Community resilience key to weathering a changing climate

How to activate youth in the face of a changing climate was a vibrant discussion at Climate Action Week Sydney this month, with UTS Transdisciplinary (TD) Elective students leading the charge.  

TD Elective students pitched their ideas as part of the inaugural Climate Action Week program, after working all semester in partnership with the Australian Red Cross.

Dr Giedre Kligyte, TD Electives Program Director, explained, “If we’re serious about educating future leaders and change-makers across disciplines, industries, and professions, we must think differently about teaching and learning. Our focus in TD Electives is on working on authentic challenges, creating meaningful experiences that benefit both students and partner organisations.”

In the subject they’ve been studying, TD: Reframing, Remixing, Re-imagining societies, students leverage transdisciplinary methods to explore how young Australians could be activated to create more resilient communities that can better respond to the effects of a changing climate.

TD Electives student, Emily Cathcart (Social Science) said: “Our team presented the BREATHE program, a 2-week intensive upskilling and networking retreat for young people to a permaculture farm, empowering them to build the climate resilience of their own communities, through knowledge, community networks and the restorative power of nature.”

Backed by stakeholder interviews, convincing rationales and personal insights, students pitched their tangible proposals to Australian Red Cross staff and other highly engaged stakeholders from across the Sydney climate ecosystem.

“Usually, as students, we’re the ones taking notes on what other people are saying – it was a really encouraging experience to have people take our ideas seriously and give us positive feedback,” 

Emily Cathcart, TD Electives student 

Dr Kligyte added, “As educators, it gives us hope to see young people shift away from feeling overwhelmed and paralysed by the looming effects of climate change. Students walk away from this learning experience with concrete possibilities and practical steps for building community resilience.”

The considered proposals presented by all student teams sparked insightful discussions on overcoming youth climate anxiety, the link between social connection and building resilience and the impact of gain-and-loss-framing in determining behavioural decisions.

In reflecting on their learning journeys throughout the subject, many students commented on the benefits of working in a transdisciplinary team. Connecting with students from outside their own degrees allowed many students to gain a deeper appreciation for the value of diverse perspectives and ways of thinking when addressing complex challenges.

“Right from the start of the project, it was noticeable that our team all held different disciplinary perspectives. We had a couple of design students who approached our idea by thinking about what it was going to look like, compared to the science student who was more focused on the plan and process behind our program,” noted Emily.

“Our final idea was clearly shaped by the diversity of our team – the idea would not have been the same if we were all studying in the same faculty.”

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Through the TD Electives program, UTS leads the way by aspiring to provide all undergraduate students with transdisciplinary learning opportunities. These capabilities are consistently identified as future-oriented capabilities required to respond to complex social and environmental challenges of our times.

Thank you to the Australian Red Cross for your participation in TD Electives as the challenge partner in Reframing, Remixing, Re-imagining Society.

If you’re interested in exploring partnership opportunities in the TD Electives, please contact tdschoolpartnerships@uts.edu.au 

To find out more about the TD Electives program, please visit https://www.uts.edu.au/study/transdisciplinary-innovation/undergraduate-courses/td-electives-program