http://www.context.org/iclib/ic27/orr/
What is education for? … As suggested in a previous blog post herein, I would apply the key points of this wonderful essay by David Orr–which deals with ecology* across curricula and campuses, i.e., ecological literacy—to all campuses of schools, businesses and other institutions and organizations, and to all homes and communities.
Abide by that great virtue of informed and real humility. Slow down and see the beauty of small. Live in concert with Nature and learn from her. Recognize that conventional capitalism, inappropriate development and use of technology and statism are root challenges in this 21st century. Begin an education of young and old which is truly ecological, paideia/logical**, and responsible. Get outside and out of the lecture mode, and study the ecological processes (energy and material input/throughput of campuses; monetary flow; campus psychology, sociology, politics, culture and spirituality) and measure, analyze, evaluate, and assess sustainability indicators. Find the moral and ethical courage to make the world humane and healthy for all humans and all species though the educating toward better world citizens rather than “itinerant professional vandals”.
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* Or Positively Ethical Applied Community Ecology.
**Thoughts on paideia for today’s world: Quality of life for individuals and other components of ecological community requires collective efforts to be true to self as a natural organism in Nature dependent on photosynthesis, healthy soil , plenty of quality water, and sustainable biogeochemical cycles. Too many in our current economies are too much in an artificial cloud of computer software, mathematical algorithms, and of data, data, data, … and more data (real, unreal and surreal). [For “data” you might substitute words like information, numbers, bits, 0s & 1s, electron flow, energy, flux, but probably not knowledge!] It is hard to break out of this cloud because so much of fossil and daily solar energy are directed at this creation of an information economy. It is not sustainable, but this is where the power and money lies in a major portion of conventional global economies. (All three of our children work in this relentless cloud.)