Balancing the Warrior and the Empathic Activist - The Role of the Transgressive Researcher in Environmental Education

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Muffet

This paper examines the relationship between environmental education and researcher activism through the lens of transgressive learning. It addresses pressures in academia for more radical, “warrior”-like methodological stances to intensify change against unsustainable social behaviours, while also advocating empathic approaches that build grassroots critical thinking and empowerment in an increasingly polarized world. Using case study research on a Colombian sustainability network, it argues that reflection, empathy, and courage are essential capacities for confronting deep socioecological challenges.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

An introduction to learning and the status quo of sustainability

Environmental Education’s emergence and evolution

State-level discourses and rights of nature

What transgressive researchers add to environmental education

Balancing the Warrior and the Empathic Activist: The Role of the Transgressive Researcher in Environmental Education Thomas Macintyre & Martha Chaves, Wageningen University. The Netherlands Abstract This paper explores the complex relationship between environmental education and researcher activism from the perspective of transgressive learning. With increasing interest within academia for more radical learning-based transformations for confronting sustainability challenges, come calls for more instrumental warrior stances in methodologies and research fields so as to more aggressively change ingrained unsustainable behaviour at the societal level. Atthe same time, in an increasingly polarized and unstable world, there is also a desire for more empathic learning approaches so as to build critical thinking and empowerment at the grassroots level through emancipatory learning. Based on case study research of a Colombian network of sustainability initiatives, this paper argues that key capacities of reflection, empathy, and courage are imperative in order for the transgressive researcher to address deep-seated socioecological challenges. Résumé Nous explorons le rapport complexe entre l’éducation à l’environnement et l’activisme scientifique dans une optique d’apprentissage transgressif. À l’heure où les milieux universitaires s’intéressent de plus en plus au développement durable et au besoin de transformations radicales reposant sur l’apprentissage, on s’attend à voir des prises de position plus militantes dans les secteurs dela recherche et de la méthodologie, pour combattre avec plus d’acharnement les habitudes sociales qui, bien que profondément ancrées, vont à l’encontre d’une vision durable. Par ailleurs, malgré l’instabilité et la polarisation croissantes, on remarque un élan pour les approches plutôt axées sur l’empathie et développantl’esprit critique et l’autonomisation citoyenne par des expériences d’apprentissage émancipatrices. Les auteurs s’appuient sur des études de cas issus d’un réseau colombien d’initiatives de développement durable pour faire valoir comment le chercheur désirant transgresser le statu quo et s’atteler aux problèmes socioécologiques profonds doit impérativement savoir faire preuve de réflexion, d’empathie et de courage. Keywords: Transgressive learning, Environmental Education, Colombia, Activism 80 Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 22, 2017 An introduction to learning and the status quo of sustainability The status quo is nowhere more evident than in current sustainability debates. In times of global systemic dysfunction and impending ecological collapse, real change appears elusive. Quick fix technological innovations grab the headlines, while calls for fundamental changes to values and habits are met with institutional feet-dragging. Yet the fabled Silent Spring of Rachel Carson (1962) seems just around the corner. Every day, in a country such as Colombia, we hear about new species dying out, tracts of native forest and cultural sites ravaged by megamining and Indigenous rights violated (Calderón Sánchez, 2008) . Perhaps more worrying than the silencing of Indigenous peoples and birds is the creeping realization that climate change—exacerbated by certain lifestyles—is making our planet increasingly uninhabitable not just for certain wildlife, but also for humanity. The further we consume our way into the Anthropocene—the epochal age of human induced climate change (Steffen et al. , 2011)—the greater the danger that we burn the ecological bridges which connect us to the web of life. Not long after Carson’s Silent Spring roiled readerships worldwide, the field of Environmental Education (EE) emerged as a response to environmental concerns such as the impact of chemical pesticides. Initially based on raising awareness and understanding about environmental values and behaviour (mainly in Northern discourse), the field has developed to incorporate political, social,

FAQs

What does the paper mean by transgressive learning in environmental education?

It frames learning as a way to push beyond institutionalized or mainstream status quo responses, enabling more transformative engagement with sustainability challenges.

What two learning orientations does the paper contrast?

It contrasts calls for more aggressive, warrior-like research stances aimed at changing entrenched unsustainable behaviours with a desire for empathic learning approaches that support grassroots empowerment and critical thinking.

Which capacities does the paper identify as necessary for the transgressive researcher?

It argues that reflection, empathy, and courage are imperative to address deep-seated socioecological problems.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Muffet