Education for Sustainable Development: Research overview

This discussion paper outlines some of the main characteristics of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), particularly in the context of ‘development’ and ‘globalization’. It addresses the various interpretations and meanings of ESD, shows how these relate to environmental education and emerging educations that overlap with SD-issues and introduces sustainability competence as a key outcome of ESD. The paper also outlines some regional trends that affect the way ESD manifests itself in the various countries and regions around the world. Some key developments affecting ESD are introduced, including globalization, the rise of the information and knowledge society, the utilization of diversity and the need for the inclusion of marginalized groups and perspectives

Think Piece. Learning in a Changing World and Changing in a Learning World: Reflexively fumbling towards sustainability

We need nothing short of a new global ethic – an ethic which espouses attitudes and behaviour for individuals and societies which are consonant with humanity’s place within the biosphere; which recognises and sensitively responds to the complex and ever-changing relationships between humanity and nature and between people. Significant changes must occur in all of the world’s nations to assure the kind of rational development which will be guided by this new global ideal – changes which will be directed towards an equitable distribution of the world’s resources and more fairly satisfy the needs of all peoples. This kind of development will also require the maximum reduction in harmful effects on the environment, the utilisation of waste materials for productive purposes, and the design of technologies which will enable such objectives to  be achieved. Above all, it will demand the assurance of perpetual peace through coexistence and cooperation among nations with different social systems. Policies aimed at maximising economic output without regard to its consequences on society and on the resources available for improving the quality of life must be questioned. Before this changing of priorities can be achieved, millions of individuals will themselves need to adjust their own priorities and assume a personal and individualised global ethic – and reflect in all of their behaviour a commitment to the improvement of the quality of the environment and of life for the world’s people.&nbsp

The Acoustics of Social Learning: Designing learning processes that contribute to a more sustainable world.

Learning for Sustainable Development contributes to a society in which citizens, companies, organisations, and authorities learn about sustainable development and are desiring, willing, and able to contribute to it

Message in a bottle: learning our way out of unsustainability

Inaugural lecture of Prof. dr. ir. Arjen E.J. Wals upon taking up the posts of Professor of Social Learning and Sustainable Development, and UNESCO Chair at Wageningen University on May 27th 2010. Lecture about the consequences of unsustainable usage of plastics

History of the El Paso Area 1680-1692

For twelve years after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 what was left of Spanish New Mexico was scattered through the El Paso district, with El Paso serving through most of that period as the official capital. Possibly because the area has been a sort of everyman\u27s land, involved in North Mexican, Texan, and New Mexican history, it has been either neglected or distorted by historians. The drama of the beginning and of the end of the twelve years has been exploited, and one excursion into the middle period completed. There has been no treatment of the twelve years as a whole