The Rhetoric–Reality Gap

Abstract

The understanding that it is not possible to sustain current human–environment relationships, and that the social and environmental consequences of unmitigated use of natural resources and exponential population growth are catastrophic, has led to global calls to transform the way that human societies operate. Any journey of transformation begins with the willingness and ability to question the philosophy upon which current practices are founded. This means that if a society is to transform the well-established human–environment relationships that define, and are defined by, the cultural values of that society, significant questioning must take place: the questioning of the values that shape the way in which that society operates; the questioning of the role of educational institutions and how these support either the continuance, or the transformation, of that society’s predominant cultural values; the questioning of the practices of educators and the role they play in shaping and empowering that society’s future decision makers; and the questioning of how an understanding of these issues is best developed in order to most effectively inform the process of transformation.