The creation of meaning is both intrinsic and extrinsic to environmental learning. In this paper I call attention to the process of how language practices and Imagination are important in constituting environmental meanings, as stories of the places in which we live. A concept of landshaping is introduced as a conceptual tool for thinking about the agentic construction of environmental meanings. Research data collected In north Queensland show that individual subjectivities do not necessarily align with the binary thought lines of human identity (‘us’) and nature (‘not us’) commonly reproduced within environmental education. Ideas of the natural can be problematic in environmental learning, particularly in cross-cultural education experiences. Landshaping can be used as a research strategy and as a pedagogical technique for revealing diversities and illuminating complexities in how we as individuals, and together, create environmental understandings for ourselves.

Environmental education is only at a developmental stage, having originated in response to the environmental problems which have been most pressingly felt in the last thirty years or so. There is a general concern that we do not unconsciously carry into our new philosophies and methodologies the very dysfunctions which led to our environmental problems in the first place. Consequently there has been a search for paradigms of knowledge and enquiry which are adequate for the new problems that we face, paradigms which recognise the essential interrelatedness of all forms of life and the fact that enquirers are themselves part of environments, not just external observers as it is considered in classical rationalist science. The philosophy and method of critical evaluation which goes by the name ‘constructivism’ declares itself to be a way which can lead us beyond the mistakes of earlier theories of knowledge. I will be contending that, rather than being a way beyond rationalism and positivism, the constructivist approach is entirely bound up with that which it seeks to criticise, even if it assumes a radical posture. Out of this critique of constructivism and by way of the ideas of the German philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche and Martin Heidegger and the scientific methods of the poet and ‘nature-philosopher’ Johann von Goethe, I will adumbrate an approach to a new form of environmental education which I believe can satisfy our concern that the problems of the past are not perpetuated in a new guise.

Problem solving and teamwork abilities are important skills for graduates entering the environment profession. Through a problem based learning approach small groups of students from the environmental courses at RMIT University have been gaining these professional skills by undertaking projects in Vietnam. With three years experience in running the project we have data, through the students' reflections and feedback, to demonstrate the value of the project approach, and to undertake improvements. Drawing on data from the latest project we can identify opportunities for improving the details of the project's organisation, but importantly demonstrate the value of the project in providing a depth of professional experiences for the students. This analysis will be important for other academics needing support in the development of project based activities for those in environmental courses.

For many schools, environmental education constitutes a curriculum innovation in that it represents a challenge to existing teaching and curriculum practice. An innovation issue frequently neglected in environmental education is the spread of messages about the innovation within and between schools. This neglect is often apparent in the case of environmental education materials developed at sites away from the school. In such cases, great care is taken to develop a useful curriculum resource, and to distribute it from central development site to school classrooms. For example, when the Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) produced its recent environmental education materials, the Environmental Education Project, it sought to disseminate the innovation by fostering sales through such strategies as the mailing of promotional leaflets to all schools, conducting state and national launchings, providing cost-free review copies to subject associations and the like, and advertisements. However, the exchange of ideas about the innovation from practising teacher to practising teacher is more difficult to organise from outside the school.

In this paper, we employ Deleuzian philosophy to explore the complex challenges confronting teachers and education systems posed by the climate emergency and the implications of the resulting posthumanist turn. Self-identified climate-activist teachers working in schools in Aotearoa New Zealand were asked to draw Deleuzian assemblages of their educational realities and of themselves while contemplating the climate emergency. Their thought-provoking drawings were used as semiotic artefacts during unstructured Zoom interviews, leading to rich conversations. Through this process, the drawings channel affect within the research assemblage, entangling the reader actively into the research process. Insights gained from the participants problematise the perspectives of teachers in response to the climate emergency and lead us to conceptualise the potential of teachers as Deleuze’s nomadic change makers toward posthuman futures.

There has been very limited progress along the pathways to sustainability sketched in my 1991 article. Some would argue we have taken several steps backwards. Environmental education is now more prepared to acknowledge the role of neoliberal global capitalism in promoting unsustainable development, and to associate sustainability with social movements and parties of the green left who urge new forms of economy and global democracy. Corporations and governments have been successful in linking education for sustainable development to ecological modernisation or light green versions of the status-quo, but in England, even the limited advance of a policy on sustainable schools under New Labour has been swept away by the present coalition government.

Many teachers take students on visit to Nature Reserves or National Parks. The park management agency generally provides written information/worksheets and an accompanying ranger to provide interpretation. Rarely are these visits subjected to formal evaluation in terms of achievement of environmental education objectives related to park conservation and management values. A pilot study of a school visit of Year 9 students to Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve (ACT) found that most students had a good background in terms of previous exposure to National Parks and environmental media, and the excursion provided both an enjoyable and an educational experience. However, there seemed to be a need for basic conservation and management values and ideas to be continually emphasised to ensure their full appreciation and understanding by students.

This article begins by comparing public awareness and interest in sustainability with the views of experts in this field. Attention is then drawn to the need for people to be able to imagine their preferable futures before they can begin to work towards them. Futures workshops are cited as a means to this end and a pilot study is described which used this procedure to enable participants to identify the key elements of their desired futures. A preliminary assessment is made of the effectiveness of such a process and the saliency of sustainability in these images of preferred futures.

In what sense might nature based tourism be considered education for sustainability? “Educational” confers an implied worthiness which may seem to offset the environmental costs of tourism. Moreover, nature-based tourism may indeed have an important educational role to play. This paper examines the role of “education” in ecotourism discourse, and argues that a predominance in ecotourism of an overly simplified set of educational concepts. These fail to convince that “educational” nature based tourism provides a significant contribution to education for sustainability, and equally fail to establish the necessity for tourism as a means to those educatonal ends which are achieved. The paper concludes with a discussion of some of the considerations which a more serious consideration of nature based tourism as education would have to take into account.

This paper reports on a research study that investigated the extent to which the Queensland secondary school subject Modern History adopts characteristics of socially critical environmental education. The study found that while the Modern History syllabus gives ample opportunities for students to focus their inquiries on environment, Modern History teachers had overlooked this aspect of the syllabus. More positive findings of this research are that both the syllabus and teachers adopt many characteristics of socially critical environmental education. In particular, the values, political and emancipatory characteristics feature strongly in both policy and practice. To a lesser extent, both the holistic and issues-based characteristics are represented. Finally, this research study shows that the action characteristic, as defined in socially critical environmental education, is clearly neglected. Despite this, there is a case to be made for Modern History to be used as a vehicle for socially critical environmental education in Queensland schools.

This article reports on an inquiry into ecological understanding and the professional practice of a selection of teachers in alternative and/or independent non-systemic schools in Australia, Canada and the United States. Through a reflective, participatory framework, based on the premise that it is one thing to observe ‘an ecology’, another to understand one's self as part of it, as actively involved in ‘bringing forth our world’, the project sought to understand if and how teachers employ systemic, ecological insights in their teaching. The project looked at the underlying ecological principle of ‘connection’ and how teachers work with this, through teacher education and options for further education in ecological understanding, at the responsibilities schools hold for ecological understanding, and at ways in which individual teachers have worked with this form of knowledge. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with small numbers of teachers in five schools. The philosophical underpinnings of these schools were considered in relation to the teachers’ capacities to facilitate ecological understanding and the organisational setting in which these schools operate. Teacher perspectives are reported and discussed through a structured presentation of selected responses to a series of questions on the overlapping themes of ecological insight and formal and informal learning processes.

This article emphasises the importance of creative thought for environmental education through a discussion of the ontologically rich work of Anna Tsing, Timothy Morton and John Peters. The recent turn toward ontology in the humanities and social sciences has consequently led to diverse theories about ‘how things are’, and some of these concepts might assist justice-oriented environmental educators in raising ecological awareness in a time of crisis. Using assemblages, media and hyperobjects as concepts to (re)imagine the the world(s) of the Anthropocene, this article promotes a practice of ontic-play, a constantly changing engagement with ontological thought. To think through ecological crisis means moving towards philosophy as creation or art. In other words, engaging thought from the future.

The ecological crisis has been traced to a rupture in the human-nature relationship, which sees the natural world as inert materials that serve human utility. This prevailing sense of separation is thoroughly embedded in Western culture through engrained metaphors that reinforce a view of the Earth as a subject of human mastery. To counter the disjuncture between humans and nature, some theorists have suggested a unitive view of nature, while others have argued for more expansive forms of identification that engender a more responsive ecological ethics. Despite these efforts, the human-nature dichotomy remains a perennial issue of debate, especially for environmental educators who strive to cultivate a more harmonious relationship with the earth. This article examines the Zen Koan (case or example) as a pedagogical innovation that hones the learner’s ability to entertain opposing propositions. Humans are both united with and separate from nature at the same time. The Koan encourages an epistemological fluidity and openness to ambiguity that can enrich and deepen inquiry. In the context of environmental education, this contemplative approach to investigation can complement immersive pedagogies that enjoin somatic and sensory experience in explorations of the natural world.

Environmental education is seen as a key driver of small business environmental management, yet little is known about the activities small business owner-managers are undertaking to reduce their environmental impact or in what areas they may need education. Therefore, research that can identify environmental management activities being undertaken in small businesses may provide potential targets for education. As intention to behave in a particular way is often predicated on some sort of planning, extending the research questions to ascertain if planning is occurring and its impact on environmental behaviour in small businesses is also seen as critical. The results revealed that, overall, the level of environmental activity in small business was low and that less than a quarter had an environmental plan. In addition, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and purchasing green energy are not areas of engagement for most small businesses and are recommended as potential targets for education.