Educators, War and the Climate Crisis - How can teachers link war and the climate crisis?

Jinsella Kennaway - Co Founder of Demilitarise Education. A community of modern day peacemakers who untangle, expose and end university ties to the global arms trade. Building the world’s first university and arms database to benchmark how peaceful universities are. https://ded1.co/ Sarri Bater - Council member at the Peace Pledge Union one of the UK’s oldest pacifist organisations who resist everyday militarism, promote active nonviolence and educate for peace. They’re famous for the white poppy campaign. https://www.ppu.org.uk/ Dr Grace Lockrobin - Director of Philosophy and Education & Thoughtful Trainer at Thoughtful the Society for philosophical enquiry. Thoughtful improves learning and lives by developing the skills needed to thrive in school and society. https://www.thoughtful.org.uk/ Hello I’m Paul - Education Lead from the Ministry of Eco Education. We’re the charity supporting teachers to weave sustainability through their teaching. Welcome to the first in our summer series of online panel discussions exploring the big questions in education. At MEE we’ve brought together resources and opportunities from 100’s of organisations into learning journeys framed by big questions like; Do people in other countries matter? Who is in charge? Should ecocide be law? And Is the Future already written? Today we’re exploring - Educators, War and the Climate Crisis; How can teachers link war and the climate crisis? Joined by a wonderful panel Grace, Jinsella and Sarri. We’ll start in a moment with each of the panelists sharing their response to the question before opening up to wider discussion and questions. Please add your questions or thoughts in the chat. According to the STOCKHOLM INTERNATIONAL PEACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE global military spending increased to $2887 billion in 2025, the 11th year of consecutive rises, bringing the global military burden—military expenditure as a share of gross domestic product (GDP)—to 2.5 per cent, its highest level since 2009. A recent study in the Lancet journal estimates that at least 75,200 people have died violently during the Gaza war. The research also suggests about an additional 8,000 people were killed non-violently during the period, linked to factors such as malnutrition and illness. Women, children and elderly people made up more than 56 percent of those violently killed, underscoring the toll on civilians. Satellite imagery shows the environmental impact of the war: by March 2024, nearly half of the farmland in Gaza had been destroyed, and by the following January 80% of the tree cover had been destroyed. The total military carbon footprint is estimated at about 5.5% of global emissions and that’s excluding greenhouse gases from conflict and war fighting. The US military is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases of any institution on Earth. If it were a country, this would make the US military rank 47th globally in emissions, ahead of nations like Sweden and Portugal. What does these figures communicate about our collective attitude to people and the rest of nature? With all the media attention on global conflict - how can teachers help young people to understand the links between war and the climate crisis? Where are the opportunities in the curriculum? Why is it important for education to critically engage with ideas of militarism?