Earth Science Education as a Key Component of Education for Sustainability

Abstract

Environmental insight has emerged as a new scientific concept which incorporates the understanding that the Earth is made up of interworking subsystems and the acceptance that humans must act in harmony with the Earth’s dynamic balanced cycle. This Earth system competency represents the highest level of knowing and understanding in the geosciences community. Humans have an important role as participative beings in the Earth’s subsystems, and they must therefore acknowledge that life on Earth depends on a geoethically responsible management of the Earth system. Yet, the world is far from achieving sustainable development, making the role of the Earth science education in promoting education for sustainability even more relevant. The Earth system approach to education is designed to be an effective learning tool for the development of the innovative concept of environmental insight. Through a holistic view of planet Earth, students realize that humans have the ability to enjoy a sustainable life on our planet while minimising detrimental environmental impacts. There is growing evidence that citizens value science and need to be informed about Earth system problems such as climate change, resource efficiency, pandemics, sustainable use of water resources, and how to protect bio-geodiversity. By moving away from both traditional practices and traditional perceptions, environmental insight and geoethics will lead towards an education for sustainability that provides the citizens of Earth with the tools they need to address the full complexity of its urgent environmental concerns.

The geoscience profession's response to COVID-19 pandemic - An European Federation of Geologists' overview

“…The imminent positive effects of the industrial slow-down due to the COVID-19 are visible also in the lower environmental impacts (i.e., Figueres, 2020;Le Querere et al, 2020;Zalasiewicz, 2020), which hopefully will set new foundations for the future where "the pandemic acts as a catalyst to change society's planetary impact, such as by decarbonising industry across the world" (Zalasiewicz, 2020). An important factor that will facilitate this process in a positive direction is geoethically responsible management of the Earth system and this will only be possible with shifting away from both traditional practices by the industry and traditional perceptions by the society, starting with the education for sustainability that will provide the humanity with the tools we need to address the full complexity of the urgent environmental concerns (Vasconcelos and Orion, 2021). Other recent contributions to discussion on geoethics and the future development of geoscience also strongly support these challenges, both in relation to the traditional geo-professional topics and in relation to much wider sustainability challenges as a consequence of the "anthropocene" (Marone and Bohle, 2020;Peppoloni and Di Capua, 2020).…”

Educating for a Holistic View of the Earth System: A Review

“…This concept has expanded to bond the environmental, economic, and social aspects of sustainable development [2]. To guarantee the permanence of the human species on Earth, society must adapt to the planet's dynamics and its limited resources, minimizing its impacts [5]. One thing is clear, there is no Planet B [6] and contemporary society must reflect on the impacts of citizens' daily actions on Earth.…”

“…This systemic notion of the Earth system's behavior is relatively recent, therefore its perception by the majority of citizens may not be a reality as it is not yet an applied approach in schools in many countries [3]. Investment in geosciences education is required for shifting the way citizens perceive the planet and its dynamics towards sustainability [5]. To this end, it is urgent to (re)think about how to teach and learn the (Earth) sciences and leave multidisciplinary paradigms to embrace inter-or transdisciplinarity-a trend that is already beginning to be observed [18,20].…”

“…Nonetheless, to understand the close and intricate relationships between Earth subsystems and to realize the extent of anthropogenic impacts on the planet, it is necessary to develop several cognitive skills, such as system thinking [18,21]. The latter must be stimulated and developed through educational activities, and geosciences education may take on particular importance in this process due to the very characteristics of Earth sciences [5].…”

“…Geoscientists, as professionals who practice the geosciences, may resort to system thinking to understand geological processes, phenomena, and the particularities of the planet that occur in different spatiotemporal scales [5], for which prediction and retrospection are extremely important [18].…”