“Let’s be heard” climate activism by children in the local forest

Abstract

This study aims to understand the potential of participatory devices in children’s activism, trying to understand how they problematize and how they intervene in environmental issues in the local forest. It involved, for three consecutive months, 22 children aged 10 years old from the 4th grade of primary education, in moments of participation in an action-reflection logic. The approach community profile motivated the children’s participation, since they were involved in a collaborative, active and negotiated way in the research; and they were involved in a process of training, research, and identification of solutions to the issues they identified as relevant. The data were collected through logbooks, photographs and videos; reflective written, pictorial and material records of children’s projects; joint discussions; informal conversations with family members; and interviews with teachers. The analysis shows children as environmental agents with activist practices, for example collective actions they developed in the forest, the request for partnerships in the community to solve local environmental problems and the organization of a demonstration in the local community to make themselves heard. Learning in the forest promoted not only children’s awareness, namely regarding the impact of the dominant anthropocentric view on sustainability, but also motivated them to put into practice their environmental activism.