Greening schools and higher education is a large focus of our current work in research and networking.
Schools have the potential to transform learners into agents of real change by equipping them with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes needed to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss, and inequalities in this world. With aiming at 12 years of schooling for every learner as agreed upon in SDG 4 on Quality Education, we have the highest aspiration ever for formal education in the world. Yet, the reality is that more than 260 children and youth are still out of school and the global pandemic is worsening these numbers.
With regard to higher education, the potential for change for a better future is immense. Although only a small proportion of the world’s population graduates from higher education, this relatively small minority have shown to become the majority of shapers of governance and public service, the private sector, faith-based groups, artists, media and other areas of society. Therefore, change in higher education can create ripple effects around the world
What do we do?
At York University, Charles Hopkins serves Special Advisor to the Dean and Provost on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Katrin Kohl, Executive Chair Coordinator, of our UNESCO Chair is the focal point in the Higher Education and Research for Sustainable Development (HESD) cluster work of the International Association of Universities on SDG4.
In partnership with NGOs, such as Dearness Environmental Society or Learning for a Sustainable Future, we have been involved in retrofitting schools accompanied by curriculum activities and co-developing whole-system approaches to reorienting K-12 school systems. One of our partnerships was the Sustainability and Education Academy (SEdA) focusing on reorienting entire provincial school systems in Canada over a prolonged period. https://www.springer.com/series/8635
For more than 15 years, we have been active in greening of K-12 schools in China in partnership with the Chinese National Working Committee for UNESCO on ESD by exploring how ESD can be best created, delivered, and assessed in the Chinese cultural and economic setting.