Second Nature | Education for Sustainability

Education for Sustainability

This section of the website provides a framework describing

Second Nature's vision of a healthy, just and sustainable future
The critical role of higher education in achieving that vision
Our vision of higher education leading the way in educating for sustainability

Second Nature envisions a world in which all present and future humans are healthy, have their basic needs met, have fair and equitable access to Earth's resources, and have a decent quality of life. We imagine a sustainable world.

Part 1: Envisioning a Sustainable Future

In a sustainable world, we imagine society would celebrate cultural diversity and increase the biological diversity and complexity of the ecosystems on which we all depend. Simultaneously, we would have stabilized population and resource consumption at a level that is within the carrying capacity of Earth's ecosystems. To attain this, we must reinvent the world socially, economically and environmentally. Read more...

Part 2: The Role of Higher Education

A sustained, long-term effort to transform education at all levels is critical to the change in mindset necessary to achieve this vision. Higher education has the power to lead in this endeavor by exercising its role in training future leaders, teachers and other professionals and in producing wisdom needed to face the challenges of an increasingly complex world. Read more...

Part 3: The Transformation of Higher Education

A transformative educational experience will be essential in creating the shift in thinking, values and action necessary for a healthy, just and environmentally sustainable society. In shapsing education for the twenty-first century, we envision a new framework for learning in which higher education would operate as a fully integrated community that models social and biological sustainability itself and in its interdependence with the local, regional and global community. Read more...

Suggested Readings		EFS Organizations
For more information on the topics discussed within the Vision, we recommend both Second Nature's writings and the following suggested readings, including writings by Second Nature President Anthony Cortese and other Education for Sustainability leaders.		We know of more than a dozen organizations that work toward the goals of Education for Sustainability.

EFS Profiles

Second Nature's EFS Profiles outline some of the best sustainability initiatives of higher education institutions, both on campuses and in communities. Individual profiles document efforts and accomplishments in community involvement, curriculum change, greening the campus, institutional transformation and sustainability research. Educators, students, administrators and facilities managers can explore these profiles to learn how to promote sustainability on their campuses.

Elements of the Vision presented above are derived from the ideas of Second Nature President Anthony Cortese. Visit the President's page for more information on Anthony Cortese.