By May East, CEO Gaia Education
Excerpts of a talk during the UN High-Level Meeting on Education
‘No really creative transformation can possibly be effected by human beings … unless they are in the creative state of mind that is generally sensitive to the differences that always exist between the observed fact and any preconceived ideas, however noble, beautiful, and magnificent they may seem to be’. David Bohm
There is an international consensus that our generation is facing a convergence of multiple crises. Beyond this, there is a realisation that the mindset that has created this convergence cannot solve it. We need a different mindset, a different framework.
At the United Nations Rio+20 conference in Brazil, world leaders agreed to try to define a global framework that would address the multiple crises and put humanity on a sustainable pathway. For three years there was the biggest consultation ever in human history. The Sustainable Development Goals that were the result of this process were heavily negotiated, involving uneasy compromises. They have a broad legitimacy amongst all parties.
For some the sustainability concept suffers from internal flaws. It fails to offer guidance on how to arbitrate between conflicting drivers of economic growth, planetary boundaries and social justice. As a framework it aims to provide a balance between humanity and the earth. Yet our presence on the planet has become so forceful and at the same time so disruptive that we need not just to sustain, we need to regenerate. The human quest today is bigger than the SDGs. Achieving the Goals requires a profound transformation in the way we live, think and act, to bring us into resonance with the living earth. And education and culture have a key role in this transformation
But what sort of education?
Should we favour Paulo Freire’s invigorating critique of the ‘banking’ model of education, which regards students as mere receivers of education, devoid of creative impetus?
Or should we challenge educators to equip our students with the practical skills, analytic abilities and philosophical depth to reshape the human presence in the world.
By this, I mean an education that replaces the extractive consumer economy with one that eliminates the concept of waste, uses energy and materials with great efficiency, and distributes wealth fairly within and between generations.
I mean an education that promotes interdependence and working together to reverse climate change and increase the bio-productivity of the planet to create a collaborative rather than a competitive society for all.
I also mean an education that makes quality of life, rather than open-ended economic growth, the focus of future thinking.
At a practical level, I believe that every school should establish a school garden that not only produces food but is an essential underpinning of all subjects on the curriculum. A school garden, an edible ecosystem, is a microcosm of life.
In this way, students would learn about the place humans occupy in the biosphere, not as masters exploiting nature, but as co-creators of resilience with the entire construct of life. Without this central understanding, we humans will continue to err.
A school garden underpins classroom studies in ecology, biology, physics, and mathematics, relating them to issues as diverse as soil, climate, integral water management, the cycles of carbon and nitrogen, the cycle of life, reproduction, habitats and construction, nutrition and health, and the crucial role of microbes in in connecting humans with ‘nature’.
The social sciences also could benefit from a school garden. Students can learn about sharing, equality, inclusivity and social justice as imperatives for a peaceful co-existence locally and globally. There are also opportunities for exploring democratic decision-making.
The poet Yeats once said Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.’ This is the task before educators: igniting the fire of the current and future young glocalisers, harnessing their aspirations so that they can in time re-design the human presence in the planet.
About the author
May East (also known as Maria Elisa Capparelli Pinheiro) is a British/Brazilian educator, spatial planner, singer and songwriter. Over the years she has alternated voices of advocacy with voices of inspiration and considered herself an artivist.
Her work spans the fields of ‘artivism’, urban ecology, and women’s studies. Designated one of the 100 Global SustainAbility Leaders three years in a row, she leads a whole generation of regenerative educators and practitioners in 49 countries working with community-based organizations and intergovernmental agencies in the development of policy guidance and projects strengthening climate resilience, food security, and livelihood action.
Since 2013 May East has been contributing articles to The Scotsman, The Guardian, the Scientific Journal of the European Ecocycles Society and Sustainability (journal) published by MDPI.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_East