Abstract In this paper, we explore the challenges and possibilities of environmental teacher education in the unravelling of a metacrisis. Drawing from multiple perspectives from post-growth literature, environmental sciences, political ecology and philosophy of education, we argue for the need to navigate complex environmental issues through simple yet profound narratives, what we term simplexity . As environmental educators working in the Pacific Northwest, we reflect on our distinct positionalities to propose five pedagogical touchstones that bridge the gap between overwhelming complexity and oversimplification in teacher education. These touchstones include: (1) challenging nature – culture divides and acknowledging alternative ontologies, (2) countering pessimistic views while fostering post-growth imaginaries, (3) confronting the Great Acceleration and ecological overshoot, (4) recognising power dynamics and colonial legacies in metropolis-periphery relations and (5) engaging with the aesthetic and embodied dimensions of climate disasters. Our framework seeks to propose pedagogical openings for teacher educators to cultivate agency and critical hope in environmental teacher education.
Moura et al. (Mon,) studied this question.