Distribution Justice and Sustainability Education
Distribution justice is based on the principles of evenly sharing the benefits and burdens placed upon all members of society. It refers to fair allocations within sustainability education since access to environmental studies at schools is not equal (Lamont and Favor, 2017). There are very few schools that integrate issues related to the environment and sustainable lifestyles within their curricula (Cho, 2023). This provision lacks equity because most children reach adulthood without gaining an appreciation for the need to conserve environmental resources and are ill-equipped to adopt ways that ensure a sustainable world. Therefore, the state must make the teaching of sustainability knowledge mandatory at least at primary school level to ensure that every child, irrespective of their economic status or geographical location, receives this essential education (Barker & Hand, 2018).
Education is a very important factor in developing pro-environment behaviour and an understanding of the responsibility for future generations. The report, “The Impact of Environmental Education on Environmental Awareness and Attitudes” drew on this idea, claiming that environmental education has a considerable effect in the comprehension of ecological issues and the development of positive attitudes about sustainable development (Kosta et al, 2022). Shown, is that students who receive environmental studies are directly contribute to environmental actions as participation in environmental programs increases one’s affinity toward nature and deepens one’s knowledge of ecosystems. This can be seen through the increase in environmental education and literacy that also spurs positive human attitudes to such phenomena as recycling and conservation of resources, as observed by Wals and Benavot (2017).
Additionally, education can be considered one of the gateways to sustainability, aiding decreases in individual ecological footprints and contributing to the environmental conservation (Anderson, 2013; Gruenewald & Smith, 2008; Sterling, 2004). Sustainability education has an equal right to distribution justice, by which environmental benefits should be distributed among people to serve and treat the environment as the basic home to sustain the future generation of life on earth. Failing to adopt this, would be unfair on children as a collective effort is required to address global environmental problems. (Ferreira et al., 2019), suggested that by ensuring that sustainability education is within reach of all members of the society would empower all ages to play an active role in environmental stewardship.
Resources:
Barker, S., & Rogers, M. 2018. Sustainability and Social Justice in Education: A Critical Analysis. Environmental Education Research, 24(3), pp. 352–370.
Barlett, P.F. 2011. Sustainability Education: Perspectives and Practices across Higher Education - Edited by Paula Jones, David Selby, and Stephen Sterling. Natural Resources Forum. 35(2), pp.145–146.
Cho, R. 2023. Climate Education in the U.S.: Where It Stands, and Why It Matters. State of the Planet. [Online]. [ Accessed on 6 November 2024 ]. Available from: https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2023/02/09/climate-education-in-the-u-s-where-it-stands-and-why-it-matters/.
Ferreira, J.-A., Evans, N., Davis, J.M. and Robert Louis Stevenson 2019. Learning to Embed Sustainability in Teacher Education. Springer Nature (Netherlands).
Gruenewald, D. A., & Smith, G. A. (2008). Place-Based Education in the Global Age: Local Diversity. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
Kosta, A. D., Keramitsoglou, K. M., & Tsagarakis, K. P. 2022 . Exploring the Effect of Environmental Programs on Primary School Pupils’ Knowledge and Connectedness Toward Nature. SAGE Open., 21(4).
Lamont, J. and Favor, C. eds. 2017. Distributive Justice (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Stanford .[ Accessed on 6 November 2024 ].Available from: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/justice-distributive/.
Sterling, S. and Orr, D., 2001. Sustainable education: Re-visioning learning and change Vol. 6. Totnes: Green Books for the Schumacher Society.
Wals, A. E. J., & Benavot, A. 2017. Can we meet the sustainability challenges? The role of education and lifelong learning. European Journal of Education., 52(4), pp. 404–413.