Terms
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Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE):
The term ‘Environmental and Sustainability Education' (ESE) references the multiple traditions of environmental learning that happen at all levels of education: environmental education; education for sustainable development; Indigenous education; Land-based learning; nature-based learning; outdoor & experiential education; place-based education, eco-justice education; éducation relative à l'environnement et au développement durable;education for sustainability; humane education; and sustainability for wellbeing. It signals a desire to honour the contributions of the multiple theoretical positions, voices and tensions that inform ESE.
Environmental Education:
Learning that “encourages a sense of personal responsibility for the environment; fosters a commitment to sustainable living, and promotes an enduring dedication to environmental stewardship.”
Green Street
"Environmental education is education about the environment, for the environment, and in the environment that promotes an understanding of, rich and active experience in, and an appreciation for the dynamic interactions of:
• the Earth’s physical and biological systems;
• the dependency of our social and economic systems on these natural systems;
• the scientific and human dimensions of environmental issues;
• the positive and negative consequences, both intended and unintended of the interactions between human created and natural systems"
Ontario Ministry of Education, "Shaping Our Schools, Shaping Our Future", 2007
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD):
"The role of education for sustainable development (ESD) is to help people develop the attitudes, skills, and knowledge to make informed decisions for the benefit of themselves and others, now and for the future, and to act upon those decisions. ESD is an approach to teaching and learning based on the ideals and principles that underlie sustainability – human rights, poverty reduction, sustainable livelihoods, peace, environmental protection, democracy, health, biological and landscape diversity, climate change, gender equality, and protection of indigenous cultures. In these and many other dimensions, education for sustainable development is analogous with the vision and goals of UNESCO."
Canadian Commission for UNESCO
“Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) encourages us to explore the profound interdependencies of ecological, societal, and economic systems. ESD is about respecting and preserving our histories, valuing culture and community, caring for others and the environment, and taking action to create a fair, healthy, and safe world for all beings. ESD also supports flexibility, creativity, critical reflection, and fosters a sense of personal responsibility for the economy, society, and environment”
Learning for a Sustainable Future
Sustainability Education (SE):
“The goal of sustainability education is to develop…new knowledge and new ways of thinking needed to achieve economic prosperity, participate democratically, secure justice and equity, and all the while regenerate the health of the ecosystems, the gift upon which all life and all production depend.”
Madeson, Frances. (2009). Spotlight On: The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education.
Place-based Education (PBE):
“Place-based education immerses students in local heritage, cultures, landscapes, opportunities and experiences, using these as a foundation for the study of language arts, mathematics, social studies, science and other subjects across the curriculum. PBE emphasizes learning through participation in service projects for the local school and/or community.”
Promise of Place
“Place-based education takes us back to basics, but in a broader and more inclusive fashion. Desirable environmental education, or what we’re calling place-based education, teaches about both the natural and built environments. The history, folk culture, social problems, economics, and aesthetics of the community and its environment are all on the agenda….one of the core objectives is to look at how landscape, community infrastructure, watersheds, and cultural traditions all interact and shape each other”
Sobel, David. (2004). Place-Based Education: Connecting Classrooms and Communities. The Orion Society.
Eco-justice Education (EJE):
Ecojustice education “is connected with the need to reduce the impact of the industrial/ consumer dependent culture on everyday life while at the same time ensuring that people are not impoverished and limited in terms of equal opportunity; the five aspects of ecojustice … include (1) eliminating the causes of eco-racism, (2) ending the North’s exploitation and cultural colonization of the South (Third World cultures), (3) revitalizing the commons in order to achieve a healthier balance between market and non-market aspects of community life, (4) ensuring that the prospects of future generations are not diminished by the hubris and ideology that drives the globalization of the West’s industrial culture, (5) reducing the threat to what Vandana Shiva refers to as “earth democracy” – the right of natural systems to reproduce themselves rather than to have their existence contingent upon the demands of humans.”
Ecojustice Education
Outdoor Education/Nature-Based Education (OE):
“This branch of environmental education emphasizes experiences in the outdoors as a path towards becoming more environmentally aware. People in this field tend to emphasize the value of learning by doing, the importance of learning specifics about how ecosystems work, and to try to encourage positive feelings towards the outdoors.”
Martusewicz, R. Edmundson, J. & Lupinacii, J. (2011.) Ecojustice Education: Towards diverse, democratic and sustainable communities. Routledge.
Environmental Science
“…is a multidisciplinary academic field that integrates physical, biological and information sciences (including but not limited to ecology, physics, chemistry, zoology, mineralogy, oceanology, limnology, soil science, geology, atmospheric science, geography and geodesy) to the study of the environment, and the solution of environmental problems. Environmental science provides an integrated, quantitative, and interdisciplinary approach to the study of environmental systems.”
Wikipedia
Environmental Studies
“…is the interdisciplinary academic field which systematically studies human interaction with the environment in the interests of solving complex problems. It is a broad field of study that includes also the natural environment, built environment, and the sets of relationships between them. The field encompasses study in basic principles of ecology and environmental science, as well as associated subjects such as ethics, policy, politics, law, economics, philosophy, environmental sociology and environmental justice, planning, pollution control and natural resource management.”
Wikipedia
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