Feb 21, 2026
This conversation invited us to consider education not as preparation for the future, but as participating in healing the places we inhabit now. Here you can find the resources shared by our guests and other initiatives being led by participants.
Our Third Salon on Nature, Place and Education happened on Saturday, February 21st, 2026. The guest speakers were Deb L. Morrison, Learning Designer and Advisor at the University of Washington and a Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report 7, Tom Roderick, the author most recently of "Teach for Climate Justice: A Vision for Transforming Education" and the Founding Executive Director of Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, and Kerry Kirk Pflugh, Executive Director of the New Jersey School of Conservation who also comes with extensive background experience at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
The First Series
To deepen our understanding of the relationship between the natural world and our sense of place—what it means to live in place—including the ecological and psychological importance of place, and the essential role of education in cultivating that relationship.
In our first two salons we have explored how we can give children and teachers direct experiences with other living things and their environment that nurture appreciation and an understanding of them as having importance in and of themselves, not only for usefulness to people.
How do we challenge the dominant narrative of human supremacy over nature, and teach children and teachers that we are not separate from the Earth but an integral part of its ecosystems?
In this final session of our three-part series, we turned to nature and our connection to place through the lens of climate change—approaching it not with apocalyptic anxiety but with practical and philosophical curiosity. Together, we explored how policy and K–12 education can move beyond abstraction toward meaningful action. What new approaches are emerging that connect experiential learning, ecological understanding, and acts of community care and stewardship?
This conversation invited us to consider education not as preparation for the future, but as participating in healing the places we inhabit now.
More Resources
Tom Roderick's Book Teach for Climate Justice: A Vision for Transforming Education by Harvard Education Press
Click here to learn more about the New Jersey School of Conservation directed by Kerry Kirk Pflugh.
Links shares by Deb L. Morrison:
https://salishsea.wwu.edu/salish-sea-surrounding-basin
Ibourk, A., & Morrison, D. L. (2026). Centering Care in Transformative Climate Change Education: A Theoretical Framework for Communal Learning Ecosystems. Science Education. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sce.70054
PISA
https://www.oecd.org/en/about/projects/PISA-2029-Climate-Literacy.html
Climate Action Competency Framework
https://resiliencebydesign.com/competencies/
US EPCL
https://www.climateliteracy.earth/
Knotworking and infrastructuring
https://www.diplomaticourier.com/posts/just-resilient-sustainability-learning-ecosystems
CJL
https://stemteachingtools.org/brief/97
Eg. Canadian climate learning network for pre-service teacher educators
WA state’s Climetime effort started in 2018
OCE
STEM Teaching Tools - Climate Learning Resources
https://stemteachingtools.org/sp/climate-learning
https://stemteachingtools.org/brief/90
https://stemteachingtools.org/brief/97
Next steps
If you would like to create a network around a focus that you are particularly interested in, or if you'd like to see who might be interested in joining a WhatsApp or GoogleGroup around it, we'd be glad to help and spread the word among our participants. Please e-mail us at info@globalconversations.net.
We are talking on WhatsApp!
Participants of our First and Second Salon are sharing questions and insights in our WhatsApp group and our team is proposing a few ideas so people can stay active between the salons (see below). If you would like to join this WhatsApp group conversation, click here.
We want your feedback
Every comment on how we could improve the Salons is welcome! See below a few examples of questions that we have been thinking about and please share with us your thoughts by email info@globalconversations.net.
Which ideas from the presenters did you find most relevant, exciting, and/or useful to you for your work (and why?)
What did you think of the length of the presentations?
Did you find the breakout room conversation useful?
Describe something from the breakout conversation that you learned or that made you think differently.
What did you think of the length of the breakout rooms?
In our upcoming salons about education, what would you like to know more about?