Introduction: A Holistic Perspective on Futures Literacy and Education for Sustainable Development

• We are facing a challenging and demanding time, which has been declared a climate emergency (CEDAMIA, 2020). A climate emergency (and thus the present state of affairs) is described as ‘a situation in which urgent action is required to reduce or halt climate change and avoid potentially irreversible environmental damage resulting from it’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2019). The impact of climate change and pollution of water, air and land is affecting human and non-human lives all over the world. Environmental activists and climate scientists have continued, persistently and diligently, the work of bringing evidence-based arguments to the public. Their efforts, unfortunately, do not seem to be convincing enough; they are not relevant or do not get through to people. The sustainability rhetoric may have had its day, and new ways of communicating climate issues are called for. Raising awareness and discussing environmental issues do not directly result in behavioural change or policy action, as Moser and Dilling (2011) point out. Nor does providing more and improved facts, nor inculcating fear. Communication for social change must, they claim, entail efforts to increase the motivation to make a change, and efforts to lower the barriers to realizing it. In line with Moser and Dillon, we argue that people, in a democratic spirit, ought to be actively committed to environmental and/or social issues, making their voices and values heard, and not least to be able to contribute to the making of collective responses. In other words, environmental education needs to reach the hearts of students within various levels of education. Accordingly, the challenge is to acknowledge our emotions, which are responses to an uncertain situation: fear, anger, anxiety, desperation but also hope, optimism, faith, confdence and expectation. Acknowledging these feelings may be a powerful beginning of an essential conversation, which can open up possibilities for new understandings, new actions and new connections between people, and between people and more-than-humans. Actions – or inactions – we take today will make a difference in the future.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Lärande (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Learning (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogiskt arbete (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogical Work (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Education for Sustainable Development; Climate change; Holistic Pedagogy; Relational Pedagogy; Art-based Environmental Education

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