Abstract
This article elucidates the discursive strategies through which fossil fuel interests reach into schools and to identify how climate and energy education is shaped by these hegemonic discourses. It analyzes how teaching practices and resources work to centre, legitimize, and entrench a set of beliefs relating to climate change, energy, and environmentalism that align with the interests of fossil fuel industry actors in Saskatchewan, Canada. The authors argue that these pedagogical practices promote student subjectivities consistent with neoliberal environmentalism centred on individual actions designed to insulate fossil fuel industries from criticism and dissuade young people from questioning or understanding the role of corporate power in the climate crisis.
Keywords: Fossil fuel influence in schools Climate and energy education Hegemonic discourses Teaching practices and resources Neoliberal environmentalism Student subjectivities Corporate power and accountability Individualized action focus Climate crisis education Saskatchewan, Canada
Core Idea: Fossil Fuel Industry Influence and Neoliberal Framing in Climate and Energy Education
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2019.1650164
Reference: Eaton, E. M., & Day, N. A. (2020). Petro-pedagogy: Fossil fuel interests and the obstruction of climate justice in public education. Environmental Education Research, 26(4), 457–473. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2019.1650164