This article features CATIE (Centro Agronomico Tropical de Investigacion y Ensenanza), a tropical agricultural research and higher education center. CATIE's mission is to be instrumental in poverty reduction and rural development in the American tropics, by promoting diversified and competitive agriculture and sustainable management of natural…

The realization of the goals of environmental education may involve a critique and transformation of the dominant model of schooling. Specifically, a greater emphasis on second-order change is necessary in order to address the mechanistic structures and dynamics of schooling that may frustrate environmental education. Several of the mechanistic…

Sustainable development is basically about learning. It is a process that develops awareness, knowledge, and understanding of the environment and critical thinking skills. It is about respecting, valuing, and preserving the achievements of past generations. The socialization patterns of past centuries taught people to live unsustainably, thereby…

Tucked between South Africa and Mozambique, and usually "gowned" in green, Swaziland is one of the smallest countries in Africa, but it has great variation in landscape, geology, and climate. It also has great diversity of fauna and flora. In recognition of the importance that sound environmental management plays in the course of…

The United Nations has declared a Decade of Education for Sustainable Development from 2005 to 2015. The American Association of Community Colleges' (AACC) Board of Directors recently passed a resolution to support education for sustainable development in its member institutions and affiliated councils. However, there are significant questions in…

This contribution analyses the development of educational efforts to engage with ideas about the position of humans within the environment. It seeks answers to the question: in which ways and intensity can educational work in schools match different stages of general societal discussions on environmental problems? It is often said that school and…

This article outlines a critical position in relation to education for sustainable development referring to a socio-ecological approach to environmental education. This approach was developed in a cooperative research process with pre-academic secondary schools over several years in Switzerland. For 13 years our research group has been the one in…

This essay argues for sustainability--a course of action and a mindset that meets the needs of the present while being conscious of, and not compromising the needs of, the future--as a robust focus teaching first-year composition. The essay describes a course designed to respond to calls by composition scholars to reimagine pedagogical designs for…

This paper begins with a letter of thanks from future generations for the wisdom our generation has shown in initiating a Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. It describes the overall goals of the Decade and focuses on the Action Plan being developed by UNESCO to guide its contributions as the international lead agency for the Decade.…

This article charts the history of environmental education over four decades--from the 1960s to 2006--as a rocky road of determined chocolate with the possibilities of rocks (nuts) and easy passage (marshmallow). There were distractions such as suggestions of changing names and new directions (add fruit?) along the way but the road has continued…

Three South American countries, Argentina, Chile and Brazil, have been selected in order to study the impact of the document "The United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development". In these countries, whose people react energetically against any attempt to break the environmental balance, the synergic power of education is…

Discourse in the "Australian Journal of Environmental Education" of the last ten years has not addressed a pedagogy that draws on and reflects the natural history of the continent. Australia is an ecological and species diverse country that has experienced substantial environmental change as a consequence of European settlement.…

Purpose: The main focus of this paper is to discuss appropriate forms of higher education for building up students' competence for working on complex real-world problems. Design/methodology/approach: Within this paper the Harvard approach is accurately compared with the ETH approach by discussing theoretical and practical implications as well.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the link between sustainability education and outdoor education and to encourage outdoor recreation educators to evaluate their programs with regard to sustainability and sustainable living. Design/methodology/approach: This paper starts by presenting several factors that currently hinder the…

Purpose--To provide an overview of how environmental management systems (EMSs) are becoming sporadically employed within higher educational institutions. Design/methodology/approach--An overview of international developments in sustainable education and within UK universities. Focuses specifically on the University of Glamorgan, Wales.…