(Extract
from Book)
...
Yukiko Fukasaku wrote for the OECD in 1999
that " It used to be taken for granted
that economic growth entailed parallel growth
in resource consumption, and to a certain
extent, environmental degradation. However,
the experience of the last decades indicates
that economic growth and resource consumption
and environmental degradation can be decoupled
to a considerable extent. The path towards
sustainable development entails accelerating
this decoupling process ... ie transforming
what we produce and how we produce it ".
Increasing
eco-efficiency remains the strategy for sustainable
production, at least in the short term, which
has the strongest support of industry. In
many areas it has been remarkably successful
allowing a partial decoupling of economic
growth from physical growth of the economy
and negative environmental load. However with
the global spread of western consumption patterns
there is evidence that consumption and GDP
is growing at a faster rate than improvements
in resource or energy efficiency.
In
other words consumption is outpacing the gains
from improvements in production and products,
which in most OECD countries has been significant.
There is also increasing evidence of negative
rebound effects, in which improvements in
efficiency actually become a stimulus for
increased consumption.
What
is the solution to this sense that currently
for every one step forward there are two steps
back? This section provides answers to this
question. This section starts with the most
authoritative and comprehensive framework
for sustainable consumption and production
that we could find written by Professor Chris
Ryan for the World Summit on Sustainable Development
in 2002.
One
of the key recommendations from this report
is the importance of education for sustainability
to change hearts and empower minds. The rest
of the section describes some inspiring stories
of where Schools, Universities and other educational
bodies are succeeding in making a difference.
The section highlights the key role that professional
bodies can play. Industry bodies as well can
play a leading role in educating their members.
An example of this is shown here in the leadership
from the Australian Council of Infrastructure
and Development. Science bodies like CSIRO
also recognize that they have a role to play
in education for sustainability and publish
magazines like ECOS-Towards A Sustainable
Future and run the CSIRO Sustainability network
newsletters freely for all ages.
This
section also highlights the role that broader
civil society can play to lead to assist to
help educate and update politicians on these
complex issues through relevant succinct publications.
For instance please pass onto your politicians
the publications of The Australian Collaboration
and freely downloadable ACF's Natural Advantage:
Blueprint For A Sustainable Australia...
UN
WSSD Framework for Sustainable Consumption and
Cleaner Production Report 2002
Development,
prosperity, wealth - the economic, social, cultural
and environmental factors that underpin our
sense of quality of life - are dependent, ultimately,
on the structure of our systems of production
and consumption. This report examines progress
and the status of the area at the time of the
World Summit on Sustainable Development - August-September
2002. It examines whether the issues of concern
in 1992 at Rio are still relevant today.
Download
PDF | View
Website
UN
Decade of Education in Sustainable Development:
2005-2015
The
World Summit on Sustainable Development recommended
to the United Nations General Assembly that
"it consider adopting a Decade of Education
for Sustainable Development starting in 2005"
(para. 117d, Plan of Implementation). In December
2002, resolution 57/254 on the United Nations
Decade of Education for Sustainable Development,
beginning 1 January 2005 , was adopted by consensus.
The resolution was introduced by Japan and co-sponsored
by 46 countries. The United Nations General
Assembly resolution designated UNESCO as the
lead agency for the promotion of the Decade
and requested the organization develop a draft
international implementation scheme .
View
Website
Schools
Leading the Way
Australian
Federal Government's Environmental Education
National Action Plan and the National Environmental
Education Council.
The
National Environmental Education Council is
a non-statutory body providing expert advice
to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage
and Environment Australia on the effectiveness
and profile of the Commonwealth's environmental
education activities and environmental education
issues generally.
View
Website
SCRAP
(School Communities Recycling All Paper)
The
SCRAP network has great resources for Schools.
SCRAP stands for School Communities Recycling
All Paper. They are a non-profit body. They
exist to help schools, other educational, government,
non-profit bodies and private individuals and
companies become environmentally-friendly and
encourage you - whether you are a student, a
teacher or a member of the wider community -
to understand how to do this better.
View
Website
The
Gould League
The
Gould League is Australia 's oldest environmental
education organisation. They have been educating
children, schools and the general community
about conservation and the environment for over
90 years. The Gould League has pioneered the
development of outcomes-based environmental
education through activity programs, resources
and website development. The creative team at
the Gould League continues to have an impact
on the actions of the community, in the areas
of waste minimisation, wildlife and environment
conservation, and developing sustainable lifestyles.
Over one million Australians have joined the
Gould League since 1909.
View
Website
Australian
Association for Environmental Education
The
Australian Association for Environmental Education
is the peak professional association for environmental
educators in Australia . Welcome to our website.
Please browse our site and consider joining
us. We provide networking and information exchange
between the environmental education community
in Australia, take a look at the About AAEE
page for more information on what we offer our
members.
View
Website
Sustainable
Schools
Sustainable
Schools integrates sustainability education
into a holistic program with measurable environmental,
economic, educational and social outcomes. The
program implements improvement in a school's
management of resources and grounds (including
energy, waste, water, biodiversity, landscape
design, products and materials) and integrates
this approach into the existing curriculum and
daily running of the school. The program is
action based and involves the whole school community
in the sustainable management of the school.
Sustainable Schools does not replace other environmental
education initiatives in schools. It links to
and complements existing environmental education
programs such as Energy Smart Schools , WasteWise,
Waterwatch, Waterwise and Landcare.
The
Initiative supports Goal 1.7 of The Adelaide
Declaration on National Goals for Schooling
in the Twenty First Century (Ministerial Council
on Education, Employment, Training and Youth
Affairs, 1999), which states, "Schooling
should develop fully the talents and capacities
of all students. In particular when students
leave school they should have an understanding
of, and concern for, stewardship of the natural
environment, and the knowledge and skills to
contribute to ecologically sustainable development."
The Australian Government has committed $2 million
to the initiative over four years.
View
Website
ACT
Department of Education's Year 9 Exhibition
Project
The ACT government in Australia has already
started to do this with their Year 9 Exhibitions
projects. Unless the next generation are critical
thinkers making choices on the products they
buy based on more than simply convenience and
cost the planet is in trouble. Innovative educational
initiatives that add value, not load to schools,
will be discussed in section five of this book.
Download
PDF
'Special
Forever': a rural sustainability capacity building
and realisation program
'Special
forever' is another way of saying 'a quality
sustainable future'. The 'Special forever' environmental
education literacy program involves children
discussing, writing and producing artwork about
what is environmentally and socially important
to them. It takes place in primary school English
classes throughout the Murray-Darling Basin
in Australia . The work is shared with local
communities, other primary school children,
and sometimes with regional and national audiences
through a range of publications, and radio and
television exposure. 'Special forever' commenced
in 1993 as a partnership between the Murray-Darling
Basin Commission (MDBC) and the Primary English
Teaching Association (PETA). Since that time,
this voluntary program has involved more than
50 per cent of all primary schools in the million
square kilometre Murray-Darling Basin . It generally
involves 30-38,000 children each year and was
a key component in the MDBC's multi-faceted
communication strategy designed to contribute
to the achievement of environmental and socio-cultural
sustainability in the Murray-Darling Basin .
View
Website |
View
PDF
Universities
Leading the Way
UNESCO's
Global Higher Education for Sustainability Partnership
Initiative
UNESCO's
GHESP initiative describes itself as "Four international
organisations with a strong commitment to making
sustainability a major focus of higher education". The
four founding partners of the Global Higher
Education for Sustainability Partnership (GHESP)
initiative: the International Association of
Universities (IAU: www.unesco.org/iau);
the University Leaders for a Sustainable Future
(ULSF: www.ulsf.org);
COPERNICUS-CAMPUS (www.copernicus-campus.org);
and UNESCO have
combined forces in a unique effort to mobilise
universities and higher education institutions
to support sustainable development in response
to Chapter 36 of Agenda 21(www.unep.org/Documents).
A
memorandum of understanding has been signed
to undertake joint actions in the area of higher
education and sustainable development.
The partnership came about as a result of the
work of the Commission on Sustainable Development
(CSD), and in anticipation of the 2002 World
Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).
GHESP was extended for a further five year period
in September 2002 in order to implement a renewed
action plan. In total there are over 1000
universities that are formally members of the
UNESCO GHESP initiative.
View
Website
The
Key role of Universities explained
Tim
Flannery recently launched the 'Universities
and Sustainability' TELA Paper, published by
the Australian Conservation Foundation Tela
series, to a packed audience at Melbourne University
last week. The paper argues that Universities
are a key institution that will in large part
determine whether society achieves sustainability
or not.
Download
PDF | View
Website
RMIT
Global Sustainability Institute
Global Sustainability is an emerging
agenda that impacts on all of us. Globalisation,
together with revolutions in information, communications,
environmental and community awareness and action
are driving corporate leaders, politicians and
citizens to address the future in new and very
different ways. RMIT Global Sustainability (GS@RMIT)
has been established to develop these concepts
in practical ways so they can be applied to
the work of RMIT itself, and to organisations
in the private and public sectors. Drawing on
RMIT's academic expertise, research capabilities
and extensive network of external partners in
Australia and overseas, the Centre will assist
RMIT and others to become working models of
Global Sustainability.
View
Website
ANU's
National Institute For Environment
The National
Institute for Environment (NIE) aims to foster
research and education to create an environmental
future worth having. NIE brings together environmental
teaching and research from the Australian National
University 's diverse schools, centres and faculties.
In conjunction with the Australian and international
community, NIE's members are providing practical
solutions for environmental challenges. The
NIE has the following goals: