How does Education for Sustainable Development relate to me?

Wednesday, 25 February 2009 | posted by scott.forbes
Activism, General, Education

As we grow nearer and nearer to the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development, I will be sharing with you some of the many ways you can get involved in highlighting ESD, from lobbying your Local Decision makers to writing letters to your President or Prime Minster, to taking an active part in the Global Campaign for Educations’ ‘‘Big Read 2009’’.  

There is little argument today that Planet Earth is reaching a point where it can no longer sustain our consumption levels. If we care about the future of the planet - and that of ourselves, our future children and other living things - then we need to learn how to turn things around and bring about lasting change.

This “future” is not necessarily 100 years down the track; rather, it is within most of our lifetimes. Our current lifestyles and consumption patterns are already resulting in negative change to the planet. Thus, whether you are young or old, a school student, a teacher, a parent, a university student, a businessperson or a journalist, you‘re most likely to have a vested interest in looking after the earth’s natural resources and building healthy and just societies.

Achieving a Sustainable Development holds many answers to the future, which will be benefited by people everywhere, but most of all it takes into account the needs of the future generation to come. But equally, it meets the requirements of people today, in every day society and culture across the World. Therefore integrating sustainable development into education, equips every individual with the values, competencies, knowledge and skills which enable them to contributing to a humane, socially just, economically viable and an ecologically sustainable future. I for one fundamentally believe Education for Sustainable Development, promotes a sense of both local and global responsibility ‘Acting Global, thinking Local!’ which seeks to empower societies, communities and individuals everywhere to shape their future actively and responsibly.

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) helps us to learn together, to find alternative ways of living as well as solutions to current problems, which will put us on the path to sustainable development. We know ESD has the power and ability to educate people, to act responsibly in a Globalized World, creating the perfect Global Citizens.

To ensure that ESD remains an effective tool and continues to engage with people, skills and targets have been put in place, which ensure decisions are acted upon. But most of all these five key targets are essential to the future success of Education for Sustainable Development, it is our duty and our duty alone to oversee these are achieved and upheld we must:

·         Be able to look to the future and recognize our future paths and directions and work to achieve them.

·         Learn to recognize the challenges in the World around us.

·         Acknowledge complex issues and offer solutions to them.

·         Come together and unite as one to form partnerships.

·         Empower people to make informed choices and decisions.

With these in mind take a few moments and ask yourself; what does Education for Sustainable Development mean to you? Do these key targets add value to what you are already doing? Would you apply some of these targets into your everyday life? If the answer is yes to these questions, then you are already doing something relating to achiveing Education for Sustainable Development, why not pass your knowledge onto others around you in your communities and contribute to making an impact!