When we investigate the relation of the Anthropocene, posthumanism and education, one of the most fascinating phenomena is the growth of youth activism on climate change. Young people who get involved in the activism on climate change are in one way or another related to the educational system: they are pupils in schools, students in universities, participants of different activities in a non-formal education. Moreover, young activists on climate change initiate and attend educational programs that focus on climate change, sustainable development and nature protection (O’Brien, Selboe, Hayward, 2018; United Nations of Climate Change, 2018). According to the United Nations (2016), in 2015 close to half a million of youth around the world took action on climate change through different projects in their homes, schools, and communities. These young people also actively communicate with scientists, initiate scientific conferences on climate change and justice.  

However, many factors influence how young people engage with the issue of climate change. Educational practices not only can enable young people to reflect critically but also support them in situations where they may be vulnerable to the scrutiny or criticism of others, or even be under risk of being discriminated or attacked (Laird, 2017; O’Brien, Selboe, Hayward, 2018). Moreover, education can also prepare young people to survive and live with the uncertainties and dangers of the age of the Anthropocene (Laird, 2017; Besley & Peters, 2020).

Thus, what does youth activism in the Anthropocene epoch signify in respect to education in general and to environmental education in particular? Does it mark a change in a learner’s rapport with education that embodies the formation of a self-supporting learner; or is it a process of learning how to survive? Does educational institutions empower youth by providing the necessary knowledge and skills to engage effectively with the climate change, or, conversely, youth activism becomes resistance not only to the political and economic decisions on climate issues, but also to the existing educational practices?

Looking from the posthuman theory, youth activism on climate change could be considered not only as learners’ identity transformation, but also as one of the forces of “Children of the Anthropocene” who are born into different understanding of the stability of the world and can help us to think about how to be human differently in the new geological time (Somerville, 2017; 2018). “There is no planet B,” “As the ocean we rise,” “We are the voices of the trees.” In the public discourse these and other slogans have become not only recognizable and audible voice of young people, but possibly also is becoming the voice of the non-humans, i.e., the Earth, plants, and animals. The scholars in the field of environmental education have begun a discussion on children’s agency (Kouppanou, 2020) and role of climate change education in, on the one hand, preserving, and, on the other hand, failing to be “geological agent” (Snaza 2018, Leichenko & O’Brien 2020). However, could it be that youth activism on climate change also encourages young people to create new relationship “with-others”, specifically, non-humans?

These above-mentioned questions will be at the core of the presented paper.

The above-mentioned questions will be answered by presenting the findings of the conducted comparative qualitative research (cases of Lithuania, Germany, and Austria) that combines ethnographic and posthuman methods. The ethnographic research part oriented towards data collection in all three countries via ethnographic observation, fieldnotes (Hammersley, Atkinson, 2007) and collection of visual artefacts created by young people (Thomson, 2008). Meanwhile, the posthuman research part is chosen because posthumanism provides unique possibility to think differently with the children and enables us to think about human entanglement in the more-than-human world (Somerville, 2017, 2018). In addition the posthuman method encourages the researcher “to be sensitive to those nuances around what children are saying and then try to understand how that fits into the spaces, into their worlds, you have to really deeply be in a place and deeply allow it to unfold for you” (Malone, 2020, p. 129). The posthuman research is focused on data collection via in-depth interviews with climate activists. The collected data were analyzed drawing on the posthumanist perspective (Barad, 2003, 2007; Braidotti, 2013, etc.) and focused on the emerging concepts that would not only reveal the stories of young climate activists, but also would bring all the entities into play (Malone, 2020).

The empirical research is in progress, but the initial data reveal that young people are in the contradictory relationship with their educational institutions and practices of formal education. The experiences of young climate activists demonstrate their initial disappointment and tensions with different formal education institutions, actors, and practices. They also actively question the objective of education as transmission of relevant knowledge for the “Children of the Anthropocene.” However, the findings will reveal that by creating their own initiatives young climate activists are creating unique informal learning communities in the time of the Anthropocene that will not only be linked to environmental justice, but also to non-humans. Finally, based on the findings from all three countries, the paper will focus on the complexities of their relationship with all the entities.

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