Global Citizenship Education for Peace and Social Justice Critical issues we need to study further… Created October 2009 for W7-8 class (10/21). Edward R. Howe, PhD ehowe@cc.utsunomiya.ac.jp

What issues? The Environment: Global Warming, Pollution of Air, Water and Land, Desertification, 4Rs of Recycling Endangered Species (and Language Extinctions too) Sustainability: Managing the Earth’s Resources Peace and Human Rights Alleviating Poverty Food/Clean Water/Housing Safety and Security Education for Equity and Diversity Gender Equity Cross-Cultural Understanding, Respect & More

Global Warming See Al Gore’s award-winning movie entitled, “An Inconvenient Truth” available for rent on DVD. Climate change http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2078944470709189270# http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2078944470709189270#

Air Pollution Increasing levels of Smog, Acid Rain CO2 Emissions and other Greenhouse gases\ Crisis in China and other developing nations

Water Pollution This is perhaps one of the most serious problems facing many populations. The death toll is significant (even in developed countries like Canada).

Land Pollution There is far too much waste dumped! Why is there so much packaging in Japan?

Desertification Burning of rainforests to create crops is unsustainable management of precious resources

The 4Rs of Recycling Recycle Reduce Reuse Refuse

Sustainability How can we best manage the earth’s limited resources? We must switch to alternative renewable energy resources (solar, wind etc.) rather than relying on fossil fuels. Reduce our Carbon Footprint

Peace and Human Rights Education is key We must try to better understand others Basic human rights are mandated by the United Nations: http://www.un.org/

Poverty Education is key Alleviate poverty throughout the world and many other problems (like terrorism) will likely be dealt with too.

Food/Clean Water/Housing 1 billion people (nearly 1 in 6) are suffering from hunger and malnutrition

Safety and Security This is not to be taken for granted! There are many regions in the world where children are not safe. War is still raging in many countries.

Education for Equity and Diversity Education For All Literacy, Numeracy, Global Citizenship and more “…[E]ducation must abandon the globally dominant model of curriculum-based and competence-biased education. Instead education must be locally adapted to the globally conditioned task of fostering embodied virtuosity in the sustained achievement of ever-greater equity and diversity.” (Hershock, 2007, p.115)

Gender Equity This is perhaps one of the most important areas for study. It has been a major part of comparative and international education research for the past few decades. Much more work is needed, however.

Cross-cultural Understanding Transcultural citizenship is rapidly replacing multiculturalism as a new paradigm. We must think beyond national boundaries.

And More… Can you think of any other critical social justice issues for global citizenship? Use a Google Search of the following as a start: UNESCO Amnesty International CIA World Factbook Nakamura, Koji, Konan University, Japan

WWW http://www.oxfam.org.uk/ http://www.un.org/ http://europa.eu.int/ http://www.unicef.org/ http://www.undp.org/ http://www.care.org/ http://www.savethechildren.net/alliance/index.html

WWW (continued) http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/peacesite/indexE.html http://www.ucas.ac.uk/ http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/top_e.html http://www.peace-nagasaki.go.jp/eng/ftop.html http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/peace/content.htm

References See my homepage to download papers: http://homepage.mac.com/ehowe4/Ted/Personal23.html See Professor Koji Nakamura’s website for links to more information and further references: http://www.kilc.konan-u.ac.jp/~koji/

Edward R. Howe, PhD ehowe@cc.utsunomiya.ac.jp Thank you! Edward R. Howe, PhD ehowe@cc.utsunomiya.ac.jp