The Routledge Handbook of Global Sustainability Education and Thinking for the 21st Century

This Handbook emerges as a pivotal resource in underscoring the important role of sustainability education in catalysing a global shift toward sustainable development. It articulates the need for a profound transformation within institutional leadership and educational frameworks to support the critical global sustainability transition.

This Handbook explores sustainability thinking as a critical paradigm shift in confronting the multifaceted challenges of sustainable development. It presents an urgent case for a systemic overhaul in our approach to education in the 21st century, advocating for multidisciplinary education and holistic systems thinking in order to more successfully navigate the complexities of sustainable development.

The text discusses the foundational elements of modern sustainability thought and management, including the significance of values, ethics, governance, and the pressing issues of environmental degradation and climate change. It offers an extensive trans-disciplinary overview of sustainability discourse, spanning a broad array of perspectives on sustainability management and education.

It provides a comprehensive introduction to the language of sustainability and a detailed examination of sustainability issues, highlighting their implications for education, training, and management development. It addresses urgent global issues such as decarbonisation, resource scarcity, population dynamics, pollution, and land degradation, emphasising the crucial role of educational initiatives in helping to mitigate these challenges.

This seminal work has been developed for a diverse audience, including academics, policymakers, students, and educators, serving as a valuable tool for those wanting to comprehend complex global sustainability challenges and the paramount importance of education in supporting global sustainability in the 21st century.

?As a resource for those seeking to foster a culture of humility, and an ethic of restraint and creativity to match our fraught moment in history, this Handbook may prove invaluable.?

Tim Winton AO, Australian author

?The Routledge Handbook of Global Sustainability Education and Thinking for the 21st Century takes on big topics like climate change, mass extinctions, food production, forests, population, energy, and waste, while speaking the language of higher education: faculty support and training, leadership, governance, pedagogies, competencies. May this handbook be the positive tipping point that transforms colleges and universities everywhere into the Noble endeavours we urgently need them to be.?

Krista Hiser, PhD Professor and Senior Lead and Advisor for Sustainability Education; Global Council for Science and the Environment, Washington, D.C.

?A comprehensive international guide to the big issues facing humankind and what educators can do. A vitally important and timely book for teachers at all levels. Highly recommended.?

David W. Orr, Professor of Practice, Arizona State University and Editor: Democracy in a Hotter Time (2023)

?Education is the single most important investment that any society makes ? and this timely collection of essays underscores the fact that sustainability education must now be our