Below you’ll find one of three abstracts submitted for presentation at the Society for Educational Studies 2024 annual conference in Oxford. All three were accepted. I chose to present this one, as it aligned most closely with my current line of research. You can find the other accepted abstract here. The same abstracts were submitted for the Jubilee Centre’s 2025 annual conference, but none were accepted.
In the abstract, I argue that in the face of climate collapse, what children need is radical hope – a virtue directed at future goodness that lies beyond current comprehension. I propose that the stories of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially The Lord of the Rings, might be effective in cultivating this virtue. In Tolkien’s legendarium, goodness is associated not only with hope, but also with nature – a particularly resonant message in light of the climate crisis.