Providing environmental education and creating environmental awareness assists future generations to conserve, preserve and sustain the environment. Organisations are supporting environmental awareness education efforts and universities are increasingly being required to exercise sound environmental behaviour and educate all stakeholders on their responsibility of being aware of their environmental impact. Gamification and eco-feedback applications in previous studies have been used to provide feedback on an individual’s behaviour with the goal of creating environmental awareness. Students are generally not provided with environmental information regarding their use of electricity, water and waste management whilst on campus. In this exploratory study, an eco-feedback application was developed and used to create environmental awareness amongst postgraduate students at the Nelson Mandela University and the functionality of the eco-feedback application was evaluated. The results indicated that participants became more aware of their environmental impact after being exposed to an eco-feedback application. The functionality provided by the eco-feedback application, to assist in creating environmental awareness within an academic institution, proved to be useful.
{"title":"Creating Environmental Awareness using an Eco-Feedback Application at a Higher Education Institution","authors":"A. Calitz, M. Cullen, Francois Odendaal","doi":"10.4314/sajee.v36i1.8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/sajee.v36i1.8","url":null,"abstract":"Providing environmental education and creating environmental awareness assists future generations to conserve, preserve and sustain the environment. Organisations are supporting environmental awareness education efforts and universities are increasingly being required to exercise sound environmental behaviour and educate all stakeholders on their responsibility of being aware of their environmental impact. Gamification and eco-feedback applications in previous studies have been used to provide feedback on an individual’s behaviour with the goal of creating environmental awareness. Students are generally not provided with environmental information regarding their use of electricity, water and waste management whilst on campus. In this exploratory study, an eco-feedback application was developed and used to create environmental awareness amongst postgraduate students at the Nelson Mandela University and the functionality of the eco-feedback application was evaluated. The results indicated that participants became more aware of their environmental impact after being exposed to an eco-feedback application. The functionality provided by the eco-feedback application, to assist in creating environmental awareness within an academic institution, proved to be useful.","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116064606","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Environmental management has moved from a policy concept to a proactive strategy defining business responsiveness to stakeholder and market-related pressures towards improved environmentally sustainable business practices. There is increasing business responsiveness through corporate sustainability and environmental management practices. A growing number of environmental regulations make the adoption of environmental management systems such as ISO 14001 more common and this necessitates training. While environmental training is receiving international attention, it is seemingly less prominently investigated in the South African context. In this article, results from an empirical study into the environmental training practices of Durban businesses are presented. By applying the ISO 14001 certification criterion, 24 businesses were identified as research participants. The practice of environmental training was investigated considering three themes i.e. environmental attitudes and culture, training resources and commitment, and impediments to environmental training. In exploring these themes, the main questions of the extent of environmental training and its effectiveness are determined. It was found that environmental training is widely practised across all businesses sampled, with impact-focused training topics supported by positive environmental attitudes. However, other areas emerge as problematic, including limited organisational prioritisation of environmental training as well as insufficient further training topics which can limit the efficacy of training activities.Keywords: environmental training; environmental education; ISO 14001; Environmental Management Systems; corporate sustainability
{"title":"The Practice of Environmental Training: A case of ISO 14001 Certified Businesses in Durban, South Africa","authors":"Dianne. Sennoga, F. Ahmed","doi":"10.4314/sajee.v36i1.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/sajee.v36i1.5","url":null,"abstract":"Environmental management has moved from a policy concept to a proactive strategy defining business responsiveness to stakeholder and market-related pressures towards improved environmentally sustainable business practices. There is increasing business responsiveness through corporate sustainability and environmental management practices. A growing number of environmental regulations make the adoption of environmental management systems such as ISO 14001 more common and this necessitates training. While environmental training is receiving international attention, it is seemingly less prominently investigated in the South African context. In this article, results from an empirical study into the environmental training practices of Durban businesses are presented. By applying the ISO 14001 certification criterion, 24 businesses were identified as research participants. The practice of environmental training was investigated considering three themes i.e. environmental attitudes and culture, training resources and commitment, and impediments to environmental training. In exploring these themes, the main questions of the extent of environmental training and its effectiveness are determined. It was found that environmental training is widely practised across all businesses sampled, with impact-focused training topics supported by positive environmental attitudes. However, other areas emerge as problematic, including limited organisational prioritisation of environmental training as well as insufficient further training topics which can limit the efficacy of training activities.Keywords: environmental training; environmental education; ISO 14001; Environmental Management Systems; corporate sustainability","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":"359 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115427572","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-05-14DOI: 10.4314/SAJEE.V0I0.186411
R. A. Cid
This paper is inscribed within the study of social educational practices in rural indigenous communities of Mesoamerica, practices through which the store of knowledge that guides relationships with the environment are recreated. Ethnographical research conducted in a Zapotec community in the state of Oaxaca, southern Mexico, shows that communitarian educational practices form an everyday cognitive–axiological framework through which the norms of coexistence and social organisation are assimilated. The underlying purpose of these practices is to promote the historical and cultural continuity of the collective based on a reciprocal relationship with the environment, which is their home and the source of their well-being and biocultural identity. The resilience of this population lies in their use of socio-historical learning to renew their organisational structures, with the purpose of facing the challenges posed by civilisation. This paper describes aspects of these historical learnings and current social educational practices, as well as their ontological principles.
{"title":"Territory and ontology in the educational practices of an indigenous Zapotecan community in Mexico","authors":"R. A. Cid","doi":"10.4314/SAJEE.V0I0.186411","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/SAJEE.V0I0.186411","url":null,"abstract":"This paper is inscribed within the study of social educational practices in rural indigenous communities of Mesoamerica, practices through which the store of knowledge that guides relationships with the environment are recreated. Ethnographical research conducted in a Zapotec community in the state of Oaxaca, southern Mexico, shows that communitarian educational practices form an everyday cognitive–axiological framework through which the norms of coexistence and social organisation are assimilated. The underlying purpose of these practices is to promote the historical and cultural continuity of the collective based on a reciprocal relationship with the environment, which is their home and the source of their well-being and biocultural identity. The resilience of this population lies in their use of socio-historical learning to renew their organisational structures, with the purpose of facing the challenges posed by civilisation. This paper describes aspects of these historical learnings and current social educational practices, as well as their ontological principles.","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115011263","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The purpose of this study was to assess the impact, in relation to carbon emissions, of electronic course document use and attitudes to paper consumption levels among third- and fifth-year environmental engineering students ( N = 78) enrolled in two courses during the 2015/2016 academic year at the Copperbelt University in Kitwe, Zambia. Data were collected through an online survey, to which 40 students provided complete responses, as well as through semi-structured interviews and observations. Overall, 80% of the students in the sample reported that they read electronic course materials. They also indicated that they ‘know a lot’ about sustainable development, climate change, greenhouse gases and global warming, and agreed that efficient paper use is an important aspect of achieving sustainability. Importantly, the study found that the lecturer’s mode of delivery of course materials influenced the students to develop responsible environmental behaviours such as reading and sharing e-course documents and reusing paper. Keywords: Climate change, paper consumption, education for sustainable development, higher education
{"title":"Students’ attitudes to paper consumption in relation to carbon emissions and the impact of electronic course documents","authors":"Mubanga Kapuka, O. Shumba, W. Munthali","doi":"10.4314/SAJEE.V.33I1.7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/SAJEE.V.33I1.7","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of this study was to assess the impact, in relation to carbon emissions, of electronic course document use and attitudes to paper consumption levels among third- and fifth-year environmental engineering students ( N = 78) enrolled in two courses during the 2015/2016 academic year at the Copperbelt University in Kitwe, Zambia. Data were collected through an online survey, to which 40 students provided complete responses, as well as through semi-structured interviews and observations. Overall, 80% of the students in the sample reported that they read electronic course materials. They also indicated that they ‘know a lot’ about sustainable development, climate change, greenhouse gases and global warming, and agreed that efficient paper use is an important aspect of achieving sustainability. Importantly, the study found that the lecturer’s mode of delivery of course materials influenced the students to develop responsible environmental behaviours such as reading and sharing e-course documents and reusing paper. Keywords: Climate change, paper consumption, education for sustainable development, higher education","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":"141 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134006194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Transition is a common characteristic of our lives, particularly in a rapidly changing world. In this context, how careers are enacted has become increasingly varied, requiring new conceptual tools to study the transitions of learners and workers. This paper uses theoretical constructs from the literature on boundaryless career discourse as well as learning and on work transitioning in order to explore the learning pathways of environmental engineers. It thus contributes to empirical work that articulates ongoing transitions (beyond the first job) within ‘occupational and organisational life’, as well as to the understanding of learning pathways as educational and occupational progression. The career stories help us to understand how non-linear transitions emerge, the complexity of these transitions, and the need to attend to broader institutional arrangements within and across education and training, the labour market and the workplace. Through its focus on the environmental engineer, it helps us to understand the processes and outcomes of transitions in an important occupation in contemporary professional work in South Africa. Finally, in a field dominated by research on entry into a first job, the paper also provides much-needed insights into occupational transitions into specialised work.
{"title":"The nature of learning and work transitioning in boundaryless work: the case of the environmental engineer","authors":"P. Ramsarup, H. Lotz-Sisitka","doi":"10.4314/SAJEE.V.33I1.8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/SAJEE.V.33I1.8","url":null,"abstract":"Transition is a common characteristic of our lives, particularly in a rapidly changing world. In this context, how careers are enacted has become increasingly varied, requiring new conceptual tools to study the transitions of learners and workers. This paper uses theoretical constructs from the literature on boundaryless career discourse as well as learning and on work transitioning in order to explore the learning pathways of environmental engineers. It thus contributes to empirical work that articulates ongoing transitions (beyond the first job) within ‘occupational and organisational life’, as well as to the understanding of learning pathways as educational and occupational progression. The career stories help us to understand how non-linear transitions emerge, the complexity of these transitions, and the need to attend to broader institutional arrangements within and across education and training, the labour market and the workplace. Through its focus on the environmental engineer, it helps us to understand the processes and outcomes of transitions in an important occupation in contemporary professional work in South Africa. Finally, in a field dominated by research on entry into a first job, the paper also provides much-needed insights into occupational transitions into specialised work.","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":"67 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132795492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The aim of this study was to investigate the scope of local ecological knowledge (LEK) in the Lupande and Mumbwa Game Management Areas (GMAs) of Zambia and to assess the extent to which such knowledge has been used in the management of wildlife resources in the two areas. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through interviews and surveys in the two case-study areas. It was found that LEK in the study areas included taboos associated with the sustainable use of natural resources, traditional teachings that guided the local people as to the correct time to harvest their natural resources and provided knowledge of the natural distribution of plants in the two areas. Finally, it is recommended that, in order to complement modern scientific knowledge in the realisation of sustainable wildlife resource management, greater attention be paid to the LEK possessed by communities. Keywords: Local ecological knowledge, sustainable utilisation, wildlife resources, Zambia
{"title":"Local ecological knowledge and community-based management of wildlife resources : a study of the Mumbwa and Lupande Game Management areas of Zambia","authors":"I. Milupi, M. Somers, J. W. Ferguson","doi":"10.4314/SAJEE.V.33I1.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/SAJEE.V.33I1.3","url":null,"abstract":"The aim of this study was to investigate the scope of local ecological knowledge (LEK) in the Lupande and Mumbwa Game Management Areas (GMAs) of Zambia and to assess the extent to which such knowledge has been used in the management of wildlife resources in the two areas. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through interviews and surveys in the two case-study areas. It was found that LEK in the study areas included taboos associated with the sustainable use of natural resources, traditional teachings that guided the local people as to the correct time to harvest their natural resources and provided knowledge of the natural distribution of plants in the two areas. Finally, it is recommended that, in order to complement modern scientific knowledge in the realisation of sustainable wildlife resource management, greater attention be paid to the LEK possessed by communities. Keywords: Local ecological knowledge, sustainable utilisation, wildlife resources, Zambia","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125003059","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper critically engages with the concept of development through an analysis of epistemological justice in education for sustainable development (ESD) and presents alternative strategies for adaptation of the concept in the South. Many definitional challenges still surround development studies. The paper draws on the work of Wolfgang Sachs (1999) who asserts that the notion of sustainability has been consumed by development, presenting a view of sustainability which challenges the current and dominant economically driven hegemonic development discourse in which sustainability has become embedded. Further useful perspectives for this paper are offered by Amartya Sen (2001) who refers to development as a form of freedom. Sachs (1999) maintains that global definitions of development cement the dominant hegemonic discourse of the leading North, which has resulted in an obfuscation of the epistemological contribution from the South. The paper argues that, in the integration of congruent and enabling conceptual frameworks, allowing epistemic justice and validating the lived experience of learners through socially responsive pedagogical frameworks, South Africa is beginning to respond to the global environmental crisis. At the core of the paper is the question of whether an African ethical position advances the attainment of sustainability objectives. The paper concludes by positing a shift in scholastic and social understandings of development, and redefining the term from a changing terrain which may seem immutable with the current environmental crisis. Keywords: Epistemology, development, pedagogy, justice, African ethics
{"title":"Problematising development in sustainability: epistemic justice through an African ethic","authors":"S. Kumalo","doi":"10.4314/SAJEE.V33I1.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/SAJEE.V33I1.2","url":null,"abstract":"This paper critically engages with the concept of development through an analysis of epistemological justice in education for sustainable development (ESD) and presents alternative strategies for adaptation of the concept in the South. Many definitional challenges still surround development studies. The paper draws on the work of Wolfgang Sachs (1999) who asserts that the notion of sustainability has been consumed by development, presenting a view of sustainability which challenges the current and dominant economically driven hegemonic development discourse in which sustainability has become embedded. Further useful perspectives for this paper are offered by Amartya Sen (2001) who refers to development as a form of freedom. Sachs (1999) maintains that global definitions of development cement the dominant hegemonic discourse of the leading North, which has resulted in an obfuscation of the epistemological contribution from the South. The paper argues that, in the integration of congruent and enabling conceptual frameworks, allowing epistemic justice and validating the lived experience of learners through socially responsive pedagogical frameworks, South Africa is beginning to respond to the global environmental crisis. At the core of the paper is the question of whether an African ethical position advances the attainment of sustainability objectives. The paper concludes by positing a shift in scholastic and social understandings of development, and redefining the term from a changing terrain which may seem immutable with the current environmental crisis. Keywords: Epistemology, development, pedagogy, justice, African ethics","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133797157","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Of all the environmental problems facing humankind today, anthropogenic-induced climate change is regarded as one of the most damaging in its potential repercussions. For this reason, the perceptions of climate change among high-school learners, who represent future decision-makers and stand as a proxy for the next generation, are of importance. This study was designed so as to gain insight into the nature of perceptions and associated determinants among Grade 11 learners in the Tshwane metropolitan municipal area. Specifically, it probed dynamics between the content in the formal curriculum (Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement or CAPS) and learners’ exposure to electronic media, their peers and parents (their arenas of social interaction) in forming these perceptions. The study involved a qualitative analysis of 68 questionnaires completed by learners from two high schools. Findings include misconceptions regarding climate change among learners, as they conflate climate change and the greenhouse effect. The learners’ perceptions seem to be shaped by the cumulative outcomes of dynamics between different arenas of exposure and influence (formal education, peers, parents and the media). It is argued that learners’ perceptions about climate change fostered in formal education should also be understood in the context of their potential exposure to: (1) alarmist framings of climate change in the media; (2) conceptual disagreements in the climate change research community; and (3) the influence of peers and parents. Rather than avoiding the dynamics from contesting and diverging ‘arenas of exposure’, future climate change education planning should accommodate and align contending views that might influence the learning process. Keywords: Climate change, school curriculum, learner perceptions, media, peers
{"title":"Perceptions of climate change among Grade 11 learners in the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa","authors":"Mapaleng Silas Lekgeu, N. Davis","doi":"10.4314/SAJEE.V.33I1.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/SAJEE.V.33I1.5","url":null,"abstract":"Of all the environmental problems facing humankind today, anthropogenic-induced climate change is regarded as one of the most damaging in its potential repercussions. For this reason, the perceptions of climate change among high-school learners, who represent future decision-makers and stand as a proxy for the next generation, are of importance. This study was designed so as to gain insight into the nature of perceptions and associated determinants among Grade 11 learners in the Tshwane metropolitan municipal area. Specifically, it probed dynamics between the content in the formal curriculum (Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement or CAPS) and learners’ exposure to electronic media, their peers and parents (their arenas of social interaction) in forming these perceptions. The study involved a qualitative analysis of 68 questionnaires completed by learners from two high schools. Findings include misconceptions regarding climate change among learners, as they conflate climate change and the greenhouse effect. The learners’ perceptions seem to be shaped by the cumulative outcomes of dynamics between different arenas of exposure and influence (formal education, peers, parents and the media). It is argued that learners’ perceptions about climate change fostered in formal education should also be understood in the context of their potential exposure to: (1) alarmist framings of climate change in the media; (2) conceptual disagreements in the climate change research community; and (3) the influence of peers and parents. Rather than avoiding the dynamics from contesting and diverging ‘arenas of exposure’, future climate change education planning should accommodate and align contending views that might influence the learning process. Keywords: Climate change, school curriculum, learner perceptions, media, peers","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129744983","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Editorial: Journal Development, Scholar Development and Quality","authors":"Eureta Rosenberg, M. Togo","doi":"10.4314/sajee.v.33i1.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/sajee.v.33i1.1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129237349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2004-12-01DOI: 10.4314/SAJEE.V21I0.122690
J. Hattingh
It may be considered unfair to respond to a paper from the point of view of another discipline, especially if central issues or assumptions in that article are discussed critically. In this paper, comments are made on Alistair Chadwick’s paper from the point of view of philosophy and ethics, but these are offered in the spirit of a constructive dialogue across narrowly conceived disciplinary borders. The general theme of these comments also calls for interdisciplinary dialogue: the language that we use in our debates about environmental education, ethics and action.As such, language is a theme about which every discipline in the social sciences can make a meaningful contribution, and this is what I would like to offer here. In this Viewpoint I will focus on only one issue, namely certain problems that may arise if we accept the language in which Chadwick speaks in his paper about ‘sustainable development’ and ‘values’ respectively. I will raise a number of critical points in this regard, not because there is one and only one appropriate language within which we can discuss our environmental concerns and our (educational) responses to them, but rather because we should be self-consciously aware of the assumptions and implications hidden in the language that we choose to discuss these matters, thus enabling us to disect and evaluate these assumptions and implications with a view to determine to what extent they enhance or undermine our efforts to understand the nature and extent of the environmental challenges that we are faced with.
{"title":"Speaking of Sustainable Development and Values... A Response to Alistair Chadwick's Viewpoint Responding to Destructive Interpersonal Interactions:A way forward for school-based environmental educators","authors":"J. Hattingh","doi":"10.4314/SAJEE.V21I0.122690","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/SAJEE.V21I0.122690","url":null,"abstract":"It may be considered unfair to respond to a paper from the point of view of another discipline, especially if central issues or assumptions in that article are discussed critically. In this paper, comments are made on Alistair Chadwick’s paper from the point of view of philosophy and ethics, but these are offered in the spirit of a constructive dialogue across narrowly conceived disciplinary borders. The general theme of these comments also calls for interdisciplinary dialogue: the language that we use in our debates about environmental education, ethics and action.As such, language is a theme about which every discipline in the social sciences can make a meaningful contribution, and this is what I would like to offer here. In this Viewpoint I will focus on only one issue, namely certain problems that may arise if we accept the language in which Chadwick speaks in his paper about ‘sustainable development’ and ‘values’ respectively. I will raise a number of critical points in this regard, not because there is one and only one appropriate language within which we can discuss our environmental concerns and our (educational) responses to them, but rather because we should be self-consciously aware of the assumptions and implications hidden in the language that we choose to discuss these matters, thus enabling us to disect and evaluate these assumptions and implications with a view to determine to what extent they enhance or undermine our efforts to understand the nature and extent of the environmental challenges that we are faced with.","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2004-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123994318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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