Global Citizenship Education for Peace and Social Justice

1. Global Citizenship Education for Peace and Social Justice Critical issues we need to study further… Edward R. Howe, PhD ehowe@cc.utsunomiya.ac.jp

2. What issues? • The Environment: Global Warming, Pollution of Air, Water and Land, Desertification, 4Rs of Recycling • Endangered Species (and Language Extinctions too) • Sustainability: Managing the Earth’s Resources • Peace and Human Rights • Alleviating Poverty • Food/Clean Water/Housing • Safety and Security • Education for Equity and Diversity • Gender Equity • Cross-Cultural Understanding, Respect & More

3. Global Warming • See Al Gore’s award-winning movie entitled, “An Inconvenient Truth” available for rent on DVD. • Climate change http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2078944470709189270#

4. Air Pollution • Increasing levels of Smog, Acid Rain • CO2 Emissions and other Greenhouse gases\ • Crisis in China and other developing nations

5. Water Pollution • This is perhaps one of the most serious problems facing many populations. The death toll is significant (even in developed countries like Canada).

6. Land Pollution • There is far too much waste dumped! • Why is there so much packaging in Japan?

7. Desertification • Burning of rainforests to create crops is unsustainable management of precious resources

8. The 4Rs of Recycling • Recycle • Reduce • Reuse • Refuse

9. Sustainability • How can we best manage the earth’s limited resources? • We must switch to alternative renewable energy resources (solar, wind etc.) rather than relying on fossil fuels. • Reduce our Carbon Footprint

10. Peace and Human Rights • Education is key • We must try to better understand others • Basic human rights are mandated by the United Nations: http://www.un.org/

11. Poverty • Education is key • Alleviate poverty throughout the world and many other problems (like terrorism) will likely be dealt with too.

12. Food/Clean Water/Housing • 1 billion people (nearly 1 in 6) are suffering from hunger and malnutrition

13. Safety and Security • This is not to be taken for granted! There are many regions in the world where children are not safe. War is still raging in many countries.

14. Education for Equity and Diversity • Education For All • Literacy, Numeracy, Global Citizenship and more • “…[E]ducation must abandon the globally dominant model of curriculum-based and competence-biased education. Instead education must be locally adapted to the globally conditioned task of fostering embodied virtuosity in the sustained achievement of ever-greater equity and diversity.” (Hershock, 2007, p.115)

15. Gender Equity • This is perhaps one of the most important areas for study. It has been a major part of comparative and international education research for the past few decades. Much more work is needed, however.

16. Cross-cultural Understanding • Transcultural citizenship is rapidly replacing multiculturalism as a new paradigm. We must think beyond national boundaries.

17. And More… • Can you think of any other critical social justice issues for global citizenship? • Use a Google Search of the following as a start: • UNESCO • Amnesty International • CIA World Factbook • Nakamura, Koji, Konan University, Japan

18. WWW • http://www.oxfam.org.uk/ • http://www.un.org/ • http://europa.eu.int/ • http://www.unicef.org/ • http://www.undp.org/ • http://www.care.org/ • http://www.savethechildren.net/alliance/index.html

19. WWW (continued) • http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/peacesite/indexE.html • http://www.ucas.ac.uk/ • http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/top_e.html • http://www.peace-nagasaki.go.jp/eng/ftop.html • http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/peace/content.htm

20. References • See my homepage to download papers: • http://homepage.mac.com/ehowe4/Ted/Personal23.html • See Professor Koji Nakamura’s website for links to more information and further references: • http://www.kilc.konan-u.ac.jp/~koji/

21. Thank you! Edward R. Howe, PhD ehowe@cc.utsunomiya.ac.jp