Human Environment Connections Research Articles

Restore the shore: online STEM engagement impacts on youths’ conceptualizations of living shorelines and connection to water

Virtual reality (VR) and electronic field trips (EFT) can introduce youth to natural environments, climate change mitigation strategies, and related STEM careers. We developed a VR and EFT outreach program featuring scientists working on living shorelines for coastal restoration as a response to sea-level rise and examined the program’s impacts on youth through survey and arts-based methods. We found that: a) VR and EFTs proved to be effective for increasing participants’ connection to water, shoreline conservation, and STEM careers and b) arts-based methods can be used to examine participants’ sense of place but could be strengthened to emphasize human-environment connection.

Spatiotemporal change analysis of land use/land cover in NCT of Delhi, India using geospatial technology

Increasing anthropological and economic activity has transformed human–environment connections. Using remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS), severe issues connected to rapid growth, such as supplemental infrastructure, informal residents, demolition of ecological construction, shortage of natural resources, and environmental contamination, have been studied for a fast-growing metropolis like Delhi. Industrialization accelerates urbanization, resulting in land transformations, which are one of the major uses of natural resources. In a fast-growing city like Delhi, the development has been rapid, and it is important to investigate the factors behind these shifts. For the present study, remote sensing and GIS models are used for land use and land cover (LULC) change detection. The applied model in the study uses the satellite datasets of two different satellites, i.e., Landsat 5 (TM) of 2010 and Landsat 8 (OLI) of 2021, from November with little or no cloud cover, which could block the LULC features. The study compares the temporal LULC map and analyzes the change and increase in urbanization for two periods, 2010 and 2021. In the study, it is revealed that urbanization causes constant shifts in vegetation, built-up area ratio, and land-use patterns. To confirm the same, indices like the normalized difference vegetation index and the normalized difference building index are also studied. Inequitable land use is a major contributor to environmental degradation. The spatial datasets from two time periods used in the study and the database results are helpful in extensive LULC investigations, land use planning, spatial growth, and urbanization patterns in the NCT of Delhi. Further, the change detection model used in the study was supported by the standard accuracy assessment of the Kappa coefficient. Overall accuracy in 2010 was 89.52% with a Kappa statistic of 0.863 and 89.92% with a Kappa statistic of 0.868 in 2021. Such studies using remote sensing and GIS are extremely helpful in understanding and monitoring urban sprawl patterns.

Determinants of an Environmentally Sustainable Model for Competitiveness

Environmental practices in the logistics industry play a significant role in environmental sustainability, but how logistics professionals and logistics service providers (LSPs) engage with environmental practices is inexplicable. This paper explores the human–environment connection within the LSPs context to develop an environmentally sustainable model through environmental leadership that encourages the organizational structure and green practices to obtain sustained performance and competitiveness. The paper reviews LSP articles extracted from the SCOPUS and Web of Science databases. The results provide an environmentally sustainable model for LSPs and managers, stimulating themselves from within to green actions and sustainability to enhance their reputation and image, competitiveness, environmental preservation, human well-being, and service differentiation and innovation. The findings also reveal that the intrinsic attributes of leaders are more conducive to fostering the organizational design of environmental practices. The determinants of environmental intrinsic leadership values are emotional, biospheric (i.e., valuing the environment), altruistic (i.e., respecting the welfare and well-being of other human beings), egoistic (i.e., valuing personal resources), and hedonic values (i.e., loving pleasure and comfort) within leaders. The khalifa for 6P sustainability performance effectively is as follows: green practice, profit, planet, people, and product, process/service innovation. This study provides theoretical and practical implications for the logistics industry.

A case study of student-led environmental projects for children's citizenship

연구목적: 이 연구는 학생주도 환경 프로젝트를 통해 어린이 시민성에 관한 학습자 변화를탐색하는 데 목적이 있다. 방법: 이 연구는 환경 프로젝트에 참여한 초등학생의 어린이 시민성 관련 변화를 탐색하기위한 사례연구로 연구 참여자의 학습 과정에 초점을 두고 참여관찰, 면담 등을 통해 질적 자료를수집·분석하였다. 결과: 지속가능한 학교와 지역사회 만들기 프로젝트에 참여한 초등학생의 변화를 확인하였다. ‘사회적 환경 정체성’ 차원에서 환경을 바라보는 관점의 형성, 환경과의 연결성 인식, 환경동아리구성원의 책임감, 실천지식과 실천범위의 확장이 이루어졌다. ‘참여’에 관하여는 학생주도 참여의경험, 연대적 참여의 기회를 가질 수 있었다. ‘역량’ 측면에서는 감정 경험을 통한 자기효능감형성, 의사결정과 의사소통의 중요성 인식, 타인과의 상호작용, 어린이의 임파워먼트(힘) 인식이이루어졌다. 결론: 어린이 시민성 함양을 위한 학생주도 프로젝트가 갖는 환경교육적 의미와 학습자의 변화를확인할 수 있었다. 어린이 시민성을 함양하기 위해 삶의 맥락 속에서 환경과 나의 연결성을인식하도록 하고, 어린이가 자신의 주체성에 기반하여 참여할 수 있는 환경교육이 필요하다. 이를 위해 교사의 실천적 관심과 학생주도 프로젝트에 대한 가이드라인의 제공이 요구되며, 학생들이 변화의 주체로 참여하고 학생들의 의견이 반영될 수 있는 정서, 사회, 경제적 지원이필요하다.Objectives: The purpose of this study is to explore learners' changes related to children's citizenship through student-led environmental projects. Methods: This study is a case study of children's citizenship with elementary students who were involved in student-led environmental projects. Qualitative data were collected and analyzed through participatory observations and in-depth interviews with a focus on the process of the students’ involvement. Results: The changes in elementary students who were involved in student-led projects for their own school and local community were identified in terms of ‘social environmental identity', ‘participation', and the ‘competence' in this study. Regarding the social environmental identity, the students showed changes in their perspectives on the environment, the recognition of human-environment connections, responsibility as a member of an environmental club, and the expansion of action knowledge. On participation, the students undertook their environmental projects with student agency and experienced solidarity. Regarding competence, they showed changes in self-efficacy through emotional experiences, recognition of the importance of decision-making and communication, interactions with others, and recognition of children's empowerment. Conclusions: The implications of student-led projects to cultivate children's citizenship and changes in learners were identified for environmental education. In order to cultivate children's citizenship, it is necessary to recognize the connection between the environment and oneself in the context of life, to enable children to participate, and to provide environmental education based on student agency. To achieve these goals, teachers' provision of guidelines for student-led projects are required, and economic, emotional, and social supports and systems in which students participate as agents of change and where students' opinions are reflected are needed.

Environmental Practices That Have Positive Impacts on Social Performance: An Empirical Study of Malaysian Firms

Despite many environmental studies, the literature lacks studies emphasizing the significant nature of the human–environment connection. This study focuses on the impact of manufacturing environmental practices on social performance, which is crucial for employees’ wellbeing, human development, and quality of life that lacks empirical evidence. This study searches for a mechanism to enhance social performance through sustainable practices and test the mediating effects of environmental collaboration. This study examines the proposed hypotheses on the data sample of 120 Malaysian manufacturing firms, with partial least squares structural equation modeling. Explicitly, the results reveal sustainable practices comprised of purchasing social responsibility (PSR), long term orientation (LTO), supplier assessment (SA), and environmental collaboration (EC) contribute almost 50% of social performance. Still, LTO and SA are the best practices. PSR, LTO, and SA significantly contribute 45% of EC, but LTO and PSR remain the best sustainable practices. Firms investing in these sustainable practices of improving social performance, driven by sustainability, show these are worthy strategies. Concentrating on certain sustainable practices could improve employees’ wellbeing, human development, and quality of life. The novel contribution of the study is the formulation of social performance and its empirical work testing the mediating effects of EC between sustainable practices and social performance.

Agrobiodiversity’s caring material practices as a symbolic frame for environmental governance in Colombia’s southern Tolima

Agrobiodiversity scholarship broadly examines plant-human interactions in agricultural landscapes and often concerns the governance of seed resources. This article pivots attention away from agrobiodiversity as a set of governable genetic resources to examine how the relational aspects of agrobiodiversity come to symbolize a future vision of environmental governance. Tolima residents are between two significant socio-environmental events: the 2016 Peace Accord ending decades of violent conflict and the development of an irrigation megaproject. This context creates space in which to imagine future governance relations. Drawing insights from political ecology-informed environmental governance and feminist care ethics, I show how caring material practices around native seeds translate into a vision for governance. The symbolic frame of agrobiodiversity promotes an alternative ordering of human-environment relations than that of export-oriented production, which has recently increased in southern Tolima. Methods included 42 interviews, 60 household surveys, and participant observation throughout 12 months. Findings illustrate that the caring material practices of agrobiodiversity particularly in seed exchanges, home gardens, and kitchens become a symbolic frame for environmental governance in which access to land, food, and community cohesion are ensured and protected. This research makes two contributions to the literature of agrobiodiversity. First, drawing on feminist care ethics, I argue that the caring material practices of agrobiodiversity create ‘care-full’ human-environment connections, especially important in the post-conflict context. Second, findings suggest that agrobiodiversity is not simply a set of plant materials to be governed, but also can have a strong symbolic function as a frame for environmental governance.

An Investigation of How Environmental Science Textbooks Link Human Environmental Impact to Ecology and Daily Life.

Making direct connections between humanity and the environment is of ever-increasing importance in the context of today’s environmental crisis. We used qualitative content analysis of precollege- and college-level introductory environmental science textbook case studies to study how they portray humanity’s link to the environment. We assessed case studies for how specific and data rich they are and for how they link together daily life, human impact, and ecological interactions. We found that, for many textbooks, case study stories were vaguely drawn and included few data. We also found that, for all textbooks, case studies almost always described human impacts without linking to their ecological underpinnings and daily life connections were frequently missing from human impact discussion. We use comparisons of case studies to make the argument that data and specific details tell more fleshed-out relatable stories, that connecting to daily life will more likely challenge student perceptions of people as separate from the environment, and that explicit inclusion of ecological interactions into environmental stories better explains how people connect to and impact the rest of the living world.

Sociocultural vitality versus regulation policy and tourism development in preservation of traditional rural landscape: a case from Guizhou, China

ABSTRACT The preservation of traditional rural landscape and community is affected not only by exogenous driving factors such as top-down policy and tourism industry, but by endogenous driving factors derived from the rural social and cultural context. The mechanism and performance of various forces has rarely been studied before. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of exogenous versus endogenous driving forces influencing rural landscape preservation from community level to individual level through a case of Tunpu villages in southwest China. Field mapping and analysis are conducted, expert scoring and questionnaire survey data are adopted, and OLS regressions are combined with qualitative analysis in this study. The results show that: 1) at community level, the socio-cultural vitality is strongly and positively correlated with the traditional rural landscape integrity; 2) at individual level, endogenous driving factors (i.e. human–environment connection and community-based organization) have more general and positive effects on residents’ cognition, willingness, and behavior toward traditional rural landscape preservation comparing with the exogenous driving factors (i.e. top-down regulation policy and tourism development); resident’s cognition, willingness, and behavior are homogenous despite different genders, occupations, and education levels. Our findings highlight the importance of community-based endogenous forces in promoting the preservation of traditional rural landscape. We also discuss the necessity of internal rural capacity building as well as the opportunities for a more inclusive neo-endogenous development strategy for future rural landscape preservation, policy-making, and tourism development. Overall, we hope to help promoting sustainable rural landscape preservation and utilization.

Understanding Long-Term Savanna Vegetation Persistence across Three Drainage Basins in Southern Africa

Across savanna landscapes of southern Africa, people are strongly tied to the environment, meaning alterations to the landscape would impact livelihoods and socioecological development. Given the human–environment connection, it is essential to further our understanding of the drivers of savanna vegetation dynamics, and under increasing climate variability, to better understand the vegetation–climate relationship. Monthly time series of Advanced Very High-Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR)- and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) derived vegetation indices, available from as early as the 1980s, holds promise for the large-scale quantification of complex vegetation–climate dynamics and regional analyses of landscape change as related to global environmental changes. In this work, we employ time series based analyses to examine landscape-level vegetation greening patterns over time and across a significant precipitation gradient. In this study, we show that climate induced reductions in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI; i.e., degradation or biomass decline) have had large spatial and temporal impacts across the Kwando, Okavango, and Zambezi catchments of southern Africa. We conclude that over time there have been alterations in the available soil moisture resulting from increases in temperature in every season. Such changes in the ecosystem dynamics of all three basins has led to system-wide changes in landscape greening patterns.

Resilience through interpretive practice – A study of robotic surgery

The paper provides an ethnographic description of robotic surgery, along with task and work-domain analyses of it, with focus on surgeons’ adaptation to situational demands. Thereby, the study conducted ties in with the discussions on resilience and interpretive practice, theoretical approaches that consider human capability and improvisation in activity as sources of safety. The study methods include observations of operations, video analyses, interviews and self-confrontation sessions (i.e., surgeons commenting on video samples of their own work). The results are summarised in a conceptual model encompassing the basic elements that enable robotic surgery as an activity: manual, perceptual, social, and cognitive aspects are covered at three hierarchical levels, from strategies and planning to routinised techniques. Uncertainties and complexities that render adaptation challenging are elaborated upon. Robotic surgery could be considered a complex form of navigation since where anticipatory interaction with the environment is needed – the surgeon creates the landscape where the operation takes place, and tissues are identified and separated by palpation, albeit without tactile feedback, and with careful consideration of the patient’s health. In this challenging environment conflictual aims are to be addressed: minimal damage should be induced while one removes the cancer. The findings suggest that resilient activity is manifested in an interpretive human–environment connection wherein appropriate generic principles and aims guide more specific work actions; a hierarchy in adaptation to situational demands can therefore be identified as the specific actions, usually based on relatively fixed routines, vary and adapt in line with higher-level principles.

Ecosystem based Disaster Risk Reduction approaches (EbDRR) as a prerequisite for inclusive urban transformation of Nagpur City, India

Nagpur city is among the fastest growing agglomerations of Central India. The city is considered to be a fore-runner in sustainable development amist the rapid urbanization occurring in India. Though, selected under the “smart city” project launched by the Indian government, the city faces many urban challenges ineffectively addressed by the current development plan. Haphazard and rapid infrastructural development without any comprehensive plan is leading to urban sprawl that compromises urban green infrastructure across the city. It excludes utilizing benefits of nature and ecosystem services to complement and reduce urban stress. This has led to wetland reductions, reduced water infiltration affecting the water table and causing water shortage, flash floods, significant loss of vegetation cover and biodiversity across the city and increased heat island effects. These issues along with current approach that discounts the importance of ecosystems-based approach has put forward many challenges and a question with regard to sustaining “green image of the city”. To reduce risk against uncertainties, it is imperative to understand human-environment connections that involves diverse values and ecosystem services provided by the natural environment of the cities. Present study is a review of major issues raised due to un-planned development and addresses the feasibility and appropriateness of using the EbDRR approach. Environmental engineering based approaches having potential to transform Nagpur City into to a “smart city” can set an example for other Indian cities to follow. This article facilitates understanding and practical applications of ecosystem based approaches and practices to counter negative impact of urbanization.

Landscape changes, traditional ecological knowledge and future scenarios in the Alps: A holistic ecological approach.

In recent decades, a dramatic landscape change has occurred in the European alpine region: open areas have been naturally recolonized by forests as traditional agricultural and forest activities were reduced and reorganized. Land use changes (LUC) are generally measured through GIS and photo interpretation techniques, but despite many studies focused on this phenomenon and its effects on biodiversity and on the environment in general, there is a lack of information about the transformation of the human-environment connection. The study of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), such as the ability to recognize wild plants used as medicine or food, can suggest how this connection evolved through time and generations. This work investigates the relationship between the natural forest cover expansion that influences the loss of open areas and the loss of TEK. Different data sources and approaches were used to address the topic in all its complexity: a mix of questionnaire investigations, historical maps, GIS techniques and modelling were used to analyse past land use changes and predict future scenarios. The study area, Trentino, Italy, is paradigmatic of the alpine situation, and the land use change in the region is well documented by different studies, which were reviewed and compared in this paper. Our findings suggest that open area loss can be used as a good proxy to highlight the present state and to produce future scenarios of Traditional Ecological Knowledge. This could increase awareness of the loss of TEK in other Alpine regions, where data on TEK are lacking, but where environmental trends are comparable.

Dwelling in the biosphere: exploring an embodied human–environment connection in resilience thinking

Resilience has emerged as a prominent paradigm for interpreting and shaping human-environment connections in the context of global environmental change. Resilience emphasizes dynamic spatial and te ...

Out of sight, out of mind: global connection, environmental discourse and the emerging field of sustainability education

How might we understand the complex nature of our existence in the world, and what are the implications of such examination? Moreover, how might we go about engaging others in this practice and what are the complications of such an endeavor? Expanding on Quigley, Dogbey, Che and Hallo’s findings, I consider the implications of human-environment connections and examine the difficulty of articulating such connections via photovoice methods in particular places. Further, I use a Foucauldian discourse lens to situate this connective process to larger political and social dynamics at work in their paper, and in environmental education in general. Implications for sustainability and sustainability education are then developed, along with suggestions for future research in this emerging field.

A place meaning scale for tropical marine settings.

Over the past 20years, most of the worldwide hectares set aside for environmental protection have been added to marine protected areas. Moreover, these areas are under tremendous pressure from negative anthropogenic impacts. Given this growth and pressure, there is a need to increase the understanding of the connection between people and marine environments in order to better manage the resource. One construct that researchers have used to understand human-environment connections is place meanings. Place meanings reflect the value and significance of a setting to individuals. Most investigations of place meanings have been confined to terrestrial settings. Moreover, most studies have had small sample sizes or have used place attachment scales as a proxy to gage the meanings individuals ascribe to a setting. Hence, it has become necessary to develop a place meaning scale for use with large samples and for use by those who are concerned about the management of marine environments. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to develop a scale to measure the importance people associate with the meanings they ascribe to tropical marine settings and empirically test the scale using two independent samples; that is, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary stakeholders.

Exploring the human-environment connection: Rurality, ecology and social well-being

Exploring the complex relationship between humans and their natural environment is of increasing importance. To commence understand- ing this relationship, our special edition offers Rural Society readers a diversity of research approaches illu- minating insights from a range of disciplinary and methodological perspectives. Not only are new solu- tions offered, but new relationships between people and nature are identified and developed. The quality of connections between people and the landscapes in which they live have important consequences for the health of people, communities and for the natu- ral environment. In this special edition, the human- environment connection is explored largely through connections to land and place.Research suggests human emotion plays a role in shaping beliefs and behaviours which may explain dif- ferences in responses to global environmental changes (Brugger, Dunbar, Jurt, & Orlove, 2013) that affect practical, long lasting positive changes between people and the environment (Crowley, 2013) and may hold insights for protecting nature, such as through moti- vating emotions developed through the restoration of ecological systems (DiEnno & Thompson, 2013). Engagement with nature, through sensory exposure, is indicated as engendering a sense of connectedness with positive effects on psychological health (Kamitsis & Francis, 2013) and strong empirical evidence of measurable benefits to people resulting from interac- tions with nature (Keniger, Gaston, Irvine, & Fuller, 2013). Interactions with nature are explored through environmental monitoring activities (Lawrence, 2006) extending beyond the traditional dichotomies defined through ecological-technological divides reflecting instrumental and transformative emotional engagement (Lawrence, 2006). Clear relationships between nature-relatedness, greater happiness and ecologically sustainable behaviour are demonstrated to counter the disconnection existing between humans and the natural world (Nisbet & Zelenski, 2013; Nisbet, Zelenski, & Murphy, 2009).Relationships with nature are identified as com- plex, with influences resulting from urban and rural places, gender and educational background (Pointon, 2014). Empathy for the environment, derived through emotional experiences with the natural world, is identified as a predictor for conservation behaviour (Tam, 2013). Humans relate to their natu- ral environment in diverse ways. For example, some may anthropomorphise nature, and thus engender conservation behaviour (Tam, Lee, & Chao, 2013). Thus, planning that acknowledges associations between natural characteristics of landscapes and the socio-cultural characteristics of the social landscape may improve connectedness with nature (Pinto- Correia & Kristensen, 2013). Likewise, integrating agrarian designs in urban planning may also engen- der a connectedness with nature (Wise, 2013).The articles in this special edition explore these manifestations of human-environment interactions through various, yet related, concepts. A useful means of developing how we may understand the human- nature relationship is outlined by Turner and Hope (2014, pp. 175-187), who discuss how, through engagement in a food system that actively connects people to the communities, land and environment 'which yields their food' fosters human-nature con- nectivity. This active connection is identified as a way of promoting more ethical ecological understanding and practice (Turner & Hope, 2014, pp. 175-187) by connecting farmers' markets visitors with food sources. Other meaningful lessons to be learned from the human-nature relationship are offered by Madsen and O'Mullan (2014, pp. 151-160), who reveal even when nature asserts itself strongly, through flood- ing and cyclones, it offers humans opportunities. In this instance, nature afforded individuals in Central Queensland opportunities for self-development, leadership programme participation and the building of social capital and community resilience. …

The Chilika Lagoon Social-Ecological System: An Historical Analysis

Innovations in social-ecological research require novel approaches to conceive change in human-environment systems. The study of history constitutes an important element of this process. First, using the Chilika Lagoon small-scale fisheries in India, as a case, in this paper I reflect on the appropriateness of a social-ecological perspective for understanding economic history. Second, I examine here how changes in various components of the lagoon’s social-ecological system influenced and shaped economic history and the political processes surrounding it. I then discuss the two-way linkages between economic history and social-ecological processes to highlight that the components of a social-ecological system, including the economic aspects, follow an interactive and interdependent trajectory such that their combined impacts have important implications for human-environment connections and sustainability of the system as a whole. Social, ecological, economic, and political components of a system are interlinked and may jointly contribute to the shaping of specific histories. Based on this synthesis, I offer insights to move beyond theoretical, methodological, and disciplinary boundaries as an overarching approach, an inclusive lens, to study change in complex social-ecological systems.

Determinism within human–environment research and the rediscovery of environmental causation

The popularity of the work Guns, germs and steel (GGS) has served to bring the question of human–environment connections once again to the forefront of popular thought. We assert that the recent success of GGS represents both a persistence of environmental determinist logic and a contemporary trend that privileges the environment as the primary influence on human–environment relationships. The historical development of the human–environment field is reviewed from the cultural and political ecology (CAPE) perspective, with particular attention to illustrating the varying emphasis between humans and their environment. GGS is situated within this developing field through a critical analysis of the arguments and methods forwarded by Jared Diamond. The book is found to mirror earlier environmental determinism by failing to take into account many of the advances in human–environmental thought since the early twentieth century. Its popular success suggests the pitfalls of failures to acknowledge the complex, intertwined and indivisible relationship that exists among humans and their environment. Furthermore, there is evidence that the environmental determinism espoused in GGS has caught the attention of international development policymakers potentially influencing future outlays of aid and assistance to the developing world. These conclusions raise cautionary flags against repeating past theoretical mistakes by accepting simplistic, causal explanations based largely on a deterministic conception of the natural environment.

Tensions and transitions in policy discourse: recontextualizing a decontextualized EE/ESD debate

For many scholars (see Smyth, 1995; Tilbury, 1995; Fien & Tilbury, 2002; Hopkins & McKeown, 2002) the emergence of the discourse of education for sustainable development (ESD) over the past 15 or so years is viewed as a progressive transition in the field, along similar lines to the positive portrayal of prior historical transitions from nature study to conservation education to environmental education (Stevenson, 1987). Two claimed advancements represented by this new discourse are identified by Smyth (1995) as: (1) the replacement of a problem (or negative) orientation associated with environmental education by a contrasting positive orientation of ESD; and (2) a shift from an almost exclusive focus on environmental concerns without attention to social and human development issues (in environmental education), to the inclusion of social and economic development alongside the environmental dimension (in ESD). The conceptual superiority of ESD is continually claimed despite the acknowledgement by many of the same authors of the definitional problems of the term ‘sustainable development’ (SD), principally its fuzziness or ambiguity which has led to multiple, often contradictory interpretations. Given these tensions in the concept that is foundational to ESD, questions then arise as to how such tensions play out in the discourse of ESD, and the extent to which such a policy orientation can provide a helpful framework for thinking about practice and making a transition away from environmental education. In this vignette I first examine Smyth's (1995) and Bonnett's (2002) different positions on the potential for clarifying the ambiguities and contradictions of the concept of sustainable development, before focusing on Smyth's two claims. Central to both this issue of clarifying meanings of sustainable development and Smyth's second claim is the polarization of viewpoints on the human–environment connection which, drawing in part on Bonnett's different philosophical perspective, I argue is limiting. Finally, in looking ahead to address the policy–practice tensions in environmental education and ESD, I argue for contextualizing policy discourses by engaging educators in their co‐construction.