Educación ambiental y prácticas para la sostenibilidad: debates en torno a un consenso académico necesario de profundizar

Abstract

For this third decade of the 21st century, the relationship between environmental education and sustainability practices is more than evident; however, the dynamics of today's world demand a deeper understanding of this interrelationship.

One of the most tangible legacies of the previous century highlights the consequences that the economic development model, with its uncontrolled industrialization, has had on life for successive generations. Climate change, loss of biodiversity, destruction of ecosystems, environmental pollution and problems of access to water, among others, have contributed to increasing the problems of an increasingly conflictive global society. Although States and international organizations have increasingly focused their priorities on these issues, they are still far from achieving the proposed objectives; small, targeted palliatives have been applied, losing sight in practice of the fact that the problem is a global one. However, it should be noted that the role of education in achieving sustainability was highlighted at the international level for the decade 2005-2014, where UNESCO declared the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, with the aim of "(...) promoting education as the foundation of a more viable society for humanity and integrating sustainable development into the school education system at all levels. The Decade will also strengthen international cooperation for the development and sharing of innovative practices, policies and programs in education for sustainable development". Undoubtedly, environmental education is today one of the tools par excellence for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals; the cross-cutting component that these require can largely be achieved by education, as it allows to cover the multidimensionality of environmental aspects given the diversity of disciplinary and methodological approaches that tend to reflect on inequality, responsibility, ethics and proposals to overcome the vicissitudes imposed by environmental problems. This leads us to think and rethink about economic development models that do not deplete natural resources, the human being - nature relationship, the conceptions of solidarity - individualism, responsible consumption, fair trade and citizen activism.

Sustainability requires education that modifies daily habits at multiple levels of aggregation: home, community, state and international society, both in urban and rural areas; it is central to combating poverty and social inequity and contributing to food security and citizen training. Hence the importance of environmental education becoming systematic practices that contribute to sustainability in pursuit of a better quality of life.

With these summarized considerations in mind, the editors of this work understand that it is necessary to share with the reader the reasons that give life to this initiative; perhaps it is not customary in academic introductions to begin with an anecdote, but in this case noblesse oblige, as the popular saying goes. Indeed, upon receiving and evaluating the results of the call for research chapters for the book Environment and sustainability: challenges and challenges from interdisciplinarity, which precedes this one and which together with Studies on environment and sustainability: a look from Colombia are part of the Environmental Studies Collection under the editorial coordination of the Universidad Santo Tomás, Tunja section, it became evident the important number of works that take the subject as their axis, denoting the crucial importance of environmental education and the implementation of the necessary conditions for sustainability.