Rather than adopting a piecemeal approach, the sustainable Eco-School will have a view of the school and community that takes into account the links between economy, environment and society.
Actions to improve conditions should take these connections into account and questions asked about issues must include references to these links. Sustainability is about more than just quality of life. It is about understanding the connections between, and achieving balance among, the social, economic, and environmental parts of a community.
Rather than the three partially connected circles shown above, Rosalyn McKeown suggests a better picture of a sustainable school community is the circles within circles shown below:
The economy exists entirely within society, because all parts of the human economy require interaction among people. However, society is much more than just the economy. Friends and families, music and art, religion and ethics are important elements of society, but are not primarily based on buying goods and services. |
Society, in turn, exists entirely within the environment. Our basic requirements - air, food and water - come from the environment, as do the energy and raw materials for the school, transport and the books and equipment we depend on.
At one time, the environment largely determined the shape of society. Today, especially in the developed world, the opposite is true: human activity is reshaping the environment at an ever-increasing rate. The parts of the environment unaffected by human activity are getting smaller all the time. We have, therefore, an increasing responsibility to protect the diversity of both the living things within ‘environment’, and the places in which they need to live. However, because people need food, water and air to survive, society can never be larger than the environment. Our concerns for this Biodiversity are concerns for our own well-being too.
A sustainable Eco-School will manage its own affairs and its impact on others (individuals, communities, nations, and the world) in ways that ensure that its work (economy) and pupils, staff, parents and other adults (society) can continue to exist without destroying the natural environment. Sustainability is an issue for all communities - not just the sustainable Eco-School - from small rural towns that are losing the businesses upon which their vitality depends, to large metropolitan areas where crime and poverty are reducing the quality of life.
In tackling the seven elements of the Eco-Schools programme, a school will be able to clearly identify aims which match those outlined above for sustainability and global citizenship. An effective Eco-School will not only be working towards the goals signified by its Green Flag Award, but also those of creating a sustainable community populated by global citizens and meeting many of the targets described in ‘the Child at the Centre’, ‘How Good is Our School?’ and “Learning for Our Future”.
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