Skip to main content

Green Education and Sustainable Development

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education

Definition

Green education can be broadly considered as education for social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Sterling (2001: 22) defines sustainable education as “develops and embodies the theory and practice of sustainability in a way which is critically aware. It is therefore a transformative paradigm which values, sustains and realizes human potential in relation to the need to attain and sustain social, economic and ecological wellbeing, recognizing that they must be part of the same dynamic.”

Relationship Between Sustainability and Education

Countries around the world face unprecedented global challenges, such as financial crises, poverty, inequality, unsustainable consumption, desertification, climate change, and terrorism. Sustainability or sustainable development has become an important concept for individuals, local companies, multinational companies (MNCs), governments, or nation states. The most classic definition of sustainability or sustainability development...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Armitage D, Plummer F, Berkes F, Arthur RI, Charles A, Davidson-Hunt I, Diduck A et al (2008) Adaptive co-management for social-ecological complexity. Front Ecol Environ 7(2):95–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernard B (2004) Resiliency: what we have learned. WestEd, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Blackmore C (2009) Social learning and environmental responsibility. In: Reynolds M, Blackmore C, Smoth MJ (eds) The environmental responsibility reader. Zed Books, London, pp 229–235

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohm D (1992) Thought as a system. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Cebrian G, Grace M, Humphris D (2013) Organisational learning towards sustainability in higher education, sustainability accounting. Manag Policy J 4(3):285–306

    Google Scholar 

  • Claxton G (2002) Building learning power: helping young people become better learners. TLO, Bristol

    Google Scholar 

  • Clugston RM, Calder W (1999) Critical dimensions of sustainability in higher education. In: Filho LW (ed) Sustainability and university life. Peter Lang, Pieterlen

    Google Scholar 

  • Dresner S (2002) The principles of sustainability. Earthscan, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Fagan G (2014) Community-based learning. In: Huckle J, Sterling S (eds) Education for sustainability. Earthscan, New York, pp 123–135

    Google Scholar 

  • Filho WL (2011) About the role of universities and their contribution to sustainable development. High Educ Pol 24:427–438

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Filho WL, Manolas E, Pace P (2015) The future we want. Int J Sustain High Educ 16(1):112–129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Filho WL, Brandli L, Castro P, Newman J (2017) Handbook of theory and practice of sustainable development in higher education, vol 1. Springer International Publishing, Cham

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster J (2008) The sustainability mirage – illusion and reality in the coming war on climate change. Eathscan, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Grundy L, Simpkin B (2014) Working with the youth service. In: Huckle J, Sterling S (eds) Education for sustainability. Earthscan, New York, pp 123–135

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunderson LH, Holling CS (2002) Panarchy – understanding transformations in human and natural systems. Island Press, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Homer-Dixon T (2006) The upside of down – catastrophe, creativity and the renewal of civilization. Souvenir Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Huckle J (2014) Realizing sustainability in changing times. In: Huckle J, Sterling S (eds) Education for sustainability. Earthscan, New York, pp 3–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Huckle J, Sterling S (2014) Education for sustainability. Earthscan, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones P, Selby D, Sterling S (2010) More than the sum of their parts? Interdisciplinary and sustainability. In: Jones P, Selby D, Sterling S (eds) Sustainability education: perspectives and practices across higher education. Earthscan, London, pp 17–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Laszlo E (1997) 3rd millennium – the challenge and the vision. The club of Budapest. Gaia Books, Stroud

    Google Scholar 

  • Ng AW, Leung TCH, Lo JMK (2017) Developing sustainability competence for future professional accountants: the integrative role of undergraduate program. In: Filho WL, Brandli L, Castro P, Newman J (eds) Handbook of theory and practice of sustainable development in higher education, vol 1. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 119–136

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Reason P, Bradbury H (2001) Introduction: inquiry and participation in a search of world worthy of human aspiration. In: Reason P, Bradbury H (eds) Handbook of action research – participative practice and enquiry. Sage, London, pp 1–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Savelyeva T (2017) Vernadsky meets Yulgok: a non-western dialog on sustainability. Educational philosophy and theory 49(5):501–520

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Savelyeva T, McKenna J (2011) Campus sustainability: emerging curricular models in higher education. Int J Sustain High Educ 12(1):55–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott W, Vare P (2008) Education for sustainable development – two sides and an edge. DEA Thinkpiece, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharp L (2002) Green campuses: the road from little victories to systemic transformation. Int J Sustain High Educ 3(2):128–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sterling S (2001) Sustainable education – re-visioning learning and change (Schumacher society briefing no.6). Green Books, Dartington

    Google Scholar 

  • Sterling S (2004) An analysis of the development of sustainability education internationally: evolution, interpretation and transformative potential. In: Blewitt J, Cullingord C (eds) Sustainable development: a challenge for higher education. Earthscan, London, pp 43–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Sterling S (2010) Learning for resilience, or the resilient learner? Towards a necessary reconciliation in a paradigm of sustainable education. Environ Educ Res 16(5–6):511–528

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Su HJ, Chang TC (2010) Sustainability of higher education institutions in Taiwan. Int J Sustain High Educ 11(2):163–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tilbury D (2004) Environmental education for sustainability: a force for change in higher education. In: Corcoran PB, Wals AEJ (eds) Higher education and the challenge of sustainability: problematics, promise and practice. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp 97–112

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Tilbury D (2011a) Education for sustainable development: an expert review of processes and learning. UNESCO, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Tilbury D (2011b) Higher education for sustainability: a global overview of commitment and progress. Higher education in the world, pp 18–28

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO (2002) Education for sustainability. From Rio to Johannesburg: lessons learnt from a decade of commitment. UNESCO, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO (2005a) Decade of education for sustainable development draft international implementation scheme. http://www.unescobkk.org/fileadmin/user_upload/esd/documents/Final_draft_IIS.pdf

  • UNESCO (2005b) UN decade of education for sustainable development 2005–2014: the DESD at a glance. UNESCO, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO (2009) UNESCO world conference on education for sustainable development: Bonn declaration. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001850/185056e.pdf

  • Velazquez L, Munguia M, Platt A, Taddei J (2006) Sustainable university: what can be the matter. J Clean Prod 14:810–819

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker B, Salt D (2006) Resilience thinking – sustaining ecosystems and people in a changing world. Island Press, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Wals AEJ (2014) Sustainability in higher education in the context of the UN DESD: a review of learning and institutionalization processes. J Clean Prod 62:8–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wenger E (1998) Communities of practice – learning meaning and identity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) (1987) Our common future. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tiffany C. H. Leung .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Section Editor information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Leung, T.C.H., Ng, A.W. (2019). Green Education and Sustainable Development. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63951-2_132-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63951-2_132-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63951-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63951-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education

Publish with us

Policies and ethics