Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
learning, food cultivation and community gathers as key elements required for future
development. Each classroom has a raised garden bed used to cultivate flowers and
vegetables, and the school kitchen has an additional herb and vegetable garden for
school lunches. In the years since 2009, considerable progress has been made in
realizing these aims, and in late 2012 an accessible trail and amphitheatre were
identified as future big projects. For Michael Stone (2009) of the Center for Ecological
Literacy, it is important for schools to be smart by nature and this involves applying
four guiding principles:
•
Nature is our teacher.
•
Sustainability is a community practice.
•
The real world is the optimal learning environment.
•
Sustainable living is rooted in a deep knowledge of place.
Furthermore, sustainable schools recognize the overwhelming importance of being
embedded in and committed to the local are. Fritjof Capra and Michael Stone (2010)
write:
Sustainable living is rooted in a deep knowledge of place.
When people get to
know a particular place well, they begin to care about what happens to the
landscape, creatures, and people in it. When they understand its ecology and
diversity, the web of relations it supports, and the rhythm of its cycles, they
develop an appreciation for and a sense of kinship with their surroundings. Well-
known, well-loved places have the best chance to be protected and preserved so
that they may be cherished and cared for by future generations of students.
Sustainable schools must directly involve and engage pupils. Ideally, many initiatives
should be pupil-led, as this develops a sense of possibility and encourages practical
learning, teamwork, group dialogue and decision-making, and action and a pre-
disposition to care. Developing a sustainable school can transform that school into
a creative and innovative learning environment for the pupils, raise standards of
attainment and put it at the heart of a vibrant cosmopolitan community. Through
school it is possible for children to become eco-literate citizens and members of a
community that values and respects the wider environment. Krasny and Tidball
(2007) refer to the civic ecology aspects of ESD in their discussion of garden mosaics
of cultures, plants and planting practices within urban community greening activities
in South Africa and the US. These community garden projects empower learners
through building community resilience, enhancing existing individual, social and
environmental assets, and nurturing the experience of inclusion and co-operation,
skills of social learning, and the capacity to grow in a world of change and uncertainty.
Education is therefore supremely important, with a great deal to do.
Worldwide, there are literally thousands of ESD projects. Some can be categorized
as essentially 'add ons' to existing school structures, curricula and pedagogies
and others may be characterized by their attempt to develop and implement a
'whole system redesign strategy' which looks to challenge traditional approaches
to disciplinary-based educational content, teacher-centred learning processes and
hierarchical school organization. Those whole-school approaches to ESD are an
attempt to operationalize a systemic redesign. Schools wishing to become 'eco-schools'
