Ellen Almers

Pathways to Action Competence for Sustainability - Six Themes

What promotes action competence for sustainability? This question is phenomenologically explored through researching in depth the life stories of three Swedish young adults who for several years have limited their own ecological footprints, led environmental initiatives of activist character, engaged in ecosystem protection, and participated in advanced non-activism in the public sphere. Narrative analyses of their life stories have resulted in six common themes: emotions creating a desire to change conditions; a core of values and contrasting perspectives; action permeation; feeling confident and competent with what one can contribute; trust and faith from and in adults; and outsidership and belongingness.

Developing ecological literacy in a forest garden: children’s perspectives

ABSTRACT Today, cities become more dense, green spaces disappear and children spend less time outdoors. Research suggests that these conditions create health problems and lack of ecological literacy. To reverse such trends, localities are creating urban green spaces for children to visit during school time. Drawing on ideas in ecological literacy, this study investigates school children’s perspectives on a forest garden, a type of outdoor educational setting previously only scarcely researched. Data were collected through walk-and-talk conversations and informal interviews with 28 children aged 7 to 9. Many children in the study expressed strong positive feelings about the forest garden, the organized and spontaneous activities there, and caring for the organisms living there. We observed three aspects of learning in the data, potentially beneficial for the development of children’s ecological literacy: practical competence, learning how to co-exist and care, and biological knowledge and ecological understanding.