1st Edition
Education and Learning for Sustainable Futures 50 Years of Learning for Environment and Change
Responding to growing interest in the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and global concern over climate change, this volume provides an analysis of how our understanding of the relationship between environment and education has evolved during the past fifty years.
Spanning from the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment through to the present day, chapters examine whether our approach to education about environmental sustainability is enacting effective change. Examining the evolution of educational approaches to environmental learning, contexts and themes, the book moves through the decades, from the 1970s until the 2020s, tracking the impact of historical events and shifting sustainability discourses within education. Through historical, research-based analyses, the book recognises patterns, trends and countertrends that help critically (re)assess the potential of education in creating a world that is more sustainable than current scientific predictions estimate.
Proposing a set of key considerations for the future of environmental education, this accessible book will be of value to scholars, researchers, policy makers and practitioners working within sustainability education, environmental research and policy, and teacher education more broadly.
Chapter 1: Introducing 50 years of Education and Learning for the Environment and Sustainable Futures; Chapter 2. Inform and Experience - Education and the environment in the 1970s; Chapter 3. Investigate and ‘Solve’ - Education and the environment in the 1980s; Chapter 4. Rethink and Engage - Education and the environment in the 1990s; Chapter 5. Connect and Change - Education and the environment in the 2000s; Chapter 6. Reframe and Transform - Education and the environment in the 2010s; Chapter 7. Education and the environment in the 2020s - Regenerate and transition; Chapter 8. Recommendations for sustainable futures after five decades of learning for environment and change
Biography
Thomas Macintyre is a researcher in the field of education and sustainability, specialising in transformative and participatory learning.
Daniella Tilbury is an Honorary Fellow of St Catharine’s College, University of Cambridge, a European Commission advisor on learning for the Green Transition and the UK government’s focal point at the UN Economic Commission for Europe on matters of education and environment.
Arjen Wals is a Professor of Transformative Learning for Socio-Ecological Sustainability at Wageningen University where he also holds the UNESCO Chair of Social Learning and Sustainable Development.
"This book by long standing researchers in the field provides a situated and generous view of histories of education and the environment globally. Highlighting the need for cultural shifts and the role of education in that, the book examines whether and how both policy and research have made a difference over the past 50 years. Essential reading for those wanting to understand perspectives on the past and possible future contributions of education and the environment."
Marcia McKenzie, Professor in Global Studies and International Education, University of Melbourne and Director, Monitoring and Evaluating Climate Communication, And Education Project (MECCE).
"We live in an era of poly-crises and are in need of transitions toward a more sustainable world. There are no blueprints for this immense endeavour; instead we must explore and learn our way out of unsustainable living. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) can help us with the knowledge, tools and means for that.
This book provides us with the history, theories, practices and examples from past and present in how we can apply ‘learning’ as a strategy for a better future.
We stand upon the shoulders of great educators and organisations who ‘walked the talk’ by bringing the head, heart and hands into meaningful change towards the future."
Roel van Raaij, Steering Committee of the national Dutch ESD Program DuurzaamDoor.
"Elevated knowledge and awareness as to the scale and urgency of ecological crisis that is upon is only one aspect of what is needed in changing our impact. Understanding what has been achieved and what more needs to be done is an essential starting point and this book offers a brilliant and timely summary of exactly that!"
Dr Tony Juniper CBE, award winning environmentalist, writer and Chair of Natural England.
"Without nature, there is no future; without education, there is no understanding. This book poignantly explores the past, helps us meet the future, reveals success stories in safeguarding the environment and elegantly demonstrates that environmental education is the incubator that will solve complex issues and safeguard this planet. A must read!"
Jan-Gustav Strandenaes, Senior Adviser on Governance, the Environment and Sustainable Development, Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future.
"Environmental educators are a unique breed - combining their passions for both the living world and education into one vocation – and this unique breed of educators is now needed on the planet more than ever. The importance of this keystone work lies both in its acknowledgement of the genealogies of environmental educators who have come before, and its sharing of crucial understandings about the challenges that lie ahead for our field of education. It is a book that is very much needed in this time and is a welcome addition to our body of knowledge."
Dr. Lisa Siegel, National President, Australian Association for Environmental Education (AAEE).
