“Learning for Our Future”(Scottish Executive 2006, pp22-23) identifies six principles of SDE which underpin the Four Priorities. The list below defines these six principles and maps these against the environmental study topics currently within Eco-Schools (Eco-Schools topics in bold).
1. INTERDEPENDENCE (Health and Well-being, Global Citizenship)
- “Everything depends on everything else!” - understanding the connections and links between all aspects of our lives and the links between people, other living things and places at a local and global level. Curricular topics on International Trade and extra-curricular activities such as Fair Trade will help pupils understand this principle.
2. DIVERSITY (Biodiversity, Global Citizenship)
- understanding the importance and value of diversity in peoples' lives and environment - our lives, our economy and our well-being are impoverished without it. Diversity can cause fear and intolerance – lessons on anti-racism and anti-sectarianism can help counteract these; however, studies in comparative religions and community customs can also enrich pupils’ lives.
3. CARRYING CAPACITY (Waste minimisation) (Energy) (Water) (Transport)
- there are limits to the world's resources and the ways in which the world can develop - the consequences of unmanaged and unsustainable growth are increased poverty and hardship, and the degradation of the environment to the disadvantage of us all. Studies into careful management of natural resources and campaigns to ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ bring pupils to an understanding of the finite nature of Earth’s resources and the need to ‘do more with less’.
4. RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES (Litter)
- the need to lead lives that consider the rights and needs of others - what we do now has implications for what life might be like in the future. Schools already deliver ‘social education’ courses on ‘rights and responsibilities’. These can be channelled into practical actions such as litter prevention and community improvement.
5. EQUITY AND JUSTICE
- understanding the underlying causes of inequity - for any development to be sustainable, it must benefit all people in an equitable way. Young people have a strong sense of ‘fair play’ – where is the justice in sending Scotland’s atomic waste to Peru? ...toxic computer waste to Africa? ...building motorways through the ‘poor’ part of town?
6. UNCERTAINTY AND PRECAUTION
- our actions may have unforeseen consequences - there are limits to human knowledge - encouraging a cautious approach to the welfare of our planet. Current environmental damage is largely caused by inventions aimed at making life easier for people – e.g. burning coal for steam engines, developing the internal combustion engine – without full knowledge of the consequences (steam engines produced smoke – no-one knew about CO2!) We need to get smarter at predicting consequences – how can modern technology help?
Clearly much of the traditional focus in Eco-Schools is on ‘Carrying Capacity’.
|
