I mentioned the other day that the Centre for Environmental Education [CEE] in Ahmedabad had held a conference in January on Education as a Driver of Sustainable Development Goals, and that this had produced a plan for action. As Eliza Doolittle might have said "Words, Words, more ****** Words". If you've a strong stomach, you can download it here.
I mention it because the opening section betrays the conceit and hubris at the heart of the failed ESD project. The action plan begins ...
"2015 was a significant policy turning point for sustainable living at a global level. This turning point was achieved by two high-profile meetings where, in September 2015, 193 countries approved and finalised the global goals for sustainable development. This water-shed development was followed by the Paris Agreement on Climate Change at COP21 which took place in December 2015 and which agreed to work towards retaining global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Additionally, at the World Education Forum in Incheon in May 2015, the world agreed that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has a key role to play in strengthening the quality and relevance of all forms of education, and that education is a key enabler for sustainable development. This consolidates the objectives of the Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development."
Just to mention Incheon in the same breath as the Paris Agreement and the SDGs shows how out-of-touch those involved really are. In mitigation, however, maybe the fact that it wasn't claimed that there were "three high-profile meetings" offers some evidence that they are not completely deranged – merely deluded.
Meanwhile, on a related theme, in a lively bistro, in a surprisingly near-bijou part of a much put-upon English city, conversation turned to whether anyone (ordinary people, that is) had ever heard of ESD. I posed this question:
If you walked down the street outside, and stopped people at random, how many times would you need to do this before you found someone who had heard of education?
The answer, if you allow for babes in arms, the insane, members of the House of Lords, etc, is pretty obviously 1. Then, I said, replace 'education' by ESD, and how many people would you now likely have to stop?
The answers surprised me. The first response was 10 people; the second, 100. I said that I thought it would be nearer 10,000. On reflection, I'd say that could be a considerable under-estimate.
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