Beyond Trees and Recycling – Why Sustainability Education Is More Than Environmental Education
Journal
Evidence-informed Sustainability Education (EvSusEd)
Type
digital resource
Date Issued
2026-07-07
Author(s)
Abstract
Environmental education is the legitimate root of the field, and on the nested model the ecological dimension is the condition everything else depends on. The error is the inference, from the environment is central to the environment is all there is. Sustainability education is not environmental education renamed. It keeps the ecological concern and adds the social and economic dimensions, together with the justice, equity, and futures questions that a focus on the human-nature relationship alone does not raise. Teach the environment as foundational, keep the social and economic in view, and refuse both wrong turns: the reduction that collapses the field into green, and the over-correction that demotes the environment to one pillar among three.
Language
English
Keywords
sustainability
education
environmental education
strong sustainability
reduction
understanding
belief
conception
esd
pars pro toto
false equivalence
label
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
No
Official URL
Division(s)
Contact Email Address
stefan.siegel@unisg.ch