Climate change and education in shades of blue: between darkness and light with agential realism and object-oriented ontology

Abstract

Climate change education is infused with images of light. Scholars in the field tend to emphasize hope, sustainability, and solution. They foreground knowledgeable humans who construct better worlds and thereby bind themselves to modern understandings of human being and becoming. I draw on agential realism and object-oriented ontology to contest the metaphor of light, the focus on hope, and the modern premises they rely on—particularly in the context of massive sustainability crises such as climate change. The ethical dimension of agential realism and object-oriented ontology—their call for care and solidarity—offers an alternative to hope, one that aligns well with Kropotkin’s concept of mutual aid. Instead of opening a pathway to sustainability, I understand education as a sphere of human being and becoming that should have its foundation on care and solidarity. As an alternative to the metaphor of light, I develop a metaphor for education in times of crisis: an education ‘in shades of blue.’ Blue is an existential color. It relates to dystopian and utopian images, to issues of power and force, and to solidarity and care.