Climate Literacy Journal provides experience for MSU Professor

With climate change becoming an increasing issue, educators are looking for ways to introduce the topics in the classroom. Last year, the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities started an online journal called “Climate Literacy in Education,” a peer-reviewed journal publishing content for educators looking to add climate change topics into their classrooms. 

Minnesota State English Professor Stephanie Rollag Yoon is an editor for the curriculum section of the journal. In her section, she said she looks for books that can be used in K-12 classrooms. One edition Rollag Yoon is currently working on is “Water as Conflict and Water as Commons,” an edition focusing on climate justice surrounding water crises. 

Rollag Yoon said different types of media can be helpful when introducing students to climate change. 

“Media and text can be used in a way that encourages students to both think about climate change, but also to have a creative imagination and give them a sense of hope to make changes that positively impact our environment,” Rollag Yoon said. 

The University of Minnesota also has a website called climatelit.org. The website gives educators links to a variety of learning materials ranging from novels, films and graphic novels on the subject of climate change. 

Rollag Yoon said the goal of the journal and the database is to make sure the materials get into the hands of students to acknowledge climate issues. 

“Books can be a place to help build and develop imagination for that hope,” Rollag Yoon said. 

Besides editing the journal and teaching at MSU, Rollag Yoon is the program director for the communication and art literature program. She said editing the Climate Literacy Journal has helped her with teaching when it comes to finding new ways to engage students and to see what issues the students care about. 

“When we talk about reading, writing and literacy, it needs to be relevant and climate literacy is relevant. Students know it’s a part of their lives,” Rollag Yoon said. “(Editing the journal) allows me to see different ways people are engaging in these topics and then I can bring those to my students and help educators think about how they could bring those ideas to their own classroom.”

Rollag Yoon said she specifically works with students and educators around children’s and young adult literature. She said children respond in different ways to climate change and seeing characters in books can help them relate to what’s going on in the world.

“Characters engaging in climate literacy around the world provide a lens to see how it’s impacting people from different spaces,” Rollag Yoon said. “In writing, I always see composition as an opportunity to engage in change. For example, we can write poetry that can be shared with the world and it might impact somebody to write a letter to their senator.”

With climate change being a hot topic surrounding the 2024 election, Rollag Yoon said media can bring the human experience to the forefront. 

“Whether it’s the story of a farmer who has been impacted or the story of a refugee who has been misplaced because of climate disaster, it can help cut through the binary that can happen around political topics,” Rollag Yoon said. 

The journal is open for anyone to submit work, be it teachers, college faculty, students and children. Submissions don’t have to just be curriculum-based. Research pieces, multimedia projects and more can be submitted. 

“We try to be as inclusive as possible. We uphold quality in terms of content and pedagogy while at the same time encouraging people who have ideas to submit so we can help them get that idea out there in the best way possible,” Rollag Yoon said.

Rollag Yoon said she hopes the journal directs others toward resources and perspectives on climate change.

“I think that climate literacy with its emphasis in storytelling is a great opportunity for us to engage in something that’s impacting all of us in a unique, personal way,” Rollag Yoon said. 

For those looking to check out the journal and submit work, they can head to https://climateliteracy.umn.edu.

Write to emma.johnson.5@mnsu.edu