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Learning to Live Sustainably
Marilyn MEHLMANN,1* Nadia MCLAREN2 and Olena POMETUN3
1

Global Action Plan (GAP) International,
Brovägen 9, SE-18247 Stocksund, Sweden
Union of International Associations (UIA), Belgium
2Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF),
Floor 1, 60 Leicester St, Carlton VIC 3053, Australia
Green Cross Australia (GCA), Australia
3
Academy of Pedagogical Science of Ukraine (Kiev),
52-D Artema Street, Kiev 04053, Ukraine
Democracy and Partnership, Ukraine*e-mail: mmehlmann@gmail.com

Abstract
This paper is about the challenges of “education for sustainable development” (ESD), by which wemean: how we learn to live in ecological and socio-cultural harmony with our neighbours and the Earth andchoose to act for sustainability on a daily basis. We contrast conventional pedagogical approaches andcurriculum design with the emerging body of good practice in ESD. We regard “learning to live sustainably”
and “learning for sustainable development” as pedagogical equivalents, the first centred on individual andsmall group learning, the second centred on large group and societal learning. Knowledge transfer, thebackbone of most education, has in our view only a modest role to play in learning to live sustainably. Indeed,
the focus needs to be on the learning rather than the teaching. Further, we argue that nurturing the components
of “action” and “care” in ESD will balance the bias towards “information” and produce a virtuous cycle ofcontinuous learning for sustainability. In formulating the lessons we have learned about ESD, we bring intorelief the essential (and undervalued) contributions of synthesis and leadership. We point to methods ofaccelerated learning and experiential learning and the role of feedback and indicators. In doing this, we draw
on over 20 years’ experience with Global Action Plan (GAP) – an international community of practice,currently with member organizations in 20 countries – working at the forefront of education for sustainable
development and related programs for sustainable behaviour change, including ‘carbon neutral’ households,
communities, work places and schools.
A close reading of the paper should make clear that our ideal for ESD is to educate for strong social
learning for strong sustainability.
Key words: action, empowerment, experiential, leadership, learning, synthesis

1. Learning to Live Increasingly Sustainably:
Is It Useful, or Even Possible?
The world is coming to an end, and you tell us to change
our light bulbs!
– Pupil at a ‘sustainability’ lesson
On the one hand, sustainable development can only
be achieved with a radical, systemic shift throughout
human society, so that instead of depleting the natural
capital on which we depend, we preserve and begin torestore it; this is sometimes referred to as ‘strong
sustainability’ (Lenglet & Rönnbäck, 2010). So does itreally make sense to spend time and energy teachingpeople, young or old, to focus mainly on saving resources
Global Environmental Research
14/2010: 177-186
printed in Japanand reducing waste? Is this not a drop in the ocean?
Should we not be tackling head-on the ‘real’ problems?
This is one perspective.
On the other hand, the arguments for strong sustainability have been well known for several decades (e.g.,
Robért, 2002), and they are totally compelling: If we
don’t all do it, we all die. Yet somehow we are still notdoing it. Instead, we are depleting our natural capital at,
in many instances, an accelerating rate (Pearce, 2010).
We are backing faster into the future and off the edge of acliff.
When you are standing on the edge of a cliff a step
forward is not progress.
– Anonymous, quoted by Tom Atlee©2010 AIRIES178

M. MEHLMANN et al.

Human society is a mosaic of cultures, and of decisions made day by day and minute by minute. The
unsustainability of current development is a product of
all those myriad decisions, made by every person on theplanet: at home, in the streets, at their workplace. Often
they are not even experienced as decisions; they are just‘the way we do things.’
From this perspective, it makes perfect sense to teachpeople new habits, no matter how apparently marginal.
Not only are resources saved (Staats et al., 2004), but
creativity is unleashed, and the groundswell of opinion isshifted to give greater support to sustainability initiatives
by public authorities, businesses, community-basedorganizations and others (evidenced by the growing
adoption of green public procurement, corporate social
responsibility, carbon pricing, transition initiatives andthe like).
We can celebrate triumphs that are no less great because
they did not solve the whole problem; we must recognize
needs that are no less pressing because others were met.
– Luis de Baca
There is, however, a condition: the change of behaviour needs to stem from a conscious decision rather thanan unreflected response. Simple propaganda does not do
the job. While it is true that people have adopted new
behaviours as a result of information campaigns – which,like some online social movements (such as Avaaz.com
and diverse pledge, petition and community websites)
empower the individual by providing compelling facts,
attachment to common purpose and a facilitated process
for action – when the campaign stops, most of the
behaviour reverts because the external stimulus and support is gone (Jacometti, 2008). This observation is areasonable explanation for such clichés as ‘You can’tteach an old dog new tricks,’ despite their obvious
nonsensicality. Yet we all know, on reflection, that we
frequently change our habits (Heath & Heath, 2010) –often as a result of advertising or by following family andfriends (Bandura, 1977).
So what are the keys that open people to makechanges in their lives and how do these relate to learningfor sustainability? We offer three: empowerment, context
and experience.

2. Key Elements of Effective Learning for
Sustainability

As we have mentioned, effective learning for SD isclearly linked to changes in daily behaviour, or way oflife. The learners take action – not primarily in order tolearn, but because the action in question contributes toimproved sustainability. Learning usually follows.
Incidentally, this challenges the common perception thatawareness and understanding come first, to be followedby action (Roberts, 2010).

2.1 Key element 1: Empowerment
At Global Action Plan (GAP) – an international groupof NGOs working for sustainable behaviour change – weasked ourselves: “What makes the difference? Whatenables an effective bridge between information andresponsible action?” One clear answer right from the start,
in 1989, was ‘empowerment’. Empowerment, or the
exercise of will, has been described as an exercise inattention and intention (Assagioli, 1973).
When people are empowered to make more sustainable decisions they learn to pay attention to sustainability
issues and then to formulate intention. They are thus
supported to choose for sustainability in their daily lives.
When this takes place, the new behaviour tends to besustained long after the events that triggered it – as researchers at the University of Leiden showed for GAPNetherland’s Household EcoTeam Program (Staats et al.,
2004; Harland, 2001). For two decades now we havebeen exploring, in projects in a score of countries, theconditions that promote or hinder empowerment.
An increasing interest in the phenomenon of empowerment may be connected with the spread all over theworld of a growing feeling of powerlessness. Many
people today experience a lack of choice in their lives at
any level (Stewart, 2001). Curiously, this experience
seems to be at least as, if not more, widespread in theaffluent countries as in the poorer. Yet few kings in history have had as many choices open to them as people
living in today’s western and westernized societies. So at
an individual level, contemporary experienced disempowerment is an expression less of "fact" than ofperception.
At the collective level, however, as Stewart points out,
contemporary society is structured along lines of domination (systemic control through economic, political andideological power) rather than empowerment (Stewart,
2001, p.100), leading to such trends as declining electoral
participation and loss of confidence in the power of thecollective. This deficit of collective will is, then, thelikely source of people’s felt state of powerlessness. It iscurrently present, for example, in the ambivalent
response of large institutions to global climate change,
biodiversity loss and poverty alleviation, and it contaminates the citizen’s desire for personal change: “Whybother?” Individual choice is still there, but the spirit isnot. In other words, choosing to live sustainably, or not,has a strong psychological dimension which, additionally,
can be influenced by the social context.
At GAP’s first research meeting (Mehlmann, 1996)
we explored the nature of empowerment as we had
experienced it to that time, and found that it can beviewed both as a condition and as a process. The condition of empowerment implies a feeling of being reasonably in charge of a situation. The condition can be general(“I feel in charge of my life”) or specific (“When mychildren are threatened, I become a tiger”).
Further, the process of empowerment is either inner(“I learn to progressively experience more choice in myown life”), which can be compared to a general matura-

Learning to Live Sustainably

tion process; or the result of external support, for example through an empowerment program: an educational
program designed to evoke the values and inner strengthof the learners. An empowerment program designed withthis in mind can support participants to care about andlong for things they would once have thought beyond
their power to influence: a shift takes place in how they
view and assess their individual and collective futures.
2.1.1 Anatomy of behaviour change
In the context of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) – a concept popularized by its adoption as
the focus of a United Nations Decade, 2005~2014 – theprocess of empowerment is interesting to the extent that it
can lead to more sustainable lifestyles. Such a processinevitably comes up against barriers – psychological andsocial (Sattmann-Frese & Hill, 2010) as well as economic(Greco, 2009).
Theories of personal change are many (Watzlawick
et al., 1974; Fritz, 1996; Chaldini, 1999). What they seemto have in common is the perception that individual
behaviour change is not – as frequently assumed in mass
behaviour-change programs – repeat, not brought about,or engineered, with a conventional, linear education approach, which takes information and knowledge as thestarting point (Fig. 1). Nonetheless almost all governmental approaches to societal change (including legislation and regulation) follow this pattern and the degree towhich they succeed in changing behaviour has much
more to do with the reactive “sticks and carrots” type oflearning than with engendering conscious understanding
and value shift.
One of the missing links in the linear path model(Fig. 1) is the non-rational aspect of expressed behaviour(Bohm, 1972): most significant lifestyle change comes
about not as a result of rational process but when emotions, desires and beliefs are engaged (Heath & Heath,2010). This is commonplace and so often overlooked, but

Fig. 1 Linear view of behaviour change.

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striking in instances of personal change consequent on,
for example, diagnosis of serious illness and other life
crises. We call this missing link “care” and it closes theloop (Fig. 2).
In contrast with the linear change model (Fig. 1), ourobservation of actual, long-term behaviour change
achieved through GAP programs leads us to propose acircular picture of how change happens (Fig. 2,
Mehlmann, 1996; Mehlmann & Pometun, 2010, 2011).
Each step – “acting,” “caring,” “informing” – prompts
the next. It does not matter where you start; and the cycle
is potentially self-reinforcing: a positive feedback loop.
So the change cycle need not stop – the circular path canbe drawn out, over time, into an open-ended spiral ofcontinuous behaviour change.
A key to the cyclic path of behaviour change is thelink between acting and caring. If I believe that I have no
scope for effective action, I will find it difficult to care –and without this emotional investment, I am unlikely totake action. On the other hand, if I can be attracted totake experimental action, my beliefs about what is possible may shift and I may consequently change my attitudes
and behaviour. As already noted, this is contrary to theconventional wisdom that information and knowledge
necessarily precede attitudes and action. We deal further
with the empowering nature of taking action andexperiential learning in section 2.3 Key element 3:
Learning by and from experience.
I don’t care what you know until I know that you care.
– Anon., quoted by Anthony Gioko
Note that not included in the diagram of the cyclic
path of behaviour change (Fig. 2) are two importantelements: the focus, and the environment or context. The
focus helps to shape the content of conscious decisions
and is an essential component of “strong social learning”(see 2.1.2 Individual and collective empowerment below).
The environment – physical or social – makes it easier or
harder to stick to conscious decisions until they become
habit (Heath & Heath, 2010). This is discussed further insection 2.2 Key element 2: Context.
2.1.2 Individual and collective empowerment
Focus and context become critically important in theshift that happens from the individual to the collective.
Empowerment of a group or collective inevitably
begins with the individuals and their participation in thelife of the collective (Gershon, 2009).

Fig. 2 Cyclic view of behaviour change.

When intention is shared, individual empowerment
becomes collective empowerment (which, as we havenoted in the previous section, is in short supply). Similarly, when the need to learn is shared, individual learning
becomes collective learning.
There is a parallel to the concept of social learning,which has weak and strong expressions. George Pór
writes:180

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“All learning is social but when we talk about social
learning we mean something more specific in a sense of a
weak and a strong case. Weak social learning occurs incommunities or networks of learners, strong social
learning is a result of communities or networks that learn.
In the first case, we talk about a collection of intelligences, where the individual is using the shared resources forthe benefit of his own learning and development. In thesecond case, we talk about collective intelligence, where
the result aimed for is not only individual but group orsocial development, as well.”“Strong social learning is a co-creative quest formeeting problems or opportunities that affect a group orsociety, which requires collective sensing, intuition,
meaning making, and other qualities of collective intelligence.” (Pór, undated).
An open question is whether learning for sustainable
development (i.e., by large collectivities) needs to be“strong social learning”? If so, as we think it is, then what
do the insights of those working with collective intelligence imply for educators of ESD?
2.2 Key element 2: Context
2.2.1 Analysis vs synthesis
Most education systems, especially but not only
systems of formal education, are designed to transfer
established knowledge, with little active role for thelearner (Unrau, 1997). Any opportunity for criticallearning (Bean, 1997) is likely to emphasize analysis(“what are the different diseases?”) rather than synthesis(“what is health?”). Little wonder, then, that most efforts
to promote sustainable behaviour fall quickly to thetemptation to compartmentalize: to focus only on CO2
reduction, or cleaner water, or peace-building, or debt
elimination, or recycling, or... In such circumstances,even real change can indeed be marginal because it has
few spin-off effects.
In today’s complex world it is generally impossible tounderstand by analysis all effects of proposed actions
into the indefinite future. The use of “impact assessments” in development projects, for example, in terms ofenvironment, economics and gender, is an attempt tocapture the different effects. However, while greatertransparency is claimed as a strength of impact assessment, common weaknesses are stakeholder dominance,
exclusion of factors and political short-sightedness, aswell as poor processes of public participation – reflecting
weak, rather than strong, social learning.
To overcome the risks of compartmentalization, there
are some quite sophisticated tools such as multi-stakeholder analysis and scenario planning. Nonethelesswhere undesired effects are found to be probable, findings are often framed in an inconclusive or ambivalent
form such as “There is no evidence that significant impact would arise...” This may sometimes be better thanignoring the question of long-term impact. However, anAustralian survey indicates that ”only in around ten percent of cases is the environmental impact assessment
process actually generating significantly better outcome”(Mackintosh, 2009). So while impact assessment may
help avoid some of the grosser mistakes of “development
as usual,” it alone cannot put us on the right track oflearning to live more sustainably.
The limitation of impact analysis is a standard outcome of the analytical, reductionist method – not to beunderrated, but more suitable for convergent problems(which have a correct solution) than for divergent problems such as sustainable development, where what is‘correct’ from one perspective may well be disastrous
from another; and where an ability to explain the past by
no means implies an ability to predict the future. Thisobservation is not new. Systems theory and relativity
theory have observed and explained it for a long time. As
Philip Anderson points out:
“The ability to reduce everything to simple fundamental laws does not imply the ability to start from thoselaws and reconstruct the universe. The constructionist
hypothesis breaks down when confronted with the twin
difficulties of scale and complexity. At each level of complexity entirely new properties appear. Psychology is notapplied biology, nor is biology applied chemistry. We can
now see that the whole becomes not merely more, butvery different from the sum of its parts.” (Anderson,1972).
If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together tocollect wood and don't assign them tasks and work; but,rather, teach them to long for the endless immensity of thesea.
– Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Given the weakness of the analytical approach there isa need to look elsewhere for guidance as to how to steer adevelopment process in a sustainable direction. Somerelevant questions are:
• Are there any reliable indicators of increasing or decreasing sustainability, a question to which we return
under the heading 2.3.2 Feedback and indicators?
• How can we teach synthesis?
• How can adequate decisions be made under conditions of uncertainty, and what implications does thiscarry for leadership?
We need, as part of any ESD program, to learn, toteach and to long for the endless immensity of a sustainable future: to create a hunger for sustainability(Wackernagel & Rees, 1996). This is the caring aspect of
the change process. We also need to teach and learn how
to envision the whole ‘ship’ of sustainability, not as apre-existing, predefined entity but as a visionary experience (Ziegler, unpubl.); so that each part can be craftedwith a view to the best functioning of the emerging
whole.
There are no standard recipes for such teaching.
Certainly they need to be based on dialogue, Socratic or
deductive approaches, starting with the everyday realitiesof participants (Freire, 1970). Other sources of inspiration are Action Learning (a pedagogy developed for teamlearning; Revans, 1980) and Active Learning (Rubin &Learning to Live Sustainably

Hebert, 1998). But even these are not enough, because
still there is an assumption that the teacher or facilitator
possesses the key to what is right and what is wrong.
This assumption is challenged with Community-Based
Research (a form of Action Research, see section 2.3.3
Learning by doing), in which the community is viewed
and treated as a subject: as one of the holders of the key towhat constitutes an improvement and what does not.
In GAP our partial response to this need to go beyond
action learning has been to include emotional intelligence(Goleman, 2006; Gardner, 1993) in our dialogues and to
focus on the quality of listening (Ziegler, unpubl.;
Pometun, 2008). This is further explored below under
Implications for education and pedagogy.
2.2.2 The role of leadership
So how does an educator, or any other leader, makereasonable decisions under the conditions of uncertainty
with which people across the world are increasingly
confronted? It is easy to see the ideal process of sustainable development as so participatory that it is virtuallyleaderless. But this is to confuse leadership withdomination. Leadership – empowering leadership – isvital for sustainable development. Without leadership,change processes tend to dissipate, disintegrate or stagnate. Leadership is needed to inspire, to create focus, tofoster discovery and creativity, to align intentions, tokeep moving and to keep faith with visions and values.
It takes some highly skilled navigation to steer
between extremes: to inspire without dominating, tocreate focus without manipulation, to foster discovery
and creativity without losing focus, to align intentions
without becoming deaf to inconveniently divergent views,
to keep moving at a pace that suits those most affected.
To keep faith.
It is sometimes said that a desire to be of service is thestarting point for empowering leadership (Rost, 1991).
Robert Greenleaf coined the term ‘servant leadership.’ In
describing it, he put his finger on a point that is central to
all forms of empowerment, not only leadership as generally understood, but also educating, coaching or parenting: “It begins with the natural feeling that one wants toserve... To make sure that others’ highest priority needs
are being served.” (Greenleaf, 1970)
Greenleaf proposed a test: “Do those served [by theleader] grow as persons? Do they, while being served,
become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more
likely themselves to become servants?” He added, “And,
what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will
they benefit or at least not be further deprived?”(Greenleaf, 2002, p.27). This could serve as a working
definition of the leadership qualities needed for empowerment in situations of learning for sustainability.
2.3 Key element 3: Learning by and from experience
2.3.1 Learning-education-information
When we talk of learning for sustainability, we are nottalking of learning about sustainability. We are talking ofa deep, life-enhancing, ongoing process of discovery and181

enactment.
While education refers to collections of worldly facts,
educare [Latin root] is to bring out from within. Education is for a living while educare is for life.
– Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Education interweaves “person” and “context” andrefers to both the process of learning and the product or
result of learning. In a similar manner, information has
both internal and external aspects: “education-learning”
both informs by releasing native ability and insight for
personal growth, and informs by conveying accepted
wisdom, knowledge, experience and skills [in]to thelearner.
Herein lies the distinction between education andlearning for sustainable development and education andlearning about sustainable development. The first
focuses more on facilitating and revealing uniqueexpressions of personal knowing; the second works toefficiently make available organized knowledge throughshareable content. An “educator” may be involved withboth modes of information; but we all know that “goodteachers,” those skilled in the first mode, are regrettably
rare.
Regret now must shift to imperative for educationalchange that is responsive to our time. The accelerating
pace of global change is outpacing traditional modes ofpedagogy and weakening the relevance of the information and knowledge conveyed across generations. “Thisis how we’ve always done it” has little value whenapplied to situations we’ve not previously encountered,like mass species extinctions and climate change.
Education is ‘the art of learning’ (Majasan, 1976)
In our opinion (and as we will illustrate in the section
3. Implications for education and pedagogy), the main
challenge for SD educators is to equip students to learn
from their own and others’ experience in order to act forsustainability. We may know very little about the destination, but we do know the direction in which we need to
move. And there are methods and tools available to help
us do so, and to manage the anxiety that inevitably accompanies the daily uncertainty of our rapidly changing
world (Pattyn & Van Liedekerke, 2001).
It may indeed be the case that our young people,
rather than learning primarily from teachers, take theirmost valuable lessons from personal and peer experience;and that the chaos of environmental breakdown may
become the proxy classroom for SD.
2.3.2 Feedback and indicators
Feedback is an essential tool for learning fromexperience. Feedback may be instantaneous – a reflex
reaction. It may be qualitative and subjective – a considered opinion. Feedback that is measured (“objective”)
relies on indicators to provide independence and“benchmarking” (against verifiable references). Experts

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often dominate the selection and measurement process.
This is fine for control systems and where the interactionof factors is predictable. However, since sustainable
development is an optimizing process, its indicators are
not categorical; rather they are dynamic measures of anevolving process, needing contribution from both expert
and ‘grass-roots’ elements.
A decade ago, one of us was at a conference inLondon jointly organised by UK, Dutch and Danish
agencies concerned with environmental statistics. Called“Bridging the Gap” (no connection with our GAP), theconference explored the status, uses and value ofenvironmental indicators. Can indicators be relied upon
to “indicate” what they are claimed to indicate?
It seems that indicators chosen for political motives,
which they help to further, are rewarded with a continuing existence almost regardless of their practical orscientific usefulness. Their focus is generally on ‘standard of living,’ expressed in monetary terms, whereas‘quality of life’ is of more direct relevance to most people.
Statistician Nic Marks eloquently makes this point in his
TED talk about the development of the Happy PlanetIndex (New Economics Foundation, 2009). In the samevein, Bhutan’s adoption of a Gross Happiness Index(Ezechieli, 2003) is an example of pioneering work indeveloping an indicator of ‘progress’ of greater immediate relevance to its population than GDP.
Clearly we can’t expect all indicators to be as involving and comprehensible as the marks on the wall thatshowed our growth through childhood. However, we dodeserve indicators that are in touch with our values, that
we can relate to personally, and which can capture thedifference between the current unsustainable present andour preferred vision of a sustainable future for ourselves
and our children.
In this context, the main feedback challenges foreducators are- To encourage and help learners identify indicators
meaningful to them and that inspire continuous
learning and change,- To help learners become aware of indicators andprogress within a global sustainability context, and- To encourage and help learners to keep track of theirchosen indicators.
And so we have moved from descriptive and performance indicators (“how good, or bad, things are,”“how well we are doing along a preset trend”) to thenotion of an indicator that contains the seed of meaningful change. Such an indicator would recognise the significance of its measured value and have the capacity for
generating an appropriate response. It might also anticipate its own replacement by another more suitable to thechange process in which it is implicated. A case in point
might be an indicator that recognises a spontaneoustransition from individual to collective learning andreconfigures the curriculum, the learning space andeducation resources accordingly.
Indicators are not unbiased objective measures, nor istheir choice innocent. The indicators we choose today

will significantly determine the quality of our future life.
The transformative power of indicators is very muchdetermined by their framing. The kind of dialogue implicit in this reframing helps to raise awareness to a level
where we can talk about what we, teachers as well as
pupils, are all learning for all of us (Unrau, 1997). It
approaches our ideal for ESD to educate for strong social
learning for strong sustainability.
2.3.3 Learning by doing
Early in this paper, we made the case for empowerment being the bridge between information and responsible action (2.1 Key element 1: Empowerment). It now
becomes necessary to tease out the relationship between
empowerment and learning.
We contend that without empowerment there is no
fresh learning. There is, of course, rote learning and thattype of reactive learning that is steered by external
circumstances or is essential for basic survival, like learning language, social skills or a trade. This is not to makelight of such learning. Most opportunities for educationand learning, in schools, work and play, in fact are
blended; and, without question, knowledge acquisition
that confers competence and status is itself empowering.
But what is “empowered learning” and what is its role in
ESD?
At the start of Section 2 of this paper we said, “[ESD]learners take action – not primarily in order to learn, but
because the action in question contributes to improved
sustainability.” Let’s call this “acting to care” or “caring
to act” – the phrasing matters not, because the relationship is dynamic. We then said, “Learning usually follows.” This is what we mean by “fresh learning.” It islearning that arises from the impulse to learn and so isvery likely to be relevant, needed, surprising and new tosome degree. It is also context-sensitive. It is the form oflearning that is most likely to extend our appreciation oflearning to live sustainably.
In recognizing the triple contributions of care, action
and information in behaviour change (Fig. 2), we now
propose that “empowered learning” has elements of caring, acting and informing. An example of empowered
learning would be empowering (servant) leadership (see2.2.2 The role of leadership).
In particular, we draw attention to the potential within
ESD of “caring to learn” and “acting to learn” and theirgenerated counterpoints for human development of“learning to care” and “learning to act.” This is the typeof education, called “educare” at the beginning of thissection, that informs by releasing native ability and insight for personal growth.
I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; I do and I
understand.
– Confucius
More than at any time in our past, we need to harness
all our intelligences, and learning capacities, to make thetransition to a new relationship with ourselves, with otherLearning to Live Sustainably

species and with the planet that is our home. This
involves activating an internal feedback system that
includes head, heart and spirit.
As has been argued above, ESD is of necessity experiential. Action alone is not, however, sufficient for globally sustainable outcomes: the action, whether individual
or collective, needs to take place in a global context. Thismay mean- Choosing indicators that have both local and global
relevance;- Evoking and activating feelings, dreams or values in
the form of visions of desired / sustainable futures;and- Going beyond simple evaluation of actions, to explore
underlying functional and dysfunctional patterns anddraw conclusions for future actions.
Educators can look for help to Action Researchmethods (first mentioned under Key Element 2: Context).
“[AR] attempts to generate knowledge of a system, while,at the same time, trying to change or develop it ... Ideally,
this leads to developing a system that is continuously
learning from experiences, learning how to learn, andcreating conditions (structures, processes and culture)that support and foster learning.” (Reason & Bradbury,
2001)

3. Implications for Education and Pedagogy
3.1 Challenges to existing sectors and systems
Essentially, empowerment presents a new model ofcurriculum design both for children and adults. This new
curriculum model is developed with a focus on empowerment pedagogy principles defined within the GAP network of NGOs. In contrast to traditional approaches inthe education system, which aim to ‘equip students withknowledge and skills,’ the main purpose that teachers set
for themselves is to develop student behaviours and lifestyles for sustainable development, a goal in line with
global ESD objectives.
In order to support an appropriate focus of attention,
as described above, such a course for learners of any age
will include a number of topics related to everyday life –for example, ‘Water,’ ‘Shopping,’ ‘Garbage,’ ‘Energy’ or‘Personal relations.’ The selection of topics depends onthe economic, social, ecological and socio-culturalcontexts.
Clearly, the content of topics formulated in this way iscross-curricular and trans-disciplinary, reflecting thetrans-disciplinarity of SD as a phenomenon (Mehlmann,2006). In schools it means that the ESD curriculum
should consist of elements from many different subjects,
and not only such elements, but also a lot of informationfrom and about real (everyday) life.
3.2 From principles to practice – Ukrainian example
In Ukraine we decided to create a new, integrative andinclusive curriculum for ESD, rather than offering additional material for existing school subjects: and to
implement it within the current model of state school

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education.
Ukrainian educators, like those in many other countries, are used to linking SD with the sphere of naturalscience. And there is certainly something in this. For
example ESD students can definitely benefit from theirclasses in chemistry (composition of water, air), physics(measuring of energy and power intensity), biology andother knowledge about nature. However, ESD also demands great attention to social aspects, because asustainable society cannot function without democracy,
ongoing dialogue, participation and the empowerment ofpeople – individuals and groups. Also SD is only possible
when human relationships are based on respect, tolerance
and intercultural cooperation, so from the perspective of
the standard school curriculum this is already ‘social
studies’ and even social psychology, social ‘engineering,’
or even philosophy.
This very short list, which can be expanded, shows
what a complex and challenging curriculum topic wehave. We believe that we need not only separate curricula
for ESD as a subject of its own, but a general ESD
approach for the whole curriculum development process
as well.
Each topic in our ‘Lessons for sustainable development’ course for 14-15 year olds (Pometun, 2010) spans
three or four learning sessions (lessons), with at least one
week between them. The pause is vital, because it gives
students time, space and opportunity to test and reflect on
their own experiences of actions and activities that are
new to them.
The basic idea is to involve students in taking action(Buehl, 2001) for sustainable development (SD). Each
topic of the course begins with students exploring theirown lifestyle and habits. They go on to find information
about the topic. Based on the results of their explorations,students develop an intention. They then are invited totake experimental action for SD, e.g., think before making a purchase, avoid buying anything for at least one
day.
Each element (below in italics) of the “cyclic view of
behaviour change” (Fig. 2) is translated into the learning
process, lesson by lesson, within each topic (e.g., water).
Therefore, every topic includes the following components:
1) An introductory (motivational) lesson-meeting,where learners get together and, as an outcome, focus
their attention and develop a concern (“begin tocare”) about a certain issue, for example the need touse water wisely.
2) A practical lesson, which- enhances students’ awareness of the issue and of
possible solutions, in particular related to lifestylechoices (“formulate questions” and “assemble information”),- supports development of an intention to change theirown lifestyles in this respect (“formulate intention”),
and- supports planning of their own actions (“takeaction”).

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3) A practical lesson where students discuss changes intheir lifestyles; share additional information, experiences and new ideas on how to solve the problem; andstrengthen their commitment to act further (“givefeedback”, which leads to “more care”).
4) The final lesson, which leads students to draw theirfirst conclusions about their lifestyle, reflect on successes and failures, and develop future plans (thisrefreshes the cycle to start over and generate an“empowering behaviour change spiral”).
3.3 Consequences for teaching methods
ESD calls for a special approach to instructional
decision-making – a special methodology for designing
every lesson to ensure that it achieves its learning objectives and that learners are actively engaged in trying out
new actions to contribute to sustainable development. In
this section, we develop our ideas for such a methodology.
The main goal of ESD is to equip the students with allnecessary skills to act for SD; at the most basic level, todevelop their skills to relate to themselves and interact
with others and with the whole world more harmoniously.
This is a special way of thinking and acting. Looked at as
an educational objective, teachers thus need to train
pupils to practice such modes of thinking and acting: togain their own experience, discuss it with others andenrich each other with ideas – in other words, to move
much further than teachers can propose or predict.
In fostering the self-development of the students, themain challenge for the teacher is to maintain a safe andcreative atmosphere in the classroom. The teacher does
not tell them what to do and how, or put pressure on them.
Instead, s/he evokes the students’ own activity, theirinward strength and motivation for action. In other words,
the teacher acts as the leader described above (see 2.2.2
The role of leadership).
In supporting students on their journey, the teacher
invites them to act independently, e.g.:- To set individual and group goals,- To experiment and to learn from their experience,- To reflect, and- To support each other and learn from each other.
So, the role of the teacher is to invite the students toact; to hear and see them; and to be as responsive as
possible to their needs. Similarly, these principles arevital in developing any ESD materials for students andteachers. Texts cannot rely on imperatives or directions;rather they need to encourage participants to make theirown choices based on awareness and insights, attention
and intention.
In summary, the practical realization of such an
appropriate environment for ESD gives rise to specificpedagogical challenges, because it requires the:- Creation of a safe, stimulating atmosphere during thelessons: a democratic learning space which awakens
and encourages the creative abilities of students(Bonwell & Eison, 1991; Bonwell, 1996);- Use of teaching methods and procedures that help to

involve the capabilities of each student to enter into
dialogue and to engage in cooperation based onher/his individual style of learning (Baloche, 1997;
Kagan, 1997; Slavin, 1994); and- Development of an image of sustainable lifestyleissues as they relate to student behaviour.
While there is no formula that will guarantee good
ESD learning for every student in every context, there isextensive and well-documented evidence (Pometun, op.
cit.) about the kinds of teaching approaches that consistently have a positive impact on student learning. Thisevidence tells us that students learn best when teachers,in addition to the above list:- enhance the relevance of new learning,- make connections to prior learning and experience,- provide sufficient opportunities to learn, and- enquire into the teaching–learning relationship.
In this picture, the student is an active and creative
personality, capable of learning, action and self-development. This fundamental notion underlies both the content
and methods used in the Ukrainian ‘Lessons for sustainable development.’ The curriculum has a number of distinctive characteristics: it combines knowledge andaction; focuses on easy-to-track changes in students’
daily life and behaviour; and, most importantly, is open toembracing the wisdom of children, who then have theopportunity to explore and create their own way of life
and their own values uniquely and beyond their teacher’sability to convey.
Involvement of students in ESD is much more than an
enjoyable learning process. It gives them methods, skills
and tools that will help them to be successful in many
spheres of life and develops their confidence that they,
their community and humankind have a worthwhile
future that they can help shape.

4. Research, Past and Future
4.1 Does it work?
This paper is about the challenges of learning andteaching how to live in ecological and socio-cultural
harmony with our neighbours and the Earth, and choosing to act for sustainability on a daily basis. It refers, but
not exhaustively, to the extensive research showing:• on the one hand, the difficulty of inculcating widespread behaviour change, an exception being
narrowly-defined, binary single behaviours backed up
by substantial sanctions (e.g., the use of seat belts in
cars, smoking prohibition in public places);• on the other hand, the success of behaviour-change
programs rooted in an empowerment approach, suchas that developed by GAP, in bringing about multiple,
long-term, generative behaviour changes – i.e.,changes that are highly likely to entrain or engender
further sustainable behaviour change.
GAP programs have been studied and reported on byacademics in several countries (most recently Jacometti,2008); and shown to lead to significant resource use
savings among participating households, schools andLearning to Live Sustainably

workplaces, with consistent long-term results such as
38% reductions in solid waste, 18% reductions in electricity use (Staats et al., 2004; Harland, 2001).
Even more important, we believe, are the overall empowering effects of these programs, leading to increased
willingness and capability to engage in sustainable
development both locally and globally. These effects
have not yet been adequately researched.
4.2 Some open research questions
The journey is just beginning. Over the past 20 years
we have learnt a lot about how to engage individuals andsmall groups. It is time to scale up. There is a great needfor further research on how to engage many more people
in the search for more sustainable lifestyles, and how to
do it most effectively. Some of the research questions wehave identified are:• What is the relative effectiveness of different
approaches, and possible synergy effects between
them?
• When individuals are empowered within a specificcontext, or focus (such as SD), does this empowerment tend to ‘spill over’ into other arenas, and if so
how?
• How can triple-loop learning (Hargrove, 1995) andother learning-enhancing elements for “accelerated
learning” be widely introduced, in order to achieve atransformation rather than marginal improvements?
• What is the relevance of different theoretical models
to practical pedagogical results?
• How can social media – an emerging educational
arena – be effectively used to empower the individual
by providing compelling facts, attachment to common purpose and a facilitated process for action• What are the useful roles for different actors: public,
private, business; local, national, international?
• How can artificial intelligence contribute to enhanced
learning, especially in the field of ESD?
• What is the role of strong social learning in collective
learning for sustainable development and what does
this imply for ESD?
In all this work there is a strong need for synthesis,
cooperation and exchange, and for research based on anaction approach in order to speed up the application offindings.
The views expressed in this article are personal andnot those of any organisation.
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WEB References
To further explore the economic dimension of sustainability see:• Tom Greco’s website for problems and solutions in regard tomoney and banking;
http://www.reinventingmoney.com/• Herman Daly’s classic work on steady state economics, now
promulgated through the Center for the Advancement of theSteady State Economy (CASSE);
http://steadystate.org/• The work of “the new economics foundation”;
http://www.neweconomics.org/• The Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability (Feasta);
http://www.feasta.org/
For more information on Global Action Plan (GAP) International,
please see http://www.globalactionplan.com.

Marilyn MEHLMANN
Marilyn Mehlmann has been engaged in questionsof behaviour and sustainability since the mid
1980s, serving since 1994 as Secretary- General of
Global Action Plan (GAP) International. She is
responsible for GAP’s ongoing program of action
research to identify, develop and improve methods
and tools for effective sustainable behaviour change. She is also
Vice-President of the Union of International Associations (UIA), a
scientific centre in Brussels.

Nadia McLAREN
Nadia McLAREN is an ecofuturist and, for almost
30 years, an independent consultant and researcher.
Her enthusiasms are for planetary and humanwellbeing; collaborative leadership and collective
intelligence; and technologies for community
building, accelerated learning and social transition:“methods that work,” “learning through doing” and know-how sharing.
She is a Research Associate of GAP and currently also facilitates projects of
Sustainable Communities South Australia (SCSA) and the revegetation of
the local St Peters Billabong.

Olena POMETUN
Olena Pometun is a Professor of Theory andMethodology of Teaching at the Academy ofPedagogical Science of Ukraine (Kiev). She is alsoa Director of Democracy and Partnership of
Ukraine. Since 2005 she has been involved inresearch on pedagogical aspects of Education for
Sustainable Development integrated into a secondary school curriculum.
She has developed numerous textbooks and teachers’ manuals for school
grades 3,4,8 and 9 based on a combination of empowerment pedagogy,
active learning and critical thinking strategies. She is also involved intraining teachers and teacher trainers, and in producing manuals for ESD
teacher trainers.

(Received 3 October 2010, Accepted 24 December 2010)