Learning resources on climate & ecology

Here are some ideas for books, films and resources for teaching and learning on climate and ecology, with the emphasis on resources for older children and young adults. Educators will also be interested in our research, Listening to young people on the Earth crisis.

RESOURCES CREATED BY US

• Our guide to holding conversations about climate & nature, in creative and sensitive ways

• Our schools resource, produced for A New Direction, about colonialism and climate

• Our guide to the Global Goals, or SDGs, including some activities to do with groups

• Our drawing activities that we shared during the Big Green Draw: 1) express your climate emotions; 2) we are nature – ecological art; 3) explore energy; 4) imagine green futures.

• Our ideas for rewilding your life

• And, to help with this, lots of ideas for Acts of Tree Kindness:  Creative Noticing; Words and Stories; Food and Water; Making Space for Trees; Homes and Habitats; Growing Food; Trees as Sentient Beings; Celebration; and Planting and Protection

• Explore our digital collections. Room 1: Appreciating the Earth Room 2: Exploring the Earth crisis Room 3: Ideas for Activism Room 4: Ideas for changing the system and Room 5: Ideas for living sustainably

• In particular, see our collection of climate music.

• And, Climate Basics: Some clear, graphic explanations of climate.

Books

• Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty – read our review by Naomi Faulkner-Felgate

• No one is too small to make a difference, speeches by Greta Thunberg – see our visual review of it

• Challenge Everything: An Extinction Rebellion Youth guide to saving the planet, by Blue Sandford. (We’d love to host a review of this one)

• The Survival Game, by Nicky Singer – climate fiction, set in a world remade by climate breakdown. Mhairi and a silent boy travel north to Scotland.

• Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood – eco fiction, set in the aftermath of a global pandemic, suitable for young adults

• The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi – another climate fiction, about water justice and crime set in the desertified American west.

• New York 2140, by Kim Stanley Robinson – the title tells you when and where it’s set! It imagines the inhabitants of the city after 50 feet of sea level rise.

• Fragment, by Craig Russell – a human and political drama set amidst Antarctic glacier collapse

• From What If to What Next, by Rob Hopkins – written for adults but very accessible and motivating. It’s all about unleashing the imagination to create the future we want.

• There is No Planet B, a handbook for the make or break years, by Mike Berners-Lee – for adults but very clear, comprehensive and positive

• Project Drawdown, the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming – like an encyclopaedia of optimism, packed full of climate solutions and clear, detailed explanations

• We Are the Weather Makers: The History of Climate Change, by Tim Flannery

• The No-Nonsense Guide to Climate Change, by Danny Chivers – this is recommended for its attention to political aspects such as climate science denial, as well as sound coverage of science and solutions.

• Climate Change and How We’ll Fix It by Alice Harman and illustrated by Andres Lozano.

• The Parent’s Guide to Climate Revolution – definitely one for parents & educators, quite a long read, but very engaging and encouraging. 100 Ways to Build a Fossil-Free Future, Raise Empowered Kids, and Still Get a Good Night’s Sleep:

• This article is full of recommendations of eco-fiction and other climate books for children and young people.

• One of our Pinterest boards – all about children’s books on climate

Films AND MULTIMEDIA

• Trees on Film – a selection of films about trees made by our young associates, for the Urban Tree Festival

• I Am Greta – BBC documentary and a learning resource about Greta Thunberg

• 2040, a film by Damon Gameau, on his journey to imagine how the year might look if global action was taken to mitigate our current carbon consumption. Read our review by associate Antonia Lee.

• Beyond Blue, game inspired by the BBC’s Blue Planet, exploring the ocean.

• Endling, an eco-conscious survival adventure. Defend your cubs as the last fox parent on Earth.

• Temtem, a massively multiplayer creature collection adventure, set in an Airborne Archipelago, engaging players in situations of conservation and exploitation.

Other resources

• EcoLockdown is an initiative from Transform Our World – a resource hub for teachers to bring environmental action into the classroom.

• An enormous, almost comprehensive compilation here.

• If you can get outside, here’s a great list of things to do when you go on walks.

• Serpentine Gallery’s Power Pack on the climate emergency

• Letters to the Earth, a creative campaign inviting you to write letters to the Earth (which could include a letter to yourself, another human, or an animal, as we are all part of Earth). See their toolkit for educational and community groups.

• The Lost Words resources – explorer packs, sheet music and links related to the Lost Words book

• Black Lives Matter resources for anti-racist solidarity, put together by our friends, ONCA. The root causes of the Earth crisis are behind racism, and the impacts are affecting black and indigenous people and people of colour more than white people.
• The Ministry of Eco Education is a collective of teachers providing alternative curriculum materials and approaches.

• Thoughtbox Climate Curriculum, best practice in climate education resources, focusing on critical thinking and conversations.

• Empowering Learners in a Warming World, a Canadian enquiry-based curriculum on climate change

• Get more active, join the campaign Teach the Future which aims to reform the education system to reflect the severity of the climate crisis.

If you’re in Lewisham, we have some free online workshops, starting with this one for 12-15 year olds about rivers.

We’ll add more here over time, including resources created by our associates. Please send your suggestions to us on climatemuseumuk@gmail.com