RE:Connect ‘There is no Planet B’
11 February, 2025, Fiona Moss
Below you can hear from several of the teacher fellows who have been involved in the University of Birmingham RE:Connect project which aims to deepen RE teachers’ understanding and confidence for exploring the environmental crisis through the lens of religions and worldviews in RE. The work is supported by St Peter Saltley trust and Culham St Gabriel’s trust.
See our research spotlight for more information and look at their resources.
What attracted you to this project?
‘Teaching Environmental Ethics at A-Level was fascinating – exploring the ideas of Arne Naess, Peter Singer and Andrew Linzey particularly. Now, having made the jump to teaching Primary, I find there is more freedom to stretch beyond the boundaries of the usual Religious Education (RE) curriculum. ‘ Rebecca
‘I have found a real lack of both resources and information, but what there is tends to emphasise the ‘doom and gloom’ of our current crisis and nothing celebrating the beauty and joy of creation. I strongly feel that this needs to change. Yes, we are we are in an extremely serious situation, but we can take so much joy in our world. I also suspect joy will inspire both teachers and children to think creatively and with courage rather than doom and gloom. ‘ John
‘The Climate Crisis is the biggest issue that we face, but I was fed up with the feeling of despair. Environmental groups I belong to, whether about teaching or otherwise, were starting to feel really downbeat and almost like everyone was starting to give up hope. I began to rekindle my own passion for the cause through exploring the beauty and celebration of nature that was emerging in ‘popular’ culture, such as through Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life, contemporary British folk music, or alternative outlets like Emergence Magazine. I found these sources focussed on the beauty of our connection with nature, rather than the doom and gloom of the Climate Crisis. The joy I felt showed me that this could be the way to solving humanity’s biggest problem.’ Sam
I think RE simply has to accommodate climate and ecology education. There are so many topics we cover in RE that link to the world around us and how we experience it. We have to find the opportunities to make links between them so our students can see the relevance of studying RE to their life choices and their future.
This is why I suggest we need to use RE to go beyond the basics of what religions teach about creation and the natural world. We need to empower students to see their own worldview, be able to compare with diverse others, and reflect on urgent issues facing their generation. It seems to me that in RE we have a capacity to explore the world through people, who are after all the cause of our current emergency. While climate change and ecology will be studied in subjects like Geography and Science, in RE we have the ability to delve deeply into the human element; the way human worldviews have brought us to this crisis, and what the solutions might be. Karen
What pedagogies have you used?
‘I have recently completed Masters in Creative Writing where I specialised in Eco-Poetry. I see the creative arts as a way of exploring our place in the world and connecting with our natural surroundings. For me pursuing this connection between ecology, environmentalism and creativity is an opportunity to learn and take positive action, as well as to find my “tribe”!… I am developing the idea of poetry and art as a means of activism. Ultimately, I will take this beyond my school. It is all about connections! We have to think creatively and think big!’ Rebecca
‘In my lessons I have been experimenting with a range of techniques – primarily with nature connection. I have been taking my secondary students on nature walks and giving us time to stop, think and reflect. From these experiences I have simply allowed conversations to develop and flow. This has yielded much deeper and richer reflections from the students about why we need to preserve nature around us.
I have also been making use of children’s picture books to explore ecological issues or the value of nature in Philosophy for Children (P4C) style. The use of children’s books is often disarming and they in themselves evoke a joy in the students – I’ve never seen Y9 or Y13 students so rapt when reading and discussing the Lorax. This has helped to recapture that child-like imagination and optimism, and opens the students up to discuss big topics.
RE is a subject unlike any other – too often we get pulled too far into the ‘knowledge rich’ direction, or focus too much on exams and lose perspective of what it is that makes RE so special. RE should accommodate climate and ecology education because it is in education that we will solve our problems.’ Sam
Tell us about the resources you have created.
‘Inspired by Peter Singer’s idea of speciesism as well as my own keenly felt connection to other life-forms and the joy this brings me, I have created a scheme of learning called ‘What can we learn by listening to other species?’ We need to find the ability to sit with difficult questions and feelings and find resilience in the face of the unknown, the known unknowns and unknown unknowns!’ Rebecca
‘The teaching resources I have designed explore the idea of the prophetic voice in the modern world. In my lessons, children come to see nature as a subject and not as an object. We ask, how does the prophetic voice relate to the climate emergency? The ancient prophets spoke to truth to power. They weren’t always popular and their message was not always welcomed. In my lessons children explore the idea of speaking truth to power in terms of action and making a real difference.
I see RE as a vital component of climate and environmental education, especially in Wales where we have Religion Values and Ethics (RVE). The climate is rightly a major theological and ethical debate of our time. Inaction is not an option and by being prophetic we can change and do something practically to share the joy of creation and our environment. In my view climate and environment should be central to the teaching in RE and RVE. …RE and RVE allows us to become ethically informed citizens of Wales. UK and the world.’ John
‘I have designed a Y9 unit of work based on religious teachings around the environment. My working question is Can religion save the planet? I am weaving together the issues we face in our world today with scripture, allowing my students to explore modern belief and practices.’ Chrissie
‘I have designed a short scheme of work to look at the environment from three perspectives, entitled, “Whose world is it? Who cares?” We start the unit with issues facing the environment and dig deeper to explore why these things are happening. Students consider who actually cares for our local environment and will find out about Eco Churches. We are fortunate that local Eco Churches are already part of some of our students’ work in other subjects.
From the local we move to the national. Students explore some of the religious groups within Extinction Rebellion (XR) and their work to highlight climate change. This brings us to the final stage of the unit: the international. Here we consider the development work of Christian Aid as well as environmental activism within Buddhism. We study Buddhism at GCSE so this links well. Matt