Student Motivation and Global Warming and Mindmaps

July 18th, 2008 by Kerrie

Jane Genovese is an educator and environmentalist. She runs Learning Fundamentals, a student coaching business that covers goal setting, motivation and stress management. She is in the final days of completing her honors thesis in Environment, Psychology and the Law. Jane gives high school workshops on global warming, and her Combating Global Warming mind map has received global attention.

I asked Julia Sutton (who is helping with our website) to speak with Jane on behalf of Auspen about her strategies for motivating herself and the young people she presents to.

Julia: I’ve been reading some of the feedback from your workshops on global warming. I was amazed to see that students went away excited. What strategies do you use to keep motivation high in students you talk to?

Jane: I try to give students a sense of hope by showing them that every action they take makes a difference. I also like to share with them some of the exciting initiatives that are occurring around the world and give them a sense that there is a large growing movement emerging (of committed individuals/organisations that are taking action).

I am aware that the times when I have presented feeling full of hope for the world and future, the students have gone away feeling really good and motivated to talk to others about climate change.

Julia: Tell me how your mindmap on global warming came about?

Jane: My mum and I had just seen Al Gore’s movie ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. After seeing it we felt inspired, but also a little overwhelmed by all the information and the size of the problem. We had always used mindmaps to help us clarify and understand ideas, so mum sat down and created a mindmap for herself on all the things she could do to address climate change on a personal level. In the end once it was finished, I thought it looked kind of cool, so I put it on my webpage.

Julia: You have had an extraordinary response to that mindmap - what do people love about it?

Jane: I think it is really easy to look at. People don’t get overwhelmed looking at a colourful, nicely illustrated mindmap which has very few words. I know when I pick up a big text book or novel, I can feel overwhelmed. ‘I have to read all of this?! what hard work!’ I think. The mindmap doesn’t require you to read much. It’s really simple to look at, the different colours help to keep people engaged and it makes people think ‘hey, I can do some of these things and make a difference!’

Julia: If teachers wanted to use your mindmap in their classes on global warming how can they do that?

Jane: Students and teachers are free to go to my website Live The Solution and download the mindmap to use. If they want more information about any of the topics on the mindmap, they can download my free ebook which expands on the topics.

I hope the mindmap motivates students to take action. I think some teachers can tend to focus too much on the science and impacts of global warming, and spend little (if any) time on what actions students can take to lower their carbon footprint. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s really important to be ‘climate literate’ and understand the causes, effects etc of global warming, but please don’t stop there! Show your students what they can do to address global warming and try not to gloss over it. The problem of climate change is so big so the solutions need to be just as big! If you spend all your time teaching students about how bad climate change is, they’ll switch off and think it’s all too hard.

Julia: Many of us struggle to make the everyday changes we need to combat climate change. What strategies do you use to motivate yourself?

Jane: Positive thinking helps me a great deal. Telling myself that every little action I take (such as catching the bus to uni, buying local food, not eating meat, and blogging about the things I’m passionate about) makes a difference. Whenever I get down about the problems in the world, I go to the gym and lift weights or go for a run. This helps me to get a fresh perspective and clears my mind. The fact that my partner, parents and several of my friends are all really committed to reducing their carbon footprint also really helps me to keep going and stay motivated. I realise I’m not alone and there are many others who care and are taking action.

Julia: There is so much to be done to combat climate change - who are the people who inspire you?

Jane: The Pachamama Alliance and the work that they do really inspires me. This is a non for profit organisation that emerged from a relationship developed by an indigenous group in the Amazon region of Ecuador and a group of Americans. One of the things the Pachamama Alliance is doing is working hard to change the dream of the modern, western world (i.e. that wanting more will make you happy). I (along with 80 other Australian leaders) facilitate symposiums created by the Pachamama alliance to help bring about a better future and a new way of thinking about what’s important.

My mum also inspires me. She totally committed to making a difference and keeps me updated on the latest climate change news and initiatives.

Julia: Many of our readers are teachers involved in climate change education. Are there any particular websites or resources you can recommend for a teenage audience?

Jane: One of my favourite websites is a blog No Impact Man written by a new yorker who spent a year developing and living a no impact lifestyle (his aim was to do no harm to the environment). So he didn’t use electricity, he cut back his consumption, stopped flying, etc. Reading about the changes he has made to his lifestyle is inspiring.

There is also a new international campaign called 350.org: Global Warming. Global Action. Global Future. Its goal is to spread the number 350 (which represents the CO2 concentrations we need to get down to) around the world via art, music, etc. By getting this number out there, the aim is to send a powerful message to the worlds leaders.

I’m also a big fan of GetUp (an Australian grassroots action group that has over 280,000 online members). The activist work they do is great. They recently raised enough money from their online members to air a clever commercial on prime time TV, urging the government to take action on the climate crisis.

Julia: Thanks Jane, wonderful perspective.

Jane’s email signature carries the following:

I have, despite all disillusionment, never, ever, allowed myself to feel like giving up. This is my message today: it is not worthy of a human being to give up.
Alva Myrdal, winner of the 1982 Nobel Peace Prize

If you would like to read more about Jane you can visit her websites:

Tags: global warming, jane genovese, mindmaps, student motivation
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