Sustainability Education

What is Sustainability Education?

Our approach to sustainability education is expansive and far-reaching, inclusive of a range of topics and approaches, and drawing upon multiple pedagogies and theories of learning. At its core, sustainability education involves engaging students on the wicked, complex, and pervasive problems of environmental degradation in order to protect ecosystems and meet the needs of human and non-human nature both today and in the future.

“Integrating sustainability into the curriculum is becoming THE challenge for sustainability influencers at colleges and universities as green buildings and recycling programs become matter of course and the classroom becomes the true battleground for change.” From the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).

How does CNDLS support Sustainability Education?

Educating for a sustainable society and future is the responsibility of the entire Georgetown community. At CNDLS, we specifically focus on preparing faculty to better understand the pedagogies and practices that support sustainability education, and in the creation and implementation of sustainability-oriented activities in courses.

Specifically, CNDLS introduced programming in Fall 2019 to support faculty with little-to-no background in sustainability in taking a meaningful step toward educating for a sustainable future. With generous support from Georgetown’s Laudato Si’ Fund, this new programming worked at the level of the classroom and strengthened community among sustainability educators at Georgetown.

Designing Sustainability-focused Course Assignments

This opportunity was for faculty who were new to sustainability education and supported the creation of course assignments that integrated sustainability concepts with course subject matter. Sustainability expertise and assignment design support were provided through a series of consultations, as well as the potential for funding to support expenses related to the sustainability assignment.

Faculty Learning Community on Educating for Sustainability

This Faculty Learning Community gathered faculty to explore sustainability education. This faculty-led space deepened understanding of how to employ and promote sustainability-related values, practices, and assignments in individual courses and throughout the curriculum. Meeting monthly, this group of educators explored common problems, shared ideas, and developed a final common deliverable to share with the broader Georgetown teaching and learning community.