An Educator’s Guide to Climate Science & Colonialism
Date and Time: February 27, Friday, 12:30 PM UTC.
Registration Link: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/p6-ScD8KQV-zqcXzJA5cPQ
Highlights
The session began with Prof. Vandana Singh who opened the event and introduced Dr Anna Sorenson, who set the stage by explaining how My Climate Risk operates through community‑driven hubs—most based in the Global South—and working groups committed to bottom‑up climate knowledge.
Prof. Singh followed with the story behind the Educator’s Guide to Climate Science and Colonialism. She described how early‑career researchers had voiced concerns in 2023 about feeling unprepared to work ethically with communities and how the subsequent webinar series on climate science and colonialism inspired the creation of this new resource. She touched on the enduring influence of coloniality in science and policy, acknowledging that the guide is an evolving, incomplete but important starting point.
Dr Chi Huyen (Shachi) Truong from HUC then walked participants through the preparatory unit, which encourages learners to begin with their own cultural and intellectual grounding. Dr Celia Petty from The Pearl followed with an overview of Modules 1 and 2, highlighting how each module combines learning outcomes, video materials, readings, and reflective questions to help students connect historical contexts, Indigenous perspectives, and present‑day climate practice. Dr Truong briefly outlined Modules 3, 4 and 5, which embed the concepts in lived experiences from the Philippines, India, and ocean research—showing how abstract ideas of colonialism play out in real communities.
Respondents from the Philippines, Nepal, Argentina, Canada, and Belize then offered reflections, many emphasising how rare and valuable it was to see climate science taught through a lens that acknowledges history, power, and local knowledge. Some raised practical suggestions, such as shorter videos or translations, while others spoke about how helpful these resources would have been earlier in their own training.
The session ended with a sense of shared purpose and excitement for what comes next.