Discontinuous learning through destructive experiences: A ‘change’ approach to catastrophe education in eco-pedagogy

Despite the dramatic traumas and enormous physical losses associated with many catastrophes, it is undeniable that catastrophes also function as dynamic powers that drive the development and transformation of society and individuals in unpredicted and unlimited ways. However, there is paucity of research on the agent aspect of catastrophe in the eco-pedagogy literature. This article addresses this gap by reconceptualizing the possibility of uncertain disasters in building individual human capacity within the framework of the Chinese ‘change’ philosophy. Recognizing that tien-rén-hé-yi (i.e., the harmony between humanity and nature) is the tagline of Chinese ecological philosophy, we further argue that such harmony can only be achieved with an understanding of the philosophy of ‘change’. As a form of devastating, emotional, irrational, systematic, and usually irreversible movements, catastrophes may trigger change at the creative level, which goes beyond the repetitive ‘cyclic’ motion. Such transformative characteristics of catastrophes elicit new forms of learning that are defined by discontinuity and resilience. Contemporary catastrophe education can encourage successive generations in their shaping of a symbiotic model rather than a more confining framework, thus involving human beings and the environment by thinking beyond the limits of instrumental approaches or problem solving.