Absolutely, In fact my research is on Education for Sustainability and Climate Change. I have created a ESD package for teacher-trainees and in the process of finding its effectiveness in creating awareness about, attictude towards and action towards climate change mitigation.
You need to provide experiences to people to make them know and understand more about climate change and related issues. I have a 20 hour ESD program that addresses issues related to water, waste, energy, disaster management and various perspectives related to climate change - all from an Indian point of view.
We mostly viewed films, had discussions about them and had lots of group activities and of course some lectures - in keeping with the student-teachers demands for such activities.
I think education can raise awareness and change attitudes but the core problem is to change behavior. The link between raised knowledge (affecting attitudes and awareness) and changed behavior is not always straightforward. Having said that, I still think that education has an important role to play in sustainable development.
In my opinion awareness always helps people to behave more correctly than being unaware. Therefore the education could not be unnecessary, especially for children who are our future.
Yes, I agree it is very difficult to change behavior. But to get there, you have to create awareness and a positive attitude. Behavior can only change when the learner chooses to. You can get students/ teachers to agree and even feel for living sustainably relatively easier than change behaviour.
It's quite the most sure way to impact the climate change in the long term, we have to educate the youth (the elder won't be so easy to mold and to change theyre way of life...and it will be less interesting on the investment/impact ratio)
If you arrive to teach the value of wasting less ressources, (food, electricity, etc) and to adopt green gesture in daily life it will have a large impact on the environment (and or consummerist way of life too)
It could create a trend that will impact our daily used goods ....
If anything, its the LACK of education that is causing all the issues. People do not seem to understand, nor care, about the impacts that modern society will inversely have on future generations through their selfish actions of today.
Bravo Sophie! Education has to be aimed correctly, not always starting at the elementary level. Little cherubs chanting the same mantra picked-up by the publicity seeking celebrities, poorly understanding the consequences behind their actions, will often turn into "sincerely ignorant climatists". Understanding the principles of Sustainability is very important, especially the last part "..without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". We are dealing with some issues, but the understanding of sciences behind the materials degradation and waste is a major barrier to overcome. Perhaps we need to educate our Marketing & Packaging industry more (Perrein; "...the elder.."), the drive to corporate profitability sweeps the principles aside, not the re-education reluctance. We are attempting recycling, yet the colourful packaging, materials & printing create barriers. Good ideas disappear through poor uptake, clever marketing on the other hand creates a drive for short lived products that are destined for landfill without the opportunity to recycle them, just look at the mass furniture chainstores. Chipboard products are short lived, contain various chemicals that are difficult to dispose of and will infuse the soil & end-up in our foodchain through the plants. Sorry about going on too long.
Dear Mejdi, certainly education plays a crucial role. One needs to differentiate among different functions of education: imparing factual knowledge, imparting precedural knowledge, changing attitudes, empowering students to make sensible private and public decisions. In each of these areas, ESD has something to add! Best regards, jan
Dear Mejdi, with regard to the last point, you may wish to have a look at http://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/194292.html (publications, or their projects page). Best regards, jan
I concur that education is vital in addressing climate but it should also be delivered along tangible and practical spheres. Hence practical lessons are better than theoreticals
Dear Grace, one has to differentiate competences directly feeding into "everyday action", and competences for decision-making on important options. While education with respect to practical application is paramount for the first issue, a certain understanding of the more theoretical side is necessary for the second - even just if to make sense from the expert speak a community may be confronted with. Best regards, jan
Well done Jan, totally agree with you. Practical lessons I have seen resulted in tremendous amount of waste (some of these were even funded by East of England Development Agency & many others NGOs, poorly assessed for sustainability). Good understanding of sciences & materials is necessary. Regretfully not many people listen to Engineers & are often led by politicians with half-baked ideas.
Interesting question; i agree with all answers and addition of this may improve it. Education on sustainable management promote the knowledge about the natural resources and it's importance only; but providing knowledge about the whole ecosystem and its importance to the survival of all living organisms could improves it in effective manner through practical or audio visual manner.
The strong focus on environmental issues comes from the fact that because our professions related to this field.
I totally support your point in terms of SD should be used not only to address climate change issues, but to really make aware of the complexity of sustainability.
teaching sustainable development is related to every single aspect of our life.