Emerging Learning: Climate Justice at the Intersection of Social Work and Climate Education in the Yukon

Presenters: Dana Jennejohn (Faculty, Social Work) and Dr. Ellorie McKnight (Outreach Climatologist, Climate Change Research)

Climate change is becoming increasingly relevant to every field and topic. Social work is no exception: as a discipline anchored in the principles of social justice, human rights, and collective responsibility, its entanglement with climate change is more present and important than ever. While climate change impacts all humans on earth, not all humans are impacted equally: wealth, race, culture, health, age, and location are some of the factors that influence the impacts of climate change on humans. Climate justice is about ensuring that all humans, especially those most vulnerable, are included in the transition to a more sustainable, just, and resilient future. 

Given this context, in 2025 Dana Jennejohn (Faculty, Social Work) and Dr. Ellorie McKnight (Outreach Climatologist, Climate Change Research) began exploring the intersection of their work, with the goal of fostering a mutually beneficial, interdisciplinary collaboration to strengthen both the fields of social work and climate education at YukonU and within the territory. To inform and inspire this work, Dana and Ellorie undertook a UArctic N2N Knowledge Exchange to Norway in 2026 to learn about what other northern regions outside of Canada are doing to integrate climate education and knowledge with social work. 

This presentation will dive deeper into the context, importance, and value of integrating climate change knowledge and education into social work, as well as the importance of integrating social work into climate education. Dana and Ellorie will also share about their N2N exchange, including what they learned from their Scandinavian colleagues as well as what they learned from each other. Finally, they will outline visions and goals for future short and long-term work together, including research and curriculum development ideas.

Tea and coffee provided by UArctic N2N