Droughts in Yemen. Wildfires in California. Floods in Bangladesh. Melting permafrost in Siberia. The shifts in climate that are reshaping the global landscape are impossible to ignore, whether they are in the form of unprecedented temperatures, fluctuating rainfall, or more frequent natural disasters. The examples of climate and environmental change are influencing patterns of diseases, distribution of resources, and movement of people—and, more directly, affecting basic indicators of human well-being like access to clean water and food.
These effects act as “threat multipliers,” exacerbating existing fissures across political, social, and economic dimensions. Destabilization caused by drought, flood, famine, and epidemics aggravate conflicts as individuals compete for key resources. The intersection of climate and conflict cannot be addressed by one discipline or strategy alone. But where do we begin, as educators, learners, and citizens? To explore these questions in greater depth, the Incubator will co-sponsor the teacher workshop, “Under Fire: Intersections of Climate and Conflict,” this summer from Monday, August 3 to Thursday, August 6, 2020.
During the summer workshop, offered by Global Studies Outreach at Harvard, educator participants will form learning communities that will investigate and make sense of these challenges and opportunities and consider how to communicate them effectively to their students. The workshop is geared toward middle school, high school, and community college educators in the humanities and social sciences, but is open to educators in all subjects. The workshop will feature presentations by scholars, experts, policy-makers, and practitioners who study the multiple dimensions of climate and conflict; explore pedagogy and skill-building techniques to help educators and students better understand this connection as an evolving global phenomenon; and provide an introduction to relevant classroom resources to explore with colleagues and students.
The workshop costs $75 and is held on-site at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. Educators interested in participating should apply through the workshop’s online application page; instructions are available at the Global Studies Outreach at Harvard website. The deadline to apply is March 1, 2020. For additional questions about the workshop or the application please email Cris Martin at clmartin@fas.harvard.edu.
The Global Studies Outreach at Harvard’s summer workshop is co-sponsored by the Global Health Education and Learning Incubator, Asia Center, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Center for African Studies, and the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, all of Harvard University.