Environmental Education for Sustainable Futures: Past Lessons and Looking Ahead
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 5 November 2025 | Viewed by 1273
Special Issue Editor
Interests: critical environmental education; empowerment; change in environmental behaviors and social practices; gender and sustainable cities; food waste
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We live in societies and times with critical environmental problems that require prompt and effective action from global power-holders to ensure genuine sustainability—actions that challenge the root causes of unsustainability. Such action presupposes knowledge, desire, and capacity to act (i.e., empowerment). Thus, new, critical, transformative and empowering education is required to promote new cultural worldviews, capabilities, responsible governance, democracy, and just power relations that can lead to a healthier balance between societies and nature. The practices of educational institutions should also be revisited since they educate by example.
This Special Issue approaches transformative sustainability education through both its pedagogical approach and its institutions (i.e., sustainable universities, eco-schools, etc.). It explores what kind of transformative education framed by this holistic perspective would be needed to achieve genuine sustainability. Contributions may investigate the following suggested topics:
- Science education and research that provide the knowledge base and the skills for sustainability action and healthy ecosystems;
- Arts education and research that generate new perspectives on our relationship with the world and foster inter-relational dialogues through environmentally oriented cultural initiatives;
- Participatory Action Research and Learning that mitigate ‘negationism’ and promote democracy in response to emerging far-right politics;
- Capabilities and competences that education needs to cultivate for the sustainability transition;
- Environmental Justice education and research that reveals the connection between environmentally unsustainable practices and social inequalities and provides tools for systemic analysis to achieve sustainability;
- Pedagogy (instruction and learning) that empowers people and leaders to make change at all levels (everyday life, politics, economic sphere, etc.);
- Sustainable universities/eco-schools (i.e., educational institutions that aim for sustainable operations and relations with communities and nature) and their role in educating individuals to achieve genuine sustainability and inspire changes;
- Good cases—examples that reveal what can effectively incite sustainable practices.
Theoretical–philosophical papers that critically reflect on environmental education and sustainable educational institutions (at all levels, from primary school to university or adult education; formal and informal), research papers, art educational initiatives (with images and relevant text), and case studies that share successful examples from all educational levels and provide inspiration for the transition towards genuine sustainability are welcome.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Christina Marouli
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- environmental education
- transformative learning
- critical pedagogy
- empowering education
- genuine sustainability
- learning and instruction
- science
- arts
- capabilities
- inspiring cases and practices
- sustainable universities
- all levels of schooling
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