Action Research for Eco-Justice and Climate Action

The impacts of climate change and runaway ecological degradation are here, they are deeply unjust-disproportionately affecting those who have had the least hand in their makingand they're wicked, unfolding in ways that are often difficult to anticipate, understand, or tackle.I write the opening words to this editorial introduction amid yet another recordbreaking forest fire season in Canada; one that has already seen the devastation of over 6 million hectares of territory nation-wide.These fires have disproportionately affected Indigenous and First Nations communities whose livelihoods and cultures are born of deep ties to this land.They have fueled air quality advisories that have placed Canadian cities among the most polluted worldwide and created severe health hazards for vulnerable groups including newborns and the elderly (PHAC, 2024).These conditions are not unique to Canada and may signal a troubling "new normal" of our climate-altered times.For a growing number of scholars and practitioners working on these and related challenges, simply generating new knowledge about these events is not enough.They argue that these realities call for a shift from descriptive to action-oriented climate research, meaningful engagement with more diverse actors and ways of knowing, and centering principles of equity, justice and transformation in our analyses of the climate crisis (Fazey et al. 2018;Bradbury et al., 2019).Such calls are resonant with the aims and principles that action researchers have long sought to uphold.This special issue is the first of two issues of the Canadian Journal of Action Research dedicated to exploring the work of action researchers at the interface of environmental and climate justice struggles worldwide.It responds to calls from within and beyond the action research (AR) community to deepen and expand our understanding of action-oriented research for transformations and to further explore AR as a "pragmatic and timely response to unsustainability" (Bradbury et al. 2019, p. 7).While this editorial introduction is intended to serve a call to action, it also seeks to recognise the important and diverse AR currently being undertaken in partnership with schools, municipalities, and communities engaged in struggles at the frontlines of these crises.The overwhelming response to the call for papers that initiated this special issue is an inspiring sign that commitment to the power of action research as a response to these challenges continues to thrive, in Canada and internationally.