Pablo Ángel Meira Cartea

In Praise of Environmental Education

Environmental education (EE) is going through a critical stage. The wide acceptance of education for sustainable development (ESD) as a reference guiding the educational response to the environmental crisis has strengthened the critical views of EE. This article tries to refute the arguments put forward by those who criticize EE and advocate its ‘substitution’ by ESD. The article points out the theoretical weaknesses and the political and ideological bias of the notion of ‘sustainable development and sets these against the rich historical development of EE. In this approach, ESD is shown to offer no original responses to the challenges of the environmental crisis and of development. The author admits that ESD may be one of the options in the multi-paradigmatic essence attributed to EE, but believes that other interpretations of educational action are coherent with a view of society which is equally sustainable, but which is at the same time oriented towards the attainment of justice and equity today and in the future of mankind.

Educación ambiental en tiempos de catástrofe: la respuesta educativa al naufragio del Prestige

En noviembre de 2002, un petrolero obsoleto, el Prestige, naufrago y vertio su carga en las costas de Galicia (noroeste de la Peninsula Iberica). Este accidente origino un experimento social indeseado pero valioso para comprender como se representa socialmente la experiencia catastrofica de los riesgos manufacturados. Este articulo analiza la respuesta del sistema educativo regional a la catastrofe desde dos puntos de vista: a) su comprension en el marco de la respuesta social critica y proactiva ante los intentos oficiales de representar una no-catastrofe y, b) el papel de la Educacion Ambiental (EA) como praxis pedagogica cuya dimension politica se revela como indispensable. La tesis que defendemos es que la naturaleza politica de la EA, muchas veces solo implicita y otras negada explicitamente, se redescubre aqui como eje primordial en la respuesta del sistema educativo y de otros agentes educadores. En este sentido, la catastrofe no ha sido solo ecologica, sino tambien, y sobre todo, social y politica al cuestionar la globalizacion economica - su causa radical - y poner en evidencia la vulnerabilidad de las administraciones, incapaces de prevenir o mitigar su impacto sobre el ambiente y las comunidades humanas. En este escenario, la EA contribuye a reflexionar sobre el origen de la catastrofe como consecuencia inesperada de la modernidad avanzada, en sintonia con el analisis que hace Ulrich Beck sobre la sociedad del riesgo y sobre el potencial politizador de las sucesivas catastrofes - la punta del iceberg - en las que el nuevo ethos social se manifiesta y construye.

Transition communities and the glass ceiling of environmental sustainability policies at three universities

Purpose n n n n nThis paper deals with the experiences of three European universities that have implemented transition initiatives, using the Transition Network’s methodology to promote their sustainability plans. The Transition Communities’ model for change is presented from a socio-educational perspective as an effective methodology for encouraging university environmental sustainability processes. In this context, the purpose of this paper was to analyze Transition Communities at universities using an environmental–educational approach in three different scenarios: the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (USC), the University of Edinburgh (UEd) and the Universidade do Minho (UMinho). n n n n nDesign/methodology/approach n n n n nThe authors engaged in a comparative analysis of multiple case studies in the Transition “phenomenon”, looking for convergences and divergences among them. n n n n nFindings n n n n nThe comparative analysis revealed three very different scenarios, which ironically shared an absence of explicit theoretical–methodological references in the design, execution and evaluation of the educational actions that were implemented. Examination of the impact and continuity of these initiatives uncovered the existence of a “glass ceiling” in university environmental sustainability strategies. Even the innovative Transition methodology was unable to subvert the established academic, corporate, organizational and cultural structures and dynamics that perpetuate unsustainability. n n n n nOriginality/value n n n n nThis study was carried out from an innovative perspective with few precedents in the Transition context. The authors’ educational–environmental approach provides insight for articulating educational strategies for environmental sustainability at universities and for constructing a Transition model for education.