At a recently held conference on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), one of the plenary speakers in Ahmedabad highlighted the need for environmental education (EE) to be political. EE had been away from politics for long, and this, she said, had rendered it weak. Participants were quick to raise questions about the risks this could pose of complicating the issue further, especially given the facilitators’ ability to deliberate on such topics.
The speaker’s response was unambiguous. On the one hand, students today have access to most information—from the Internet and other sources. On the other hand, the onus lies on the facilitators to upgrade their skills and communicate the issues responsibly and aptly.
In other words, not talking about the topics was neither an option nor a solution. To underscore her point, she stated how the Cauvery issue could have been discussed with students by talking about factors that had led to the current scenario. be it the increase in the the area under ‘summer rice’ in Tamil Nadu, the rise in the area cultivating sugarcane in Karnataka or expansion of Bengaluru, not maintaining its lakes but seeking water from Cauvery.
Environment education in India. Representational image. ReutersRepresentational image. Reuters
The other issue she raised was that EE was practiced in an unduly polite fashion. Dropping uncomfortable topics did not help EE. For example, students who came in SUVs had to be told that they were not helping the environment. The pollution caused by their vehicles, which most of them did not even carpool in, had to be highlighted. Most of them from elite schools were in a position to influence their parents on such decisions. The elite schools needed to know that, among schools, they were the worst polluters.
The session revealed the need to take risks and venture on fresh paths. These debates needed EE’s houred to reinvent itself and respond to changing times. However, addressing these issues alone may not help unless we address the larger problem.
We appear to be good at moving from old terms and settling on new ones, albeit temporarily. ESD has replaced EE by being more encompassing and holistic. At the same time, sustainable development goals (SDGs) are more evolved and tuned in today’s understanding than the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). However, is there any merit in jumping to fresh terms if we do not question the paradigm within which they operate? These are terms that, as the discussions brought out, not many beyond the proverbial choir are bothered about!
Today, our significant alienation from nature results from an ‘education system’ that is factoid, data, and information-driven, devoid of attention to understanding the interconnectedness integral to all life forms. The primary goal of this’ education system’ is to churn out ‘graduates’ who will fit into the economy (read contribute to ‘growth’ and ‘development’).
That we are failing even in this is a separate discussion. Given that EE or ESD is taught within this system’s ambit, the economy will dictate the space they occupy and the scope they harbor. The question then is, in an economy fuelled by ‘growth’ and ‘development,’ what are the relevance and impact of EE or ESD? Especially when the state’s vision of ‘development’ is myopic and, for a large chunk of the population, the term is synonymous with roads and jobs.
After her presentation, Firstpost asked one of the participants whether her recommendations would impact the larger system in place and whether the system should be challenged. “They may not, but we have to work within the system,” was her response, Globeinform.
Have we become tuned not to question the system? What then of the ‘critical inquiry’ within Environmental Education? Are we unwilling to question our lifestyles because we fear the inconvenience they will bring? After all that we have brought upon the planet, do we expect an easy way out? Nothing comes for free, surely not a better future.
The SDG does not explicitly focus on ‘reducing consumption’ or question’ growth,’ unless we do that, the scenario appears bleak. In a perfect world, it would be possible to increase GDP, factory output, and other positive growth indicators on the one hand and improve ecological conditions on the other. In our imperfect world, history has taught us that this is anything but a realistic expectation.
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The current scenario is akin to running on a track with the finish line moving further faster. When we achieve limited success (assuming we do), our actions, lifestyles, and decisions will accentuate the threats and create a scenario that warrants even more attention! We need to run and ensure that the finish line remains static. In its current form, Environment Education does not appear to be helping.
