Facing the Anthropocene: Community Resilience and Environmental Pedagogy for a Fragile Planet

Abstract The Anthropocene has become a significant framework for understanding the scale and impacts of human activity on Earth (Crutzen, 2002; Steffen et al., 2007). Whether or not it is officially recognised as a geological epoch, the term denotes a planetary state in which human actions destabilise climate systems, cause biodiversity loss, and raise urgent questions of justice, responsibility, and care (Haraway, 2016). This article, adapted from a keynote delivered at the Scottish Educational Research Association ( sera ) conference in Dundee in December 2024, examines how education can respond to socio-ecological change in this context. Focusing on environmental pedagogy (or ecopedagogy), it argues that effective educational responses to the Anthropocene must move beyond the transmission of information to cultivate systemic literacy, ecological responsibility, and justice-oriented practice. These orientations are framed as conditions of learning in the Anthropocene, shaping how learners and communities engage with uncertainty, interdependence, and uneven geographies of power. Drawing on the Natural Environment Research Council ( nerc )-funded gallant (Glasgow as a Living Laboratory for Accelerating Novel Transformation) project, the article explores how place-based, participatory approaches can support learning that connects knowledge-making with action and advocacy. The paper argues that while education cannot resolve the challenges of the Anthropocene, it can equip learners and communities to navigate systemic crises and to build capacities for resilience, care, and solidarity in the face of planetary change.