Educare alla sostenibilità. Percezioni e rappresentazioni del cambiamento climatico nella scuola secondaria di II grado: i casi di Palermo e Catanzaro a confronto

This contribution proposes a study on the ways in which climate change is perceived by young
people aged between 16 and 20 who live in the capitals of two cities in Southern Italy, Palermo, the
capital of Sicily and Catanzaro, the capital of Calabria. Through ethnographic interviews, based on
the use of an open questionnaire and on participatory observation conducted in two upper secondary
schools (one for each aforementioned region), an attempt was made to reconstruct the degree of
awareness of the students interviewed regarding climate change in act, asking them to indicate what
forms of knowledge are involved, the possible causes of the phenomenon, as well as the critical
issues and solutions currently available, both locally and globally, to limit any irreversible damage.