Education for Sustainable
Development: Cure or Placebo?
David V. J. Bell, PhD
(dvjbell@rogers.com)
Professor Emeritus and Former Dean,
Faculty of Environmental Studies,
York University
Chair, Learning for a Sustainable Future
(www.lsf-lst.ca)
Facing Forward - Looking Back
Charting Sustainable Development in Canada
1987-2007-2027
Ottawa, Ontario
October 18th – 19th 2007
Outline
Where Have We Been?
– Our Common Future and Agenda 21
– ESD in Canada
Where Are We Now?
– UNDESD and UNECE
– Canada’s Response
Where Are We Going?
– Cure or Placebo?
– What we need to do over next 20 years
Our Common Future
• Strengthen basic education
• Communicate effectively with people:
“The changes in attitudes, in social values, and in
aspirations the report urges will depend on vast
campaigns of education, debate, and public
participation.”
• A new kind of education also needed:
“Education should therefore provide comprehensive
knowledge, encompassing and cutting across the
social and natural sciences and the humanities, thus
providing insights on the interaction between natural
and human resources, between development and
environment.”
Agenda 21
•
•
•
Education mentioned in every chapter
Ch 36 “Promoting Education [formal], Public
Awareness [informal] and Training [nonformal]”
4 thrusts:
–
–
–
–
improve basic education (especially in the
developing countries)
reorient existing education to address SD
(strengths approach)
develop public understanding and awareness
provide training for all sectors of society
including business, industry and government.
Other ESD Milestones
• ECO-ED (Toronto, October 1992)
– Nearly 6000 delegates, 500+ Aboriginal reps
– Each panel had gov’t/ed, business, aboriginal,
youth, gender balance
• International Conference on Environment and
Society: Education and Public Awareness for
Sustainability (1997 – Thessaloniki, Greece)
• UN CSD reviews Ch. 36 of Agenda 21(1998)
• WSSD (2002)
• UNDESD (2005 – 2014)
– UN University Institute of Advanced Studies
[UNU-IAS] initiatives (including Regional Centres
of Expertise [RCE’s] on ESD)
ESD in Canada
• Brundtland hearings led to NTFEE
• NTFEE recommends round tables
• NRTEE establishes LSF in 1991
– Jack McLeod (former CEO of Shell) Chair
– Jean Perras Executive Director
• UNESCO/UNITWIN Chair in “Reorienting
Teacher Education Toward Sustainability”
established at York University in 1999
– Chuck Hopkins appointed
• EC “Framework for Environmental Learning
and Sustainability Education in Canada” (for
WSSD)
Learning for a Sustainable
Future (LSF)
• A national, bi-lingual, non-profit organization
founded in 1991
• Required to self-fund
• Promotes, through education, the knowledge,
skills, perspectives and practices essential to
a sustainable future
• Partners with business, community,
educators, students, and governments across
Canada to encourage sustainability action
projects
Outline
Where Have We Been?
– Our Common Future and Agenda 21
– ESD in Canada
Where Are We Now?
– UNDESD and UNECE
– Canada’s Response
Where Are We Going?
– Cure or Placebo?
– What we need to do over next 20 years
The UN Decade of Education for
Sustainable Development
(UNDESD): 2005 to 2014
• March 2005 - UN Economic Commission for
Europe (UNECE) High-level meeting of
Environment and Education Ministries adopted:
– ESD Strategy
– Vilnius Framework for its implementation
• The Canadian delegation:
–
–
–
–
Gerald Farthing CMEC (formal)
Diane Rochon, Ministère de l’Éducation Québec
Suzan Bowser, EC (non-formal)
David Walden, Canadian Commission for UNESCO
(informal)
UNECE Strategy
Goal: to develop and incorporate ESD into the formal,
non-formal and informal education systems.
Objectives:
• ensuring policy, regulations & operations support
ESD;
• promoting ESD though formal, non-formal & informal
learning;
• equipping educators with the competence to include
SD in their teaching;
• ensuring that ESD tools & materials are accessible;
• promoting research & development of ESD; and
• strengthening cooperation on ESD at all levels;
• fostering conservation, use, and promotion of
knowledge of Indigenous Peoples in ESD.
Partnering to Respond to
UNDESD
• Environment Canada
• Manitoba Education, Citizenship and
Youth (MECY)/Manitoba Advanced
Education and Literacy (MAEL)
• Learning for a Sustainable Future
ESD Strategic Initiatives
• Provincial/Territorial ESD Working
Groups
• National ESD Expert Council
• Canadian Sustainability Curriculum
Review Initiative
• ESD Resource Database
• Youth Taking Action Forums
• Sustainability Model School Project
• Sustainability Education Academy
Outline
Where Have We Been?
– Our Common Future and Agenda 21
– ESD in Canada
Where Are We Now?
– UNDESD and UNECE
– Canada’s Response
Where Are We Going?
– Cure or Placebo?
– What we need to do over next 20 years
Education: Cure or Placebo?
• What’s the disease? (“You’ve got
humans!”)
• Is it really that bad?
• Does education really help? Or does it
buy time for more Business As Usual?
Some Ancient Chinese Wisdom
If you are thinking a year ahead, sow seed,
If you are thinking ten years ahead, plant a tree.
If you are thinking one hundred years ahead,
educate the people.
Kuan Tzu Chinese Poet, c. 500 B.C.
Looking Back 100 Years
• population (about 2 billion)
• global governance (few countries, many
empires, national economies)
• technologies (automobile and telephone just
beginning to have an impact)
• miniscule “civil society sector”
• environmental awareness
•
•
•
•
no concept of global climate change
little understanding of pollution or its impacts on health
few concerns about biodiversity, deforestation
no one imagined seeing planet earth from space
Looking Ahead 100 years –
How will we:
• Meet basic needs for food, water, shelter, and
energy of 10 billion people?
• Stabilize the climate by reducing GHG
emissions globally by more than 60%?
• Reduce proportion of the world’s population
living on US$2 per day or less? ( currently
nearly half -- 3 billion)
• Achieve a low carbon “factor 10” economy?
– shift from “take-make-waste” production cycle to
“cradle-to-cradle”? (There’s no waste in Nature)
• Achieve a more peaceful, “secure” world?
What do we need to do?
•
•
•
•
Do we need a culture shift?
Is this sufficient or merely necessary?
What would it entail?
Where should we be in 20 years?
What will this require?
• ESD as basic, general education for the
21st century
• Reorientation of all professional and
technical post-secondary education
• Improved non-formal ESD in all sectors
(especially governments?)
• Strengthened informal ESD including in
advertising
Funding for ESD
•
•
•
•
Complicated by the division of powers
Budget cuts, shifting priorities in EC
Lack of an overall GoC approach
Variable support from provinces and
territories
• Result:
– Canadian government providing much less
funding than many other UNECE countries
– Some national initiatives funded by LSF!
Is there any hope?
• “A pessimist is an informed optimist.”
– Russian proverb
• “Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled
up.”
– David Orr
The Aboriginal Thanksgiving Address
Finally, we acknowledge one another, female and male. We give greetings
and thanks that we have this opportunity to spend some time together.
We turn our minds to our ancestors and our Elders. You are the carriers of
knowledge, of our history. We acknowledge the adults among us. You
represent the bridge between the past and the future.
We also acknowledge our youth and children. It is to you that we will pass
on the responsibilities we now carry. Soon, you will take our place in facing
the challenges of life. Soon, you will carry the burden of your people.
Do not forget the ways of the past as you move toward the future.
Remember that we are to walk softly on our sacred Mother, the Earth, for
we walk on the faces of the unborn, those who have yet to rise and take up
the challenges of existence.
We must consider the effects our actions will have on their ability to live a
good life.
Appendix: Additional slides
• UNECE Vision
• Elements of Canada’s strategy
STRATEGY FOR EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Vision
Our vision for the future is of a region that embraces common values of solidarity,
equality and mutual respect between people, countries and generations. It is a region
characterized by sustainable development, including economic vitality, justice, social
cohesion, environmental protection and the sustainable management of natural resources,
so as to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their needs.
Education, in addition to being a human right, is a prerequisite for achieving sustainable
development and an essential tool for good governance, informed decision-making and
the promotion of democracy. Therefore, education for sustainable development can help
translate our vision into reality.
Education for sustainable development develops and strengthens the capacity of individuals,
groups, communities, organizations and countries to make judgements and choices in favour
of sustainable development. It can promote a shift in people’s mindsets and in so doing enable
them to make our world safer, healthier and more prosperous, thereby improving the quality of
life. Education for Sustainable development can provide critical reflection and greater
awareness and empowerment so that new visions and concepts can be explored and new
methods and tools developed.
National ESD Expert Council
Mission:
Promote a Canadian culture of sustainability by
developing and strengthening collaboration and
leadership in education and training.
Goals:
1. Strengthen, promote & communicate ESD
activities in Canada
2. Provide leadership & support innovation in ESD.
3. Identify & address gaps at a national level
4. Disseminate ESD research
5. Monitor & report on ESD progress
6. Funding of NESDEC and Provincial WGs.
National ESD Expert Council Structure
Provincial
Working
Group
Territorial
Working
Group
Sub-committees
National Expert
Council
National
Agencies
Steering
S
Committee
Secretariat
Provincial
Working
Group
Provincial
Working
Group
International
Agencies
Provincial
Working
Group
Provincial/Territorial ESD
Working Groups
Goal: To support and foster a culture of ESD in each
jurisdiction
Objectives:
• Build ESD into the formal/non-formal and informal
education culture
• Establish strategic collaborations between governments,
education sector leaders, business, and community NGO’s
• Bring together stake-holders for policy input, debate,
exchange, planning
• a sense of urgency and the latest science on critical
sustainability issues
• Pilot Working Group established in Manitoba June 2005
• Groups now in B.C., Alberta Sask., Ont., N.B., N.S., and
Nunavut
Canadian Sustainability
Curriculum Review Initiative
Goal: To infuse ESD into School curriculum policy and
instructional methods
Objectives:
• Identify fundamental concepts, skills, values, and
instructional methods for the following themes:
– Energy
- Transportation
– Climate Change - Citizenship & Community
– Ecosystems
- Human Health Environment
– Water
- Indigenous and Local
Knowledge
– Biodiversity
- Food and Agriculture
Youth Taking Action Forums
Goal: To empower youth to take action on important
sustainability issues in their schools and communities.
Objectives:
• Increase awareness and understanding of local
sustainability issues
• Empower youth by engaging them in community-based
action projects that develop their leadership skills.
• Increase the teaching of sustainability issues
• Enhance the capacity of local NGO’s to deliver
sustainability programs.
• Share and celebrate success.
Education for Sustainable
Development Model School
Project
Vision:
To inspire the effective integration of excellent ESD
practices into Stouffville District Secondary School as a model of
ESD for schools across Canada
A commitment to sustainability is evident in:
• School Culture: the school mission, improvement plan, extracurricular activities
• School Operations: the way the school is run is sustainable
• Physical Surroundings: the building and the surrounding area
are consistent with the goals of sustainability
• Curriculum: curricular expectations and instructional
strategies facilitate ESD learning
Sustainability Education
Academy for Education
Leaders
• Goal: to motivate and equip senior education officials
to lead the integration of ESD as a core value in all
aspects of formal education including: policy,
curriculum, teaching, learning, professional
development, and the sustainable management of
human, physical and financial resources.
• Three day Seminar modeled after Sustainable
Enterprise Academy
• In partnership with LSF, Schulich School of Business,
York U. Faculty of Education, and the UNESCO Chair
in ESD.
Resources for Rethinking:
ESD Resource Database
Goal:
•
To provide teachers with tools to facilitate the effective integration
of ESD into formal school programs (K-12) across Canada
Objectives:
•
Improve access to resources by providing teachers with a searchable
ESD resource database, that links resources to all provincial/territorial
curricula.
•
Provide quality resources by ensuring all resources are professionally
reviewed by classroom teachers.
•
Enhance capacity of ESD publishers to produce quality resources for
teachers.