Teaching sustainability. (Environmental Education).

"I want to make a case for fighting poverty, protecting the environment, and in particular protecting people's rights as the path to human security and the foundation, in the long term, for global security," said Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute, in his keynote speech at the Third National Conference on Science, Policy, and the Environment: Education for a Sustainable and Secure Future, held 30-31 January 2003 in Washington, D.C. In Lash's view, too few people make the connection among these three realms, and it is the role of the educational system to begin reversing that lack of insight.

P. Lynn Scarlett, assistant secretary for policy, management, and budget at the U.S. Department of the Interior, and others advocate experiential learning as a leading means to build durability. For example, students studying an ecological system in a field-based curriculum could see the consequences of pollution firsthand. This allows students to feel connected to the environment and, importantly, to see that their actions matter. One simple and successful program, "Birds in the 'Hood," lets urban children and teens help scientists at the Cornell University ornithology lab count and identify neighborhood birds. Meanwhile, others including David Orr, chair of environmental studies at Oberlin College, encourage education that teaches students to "connect the dots"--to think in terms of the big picture and how they themselves fit into the systems and patterns of the environment.

Panelist Dee T. Allsop, CEO of Wirthlin Worldwide, renowned for his marketing research efforts, believes educational methods that create a personal relevance and emotional connection will spur change. "Information is critical because it leads to rational thought, which leads to change in the way that people see things," he says. "But that is secondary to touching people emotionally."

The educational system, along with society in general, still treats the Earth as if it's an infinite resource, said Ray Anderson, chairman of flooring company Interface, at the meeting: "The universities--in their academic programs, credit requirements, curricula, course design, campus design, and campus operation--perpetuate this flawed mind-set from generation to generation, with scarcely a pang of conscience, much less a serious reexamination of [schools'] role in the destruction of the biosphere."

Although several panelists cited many exceptions at all levels of education, the consensus seemed to be that achieving sustainability will depend on broad reform of the educational system, in both how it functions and what it teaches.

The meeting of some 800 scientists, educators, policy makers, business people, government officials, environmentalists, and community leaders was sponsored by the National Council for Science and the Environment, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development. The conference produced recommendations on educational reform for the United States and for the United Nations in enacting its Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2015). These recommendations are available online at http:// www.ncseonline.org/ncseconference/ 2003conference/ and will be compiled into a report and distributed to Congress, federal agencies, and educators at all teaching levels.

The recommendations include infusing sustainability education into all levels of education, from kindergarten through advanced degree programs. Professional development in these areas must be supported, and inclusiveness and diversity in all aspects of education (including content, participation, disciplines, and approaches) promoted. Sustainability concepts must be incorporated into existing accreditation systems, and curricula need to be developed, including content, materials, and tools such as case examples and identification of best practices. And the learning isn't limited to schools by any means. Business leadership for sustainability should be fostered, too, by linking sustainability and stakeholder values and presenting case examples in training, education, and development.

Other key recommendations generated at the conference include developing messages that connect sustainability to core human values, implementing sustainable practices at educational institutions and other federal and private organizations, developing criteria to measure progress, and securing funding and other incentives for implementation of the recommendations.