3+1 – Environmental, Social and Economical dimensions in a specific Cultural context
Let’s consider this model and understand the importance of the place we live in - the concept of "locality".
When talking about Sustainable Development (SD) I refer to a harmonious and balanced development. Economics may say that combining these two concepts forms an oxymoron, since anything that is developing cannot be sustainable. In the case of Education Towards Sustainable Development (EDS) we look for development that balances between Environmental, Social and Economic aspects in a specific Cultural Context – this is what I call 3+1.
The first dimension is the Environmental one. This was the dimension in charge of waking up human kind. Books like “Silence Spring” by Rachel Carson in 1962 drew attention to the relationship between economic growth, development and environmental degradation. Another example is The Club of Rome on the report “Limits of Growth” in 1972, presenting the gap between the exponential grow of variables such as population, industrialization and pollution, and the inability of technology to increase resource availability. People who were studying nature realized that human behavior was creating a gap between our way of life and what the planet can offer. It was not easy to accept, and to this day we are still trying to convince people of it, although each year we have more proof of this and it is becoming an ever-widening gap.
ESD attempts to develop new behavior patterns in our students, and teach them what nature is and how it works. ESD practices focus on the environment and our resources, with the objective of educating the future generation and preparing it for a tough duty - to close the gap and make it better for the next one. ESD practices will depend on the area you are located and will vary based on the needs and problems there. Part of the approach is exploring what surrounds you and discovering it, which is in fact - real education.
Source: THE CLOUD INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION - https://cloudinstitute.org
The second dimension - the Social one - is essential. One should expect that this is the most important one, because we are the ones who, through our behavior, caused these problems. It took time for us to become aware of our behavior and the causal relationship that exists between the environment and us. In 1972 in Sweden, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was held. On the one hand, they refer to the Human Environment, connecting the ecological perspective with the implications to the human race. They could have decided to speak and refer to ecological problems on their own, without connecting them to humans and their behavior. On the other hand, they refer to ecological management and poverty alleviation.
ESD through its social dimension aspires to change our behavior towards each other, independently of our races, religions, cultures, capacities and incapacities, and based on an essential idea of togetherness. Respecting each other and our diversity is fundamental in order to live in this planet in harmony. Moreover, going outside the walls of our educational institutions is fundamental, living together and integrating the community in the whole process. Remember, students and educators should not be alienated of what happens beyond the schools’ walls, while the general community should be connected to what happens inside them.
Short exercises: Ask your colleagues, who is part of your educational community? And compare the different lists.
Unfortunately, they will forget of the neighbors of your institution, the people who clean it, the guard (if you have one). The list can go on, but the point is that everyone should be part of the education journey you want to take your students on. Make education real and inclusive.
The third dimension is the Economical one. The key issues are consumption vs consumerism, alternative economies, the story behind objects and a paradigmatic understanding that development should not always want more, but look for a balance.
The graphs representing our understanding of economy are not coherent with the planet we live in.
Even though the economic axioms of today’s world, our planet works not as curve looking more profits but as a cycle. Everything in nature lives and thinks in terms of never ending cycles, and that should be the way we develop our economy.
ESD has a tough fight. The way the economy is organized and conceived has an impact on shaping the way we live. Capitalism, which rules most (if not all) of the world, has become part of our cultural DNA as human beings. Incredibly, it is easier to think about humanity starting over from scratch after a nuclear war (there are many movies about it) than about our world without capitalism.
Remember, the way our economy is organized is based on social agreements, which means the way these agreements will look in the future depends on every one of us. The challenge as educators is to show we can shape our economy based on human values, and that it does not have to be the other way around. We need to think with our students and encourage them to look at the economy in another way.
Nevertheless, I spoke about 3+1. “1” is our specific cultural and political context, that will shape our perception of the other three dimensions. This is also the reason why it is so important not to look for external definitions, but to create our own contextual understanding of the world surrounding us. Always looking at the global level and acting and focusing on the local one. This is what we call GloCal, and it’s a key for implementing ESD.
It is my belief that in order to apply this approach you must own it, and the only way to do that, like in every educational process, is to look at it through your own “glasses” and adapt it to your context.