RCSC Summer School: There is no Planet B

Check out and share our 2025 summer school, this coming June 30-July 4

We are excited to announce the launch of our first edition of the RCSC Summer School: There is no Planet B: Empowering the next generation on a planet in crisis.

If all students had to take just one course on the climate crisis, what would we teach, and how would we teach it? This is the idea behind There is No Planet B. We invite graduate students and researchers already engaged in (or interested!) in transforming climate and sustainability education to co-create an inter- and transdisciplinary basic curriculum. Through co-learning, place-based field visits, workshops and evolving interactive discussions, we will hone in on what a fundamental literacy, or ethic of planetary care, could look like. A focus on the underlying drivers of the planetary crisis and systems literacy will equip students to approach sustainability challenges in any course of study and within their communities.

We will begin with an overview of the interconnected planetary crises, from both biophysical, social/(in)justice and governance perspectives. We will further discuss and critique global governance approaches, and explore various alternative discourses and movements to paradigms of well-being and growth.

Using action-oriented case studies, we will explore the (hidden) power dynamics in both technological and social approaches to sustainability. This will center how different ways of knowing – i.e. the knowledge we choose engage with – shapes both our relationship to the natural world as well as our images of the future.

Beyond engaging intellectually, we will also experiment together how to engage emotionally with the planetary crisis, recognizing and engaging with feelings of e.g. grief, overwhelm, confusion and anger. In complement to the teachings of non-Western ways of seeing, we will explore what it means viscerally to be a part of the natural world.

Check out the official website for more details and registration. A number of full or partial tuition scholarships are also available.