Promoting Youth Engagement in Climate Actions Through Environmental Education
A special issue of Youth (ISSN 2673-995X).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 August 2026 | Viewed by 54
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to announce a call for submissions to the forthcoming Special Issue, “Promoting Youth Engagement in Climate Actions Through Environmental Education”, to be published in Youth.
As the global climate crisis intensifies, the role of education (Monroe et al., 2019) and youth-led initiatives (Rousell & Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, 2020) in driving sustainable change has become more critical than ever. This Special Issue seeks to bring together cutting-edge research, innovative practices, and transformative frameworks that explore how environmental education can empower young people as active agents of climate action.
We invite contributions on, but not limited to, the following themes:
- Youth-Led Climate Actions
- Case studies of youth activism, hope, and leadership (Li & Monroe, 2019; Ojala, 2023);
- Intergenerational collaboration for climate justice;
- Digital platforms and social media in youth mobilization.
- Climate Change Education Innovations and Outcomes
- Curriculum development and pedagogical strategies (Stevenson, Nicholas, & Whitehouse, 2017);
- Experiential and place-based learning approaches (Khadka et al., 2021);
- Teacher training and professional development for climate literacy (Li et al., 2021).
- Collaboration, Partnership, and Practice
- Integration of climate education in national and regional policies;
- School-community partnerships for climate actions;
- Evaluation of environmental education programs and outcomes.
- Research and Methodologies
- Participatory and action research with youth;
- Cross-cultural and comparative studies;
- Longitudinal impacts of climate education.
We welcome empirical studies, theoretical papers, reviews, and practitioner reflections that contribute to a deeper understanding of how education can catalyze youth engagement in climate action. Interdisciplinary and international perspectives are strongly encouraged.
We look forward to your contributions and to advancing the dialogue on climate action through youth engagement and environmental education.
References
- Khadka, A., Li, C. J., Stanis, S. W., & Morgan, M. (2021). Unpacking the power of place-based education in climate change communication. Applied Environmental Education & Communication, 20(1), 77–91.
- Li, C. J., & Monroe, M. C. (2019). Exploring the essential psychological factors in fostering hope concerning climate change. Environmental Education Research, 25(6), 936–954.
- Li, C. J., Monroe, M. C., Oxarart, A., & Ritchie, T. (2021). Building teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching about climate change through educative curriculum and professional development. Applied Environmental Education & Communication, 20(1), 34–48.
- Monroe, M. C., Plate, R. R., Oxarart, A., Bowers, A., & Chaves, W. A. (2019). Identifying effective climate change education strategies: A systematic review of the research. Environmental Education Research, 25(6), 791–812.
- Ojala, M. (2023). Hope and climate-change engagement from a psychological perspective. Current Opinion in Psychology, 49, 101514.
- Rousell, D., & Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, A. (2020). A systematic review of climate change education: Giving children and young people a ‘voice’and a ‘hand’in redressing climate change. Children's Geographies, 18(2), 191–208.
- Stevenson, R. B., Nicholls, J., & Whitehouse, H. (2017). What is climate change education?. Curriculum perspectives, 37(1), 67–71.
Dr. Christine Jie Li
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Youth is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- climate change
- environmental education
- environmental sciences
- youth engagement
- hope
- agency
- place-based
- civic engagement
- action research
- curriculum
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