CCESS2026 Registration

The Climate Change Education Solutions Summit (CCESS) is an annual, multi-disciplinary international conference hosted by Grand Valley State University. CCESS serves as a forum for all students, faculty, staff, and community partners on solution-oriented place-based transdisciplinary climate education rooted in community action, innovation, and collaboration.

The GVSU 8th Annual Climate Change Education Solutions Summit (CCESS 2026) "Ways of Knowing in Climate Change Education" will be held October 14–15, 2026 in Russel H. Kirkhof Center on GVSU Valley Campus and online. Registration for CCESS2026 is free and is open to everyone on a first-come first-served basis with in-person space being limited to 320 participants. Register today to secure your access.

Call for Proposals

Climate change education relies on diverse, multi-/inter-/and trans-disciplinary ways of knowing – including Indigenous and traditional knowledge, information derived from empirical scientific data, measurements, and models, experiential place-based/outdoor learning, community storytelling, citizen science, and collective engagement with diverse artistic practices.

CCESS2026 will examine diverse epistemological and methodological frameworks for advancing formal and informal climate change education. We welcome proposals exploring all ways of knowing, especially culturally responsive and socially transformative pedagogies oriented toward climate justice for all, humans and nonhumans alike. Undergraduate students, graduate students, and young scholars are especially encouraged to attend and present their scholarly and creative work.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Indigenous and traditional ecological knowledge
• Decolonizing climate change education and research
• Outdoor, place-based, and experiential learning
• Critical and transformative pedagogies
• Multi/inter/trans-disciplinary teaching and learning
• Teaching Nature-based solutions in practice
• Artificial Intelligence and climate change education
• Addressing solastalgia and eco-anxiety through climate action
• Land ethics and the Rights of Nature paradigm
• Exploring pathways to escape ecological overshoot
• Overcoming partisanship in climate change awareness

Proposals should be framed in one of the following formats:

• 60-minute panels including 3-5 panelists (on-site or online)
• 60-minute interactive workshops (on-site)
• 60-minute sessions including 3-5 presenters (on-site or online)
• 20-minute individual presentations (on-site or online)
• Posters and art exhibits (on-site only).

Please submit your abstract proposal (150-200 words) here by July 31, 2026.