wounded, but this was only another instance of the extraordinarily small amount of damage done by a bombardment. I have heard many curious “yarns” about the bombardment and the fire, which took place on Christmas Day, 1899, but I have not time or space to tell you these legends now, even if I could remember them. I wish I could remember all the things I hear—though, I daresay, I remember quite enough for you as it is! The chief feature of the bombardment stories is the terrible drunkenness and looting that went on; but even if those anecdotes interested you, they are all connected with personal adventures of people you have never met, and would not entertain you. I am glad I was not here though, for the anarchy and misery seem to have been terrible. Many results of these stirring times still remain in the streets, for the top stories of the houses were knocked off and the stone foundations gutted, and when the people settled down peaceably
- 62. again, there wasno money to restore the buildings to their former state, so they just put rough rooms over the charred ruins, makeshift upper stories of Oregon pine with corrugated iron roofs, which arrangement makes the town look very shoddy and unfinished. In Jaro and Molo are to be seen many of the handsome old Spanish houses still standing, with carved wooden balconies and ornamented doorways, some of them still beautified by deep roofs of charming old red-brown hand-made tiles. There is a café in the Plaza Libertad, in what was once a big, fine house, but now the thick concrete walls of the lower storey, with huge doorways and window-openings crossed by heavy bars, all blackened with smoke, end abruptly in a narrow-eaved corrugated roof, making a house like a misshapen little dwarf. There are many buildings like that, and in the streets the jumble of different sorts of odds and ends is most curious, but not the least picturesque, for it is all grey and mean and squalid. All the middle of the square, which, as I told you, is called the Plaza Libertad, is laid out as a pretty Alameda, with a low wall round it, and steps leading up on each side, the centre thickly planted with palms, bamboos, and various other trees of dark and light greens, intersected by four wide paths and a lot of little tracks, all bristling with seats. Some of the seats are of wood, broken and dilapidated, and others of iron painted to look like marble, which are quite warm to the touch hours after sunset. The first evening we were there, when I put my hand on one of the iron seats, thinking to touch cold stone, I got quite a shock on finding the surface warm. This flowerless garden is a very pretty place, especially at night, when the big arc-lights shine on the very green trees, and throw lovely shadows of palm branches on the white paths, making quite a theatrical effect; but it is all overgrown, untidy, neglected, the steps broken, paths untrimmed—always reminding me of some place in a deserted city, or the garden of a house long uninhabited.
- 63. The Plaza Libertadhas one resemblance to a real town park, however, in its rows of idle men; brown-faced, white-clad Filipinos in this case, who sit on the seats and low walls like rows of sea-birds, only, instead of making nests or catching food as birds would, they simply doze, and gamble, and talk, or, more often, sit about in the profound abstraction of the Oriental. The “unemployed” has no grievance against society, however, in this country, if he ever tries to attempt one, for work is abundant and labour not to be had, even at the present scale of wages, which enables a man to work for one day and then keep himself and his family to the remotest scions, in idleness and cock-fighting for a week. You see in the Spanish days the Philipino labourers got from 10 to 20 cents a day wages but now the American Government, which sets the scale, gives a peso a day for unskilled labour, and that, of course, has altered the social conditions here, and, I believe, all over the Islands as well, for the same conditions prevail everywhere. A peso a day they get for loading and unloading vessels —just wharf-coolies; and as for carpenters and people like that who used to get 70 cents from the Spaniards and live well on it, they are now with difficulty to be caught for 2½ to 3 pesos a day. Of course this has enormously increased the cost of living without bringing any extra benefits, but that particular increase chiefly affects the white man, for I have asked servants and natives, who tell me the cost of their food, the eternal rice, fish, and bananas for them has very little altered, if at all. The high rate of wages, far from bringing plenty, has caused great demoralisation and consequent poverty; and it does seem a pity that some one who understood Orientals and their ways could not have come and pointed out to the Americans how dark races differ from white men in body and mind. As it is, I should think that even if the well-meaning reformers do find out their mistakes, which is very doubtful, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for the Americans to go back now.
- 64. On one sideof the Plaza there stand a few specimens of the funny native trap called a quilez, which I have mentioned to you. It is very like the tartana of Spain, a sort of tiny wagonette on two wheels, and covered so that it is really a sort of miniature two-wheeled omnibus. Such a cabstand! Such fearfully dilapidated old rattle-traps, with mangy ponies lashed in by odds and ends of straps and string, and the drivers dressed in dirty rags (the only dirty Filipinos I’ve ever seen) sprawling half-asleep on the boxes! This collection, as I have said, is by way of being a cab-rank, but there are always plenty of quilezes plying the streets for hire; their number indeed being at first astounding, till one becomes better acquainted with the laziness of the fares, coupled with the high rates of hire, which alone would make one job a day quite a good investment. The discomfort and jolting of these conveyances is something which I can find no words to express —it is like one’s first ride on a camel—like waltzing with a Sandhurst cadet—like—like nothing in the world! A drive of one mile inside a quilez is more fatiguing than a walk of two. One thinks regretfully of the delightful luxury of the rickshaws and chairs of the real Far East, and I was very much surprised to see none of these luxurious comforts when we first arrived in the Philippines. It seems that a company was formed some years ago to introduce them, and got the concession to bring rickshaws and coolies from China, but as soon as these useful institutions appeared in the streets of Manila, the Filipinos stoned them, and at last forced the American authorities to banish the innovation altogether: “For,” said the astute and progressive Filipino, “the next thing will be that we shall be made to draw these things about, and we will not be treated as animals.” Fancy giving in to them! And fancy thinking of a splendid country and people like Japan, “where the rickshaws come from,” and listening to such preposterous nonsense from a Filipino! But these ignorant half-breeds got their way, and the only example they had
- 65. ever had ofenergy or the real dignity of labour was promptly withdrawn to please them. In the middle of the Alameda is a bandstand, bare and empty, with a big spluttering arc-light over it, shedding its cheese-white light on nothingness—for no band ever plays there, and the glories of social Iloilo went with the gay and courteous Spaniards. A few people go and sit about, however, in the evenings, and it is not a bad place to loaf in for anyone who can’t drive out to the country and is tired of the beach. One evening, as we sat under the trees watching a group of Mestizo children playing about some older people sitting on a seat, a little banda de musica came strolling by, half a dozen young Filipinos in white trousers and camisas, carrying mandolins and guitars. They stopped near to where the children were playing, and struck up a certain beautiful waltz which one hears everywhere here—the work of some native composer, I believe—whereupon the little things all danced about on the white path in the fretted shadows of the trees, making a perfectly charming picture, and all so happy and jolly it did one good to watch them, in spite of the excessive heat. The banda de musica seemed to enjoy the fun too, for they smiled and showed their white teeth; speaking to the children and playing one tune after the other; and when we had to go home in time for dinner, we left them still dancing and playing under the trees, perfectly happy, even at that age, with anything in the nature of a baile.
- 66. LETTER XII. CHINESE NEWYEAR—LABOUR CONDITIONS— A CINÉMATOGRAPH SHOW Iloilo, February 4, 1905. To-day is the Chinese New Year, and all last night the Chinamen were letting off crackers down in the town. All to-day they have been going on with them, too, and as the chief rejoicing seems to be to explode the fireworks under a horse, you may imagine—no you can’t—what the streets are like. On an ordinary day there is a good deal of pretty wild driving and no small peril in getting about in a vehicle or on foot, but the frightful risks one runs on every other day of the year are mild adventures compared to this Chinese New Year. There are a great many Chinamen, you see, for they continue to come into the Philippines in spite of the heavy tax against them; and besides that, so many are left over from the Spanish days that Celestials are still the principal shopkeepers of the Islands. They make large fortunes here, I believe—the fortunes that are ready waiting for anyone who is as clever and industrious as a Chinaman— and so good a speculation do they think this country that they are constantly arriving, whenever they can get permission, paying the heavy tax, and then beginning by working for a year or two with some friend or relation for no pay! Of course, the Filipinos hate the idea of being cut out by strong, hard-working, clever rivals, who make fortunes under conditions in which they themselves starve, so they have forced the hand of the American Government in abolishing foreign labour, which measure, so the business men say, has been the ruin of the Philippines. They say that such a law is wise enough in a country like America, perhaps, which is teeming with a busy population of its own, but
- 67. here it isquite different, and “Philippines for the Filipinos” would be all very well if these people wanted their country, which does not seem to be the case. Moreover, if they did want it, it is too large for them, for there are 75,000,000 acres of cultivable soil in the Philippines, and the population all told is barely 7,000,000. Suppose one calculated one in ten of the natives of all ages as a capable tiller of the earth—a most unlikely average—and if three Filipinos could do the work of one Chinaman or white man (which they can’t), even then one would think there would be room for competition and other labour. The magnificent forests of priceless woods simply fall into decay; the gold and all the metals with which the country is filled, lie untouched; the marbles are unquarried; the rich soil is uncultivated; and so these riches must remain as long as it pays no one to work them. Men often come to the Philippines to “prospect,” but when they find out the conditions of labour and the rate of Export and other Duties, they go away and are no more heard of; for, though you may run a sort of Government with philanthropical ideas, you won’t get business to flow in on the same system; and business men don’t care two straws if a labourer can read Latin or understand mathematics, so long as he will work well for low wages; but this latter ideal is the very last one the American Government appear to encourage or aim at. Well, we went last night to a cinématograph show, which has established itself in a big empty basement in the Calle Real, with a large sign outside, made of glass letters lighted behind with electricity, all in the most approved European style. The “show” lasts for half an hour, going on from six in the evening to about ten o’clock at night, and the proprietor makes about 300 pesos a week out of it, for he has very few expenses, and it is the sort of thing these people love. They come out when the show is over, stand about and expectorate for a few minutes, and then pay their cents and go in again and enjoy the same thing about five times running, probably without the faintest idea what it is all about from start to finish. You remember the dreadful extent of the habit of
- 68. expectoration in Spain?You have heard about this failing in America? The Filipino is the epitome and concentration of the two. Everything in the hall was boarded up to prevent any stray, non- paying enthusiast from getting a free peep; but all the same I saw several little brown forms in fluttering muslin shirts, outside, where the wall formed a side street, with eyes glued to the chinks of a door in rapt attention; though I don’t suppose the little chaps could really see anything but the extreme edge of the back row of benches. In the hall we were saved from suffocation by two electric fans, and kept awake by a Filipino playing a cracked old piano with astonishing dexterity, rattling out the sort of tunes you hear in a circus and nowhere else on earth. I could not help wondering where he had picked them up, till it suddenly dawned on me that one, at least, gave me a faint hint that perhaps the performer might once have heard “Hiawatha” on a penny flute; so I concluded that he was playing “variations.” Pianos never sound very well out here, and I am told it is difficult to keep them bearable at all, for the chords have an unmusical way of going rusty in the damp season, or else snapping with a loud ping. The moving pictures were not at all bad, rather jumpy at times, but the subjects really quite entertaining, and all the slides, from the appearance of the figures on them, made in Germany, I imagine. The series wound up with an interminable fairy tale in coloured pictures, really a sort of short play, and in this one could see the German element still more apparent, in the castles, the ancient costumes, and the whole composition of the thing. I don’t suppose the natives in the audience had the wildest idea what it was all about, or what the king and queen, the good fairy, and the wicked godmother, were meant to be, probably taking the whole story for some episode in the life of a Saint. The audience were really more amusing to me than the pictures, and I was quite pleased each time the light went up so that I could have a good look at them. In the front rows, which were cheap, as they were so close to the screen, sat the poorer people in little
- 69. family groups, withclean camisas and large cigars, the women’s hair looking like black spun glass. Our places were raised a little above them, and were patronised by the swells who had paid 40 cents—a shilling. Amongst the elect were one or two English and other foreigners; some fat Chinamen, with their pigtails done up in chignons, and wearing open-work German straw hats, accompanied by their native wives and little slant-eyed children; a few missionaries and schoolma’ams in coloured blouses and untidy coiffures à la Gibson Girl; and one or two U.S.A. soldiers, with thick hair parted in the middle, standing treat to their Filipina girls—these last in pretty camisas, and very shy and happy. A funny little Filipino boy near us, rigged up in a knickerbocker suit and an immense yellow oil-skin motor-cap, was rather frightened at old Tuyay, who had insisted on coming to the show and sitting at our feet. When she sniffed the bare legs of this very small brown brother, he lost all his dignity and importance, and clung blubbing to his little flat-faced mother. Poor old Tuyay was dreadfully offended; she came and crawled right under C——’s chair, where she lay immovable till the performance was over. To watch the people here is an endless source of amusement to me, and I only wish my words could be more photographic, or our photographs more pictorial, so that I could convey to you a real impression of this queer end of the world. That is what it is—I feel as if I had arrived at the end of the world, where nobody cares or knows or hears or thinks of anything, and where the inertia that is in the very air of things will at last wear down even the vitality, pluck, and good intentions of the Americans themselves. I have arranged to go to Manila on the 28th, to-morrow three weeks, by the Butuan, the weekly mail. We heard fearful reports of these steamers, as I told you, when we were leaving Manila, but unfortunately there is no other means of getting to Manila from here. I am very glad it is arranged that I am to go, and I am looking forward very much to the change of air and scene. C—— is very anxious for me to take a servant to wait on me, for ladies generally take a native retainer with them when they travel about; but I won’t
- 70. hear of suchextravagance, and think I shall have far less trouble with only myself to look after, and without the extra burden of a bewildered Filipino. A friend of ours came from Manila the other day on a visit, with one of these appanages of state in her wake, and he seemed to me to be more trouble than the whole journey was worth. À propos of servants, we had an amusing and very characteristic adventure with the cook a day or two ago, when it occurred to us that for some time past we had not seen what we thought was the worth of a peso and a half of food appearing on the table, and nearly all the dishes seemed to be concocted from ingredients out of the dispensa; and eggs which, tiny though they are, cost the same as fresh-laid ones of ordinary size at home. What is more, they go bad so quickly that the price is really more, because so many have to be thrown away. Well, C—— said to the cook quite amiably that that functionary must revert to his original plan of giving us a daily list of his expenses, and the cook replied, very sulkily, “Si señor.” Next morning, when I was giving out stores, the cook said: “I should like to leave the señora’s service to-morrow. I can’t read or write, as the señora knows, and the cook downstairs, who used to do my list for me, has gone away.” Of course I knew every word of this to be an utter lie, and that my wily friend was only “trying it on,” as they say, because he knew it would be very inconvenient for us to dismiss him before I went to Manila. But I did not flatter him or “play up” to him by looking the least surprised or put out; I merely answered, very gravely and politely: “Certainly, cocinero, that will suit us perfectly. I will see about your wages.” Such a look of utter disgust and surprise came over his monkey- face—exactly like Brookes’ monkey with the frying-pan—but I said nothing, and went on serving out potatoes and tinned fruit, and giving orders as to how I wished to have the things cooked.
- 71. When C—— camehome and heard this domestic history, he wanted to go and find the cook, and call him and his ancestry every name under the sun; but I implored him not to pander to the creature’s vanity by such a compliment as letting him think for one instant that we wished him to stay. So no words were said; but we observed that the menu was immensely improved. Next morning, when Domingo came for the cook’s marketing money, instead of sending it out, I went out myself and said: “Well, do you want the gastos money or your wages?” “Oh,” said the cook, with a regular sort of rogue’s way he has of looking you straight in the eye, “I will take the gastos. I will remain with the señora to-day, as I see she has not been able to get another cook.” Inwardly I gasped; but I thought it better not to take any notice of such impudence, so I pretended I had not understood what he had said, and replied that I was very sorry he had not been able to find another situation, and that the señor would permit him to stay on. He opened his mouth as if he were going to answer, but evidently changed his mind, for he said nothing, but just held out his hand for the money. Since which skirmish he has given us better food, and better cooked than we have ever had from him, and a daily list of expenses is handed to me without comment. I hope I don’t bore you with my simple domestic stories? But this one I felt I must really tell you, as it is so absolutely characteristic of the half “cute” Filipino. Talking of native characters, there is a strange but very typical hairdresser along our street, with one poor-looking little room opening on to the road as his whole shop. All the barbers here do their business in the evenings, when their saloons may be seen brightly lighted, with men inside being operated on, while others loaf and gossip, but we have never seen a sign of a customer in our neighbour’s little shop. Perhaps he does business in the day time,
- 72. and though wedoubt it, we always hope this is the case. In the evenings his door stands wide open, and inside, the barber is to be seen lying back in an old armchair, with his bare feet on the basin, playing an old fiddle in absolute peace and contentment, while he watches his reflection in a big looking-glass. In a sort of wild and whimsical way he makes me think of The Lady of Shalott, and I fancy that some day a real customer will come riding by, when the mirror will “crack from side to side,” and the hairdresser will look out and see the world as it really is, and just die of misery. But I am sure that as long as he sits and plays like that, it would be a thousand pities if anyone came in with foolish and mundane ideas about shaving chins or cutting hair. The burst of heat I told you of, is over, and the days are cool again, by comparison. Also, last night rain fell, and we got some water in our tank, after the preliminary excitement of diverting the pipe to let the dirt wash off the roof. This is a most important consideration, and as the servants are very apt to leave the pipe over the cistern, instead of moving it, so that when rain comes the first dirt will run away, one has to turn out at any hour of the day or night, when rain begins to rattle on the roofs. And how these tropical showers do rattle and roar, so that one cannot hear the other speak without “hailing the main top,” as papa would call it.
- 73. LETTER XIII. SOME INFLUENCESOF CLIMATE, SCENERY, AND RELIGION Iloilo, February 18, 1905. You must excuse my writing still being rather bad, as my illness has left me so weak that I shall not be out of bed for some days longer, in fact I am beginning to be fearfully afraid that I may not be well enough to go to Manila on the 28th after all. However, I have ten days to get well in, which gives me hope, and my progress so far has been simply wonderful, which is due to the extraordinary luck I have had in finding such good doctors and such a charming and clever nurse. I am much disappointed in having missed the visit of a U.S.A. man-of-war, the Rainbow, which is on a cruise through the Islands, and has come here for a couple of days. She is the flagship of the squadron the Americans keep in the China seas, and a very fine ship, I believe. Last night her crew gave a sing-song in the theatre, to which I persuaded C—— to go, and was very glad I had done so, as he enjoyed it immensely, and says it was a very good sort of Christy Minstrel “show.” It ended with a small play, done by real “American Negroes,” as they are called. The Rainbow gave the same entertainment in Hong Kong, just before we arrived, and I heard then how good it was. This afternoon we have been invited to a reception to be held on board, but, of course, that also is out of the question for me, and C—— will be busy at the office till very late. There is a great deal of work at the office now, as the chief business in this island is sugar, and this is the height of the “season,”
- 74. when great loadsof thousands of sacks go out every day to be put into steamers and sailing vessels off the estuary. They have a rough factory here where the cane is crushed, and the stuff exported is a thick, brown sort of sand (don’t make a joke about sand and sugar!), a great deal of which goes to Europe and America, but most to Hong Kong, where it is refined in great factories. The refined sugar that comes back from Hong Kong is what we buy here; and, though an English company has started a sugar refinery in Manila, they find that the conditions of trade in the Philippines are such that they can only just compete with the stuff refined elsewhere and imported subject to the export tax and the enormous duties. I think I am very lucky in having such a nice room to be ill in. It is very large and shady, with three windows and two doors, and I look out on a bright garden belonging to the house opposite, and a green field and trees, which is charming. Through the trees are glimpses of the grey backs of the houses in the street parallel to this, and then a thick, high belt of palms, which hides the open sea. This is the S.-W. side of the house. The back, to the N.-E., looks out across a rough garden of fresh, thick grass to half a mile or so of shallows, where the tide fluctuates, and beyond is the strip of blue river, which looks so narrow seen from here that the big steamers which go by seem to be sailing on dry land. Beyond, again, comes a fringe of bright green palms, and then the open sea—a stretch of darkest blue—and a bit of hilly, verdant Guimaras. I think one of the great beauties of the views here is that the sky is never quite cloudless—there are always very white clouds somewhere in the dome of intense blue, which give relief and value to all the colours below. On days when the Monsoon is not too high, we open the shutters looking towards the river, but these open wooden slats keep the houses quite cool, even when the shutters are closed. I wish there were something like the tatties of India; but no one out here has ever heard of such a thing. The open shutters are very nice though, and the view framed in the dark opening which faces us at table is
- 75. like looking ata large, bright picture. Sometimes the tide is right up to the garden wall, the sky cloudy, and the water like slate. At other times, when it is far out, the shallows turn into mud-flats, with groups of native women wading about in their bright red clothes, looking for mysterious fish which Filipinos alone dare eat and live. Some friends from Manila were looking out of the hall window a little time ago, and said, “What a lovely view. I should never tire of that.” I said we never did, which was quite true. When I am well again, and if C—— can get away, I hope to be able to go beyond the roads to Jaro and Molo, though they are beautiful and inexhaustible. With all the beauty, however, I begin to have the same sort of feeling about this country that that old friend of ours, General R——, had about the girl at the Aldershot ball. You remember the story he told us of how he saw her exquisite face across the ball-room, and insisted on a common friend introducing him to her? And when he and the friend had got half way across the ball-room, the old general said: “Stop! Take me away. Get me out of it. Her face has never changed and never can change. It isn’t a face. It’s a mask, sir, a mask! It is not a human being. Come away!” Well, I feel like that about Philippine scenery, which can be dark or light according to the reflections thrown on it, but it has never changed, and even if there is a slight change, when that has passed it will always and for ever be the same greens and the same blue. No alternation to red and yellow autumn, no brown and purple winter, no delicate spring—nothing but perpetual, chromo-lithograph mid-summer, which has always seemed to me the least beautiful season of the year. When the wet Monsoon blows, I believe that season is counted as a sort of spring, for various trees then come into bloom, but, for the great part, everything just goes on growing and dying, and growing and dying in dull routine, like the natives. In fact I often think the much-abused Filipino is only a prototype, as it were, a sort of reflection, of his country. It seems as if this were so, too, for those who go away to Hong Kong or Japan to be educated, and come back
- 76. full of civilisationand enthusiasms, soon cast off their energy like a slough and return to the shiftless, slouching habits of the land where it is “always afternoon.” For them such habits are natural, and perhaps necessary, but a worse effect is that white men get like that too, in time, and though they may work well enough at the business by which they live, they become indifferent, shiftless, careless about dress and the niceties of our civilisation; everything is too much trouble, and they just jog along in a half-animal routine. The young ones still fret for the world they have left, which remains fresh in their memories; but this life takes hold on men, and they become so rooted in its ways that they deteriorate and can never live happily anywhere else again—in the same way that a mind deteriorates on the slip-shod mental fare of magazine-reading, and cannot be happy with anything that requires more effort to assimilate. This, then, I find is the secret of that “nameless” fascination of the Far East that one hears and reads so much about—it is the secret of deterioration which is so easy, and elevation which is so hard, so useless, so unnecessary—let us lie in a long chair and drink one whisky peg after the other—who cares what the home papers say—what rot it is to bother about anything but poker and shooting, or why old Wing Chang bought Brown’s pony. And when you think of the real meaning of “Ship me somewhere east of Suez”—well, you can’t think of it till you live there yourself for a month or two. My refrain is, “Ship me somewhere west of Suez,” where there is health for body and soul—the west of the exquisite thrush and the lilac bush, instead of the empty, gaudy parrot and the flaming, scentless canna. Heavens! What a tirade! One woman have I met who likes the Philippines; though many, as I know, love India, and the Straits, and Ceylon. But then those are generally people who go away to “hills” and so on, or take trips home. Here there are no “hills,” and a trip home is a serious life- problem. Just so, this one woman who has been found to like the
- 77. Philippines happens tobe the wife of a missionary, so, of course, she goes every hot season for a “nice long holiday” to Japan. It occurs to me that you may imagine we have savages here when I speak of missionaries, but that is not the case, in this island at any rate, for these good people are here—oh such a lot of them!—to convert the Filipinos from Roman Catholicism. This is really a work of supererogation, for, though the Spanish priests did ill-treat the Filipinos, the natives are free now from that terror, and this religion, with its mysteries and pomp, appeals to them, and suits their dispositions perfectly. I am afraid the unbiassed observer would find the missionaries far more convincing in their enthusiasm, if it led them to give up the beautiful houses and comfortable carriages they enjoy here, their tea-parties, lectures, and so on, and go and rough it in some of the other islands, where there are plenty of savages, Mahommedans, devil-worshippers, cannibals, and all sorts of unreclaimed sheep. Before I left home, I remember a very enthusiastic but woefully ignorant old lady being filled with excitement when she heard I was going to the Philippine Islands, and showing me missionary journals with a great deal written in them about “the good work” being done out here. At first I very naturally thought it was the savages who were being tackled, but—“Oh dear no!” she cried, quite shocked. “The poor Filipinos are being saved from the dreadful influence of the Roman Catholics.” I said: “But surely they are also the followers of Christ? Only they do not interpret His sayings quite as we do ourselves.” “No, no, they are wicked people! The Filipinos must be saved! Do, do, when you are out there, interest yourself in this noble work. I will send you little books——” Strange, isn’t it? And of course about the people, the laws, the climate, she knew less than nothing, though I am sure the poor old soul gave many a shilling out of her miserable income towards the
- 78. fund that givesthe missionary’s well-dressed wife a “nice little holiday in Japan.” In these civilised (?) parts of the Philippines there is a good deal of religious trouble and dissension already, without missionary enterprise to stir it up, as a very determined patriot of the name of Aglipay has cut himself adrift from the authority of Rome and started a church called La Iglesia Filipina Independiente, which title, I am sure, needs no translating. His followers are numerous, in fact it is generally believed that they now out-number the orthodox; and the whole movement is known to be the outward and visible sign of inward and hidden fires of Insurrection and Independence. The Aglipayanos, as these independent thinkers are usually styled, have churches of their own, and processions and ceremonies almost indistinguishable from those of the Papists. Do you remember a procession I described to you when we were in Manila? The bringing down of the Virgin of Antipolo? I now learn that that was all to do with this quarrel amongst the followers of the gentle Christ, though to which side the Virgin of Antipolo belonged, and who was to be galvanised into loyalty by the contemplation of her journey, I am not quite clear, and do not much care, for the fate of the little old wooden doll is uninteresting—it is only the people who are ready to fly at each other’s throats about it who are remarkable. What poor “worms that bite and sting in the dust!”
- 79. LETTER XIV. VOYAGE TOMANILA S.S. “Butuan,” March 1, 1905. I am launched, you see, and on my journey to Manila after all, though I do not feel at all well again yet; but that is not surprising, as it takes such a long time to pull round in this climate. It is not that the climate is so much worse than any other, as long as you keep well, but as soon as you get ill you go all to pieces, and the first thing to be done is to ship you off to Hong Kong or Japan as soon as possible. The climate of the Philippines is very much abused, more than it really deserves, I think, for the chief causes of all illness are anæmia or liver, both arising more from the dreadful food and the lack of fresh vegetables, fruit, milk, and good meat than from the actual climate; though, of course, the illnesses arising from each bad diet are aggravated by the heat. The amount of tinned things the people eat would be trying in any climate, but out here they must be simply deadly. I have just been reading a book by a traveller, who announces that there is nothing the matter with the Philippine climate at all, because he tore round the Archipelago in record time, crossing the islands on foot at astounding speed, and living on native food—and he was not ill. Naturally, he was not ill; but then his experience is of little value to men who have to work for their living, sitting in offices for eight hours a day on six days of the week, whose food is the sort of provisions one can get in the towns, and their houses rooted on ill-drained mud-flats. Everyone would like to rush about and live a free, wild life, and, no doubt, if they did, there would be fewer illnesses and less human wrecks; but the trouble is that no one would pay them for doing it; and men must work out here just the same as in other climates—in fact they seem to me to work longer hours and harder than
- 80. anywhere I eversaw; and the wonder to me is, not that they are ill, but that so many of them survive at all. Undoubtedly the only billets worth having in the tropics are those of a tea-planter, a British officer, or a professional traveller. I am in the regular mail steamer, you see, as I told you I should be, and we were certainly not given to understand more than the truth anent her shortcomings, for she is about the same size and class as those pestiferous little nightmares which run between Gibraltar and Ceuta. There is no deck but a plank or two outside the saloon, the latter a sort of excrescence on the ship, leaving just room to squeeze a chair between its sides and the scuppers. The space in the bows is thickly occupied by marine wonders covered with tarpaulins. What these may be, as they are not deck cargo, I can’t think, but they are evidently important enough to want all the fresh air in the ship. Aft, the galley treads upon the heels of the saloon, its fragrance extending still further, and the strip of deck outside it is completely blocked by dirty little tables, where frowzy men of the crew seem to carry on a perpetual March Hare’s tea-party. Beyond that, again, a half-clad native is for ever killing hens, and all in a muddle with a couple of terribly mangy but very kind dogs nosing about for snacks. She is a Spanish steamer, and the officers all Spaniards, very polite, but unkempt, unshaven, and dressed in soiled white linen suits with no attempt at a uniform. It is astonishing to think that this is the mail between Manila and the chief town of the Islands, and I can’t understand how it is that in six years no American enterprise has stepped in to do something better. I have asked Americans about this, but they tell me the question does not affect them, for they can always get permits to go in their own transports, and then, besides that, there is nothing to tempt American capital in so slow and jog-trot a fashion of making dollars. As we went out of the river, I tried to see our house in the
- 81. estuary, but allthe blue-grey houses, and corrugated roofs, and green trees and palms look so exactly alike that I found it impossible to distinguish ours from amongst the jumble. While I was looking over the side, a Filipino passenger, a middle- aged man, came up and said something to me, waving his hand towards the shore. I daresay he took me for his equal and meant no harm, but I thought it very cool of him to speak to me, so I simply drew myself up and said that I did not “habla Castellano,” whereupon he shuffled off and has not been seen again. Luckily the weather was very calm, and is so still, so I was able to appear at the evening meal, which came off at six! A deadly hour— when you have not had time to get up any interest in food since lunch, and yet if you don’t eat you are starving before bed-time. The dinner consisted of a thick meat-and-drink soup, such as one might imagine Russian convicts yearning for in the depths of a Siberian winter, but for which it was hardly possible to return thanks in a stifling cabin in the tropics. After this nice, comforting brew followed a procession of eight courses of thick and greasy fried lumps or appalling stews, each one more fatal and more full of garlic and spices than the last. I thought that even if I had been feeling fresh and hungry on a winter’s day at home I could hardly have faced the Butuan menu, but, as it was, the mere sight and smell of the dishes made me almost hysterical. The polite little captain pressed me to eat, and I did not like to hurt his feelings by refusing what he thought was excellent fare; but I escaped alive by waiting till his head was turned, and then dexterously passing lumps down to one of the kind, mangy dogs until the poor beast was detected by a muchacho and kicked, howling, on to the deck. After that I assured the skipper that I had had quite enough; an excellent dinner; I positively could not eat any more. He bowed and offered me coffee. I took a cup, and with that and dry biscuit made a tolerable meal. About eight o’clock I went below, as I felt very tired, because it was almost my first day out of bed since my illness. Besides that,
- 82. even if Ihad been in keen and robust health there would have been nothing to tempt me to remain on the narrow deck, which was pitch dark, or in the stuffy saloon with a couple of guttering candles in tall stands on the table by way of sole illumination. The accommodation below is of much the same type as the luxury above, below decks being just of the build of one of the old penny steamers that used to go up and down the Thames—you remember the sort of things—a very low roof supported by small iron pillars. Off a narrow passage open seven small cabins, with four berths in each of them, but they are really not so bad when you get one all to yourself, and I have the best one, at the end of the ship. I caught the fat Mayordomo (chief steward), and after endless trouble, managed to get a key for my cabin door, though the choice lay between having it open or dying of asphyxiation; but I preferred the latter risk of the two, as at least I could be certain what to expect if I kept it locked. One look at the mattresses was enough. I slept, or rather lay awake sweltering, on all the coverlets piled on the least filthy of the upper berths. The cabin smelt horrible, and the only light there, as in the saloon, was a candle in a bracket, the glass of which was so grimed with dirt that it gave hardly any light at all. No water was laid on to the filthy basin, and it did not do to let one’s mind dwell for one instant on cockroaches—like a child who tries not to think of some horrible ghost story in the dark. About six this morning the muchacho (they have no word for steward apparently) woke me by rattling at the handle of my door, when I climbed down and held parley with him through the crack. He said something in English about “washing,” and I thinking he had brought me water to put in the unspeakable basin, said: “No, not yet,” and tried to shut the door. However, he was not to be ignored, for he shoved the door open, apologising as he did so, came in and shut and fastened down the scuttle, and then backed out again with many more bows and excuses. Then I understood that it was not I who was to be washed,
- 83. but the decks!Somehow, it had not occurred to me that the decks of the Butuan ever could be cleaned like those of other ships! All day long we have been slipping past these Dream Islands, sometimes so close that one can see the waves breaking on the rocks and the blue sea running up into fairy bays, and I should so much like to go ashore in some of them, and see the negritos and savages, and the beautiful jungles where monkeys swing about on great flowering vines. That is always the Tropic Island of one’s dreams, is it not? But now I begin to think that possibly life is not all a transformation scene in the lovely jungles, where there are doubtless deadly snakes; poisonous, scentless plants; swamps, and malaria, to say nothing of the fatigues and difficulties of getting there. On the whole, for beauty of scenery, health and comfort, I think I would rather live in a glen on a Scottish moor. My luggage is rather on my mind, as I found I had to bring such a quantity, for muslin and cotton frocks take up so much room that I was compelled to abandon my first plan of one moderate trunk, and am now engineering what looks like a family “flitting.” Talking of frocks, you once asked me to tell you if those I had brought out were all right. They are quite right, thanks, at least the muslins are and the very thin cottons, but anything thicker, even print, is too warm, and the very thinnest of stuff skirts or coats are stifling and impossible. I always envy the lucky women in Hong Kong whom I left going about in white serge and grey flannel, and even being compelled to put wraps on in the evening! Another thing I find about clothes is that every one wears white, and though one gets rather tired of it, still it is the best thing for the fashion of washing clothes by pounding them on boulders, and then drying them in this terrific sun will evaporate the strongest colours in an incredibly short time. Clothes don’t last long here anyhow, colour or no colour, as there is something in the water that rots material, so that it goes into holes and tears if you look at it, and something in the air which rots silk even more disastrously and quickly, and turns all white silk and satin quite deep yellow.
- 84. I have beenwriting this at intervals all day, and now it is six o’clock, and the meal is due. I can see the polite skipper standing waiting for me to enter and take my seat, and the mangy dog trying to squeeze himself in under the bench where my place is. So I will leave off and finish this in Manila, where we are to arrive in the early morning. Manila, March 2. I thought a mail would be going out the day I got here, but I find it does not go till to-morrow morning, of which I am rather glad, as it gives me time to let you know I have arrived safely. Yet when you get this—oh what a long way off—the trip to Manila will be a half- forgotten thing of the past! The Butuan (by-the-bye, she has taken that name from a town in the big southern island of Mindanao) anchored off the mouth of the Pasig at three o’clock this morning, and deck-washing began at four. So at about five I opened my door a little bit and roared for the muchacho, till someone else in another cabin got tired of hearing me, and took up the cry, and it spread through the ship like the cock-crowing in the dawn. By-the-bye, I got away from the shrill of the crickets for a few hours, but did not, as I had hoped, escape the eternal cock-crowing, for those fowls on board the Butuan which had escaped death began to crow at four o’clock for all they were worth, poor things. Well, at last the muchacho came along and brought me a perilous candle and some hot water, and I dressed and packed up the few things I had out, and went up on deck at about six. At sunrise—a thick, pink, hazy sunrise—we steamed up the river, but I was blasé about everything but food, so I stayed in the saloon and managed to get some biscuits and coffee, and to avoid a plate full of deadly-looking ham and eggs. There was no room to anchor at the quay, which was fringed with a close line of steamers berthed stern-first, so she anchored in the stream; and until I was “fetched,” I amused myself watching the blue-green water-plants go trailing past, and trying to observe life on
- 85. board the big,covered, brown lighters. No life was to be seen, however, except the natives wielding immense punt-poles, who walked along the sides of the barges on a platform one plank wide. At about seven the company’s launch came for me, and she made quite a long trip, down the Pasig and all along outside the breakwater, as the shorter way through was blocked by a dredger. A tremendous new harbour is being built, which bids fair to be a very fine concern, and the Americans think a great deal of it, and say it will enable Manila to compete with and eclipse the shipping of Hong Kong. This is a difficult piece of reasoning to follow, for a glance at a map shows how out of the stream of the world’s traffic Manila lies; and then, besides that, there are the tariffs and customs, and all the vexations of the American system of government, which will make it impossible to compete with the traffic of a free port like Hong Kong. Moreover, it will never pay anyone to shift cargoes in a port where the coolies are so lazy and labour so expensive as in Manila. It is the American go-ahead, run-before-you-walk way, too, to build great docks and harbours costing millions before they have spent the necessary thousands in constructing roads to bring the merchandise from inland, or sacrificed the hundreds required to encourage trade. The same thing is being done down in Iloilo, where two millions are being spent on a harbour, when there is not one tolerable road across the island, and all the revenues that choke agriculture go to pay the officials and the school-teachers, conditions which prevail throughout the Archipelago. The Americans mean well by the Philippines, that no one can doubt for an instant, which makes it all the more sad to see them wasting magnificent energy, and earning nothing but failure and unpopularity, by going dead against everything that has ever been discovered about the successful government of Asiatics. But then, is this real government? It is very difficult to know what to call it, as at one time the venture is referred to as a “Colony,” at another as “The youngest of the United States,”
- 86. and yet againas “A Sacred Trust.” I mean they use these terms indiscriminately and officially, which is very puzzling. But I am wandering away from the trip in the launch, which went all round these same harbour works till it came right in front of our friends’ house, where a boat came off and took me through the shallow water to the steps at the end of the garden. It was then nearly eight o’clock, so the day was getting very hot, and the cool house seemed delicious. Breakfast—nice, clean, ungreasy breakfast!—and the joys of a bath. There was a “bathroom” on the Butuan, but in a state of dirt that would have made bathing impossible, even if the bath itself had not been full of old lamps, boots, tin cans, and dirty clothes. I have spent all the day resting in the house, to save up my energies for an entertainment which I should be very sorry to miss. This is a public reception to be held by the Governor, Mr Luke E. Wright, at his palace on the river, where one will see, as a compatriot informed me, “all Manila at a glance.” I don’t think a glance will satisfy me though, for I want to go and have a good long look. I feel better already for the change of air and scene, and am sure I shall be quite equal to the reception, besides, I would rather be ill than miss such a party! I say I spent all the day in the house, but that is not quite accurate, for we went for a drive at sunset to a library in the town, in a Spanish book-shop; and on our way back took a turn round the Luneta, the promenade by the sea, which I fancy I may have mentioned to you already. The band plays there every evening, and everyone drives or walks about. It was a very pretty sight to see the people in white dresses, all moving about in the radius of the electric lights on the bandstand, the lights looking like spots of white fire against the yellow sunset.
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