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AbstractEngaging young people with the effects and potential future impacts of climate crisis is essential for facilitating the changes required. These topics and their consequences can be overwhelming, and the emotional responses equally diverse, from anxiety to disengagement, but emotional depth can mean deeper levels of engagement. This paper introduces an empirically tested innovative approach to this challenge. Over a three-month period, a cohort of young participants met three times and actively engaged in a structured and facilitated climate-focused book club where they read one book slowly. Their perspectives and experiences in relation to climate crisis within this context became the focal point of a semi-structured narrative focus group. Thematic analysis of this data, conducted by an interdisciplinary team of researchers, yielded key themes encompassing 1) personal reflections, 2) knowledge acquisition, skill development and behavioural changes, 3) connections to others, 4) enthusiasm, inclusion, and support. Subsequently, the discussion delves into the importance of providing opportunities for shared discussions when reading climate literature and the pivotal role and potential of climate literature as a mechanism for personal and collective meaningful engagement with climate crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite rising levels of interest in global environmental challenges, progress towards the widespread adoption of pro-environmental behaviours remains slow and inconsistent. Previous literature identifies the importance of education for working to address this inconsistency between the environmental values people hold and their behaviours, commonly described as the value-action gap. To examine current knowledge in this area we conducted a semi-systematic review of published literature which explicitly brings together value-action gap thinking and environmental education research. Our findings reveal that major areas of focus across this literature are either on the role of specific pedagogical approaches or broader policy and institutional structure. Based on our analysis of the literature, we suggest five priorities for future research. This includes research which contextualises educational visions within existing curricula, research which examines intergenerational learning, research which considers possibilities for collective action, research which studies a greater diversity of global locations, and research which examines the whole school approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]