This book is the result of collective efforts. It emerged from a creative process that started at the Summer Conference of the Georg Arnhold Program on Education for Sustainable Peace, organized by the Leibniz Institute for Educational Media | Georg Eckert Institute, in August 2021. This online event brought together researchers engaged in education for sustainability and peace from 14 different countries working in a variety of contexts. The exchange of knowledge and experience among the participants catalyzed a number of insights, among them the importance of developing and providing more creative and inspirational resources for climate change and peace education, especially material integrating the two areas. Following the event, several participants expressed interest in contributing to the development of practical output that could be used in schools and other learning environments, such as university courses and community workshops.
Through my previous experience with young people and diverse communities I see storytelling as an emerging tool with which to create learning spaces where both storytellers and listeners can engage in deeper learning and where transformative change can happen. So the idea of a book using storytelling methods as its fundament was born. The participants were invited to take part in a storytelling workshop to explore personal stories located around the intersection of climate change and conflict, stories in which themes of ecological awareness, regeneration, and peace intertwined to generate new perspectives. In an iterative process the stories were developed further with the guidance of Marte Skaara from Climate Creativity, a non-profit organization that fosters climate change awareness and engagement for climate action, focusing on sustainability through storytelling and art. The workshop built on a key insight gained during the conference: that storytelling offers a unique channel to access a mindset in which climate awareness and peace work share a cognitive and creative space.
Artists later illustrated the stories. The selected artists are from six different countries, and each artist has a strong understanding of the country or region where the story is located. Through art we hope to visualize the storytellers’ values, emotions, ideas, hopes and dreams. All storytellers took part in the illustration process, providing the artists with feedback and ideas. When the visions of the storyteller and the artist are combined, new meanings and interpretations expand the message and speak to learners in a multitude of ways.
The intention is that the art and stories, together with the thematic introductions, will be an inspirational resource for educators. It is meant to be a helpful and hopeful guide for colleagues such as teachers, practitioners, and action researchers to address global challenges in their classes and workshops. We thus aim to provide readers with a resource that might inspire their teaching and community engagement.
A publication of the Georg Arnhold Program on Education for Sustainable Peace, based at the Leibniz Institute for Educational Media | Georg Eckert Institute (GEI)
