“Which Voices Are Heard? Who Is Silenced?”: Learning from Young People About the Climate Emergency Using Artivism as a Sustainable Pedagogy

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This communication contributes meaningfully to ongoing debates in sustainability education, participatory research with children, and decolonial approaches to climate action. It exemplifies how arts-based, child-led methods can challenge adult-centric knowledge hierarchies and support young people’s agency as climate actors.

Thank you. We really appreciate the encouragement and support for our aims for our contribution.

1.

The introduction could more explicitly define artivism early on, not just as “art for activism” but with reference to its roots in social justice movements.

We have added two sentences to offer a definition and warrant for our use of artivism, with two references added - new reference 11, Jordan, J. (2016). Artivism. injecting imagination into degrowth. Degrowth. Artivism: Injecting Imagination into Degrowth | degrowth.info (accessed 22.10.25) – new reference 12, Alonso-Fradejas, A., Barnes, J., & Jacobs, R. (2022). Introducing: the Artivism review series. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 49(6), 1331–1332. We also return to the articulation of how we have conceptualised artivism in section 5 with an additional reference – new reference 32 (or 32+3) Stammen, L., & Meissner, M. (2022). Social movements’ transformative climate change communication: extinction rebellion’s artivism. Social Movement Studies, 23(1), 19–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2022.2122949

p3 and p5.

2.

Consider citing key literature on child-led research to strengthen the theoretical grounding of children as knowledge producers.

We do aspire to child-led research but this was not what we were presenting in this paper. In this stage of the project, we had not been able to embrace children and young people as co-researchers. We were providing the modes and means for their voice to be heard in policy spaces. In so doing we were also laying the ground for future co-production with the young people. The team are currently setting up workshops with children and young people in each of the three settings as advisory groups to ask for their steer on the next phases of research and have applied for external funding in which we invest in building child-led research roles.  

Instead, the co-production was between the cross-national/cross-sector partners. We have added a sentence about artivism as a vehicle for CYP-led activism in the introduction and reflected on our next steps in the conclusion.

3.

The paper states it “does not report the findings of the study itself, but rather reflects on its approach”. This is acceptable for Communication, but the distinction between project outputs and research findings should be clarified early to avoid confusion. 

The statement has been moved to section 2. Introduction.

p3.

4.

While the tools are described, the co-creation process with young people should be elaborated. How were children involved in designing the SHowED prompts or exhibition formats? Were any young people co-authors or co-researchers beyond “participants”?

“Whilst operating different variants of ethical and practical protocols, research materials were co-created as common starting points across the three contexts.” As noted above there are no young people (yet) who have contributed to the tools or design - the co-design is between partners as part of the wider vision. Although the tools included as Figures 4, 5 and 6 are credited as authored by OU-led authors they were collaboratively designed through online meetings and were co-branded. However, in practice they were used slightly differently. In Scotland the Figure 4 boards were turned into a digital board which could be completed by classes or a digital survey form, with a verbal protocol which was crafted with and read out by class teachers. In Nigeria and Kenya, they were completed as paper-based versions. Figure 5 was adapted into 3 variants (of which this is for the youngest children, but also was considered attractive for time-poor policymakers). Amends have been made to text relating to Figures 3 and 4, and the captions of Figures 4 and 5.

We also note that adaptation for each setting was also demonstrated by needing to different consent protocols.

Lines 231-237, p7.

Figure 4 caption, p7/8.

Figure 5 caption, p8.

Lines 258-260, p8.

5.

Clarify the age ranges more precisely. “600 young people in Scotland” but earlier vignettes reference 4–6-year-olds and 14–18-year-olds. How were methods adapted for such wide developmental spans?

The age ranges in each of the three settings are included - Scotland (aged between 4-18), 35 across a range of countries, led by Kenya (aged between 18-25), and 40 in Nigeria (aged between 5-17). The numbers of those involved are also retained on p9. A reflection of the iterative process of the tools’ adaptations is added in section 5 when presenting the tools.

Lines 266-267, p9. Plus, as above:

Lines 231-236, p7,

Figure 4 caption, p7/8.

Figure 5 caption, p8.

6.

Consider adding a short synthesis paragraph after the vignettes that explicitly links each example back to one or more of the eight principles. 

A new section 6.9 Illustration of the principles in action, summary paragraph, has been inserted after final vignette drawing together how each vignette links with the eight principles.

Lines 484-508, p14/15.

7.

The final paragraph is rhetorically strong but slightly dense. Consider breaking it into two paragraphs, one summarizing lessons for practice, another outlining future research directions.

Thank you for this advice. This paragraph has been split into two subsections, each with new headings. In the first we have refocused on the practical implications of our project and included a new reference: New reference 48 or 48+4 - Servant-Miklos, G. (2024) Pedagogies of collapse: A hopeful education for the end of the world as we know it. London: Bloomsbury.

The second has given us an opportunity to respond to your earlier comment about connecting our project more closely with its aspirations for child-led research. This has included adding a new reference 49 or 49+4 - Thomas, N.P., 2021. Child-led research, children’s rights and childhood studies: A defence. Childhood, 28(2), pp.186-199.

Lines 574-577, Lines 581-588 and Lines 592-600, p16/17

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Comment

Your manuscript stems from an important field of study and brings together the global and local dimensions of processes, which are not sufficiently explored yet. It claims the role of culture and arts in facing climate challenges and outlines the role of art-based activism (“artivism”) in mobilizing the creative power of children and young people. The manuscript also provides a clear and convincing message about the importance of acknowledging diverse cultural identities and building mutually respectful and meaningful partnerships between the global South and North.

Thank you for your encouraging and constructive response to our paper.

It might be useful to reconsider the structuring of the manuscript and eventually merge some of the current 10 sections. For example, Sections 1, 2 and 3 introduce the rationale for the study, Sections 4, 5 and 6 present the research frame and concept, Sections 7 and 8 provide the interviews-based study results, which should belong to one section with a conceptually meaningful grouping of the interviews.

We have reorganised the content. We have brought together material in section 3. We have tried to make a clearer separation between the naming of our project as Art for Action and its conceptual framing in Artivism and Posthumanism to make clearer the links between underpinning principles and putting these into action in the project.

We have also brought all the viewpoints together into one section and provided context and summary for these – now section 6, with new section 6.9. The discussion section (now 7) has been substantially revised.  

1.       Title

The questions in the title, intended as an invitation for dialogue with potential readers, also presuppose the existence of a dichotomy between voices heard and silenced.

In the further text some voices are more difficult to hear than others and are often neglected or misunderstood, yet intentionally “silenced” voices seem currently not clearly traceable in the text and would need to be more clearly pointed out.

Instead of changing the title, which links directly to the image in the opening vignette, we have added two sentences strengthening the argument about ‘silencing’ with a new reference 10 -

UNCCC (2024) Informal summary report of the expert dialogue on the disproportionate impacts of climate change on children and relevant policy solutions, UN: Bonn. Accessed 22.10.25: Informal summary report of children dialogue_20.09.pdf. We refer to the existing statements from Scotland (lines 456-457, p13), Kenya (lines 419-420, p13) and Nigeria (lines 429-431, p13) which all talk about the lack of spaces for children’s voices to be heard, and there is also a specific reference to silenced voices at the start of the discussion (lines 569-561, line 16).  –

p3.

2.       Key words.

The keywords proposed are relevant to the text and its content but are not fully reflecting the depth and complexity of the message. I would recommend using “arts-based partnerships” instead of only too generally “partnerships”.

Keyword amended, and also changed arts-based research to artivism to differentiate it more from arts-based partnerships.

p1.

3.       The need for environment/climate community-relevant research. 

This is a very brief section with important messages, which are closely linked to the ones already discussed in Section 2. Merging the two sections could be therefore considered, even if some sub-titles might be added.

Section 2 and 3 merged and subdivided.

2.1 The need for environment/climate community-relevant research

2.2. Facilitating multigenerational sustainable practices

p3-4.

4.       Art for action. 

It should be noted probably at the beginning of this section Art for Action is also the name of your project. There is a very long sentence (starting with “However”) in the second paragraph, which is difficult to follow and needs to be re-written.

We have moved the paragraphs around to make it clearer that the project is called ‘Art for Action’ in the first sentence. We have also edited the long sentence and strengthened the link between the project, the different art forms and artivism. New reference added, and can link to two new references added in introduction, in response to other reviewer’s comments.

p4-5.

5.       Posthumanist approaches to methodological acts

The key issue of posthumanism in the first part of this section is then followed by a detailed description of the methodological approach applied by the project, which builds, however, upon a broader basis than posthumanism - and this needs to be clearly stated. The ethical and practical protocols mentioned in this section should be discussed together with the ethical approaches from the next section.

We have edited throughout this section, but specifically to address your point. We have edited the 1^st para to make clearer the relationship between posthumanism and the development of the principles that underpin our research methods.

The points you raise about organising the ethical and practical protocols are now covered in new section 3 on p4.

p5-6.

6.       Ethical approaches to partnership working. 

The ethical frame of the project (concerning posthumanism, partnerships / leadership, etc.) carries important messages and should be introduced earlier in describing both the project and the research frame. Parts of this message are already in Sections 4, 5 and 6 and need to come together. The detailed methodology of the project developed within this frame should come after that.   

This is now a fully reviewed new section 3 with all the references to ethics brought together. Adaptations to the protocols are also noted on p8.

p4 and lines 258-259, p8.

7.       Youth leader/Educator viewpoints. 

It would be interesting to have some more educators’ viewpoints here from the three participating countries to present the diversity of situations faced.

Thank you for this suggestion, this could offer a useful addition to the discussion. However, as this is the first of a series of pieces focused on this project, and the remit for the submission is a ‘communication’, we believe that in this instance limiting the nation-focused interviews for this publication allowed for other aspects of the work to be presented, offering the reader a better understanding of the project as a whole. A series of later papers will explore in more depth different aspects of the work, and the diversity across the different situations in the three locations will definitely form an important element of this.  

8.       Nation-focused viewpoints. 

All the 6 interviews here are surely nation-focused; what seems important here would be to about the questions asked and the project key issues addressed by the interviewees.

We have added an introduction to the new section 6 which frames the section according to the brief offered to each of our partners in providing their response. This was deliberately open. The new section 6.9 aims to bring together their contributions to highlight key messages.

p9-15.

9.       All the interviews in Sections 7 and 8 belong to reporting the research results

They need to be under a common title with a brief explanation on how and why the respondents have been chosen and how they represent different partners and dimensions of the project process.  

These sections have been merged and the whole paper renumbered. A rationale for the inclusion of the perspectives is offered in the new section 6 introduction.

Lines 272-278, p9.

10.  Discussion.  

This section could benefit from a clearer structure of the messages. It could start by estimating the study results in relation to the study aims set and the methodology applied (now mentioned at the end of the section) and then continue with outlining the deeper meaning of the project results for learning from younger generations.

Now section 7, this has been completely redrafted and restructured following your recommendations.

p15.