Nektarina (S)pace OCTOBER 2012 ISSN 1847-6694
ISSN 1847-6694
October in the North Dear Friends,
We hope you enjoyed our first issue of Nektarina (S)pace! You can find the link on our website www.education4sustainability.com and also on our Issuu account (link: http://issuu.com/nektarinapublishing/docs/ nektarina_space_newsletter_september_2012 ) The publication is free and available for download, so you can enjoy it offline too.
The second issue brings you Positive Practices from the Nordic countries, and the schools’ section gives us an insight on World Food Day, reveals a yummy recipe, talks about eating in schools and presents a Jamie Oliver project.
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We hope you’ll enjoy reading this newsletter as much as we enjoyed putting it together!
Have fun, learn something, connect with us!
Yours truly, The Nektarina Team
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Chocolate Lake Nova Scotia Canada
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Nektarina (S)pace Web Publication issued monthly by Nektarina Non Profit Issue # 2 October 2012
Published by Nektarina Non Profit
Contributors: Elena Livia Minca Yula Pannadopoulos Nikos Sorrensen
All photographs by Sandra Antonovic
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In this issue Dear Schools, bringing you
Yummy recipes World Food Day Eating at School Jamie Oliver as a positive example
Positive practices: Nordic Countries
and more...
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World Food Day: 16th October
What is it about? Every year, on 16th of October, we celebrate World Food Day, marking the founding date of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 1945. The World Food Day was first proclaimed at the Conference of FAO in 1979. In 1980, the General Assembly of the UN endorsed observance of the Day in consideration of the fact that “food is a requisite for human survival and well-being and a fundamental human necessity”. The aim of the Day is to heighten public awareness of the world food problem and strengthen solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition, poverty and all the issues that lay behind them. Since its establishment, the World Food Day has been observed every year in more than 150 countries.
Its stated objectives are to:
→ encourage attention to agricultural food production and to stimulate
national,
bilateral,
multilateral
and
non-
governmental efforts to this end; → encourage economic and technical cooperation among developing countries;
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→ encourage the participation of rural people, particularly women and the least privileged categories, in decisions and activities influencing their living conditions; → heighten public awareness of the problem of hunger in the world; →
promote
the
transfer
of
technologies
to
the
developing
world; →
strengthen
international
and
national
solidarity
in
the
struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty and draw attention to achievements in food and agricultural development. Since 1981, the World Food Day has adopted each year a different theme, in order to draw attention to the areas that require action. The official World Food Day theme, announced each spring by the FAO, gives focus to the Day observances and raises awareness on the most important topics. Given that 2012 has been designated by the UN General Assembly as the “International Year of Cooperatives” to reflect the interest in cooperatives and rural organizations, the World Food Day theme was selected as to match and complement this interest. The formal wording of the 2012 theme is “Agricultural cooperatives – key to feeding the world”. It has been chosen to highlight the role of cooperatives in improving food security and contributing to the eradication of hunger.
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Why is it important? According to an estimate of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation 925 million people were undernourished in 2010, a number that has gradually increased since 1995-97. Among the causes of this increase stand the neglect by governments and international agencies of agriculture practices appropriate to very poor people, the current worldwide economic crisis and the significant increase of food prices in the past years. In round numbers out of the 7 billion people in the world 13.1%, or almost 1 in 7 people are hungry. Moreover, nearly all of the undernourished are in developing countries. The most visible victims of under-nutrition are children.
Poor
nutrition is a factor in at least half of the 10.9 million child deaths each year, as it magnifies the effect of every other disease, including measles and malaria. In many cases, their struggle begins even before birth with a malnourished mother. According to the most recent estimate, malnutrition affects 32.5% of children in developing countries – that is one in three children. Geographically, more than 70% of malnourished children live in Asia, 26% in Africa and 4% in Latin America and the Caribbean. The main cause of hunger in the world is poverty. In turn, poverty stems from poor people's lack of resources, an extremely unequal income distribution in many regions and countries, conflict, and hunger itself.
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By causing poor health, low levels of energy, and even mental impairment, hunger reduces people's ability to work and learn, thus leading to even greater hunger. According to 2005 statistics, the World Bank has estimated that there were 1,345 million poor people in developing countries who live on $1.25 a day or less. Extreme poverty remains an alarming problem in the world’s developing regions. Progress in poverty reduction has been concentrated in Asia, and especially, East Asia, with the major improvement occurring in China. Still, this progress is not enough to significantly reverse the situation, not to mention achieving the first Millennium Development Goal of extreme poverty eradication. In fact, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people in extreme poverty has increased. The economic and political systems are also involved in causing poverty and hunger. The control over resources and income is often influenced by political, military and economic interests that ultimately end up serving a minority, while those at the bottom are fighting for survival. In this setting, conflict plays an important role as well. Despite some large-scale repatriation movements, the years leading up to 2008 have witnessed a significant increase in refugee numbers, due primarily to the violence taking place in Iraq and Somalia. By the end of 2008, the total number of refugees under UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ mandate exceeded 10 million. At the same time, the number of conflict-induced internally displaced persons reached some 26 million worldwide.
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Furthermore, climate change is increasingly viewed as a current and future challenge in terms of hunger and poverty alleviation and eradication. Extreme events like drought, flooding, and changing climatic patterns and their increasing occurrence will require adaptation of crops and farming practices that may not be easily accomplished.
What we can do The increase in population, often referred to as overpopulation nowadays is usually blamed as the major cause of environmental degradation. We consume a variety of resources and products today, having moved beyond basic needs to include luxury items and technological innovations, as we have always sought ways to make our lives easier. However, some questions regarding this change in lifestyle still need to be raised, starting from how the goods and resources we consume are actually produced, what the impacts on the environment are and how we define necessity and luxury. Businesses and advertising are major engines in promoting the consumption of their products because their survival depends on it. Also influential is the very culture of today in many countries, as well as the media and the political institutions themselves. But we need to figure out how much of what we consume is influenced by their needs and how much by our needs.
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Looking just at the numbers in statistics, the world is still capable to produce enough food to feed everyone. World agriculture produces 17% more calories per person today than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70% population increase. This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2720 kilocalories per person per day. However, the disparities in the world are very large. Many people do not have sufficient land to grow or income to purchase enough food, while others buy in excess or even waste it. In 2005 the wealthiest 20% of the world accounted for 76.6% of total private consumption. The poorest fifth accounted for just 1.5%.
Besides an exaggerated consumption, unnecessary waste also contributes to deepening the disparities between rich and poor. Loads
of
goods
and
especially
food,
which
has
a
shorter
lifespan, are discarded every day, some even before they reach the expiry date. Unsold fruits and vegetables account for a big part of the wasted food. For instance, a report form the Natural Resources Defence Council in the USA showed that Americans discard 40% of the food supply every year. Consumers and restaurants prepare large portions resulting in leftovers that often go uneaten. Thus, an incredible amount of precious resources is wasted as well.
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Moreover, by buying more than they need, people also create a lot of waste that only goes to add to the already full landfills taking over the world. With the development of technologies and diversification of choices excess packaging is also becoming a problem. We can now buy individually wrapped cheese slices or tiny single serve coffee creamers. All the extra packaging, besides contributing to the marketing and advertisement of the product, has no other purpose and will just be thrown away a few seconds after the product is used. Additional resources and energy are uselessly engaged in manufacturing these packaging materials and are ultimately wasted too. In recent years recycling has emerged as a solution to this problem, but it is not yet available in all parts of the world and in many cases people still don’t recycle even in the places where the option exists.
Sadly this is not very pretty picture. But here are a few things we can all do to help improve the situation:
→ buy only what you need, even if the promotions and sales are tempting; bring a bag from home, to avoid buying one every time you shop; → cook more yourself and avoid buying takeaway meals; → plan ahead your meals, so that you don’t end up cooking more than you will eat. If leftovers remain, store them in the fridge and use in the following days;
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→ don’t throw away food without checking if it is still good, just because it past its expiration date; → buy in bulk to save on the packaging waste and also money; → don’t place loose items, such as vegetables, into separate plastic bags; → buy fresh food instead of frozen food, where possible, as frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce → if you have the possibility, grow your own plot; → if a farmers market is available, buy your groceries from there instead of the supermarket, to help out local producers; → buy in-season, possibly organic, vegetables and fruit, to reduce the transport footprint; → reduce your meat consumption and focus on a vegetable and dairy diet; → take a reusable bottle or flask out with you instead of buying bottled water and beverages in disposable cups; → recycle all the packaging that can be recycled; → start a compost unit for the organic waste; → donate food or money to charities that help fight hunger and poverty
Organise a class discussion on the theme of the food availability around the world. Do you think the current situation is sustainable? What could help in improving the situation? Can you think of other ways to make a difference and help reduce the food gap? Write to us at mail@nektarinanonprofit.com
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Behold! Nektarina’s cookbooks presented
Low Carbon and Delicious
In 2011 we launched our first cookbook, called “Low Carbon and Delicious”, following the work we had been doing as a hub of the 10:10 campaign on promoting healthy eating as means of reducing the individual carbon footprint. The cookbook shares over fifty recipes from seventeen countries in the Mediterranean region, providing a simple insight of what “low carbon food” means and how anyone can have a positive impact on the environment from their own kitchen. The Mediterranean was chosen as a focus region due to its well-known incline towards the use of fresh, vegetable ingredients and oils, the Mediterranean diet being renowned for its hale and hearty attributes. A variety of recipes – either vegetarian or vegan – offers a great way to explore other cultures and climates, while having fun creating healthy meals. You can browse through the “Low Carbon and Delicious” cookbook at the following address: http://issuu.com/nektarinapublishing/docs/ low_carbon_and_delicious
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Last year’s inspiration During the last year we have provided each month through our Newsletter to schools a low carbon, in-season recipe for you to try out. It is now time to look back and get inspired once more, as we will gather together all these recipes to be a part of our new cookbook that will be launched this month, to mark the celebration of the World Food Day. Today we are sharing the recipe for October, and you can find the other eleven monthly recipes in our “The Yummy Dozen” cookbook.
October: Apple Pie Ingredients
For the pastry:250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting, 50g icing sugar, sea salt, 1 lemon, 125g cold butter, plus extra for greasing, 1 large egg, preferably free-range or organic, a splash of milk For the filling: 5 apples, 3 tablespoons sugar, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, a handful of sultanas or raisins, ½ a lemon
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To make your pastry → Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4 → From a height, sieve your flour into a large mixing bowl → Add the sugar, a pinch of salt, and finely grate over the zest of the lemon → Cut the butter into cubes, then add to the bowl → Use your fingertips to gently work the butter into the flour and sugar until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs Crack the egg into the bowl with a tiny drop of milk and gently mix with your hands until the dough comes together Wrap it in clingfilm and pop in the fridge to rest while you make the filling
To make your filling → Use a speed peeler to peel all of your apples, then cut the apples into eighths, get rid of the cores Add all the apple pieces to a small pan with the sugar, ginger and sultanas or raisins → Finely grate over the zest of half a lemon, then squeeze in a little juice → Toss to mix then put the pan on a medium low heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes or until the apples are just tender → Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely
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To make and cook your pie → Dust a clean work surface and rolling pin with flour → Divide your pastry dough into two and roll out one half until ½cm thick → Carefully roll your pastry around the rolling pin, then unroll it carefully over a 20cm pie dish → Ease the pastry into the dish, making sure you push it into all the sides → Don’t worry if it tears or breaks – just patch it up – it will look nice and rustic → Pack the apple mix tightly into the pie dish → Separate your remaining egg and beat the yolk with a splash of milk and brush over the pastry rim → Roll out the other piece of dough until ½cm thick → Carefully roll the pastry around the rolling pin, then unroll it over the top of the pie → Fold the excess pastry back in then pinch and crimp the edges together using your finger and thumb → Brush the top of the pie with more egg wash, then using a small sharp knife, make a couple of small incisions in the centre of the pie to let steam escape as it cooks → Bake in the hot oven for 40 to 45 minutes until golden and firm to the touch You can find the original recipe here: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/home-cooking-skills/apple-pie
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Eating at school – sustainable or not? The availability of serving lunch at school has been certainly a step forward in the education system development. Parents no longer needed to prepare the old packed lunch box and children could have a warm meal on-site. Such schemes appeared as early as the 19th century in the UK and over the years they have been introduced in many countries. Obviously, the incurred costs supported either by public or private funding have always been a source of debate and this is one of the main reasons for which these schemes are still lacking in a large number of countries. In the attempt of externalising some of the associated expenses, more and more schools are nowadays contracting with major soft drink and fast food companies. In exchange for sorely needed funds, these corporations are allowed to sell, advertise and promote their products to children in the school. This situation has raised serious questions regarding the quality of the food served to children at school, especially giving the fact that they cannot really have a choice but to eat whatever is offered to them. In addition, taking into account that school is preparing children for their adult life their eating habits are increasingly influenced by the fast-food industry, which is far from being a sustainable model, to say the least. Do you eat lunch at your school or would you like to? If yes, is the food offered produced in a sustainable way? Have there been any programs in your school to inspire a healthy diet? Share your stories with us at mail@nektarinanonprofit.com 32
Some solutions In an effort to stop this unhealthy trend, a growing number of parents, students and school administrators are working to bring fresh, local food back to the cafeteria or dining hall. Consequently, programs generically called farm-to-school programs have been created to bring farm-fresh, local foods to public and even private schools so that kids can enjoy healthy meals. The
programs
also
offer
excellent
educational
opportunities,
bringing students to farms, and chefs to classrooms, while at the same time giving local farmers a great place to sell their products. You can find out more and read about examples of such programs here: http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/the-10most-impressive-farm-to-school-programs In addition, teachers and school officials are realizing that most children have lost their connection with food and the land, so various efforts are underway to expose children to nutritious food, including gardening programs where children grow and then prepare the food they harvest. Teachers are also incorporating sustainable food into their school curriculums.
Setting up a school garden, if the conditions allow it, is a very good way for children to learn about the origins of food and also to become more responsible. How garden work is organized largely depends on the set aims, the school traditions, the age of the children, how many teachers and classes are involved or how much time is set aside for garden work. Most schools with gardens reckon on each class putting in one to two hours a week, with pupils 33
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Does your school have a garden plot? What do you plant on it and how is the work organised? If it is not possible to have a school garden discuss with your classmates and teacher about installing boxes or pots in your classroom to grow small-size veggies. Send us pictures and stories at mail@nektarinanonprofit.com
Positive examples: Jamie Oliver’s campaign
Jamie Oliver is one of the best known modern chefs, not only for his easy-to-follow, straightforward style, but also for his excellent recipes, which go back and bring tradition and simplicity in today’s kitchen. Furthermore, he focuses on healthy eating, from choosing the ingredients, to the way they are cooked. One of his most acclaimed initiatives is trying to instil the healthy way of cooking and eating in schools as well.
Realizing that he could create real, positive change through food and cooking, Jamie turned his attention to the food given to British children at school. He was horrified at the processed junk food on offer and knew things needed to change. Understanding the power of television, Jamie based himself in a school cafeteria and proved that with hard work and commitment, change was possible.
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Jamie's School Dinners (Jamie's School Lunch Project in the U.S) became an international success and the support from the British public led the British government to commit more than one billion dollars to the school food system as well as placing a ban on processed junk food in all UK schools. In 2010 he also developed a new qualification, Jamie's Home Cooking Skills, which is offered in high schools around the UK and teaches children practical cooking skills and fundamental food knowledge. In 2010 Jamie was awarded the prestigious TED Prize to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity. Armed with all his experience and a real passion to get people cooking from scratch, Jamie then headed to Huntington, West Virginia to transform the eating habits and produce and star in his first U.S. primetime network series, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. The series kicked off an American Food Revolution with more than 630,000 people signing a pledge to support better food in schools.
The campaign is now spreading across the USA and Jamie wants to mobilize the huge response to the Food Revolution so far and turn it into a movement for change. Some of the main actions to inspire and educate parents, carers, young adults and children will be:
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→ Freshly cooked meals at school and colleges → An activist program to support parents who want better food in their child's school → A community website to encourage grass-roots activities for change all over the US → Cooking lessons for kids at school; → Lessons teaching basic food skills to healthcare and social care professionals; → Cooking classes for the public in the community.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Food_Day http://www.fao.org/getinvolved/worldfoodday/en/ http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/food/index.html http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world%20hunger% 20facts%202002.htm http://www.globalissues.org/issue/235/consumption-andconsumerism http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/21/food-waste-americansthrow-away-food-study_n_1819340.html http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/environmental-change/takingaction/buying-habits/index.html http://www.sustainabletable.org/schools/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_meal http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/a0218e/A0218E12.htm 38
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Positive Example
Finland: sustainable development in the steering of education and training Finland adopted a more serious attitude toward environmental education and protection of the environment after the Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972. The report of the Commission for Environmental Education in 1978 and the national core curriculum from 1985 raised environmental education as one of the educational goals in general education. Environmental education came to be a cross-curricular theme and also part of vocational education and training. A working group appointed by the Finnish National Commission for UNESCO formulated the National Strategy for Environmental Education in 1992. The strategy recommended measures to be taken in maternity and child healthcare, children’s day-care, the entire educational system, research and scholarship, the Finnish Defence Forces, the Evangelical Lutheran Church and parishes, non-governmental organizations, trade and industry, media, and international cooperation.
In the 1990s, environmental education was expanded to consider all the dimensions of sustainable development. The focus shifted to the study of the ecological, economic, social, and cultural effects of human activities. It began to assess operating habits critically and to search for new solutions considering all the dimensions of sustainable development simultaneously. The revised core curricula of the new millennium state that sustainable development must be included in the teaching of all subjects, and the school’s operational culture must support learning.
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Political and administrative steering The Council of State defines the general lines of educational policy and draws up the development plans. Every four years it endorses a plan for the development of Ministry of Education training in the field of administration and development of research and scholarship in universities. The development plan Education and Research 2003–2008 states that sustainable development shall be promoted in education and research. The Ministry of Education published in February 2006 the report “Sustainable development in education; Implementation of Baltic 21E programme and Finnish strategy for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014)”. It contains policy definitions for the whole educational system. A working group appointed by the Ministry of Education made a proposal for a national action plan for Global Education. One of the activity areas included in the Global Education 2010 programme promotes the ability to perceive the world as a whole with limited natural resources; a world in which we need to learn to save resources and distribute them fairly, equally, and equitably. The Local Government Act states that local authorities shall strive to promote the welfare of their residents and sustainable development in their areas. In a 1997 Strategy for Sustainable Development adopted by the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities (revised in 2001), the importance of collaboration between sectors and the integration of sustainable development perspectives in municipal planning are emphasized. 45
Curriculum steering In compliance with laws, decrees, and the approved distribution of lesson hours, the Finnish National Board of Education draws up the national core curriculum for basic, upper secondary and upper secondary level vocational education and training and the foundations of degrees for vocational education. NBE also approves the core curricula for pre-school education and both the morning and afternoon activities of school-goers. Based on the core curricula, local authorities and other education providers devise their own curricula which are specified and complement the aims and core contents. Teachers implement the aims and contents of the adopted curriculum in the classroom. Cross-curricular themes are key areas in educational work. Their aims and contents are incorporated into several subjects and they pose a challenge to integrate instruction. Sustainable development is a cross-curricular theme in the national core curriculum for basic education, adopted in 2004, for upper secondary education, adopted in 2003, and for basic and upper secondary education for adults, adopted in 2004. Sustainable development must be included in the local curriculum work in the common and optional subjects and in common events, and it must be apparent in the school’s operational culture. The central tenets in both the curricula for basic and upper secondary education are the development of environmental literacy and future thinking, a sustainable way of life and learning to participate in public affairs and influence decision-making. 46
In vocational education and on-the-job learning, promotion of sustainable development is a common emphasis in all fields. Four credits of environmental knowledge can be included in optional studies. Knowledge of environmental skills is part of the vocational skills in one’s own field. The beginning of 2006 will see an act regarding the implementation of the demonstration of vocational skills bring forth sustainable development in each vocational field.
Other steering The Ministry of Education is responsible for the development of educational, science, cultural, sport and youth policies and international cooperation in these fields. It also defines the allocation of resources. The Finnish National Board of Education supports the curriculum work of the schools and educational institutions and the implementation of environmental systems via training, production of learning materials, networking support, and a web-service on sustainable development. The national core curricula and foundations of degrees, in turn, steer the producers of learning materials and degrees, teacher trainers and the initiation of development projects. Research, scholarship and assessment provide new perspectives to the development of education and training. Researchers and scholars are involved in many school development projects. New innovations are generated in national and international projects and programmes.
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The administration provides library, information and web-services. Training, visits and theme days are organized for schools. The administration also participates in local, regional, national and international cooperative projects. National parks and other reservation areas and their nature centres are important learning environments for people of all ages. Environmental awareness is promoted particularly through extensive distribution of information in the media. Metsähallitus, a state enterprise whose primary tasks are to supply wood to the forest industry and manage most of Finland’s protected areas, is in charge of nature guide services in Finnish national parks. The Finnish Association for Environmental Education promotes education for sustainable development and coordinates the activities of organizations in the field. The objective is to support and promote the educational work of organizations, improve the dissemination of information, and reduce overlaps in the activities of organizations. At the same time, it strives to create a common understanding among the organizations of what good education for sustainable development is. The association hosts a nature school group and a network of researchers in the field. It promotes interaction between researchers and educators. Nature and environmental schools support the environmental education work done in schools and day-care by teaching ecological literacy. The teaching takes place in the nature or other environments relevant to the instructional themes and is active learning, hands on and learning through experience. At the moment there are 24 nature and environmental schools in Finland. 48
The network covers mainly the biggest cities in Southern Finland. The most important target groups of nature schools are the pupils and teachers in pre-school and basic education. Special environmental systems have been designed for schools. The Green Flag is an international programme of environmental education with the purpose of developing ecological everyday practices and furthering the participation of children and young people in decision-making.
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Norway: the Norwegian approach to sustainable development Norwegian authorities claim to have taken a systemic approach to the issue of environmental education in line with the goals of the Brundtland Report, and see themselves as a vanguard of education for sustainable education. This systemic approach attempts “to create an institutional framework which at all levels promotes environmental education and in which environmental education is compulsory and fully integrated into normal activities”. Actually, the Norwegian Government became inspired by the UN Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 and included environmental education in the curricula for primary and secondary education already in 1974. In 1974 a subject called “nature and environmental protection” was introduced and later changed to “nature and the environment”. However, these early efforts were often limited to focusing on pollution control and nature conservation, and it was not until the national curriculum of 1987 that the environment was seen as part of the larger social and economic picture. While environmental education is an integral part of the Norwegian school system, teaching about sustainable development is not as systemic as one might hope. While there can be little dispute that the Norwegian population – young and old – has ready access to and knowledge about the environmental challenges we are facing, there seems to be a certain apathy – as illustrated
in the decline of
environmental enthusiasm – towards taking real and decisive steps in order to deal with these. 50
Since the publication of the Brundtland Report in 1987, sustainable development has been declared a policy goal by the Norwegian Government. However, the enthusiasm and priority given to sustainable development varies according to the social, political and economic situation. Despite fluctuations in priorities within the electorate and political system, sustainable development has been developed and integrated into the policy structure. Sustainable development is an integral part of the language and justification of policy and politics in Norway. In 1989, the Norwegian Government issued the White Paper no. 46 “On environment and development” as a response to the publication of Our Common Future two years earlier. A concrete result of the White Paper was the implementation of an obligatory course called “Nature, society and the environment” in teacher training in 1992. The subject was removed in 2002 with little resistance from politicians and bureaucrats. Research shows that lack of knowledge among teachers as well as scant resources are key challenges to integrating sustainability issues into teaching. The teachers’ attitude and interest in the theme, along with variables such as time and economy are also determining factors for why sustainable development and related issues are given small priority. In response to the UN Decade for Education for Sustainable Development the Norwegian Government issued a document that summarizes the current situation and outlines challenges ahead for education for sustainable development. Even though this document is often referred to as a strategy plan for sustainable development, it 51
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does not spell out a new strategy or path, but provides an overview of the different initiatives taken by the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training. The initiatives include developing and supporting project-based learning about sustainable development. The document does not provide information on how many schools are involved in these projects, but it mentions that the national curriculum should guide education for sustainable development. The National Curriculum During the past decade “Lærerplan 97” (L97 – Curriculum 1997) has been the guiding document for teaching in primary and secondary education in Norway. In the fall of 2006, L97 was replaced by a new reform and curriculum called Kunnskapsløftet (KL07 - “The Knowledge Promotion 2007”). The overall organization of the subjects remained the same, except for some changes in the structure of individual subjects and number of hours devoted to the different subjects. The major change is that the new plan provides clearer, shorter and more overarching goals for the education.
In both L97 and KL07, issues related to sustainable development are primarily covered in the subjects: social science and natural science (in KL07 the “environmental” part of the subject’s name was omitted). However, in the curricula for the subjects: “Food and Health”, “Christianity, Religion and Ethics”, and “Arts and Crafts”, mention sustainability, but it is not a central focus in neither of these subjects. 54
Both the old and the new curricula provide relatively little emphasis on environmental and developmental issues the first seven years, but such issues gain more attention at the secondary level.
RORG, a coalition of Norwegian NGOs, argues that KL07 is a step down when it comes to the education for a sustainable future. Overall it is the environmental aspect of sustainable development that receives attention in the curriculum. The NGOs claim that the curriculum is missing a global development focus with attention to issues such as inequality and poverty in an international perspective. Furthermore, the Norwegian authorities’ focus on sustainable development and international cooperation seems to be largely absent in the curriculum. Another critic of the new curriculum, educational researcher Camilla Schreiner, criticises the lack of systematic inclusion of sustainable development in the new plan and argues that the natural sciences are presented as detached from the social and environmental reality.
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Sweden:
from
environmental
education
to
education for sustainable development Considering that Sweden has a long tradition of environmental education, the Swedish research field is relatively new. Since the beginning of the 20th century outdoor education has had a strong position in the Swedish curriculum, and care for nature and environmental concern have been recurring themes in these activities. In the late 1960s, the outdoor education tradition fused with the new wave of environmentalism that arose during these years to form the basis for Swedish environmental education. This combination is evident in the Swedish national curriculum of 1969 (Lgr 69), in which environmental education intentions appear for the
first
time. Important inspiration for the Swedish environmental education movement came in 1972, when the Swedish government initiated the first major global environmental meeting known as the Stockholm Conference (the UN Conference on the Human Environment). At this conference education was emphasised as a key issue in environmental protection. Detailed guidelines for environmental education were further developed at the world’s first intergovernmental conference on environmental education organised by UNESCO in Tbilisi, Georgia in 1977. The Tbilisi Declaration had a strong impact on the national curriculum of 1980 (Lgr 80), in which environmental perspectives were integrated foremost in science education.
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The importance of education in the strivings for a sound relationship with the environment, and later for a sustainable development, have been emphasised in a number of UN policy declarations and reports: Our Common Future, 1987; Agenda 21, 1992; and the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, 2002. In order to further underline the importance of education in addressing global challenges, in 2002 the UN General Assembly declared 2005–2014 as the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). The DESD declaration signifies one of the most obvious changes in environmental education policy and practice
in
recent
years,
namely
the
conceptual
change
from
“environment” to “sustainable development”.
In Sweden “sustainable development” has been less controversial than in the rest of the world. While there may be several reasons for this, the fact that there has been strong political consensus about the concept and the fact that many regard it as a necessary qualitative improvement of the welfare state have probably contributed. This can of course been seen as a rather naïve attitude that hides the ideological tensions and embedded contradictions within the concept. However, ESD does not necessarily have to be restricted to the UNESCO version, but can be interpreted and negotiated in many different ways. The interesting thing is therefore to reflect on what kind of changes these interpretations and negotiations bring about in educational practice.
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One way of capturing these changes is to study “selective traditions� within sustainability and environmental education. Such studies have shown a gradual transition from a fact-based tradition characterised by a focus on the transference of scientific knowledge, via a normative tradition with a focus on teaching students the necessary environmentally friendly values and attitudes, to a pluralistic tradition that endeavours to mirror the variety of opinions and perspectives informing contemporary debate. Another way of describing this shift is in terms of a movement from behavioural modification to a participatory approach involving diverse
interest
groups
towards
supporting
independent
opinion-
making, action competence and critical thinking. Changes in environmental and sustainability education are not only evident in the approach and the teaching methods, however. The content is also shifting. In particular, the sustainability perspective has significantly broadened the scope for this kind of education. There is a clear trend towards giving political and moral perspectives greater importance in environmental and sustainability education and that increasing attention is paid to the interrelations between economic development, environmental protection and social justice, both on a local and global scale. Not least, climate change and its increasingly obvious consequences have made it necessary to capture the complexity of sustainability issues in educational practice. As a consequence, the broadening of environmental education is no longer the sole responsibility of science education.
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In fact, in many secondary and upper secondary schools, social science teachers seem to be taking a leading role in the development of these teaching perspectives. Today, environmental and sustainability education issues are central concerns in many subjects in the Swedish educational system as a whole – from preschool to higher education.
Sources: http://www.oru.se/Extern/Forskning/Forskningsmiljoer/HumUS/ Utbildning_och_Demokrati/Tidskriften/2011/New%20Swedish% 20environmental%20and%20sustainability%20education%20research.pdf http://www.ceres21.org/media/UserMedia/Laumann%20thesis.pdf http://www.oph.fi/download/47693_engnetKekekajako.pdf
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