Tomorrow today; 2010 - unesdoc - Unesco

The hummingbird feeds on the nectar collected delicately from the flowers, withoutharming the plant, in a sustainable way. The mandacaru (Cereus jamacaru), a tree thatis the symbol of the Northeastern Brazilian backcountry, sprouts only when it is goingto rain. It is a signal of life on the drying landA new educational practice requires a new pedagogy. That is whyin recent years we have insisted on the need for an ecopedagogy, onethat is based on sustainability. Ecopedagogy overcomes the anthropocentrismof traditional pedagogies and establishes a symbiosisbetween human beings and nature as an underlying assumption.The Earth comes to be regarded as a living being, as Gaia. Hence itwould be better to refer to an Earth pedagogy.What strategies, therefore, are needed to reform current formaleducation curricula?One of the greatest challenges we have when it comes to transformingeducational practices and embracing sustainability is toovercome the naturalistic regard we have towards the environmentand to embrace a systemic and holistic view, which contains multiple,undetermined and interdependent causalities to conceive a learningenvironment of sustainable management beyond the promotion ofisolated actions (reducing, reusing, recycling). Without nourishinga dialogue in the community, it is impractical to develop a curriculumof clean technologies. We must integrate the local economywith energy efficiency initiatives, human interaction and the environmentat large to achieve sustainable consumption, and developgreen technologies, renewable resources, responsible consumption,human rights, shared principles, power relations and ecologicalinteractions. These elements can then be gathered together to createsystematized knowledge and form new living habits.One cannot talk about sustainability without talking about educationfor sustainable consumption. The current economic model inthe developed world cannot be extended everywhere, otherwise wewould need one more planet – or even up to six planets – to be ableto feed and sustain everyone. What is needed is a new model – aImage: Paulo Freire Institutemore sustainable one – which can protect the environmentand people’s health.The idea of sustainability, broadly understood,encompasses a whole new project of civilization.Applied to pedagogy, it can have implications in allfields of education, not only in environmental education.At the Paulo Freire Institute, we consider theconcept of sustainability as an interdisciplinarycomponent in all our projects of teaching and learning.In order to achieve this, we have developed a conceptand vision of an ecopedagogy, initially called Pedagogyof Sustainable Development, as an appropriate pedagogyfor environmental education and transformativelearning. We believe that sustainability is the dreamof living well – a dynamic balance between humanssustaining themselves and humans looking after theenvironment.These new transformative learning practices basedon sustainability are spreading around the world. Oneparticularly good practice gaining adoption is theSeeds of Spring Project. It was developed by the PauloFreire Institute in the municipality of Osasco, Brazil.Started in 2006, this project is based on the principlesand values of sustainability. It promotes active involvementof children and young persons in exercisingcitizenship from childhood. Groups of children (SeedsGroups) chosen by their peers are organized to discuss,propose and commit themselves to suggestions andactions related to the Eco-Political-Pedagogical Project(EPPP) in schools from the standpoint of sustainability.In weekly meetings, they participate in practicalactivities that involve exercises of ‘reading the world’(Paulo Freire), which aim to establish the vision childrenhave of their school, neighbourhood, city, lifein common, health, leisure, sports, culture and othermatters significant to their situation in each school.Children and teenagers are guided towards identifyingunsustainable practices and finding solutions, asthey seek the improvement they desire for the school,neighbourhood and city. They become committed totheir proposals for change, and also to becoming partof what they wish to see achieved.In summary, I think that sustainability is a powerfulconcept for transformative learning. It is an opportunityfor education to revolutionize old systems basedon competitive principles and values, and to introducea culture of sustainability and peace in schoolcommunities. Sustainability can be a fundamentalcategory for rebuilding current educational systems,which are still based on a predatory view of the world.Environmental education and ESD are fundamentalaxes to these reforms when they are associated withhuman rights, gender rights, democratic rights, peaceand sustainability. That is why I believe that the conceptof sustainability will contribute to the construction ofa new quality in education, a social-environmentalquality, which will change the paradigm of educationthat has, ultimately, been destroying the planet sincebefore the 19th century.[ 159 ]