Sustainability, one of the central themes of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Río+20, that will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from June 20 to 22 of this year, is not produced mechanically. Sustainability results from a process of education, through which humans redefine all the relationships maintained with the universe, the Earth, nature, society and with themselves, within the criteria of ecological equilibrium, of respect and love for the Earth and the community of life, of solidarity with future generations and of building an unending socio-ecological democracy.
I am convinced that only a generalized process of education can develop, as the Earthcharter seeks, the new minds and hearts capable of carrying out the paradigmatic revolution demanded by the global threat under which we currently live. As Paulo Freire often said : «education does not change the world: education changes the people who will change the world». Everyone is urged to change now. We have no alternative: either we change, or we will know darkness.
I will not address here the many aspects of education so well presented by UNESCO in 1966: learn to know, to do, to be and to live together; to these, I would add, learn to care for Mother Earth and for all beings. But even this education is insufficient. The changed world situation demands that everything be ecologized, this is, that every human being lend his and her cooperation to protect the Earth, to save human life and our planet. Consequently, the ecological moment must permeate all knowledge.
On December 20, 2002, the UN approved a resolution proclaiming the years 2005 to 2014 as the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. That document defines 15 strategic perspectives towards a sustainable education. We will mention some:
Socio-cultural Perspectives, including human rights, peace and security, equality among the sexes, cultural diversity and inter-cultural understanding, health, AIDS, global government.
Environmental Perspectives includes natural resources (water, energy, agriculture and biodiversity), climatic changes, rural development, sustainable urbanization, prevention and mitigation of catastrophes.
Economic Perspectives, whose objectives are reducing poverty and misery, and building responsibility and accountability of business. Thus, the ecologic moment must be present in all disciplines. Otherwise, generalized sustainability will not be attained.
When the ecological paradigm burst, we all became aware of the fact that we all are eco-dependant. We participate in a community of interests with all the other living beings that share the biosphere with us. The basic common interest is maintaining the conditions for the continuity of life and of the Earth herself, understood as Gaia. That is the final goal of sustainability. Starting now, education must quickly include the four great tendencies of ecology: environmental, social, integral, and mental or profound (the one that deals with our place in nature).
Among educators, this perspective is ever more present: to educate to live well, which is the art of living in harmony with nature, and of deciding to share equitably with other humans the resources of culture and of sustainable development. We must understand that it is not just a question of making corrections to the system that caused the present ecologic crisis, but to educate for its transformation. This implies overcoming the still prevalent reductionist and mechanical vision, and building a culture of complexity, that allows us to see the interrelations of the living world and the eco-dependencies of the human being. This awareness requires environmental questions to be addressed in a global and integrated manner.
This type of education creates the ethical dimension of responsibility and caring for the Earth and humanity’s common future. It makes the human being become the caretaker of our Common House and guardian of all beings. We want democracy without end (Boaventura de Souza Santos) to assume socio-ecologic characteristics, because only that way will it be suitable for the ecozoic era, and respond to the demands of the new paradigm. Human beings, Earth and nature mutually belong to each other. That is why it is possible to forge a path of peaceful coexistence. That is the challenge of education in our days.
