Climate Change and the World of Arts [Episode 1]
Episode notes
Featured Scientist: Dr Rachael Jacobs, School of Education
Climate Change is the most pressing environmental issue we are facing in the 21st Century. Dr Rachael Jacobs is a senior lecturer in creative arts education, former secondary teacher, and primary arts specialist. Her research centres around how embodied learning can result in deeper and lasting change. Rachael explores Dr Seuss’ work around The Lorax and how it can be used in drama to achieve deep learning and change of your own behaviour.
Rachael Jacobs is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Arts Education in the School of Education and a former secondary arts teacher (Dance, Drama and Music). Her research focusses on language acquisition through the arts and arts for creative and social justice. Rachael has facilitated art projects in community settings all over Australia, including refugee communities, prisons and women’s refuges. She has contributed as a consulting researcher to the OECD in the development of the Sustainable Development Goals and to UNESCO’s International Commission on Futures of Learning. Rachael was a founding member of Teachers for Refugees, is on the boards of climate action organisation, Sweltering Cities, and youth theatre company, PYT Fairfield. She is a teaching-artist and consultant to numerous arts organisations including Collective Impact Arts, the Sydney Opera House and the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).
In 2021/22 Rachael partnered Sweltering Cities with ITAC (the International Teaching Artists Collaborative) on a project called ‘Chill the Heat’, using local artists to draw attention to the lived experience of rising surface temperatures in West and South West Sydney. Working with early learning centres, First Nations slam poets and storytellers, South Asian dancers, Western Sydney University students and other communities, this project used dance, drama, visual art and poetry to raise the voices of South West Sydney residents.
“Many people find it difficult to envisage melting polar ice caps or rising sea levels. However, the heat South West Sydney is a real reminder of the challenges of surviving in an increasingly heated world. The people of South Western Sydney did not cause, nor are they exacerbating this problem. This project seeks to give residents of all ages voice and agency in the battle against climate change, so they can advocate for more tree coverage, vegetation, water management, cooler classrooms, more transport options and an end to over-development.”
Read more here: https://www.itac-collaborative.com/projects/chill-the-heat (opens in a new window)
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