Abstract
Mainstream education for sustainable development conceives of nature as a resource or commodity. The natural world is, for the most part, accorded only instrumental or utilitarian value. As a field it thus aligns itself with a longstanding paradigm in western thinking that sees humans as separate from and dominant over nature. The de-natured nature of education for sustainable development makes it unlikely that the learner will become motivated to care and act for nature. As an alternative, vernacular learning is proposed, i.e. place-based learning rooted in close intimacy and connection with the natural world, with nature perceived as being intrinsically valuable. The importance of fostering emotional affinity with nature is underlined, as are forms of multi-sensory learning that help the learner engage with both spirit and soul of place. Practical examples of vernacular learning activities are enumerated. The importance of nurturing a sense of wonder and joy in the young learner is put forward as vital in fostering an ethic of concern for the planet. Essentially, the argument goes, we only stir ourselves to protect what we have come to love, and thus cultivating a sense of oneness with nature is vital if we are to have any chance of transforming the global environmental condition. Passion is the harbinger of activism.
Highlights
Mainstream education for sustainable development conceives of nature as a resource or commodity
In the last thirty years the idea of sustainable development has come to be widely advocated as the best hope for alleviating the global environmental condition, a condition marked by the degradation and thinning of ecosystems, huge biodiversity loss, the ubiquitous spread of toxicity, the desertification of land and deadening of oceans, a worsening epidemiological environment for both humans and other-than-humans, depletion of groundwater, and the spoliation of land not least through the outward march of land-devouring urbanisation (Ehrlich & Ehrlich, 2013)
From the perspective of anyone concerned about the wellbeing of the natural world, education for sustainable development (ESD) would seem at first glance to offer an auspicious agenda
Summary
V izobraževanju za trajnostni razvoj prevladuje pojmovanje narave kot vira ali surovine. Denaturalizirana podoba narave, ki prevladuje v konceptu izobraževanja za trajnostni razvoj, pomeni, da je manj verjetno, da bo učenec postal motiviran za skrb in delovanje za naravo. Kot alternativa je predlagano vernakularno učenje, tj. Učenje, temelječe na spoznavanju lokalnega okolja, zakoreninjeno v tesni povezanosti z naravo, ki je razumljena kot intrinzično pomembna. Pomembnost spodbujanja emocionalne afinitete z naravo je podcenjena, prav tako pa so podcenjene tudi oblike multisenzoričnega učenja, ki pomagajo učencu, da se poveže duhovno in duševno s prostorom. Pomembnost negovanja občutka radovednosti in veselja v mladem učencu je postavljena v ospredje kot tisto, kar je pomembno pri spodbujanju etične skrbi za planet. Ključne besede: izobraževanje za trajnostni razvoj, instrumentalno vrednotenje, intrinzično vrednotenje, povezanost z naravo/intimnost, radovednost, vernakularno učenje c e p s Journal | Vol.7 | No1 | Year 2017 11
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