Teaching about Climate Change with Tartans

An exhibition of paintings from an Art and Archaeology research expedition in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland may seem to be unlikely teaching moment. Yet that collection of images, and the ideas behind them form the core of a novel approach that uses tartan design to teach about the climate crisis. Young people are anxious about climate change and young environmental activists like Greta Thunberg are giving presence and voice to their concerns. Yet what can teachers do to help their students to understand climate data, to personalize it and to make it real? June Julian has developed a method that uses tartan design to visualize climate data. [Paper presented at "Landscape and Culture Exhibition: Expedition Art of the Scottish Hebrides" (New York, NY, Apr 4-May 4, 2019).]