Schools - Making the Vision a Reality

Schools

Making the Vision A Reality

Schools can lead society in demonstrating effective approaches to tackling climate change and other sustainability issues. In many cases, this is already occurring as schools take on whole of organisation responses to sustainability with very impressive results.

Catholic schools have a particular opportunity to engage in the development of hope and proactive response to major climate and sustainability issues. The stewardship and kinship of the natural and human world as outlined in the scriptures and long held traditions of the Catholic church leave the Catholic mission in a prime position to aid community and in particular youth, to make a positive contribution to the human story.

Contemporary sustainability practice in schools has been born from a long held consideration of the impact of human development on the natural or ecological systems of our planet. The origins of what we now know as environmental education started with these global concerns over 30 years ago and formed what is typically called the principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development or ESD. In parallel to these ecological principles, social justice has been a prime element of world wide social, political and educative movements to tackle the fair distribution of global resources as well as the protection of natural environments. The contemporary climate change debate was started within these contexts during the mid 70’s.