Reimagining Sustainability Education: A Path Beyond the Problems

The majority of students I meet with are studying some form of environmental or sustainability studies. Many of them were drawn to this path through a deep love of nature—a childhood spent hiking, a connection to their favorite beach, or playing in snow. Sadly, this past appreciation for the outdoors is currently met with a sense of frustration or grief: trash piling up where it doesn’t belong, disappearing snow levels, or pollution creeping into the ecosystems they love.

This emotional mix of love and loss makes studying sustainability an obvious choice for these students. They want to do something to protect the places they care about and reverse the trends they see threatening the natural world. And yet, when I talk to them, a recurring theme emerges: their education is often heavy on the science—biology, chemistry, ecology—but light on the frameworks that might help them understand why these crises exist and models they can build to tackle the problems directly affecting their communities.

It’s not that science isn’t critical. Measuring, modeling, and predicting are essential for addressing complex problems like climate change, biodiversity loss, and ecological depletion. But if the solutions were purely scientific, wouldn’t we be further along by now?

Missing Pieces:  Cultural Context and Social Narrative

What I hear from students time and again is that their classes do an excellent job of detailing the problems but don’t equip them with the tools to move beyond despair.

What’s missing is a way to pair the scientific tools of sustainability with a deeper understanding of the historical, social, and economic forces that shape our world. A climate education needs to go beyond data and delve into:

• Historical Contexts: How have capitalism, colonialism, and other systems of oppression created the conditions we now find ourselves in? A lot of my education held technology as the main way we would fix our problems.  Technology is important in this conversation, but technology that ignores these factors might move us quickly in the wrong direction. A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things by Jason Moore and Raj Patel was catalytic to my thinking.  The book offers critical insights into the cultural and economic patterns that have led to environmental exploitation and still propel climate injustice. In addition, Small Is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher helps add other perspectives on how historical frameworks have built challenges and offers alternative approaches forward
• Cultural Narratives: The ways humans perceive themselves in relation to nature profoundly influence our ability to act. Daniel Quinn’s The Story of B offers a perspective on the cultural narratives that separate us from the natural world and explores how we might approach that divide.

• Power Mapping and Intervention: Students need practical skills to identify the key players in any given challenge—whether businesses, governments, or community organizations—and understand where leverage points exist. This includes crafting narratives and strategies tailored to specific audiences. For more effective messaging, Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini can be a valuable resource.

Learning from Models

Beyond understanding the problems and mapping out intervention points, students need exposure to regional models of systems that work better. Whether it’s food systems design, community-owned renewable energy, or housing interventions, these examples are that can start to guide action.

Books like Sustainable Revolution: Permaculture in Ecovillages, Urban Farms, and Communities Worldwide provide inspiring visuals and practical case studies of how communities around the globe have adapted systems to improve outcomes in food, energy, and beyond. 

These models show that while there may not be a one-size-fits-all solution, incremental changes tailored to local needs can have profound impacts.  I was fortunate enough to visit one of these farms and it deeply unlocked creativity and transformed my climate rage into focused action.

Pursuing Better Outcomes

Will these approaches make the problems disappear? Likely not in our lifetime. But the pursuit of better outcomes—healthier communities, restored ecosystems, and a shift toward equity—is undeniably worthwhile.

If we want to empower students and educators to address the crises of our time, we need to offer them more than facts and figures. We need to teach them how to see the systems behind the problems, identify points of leverage, and imagine paths forward.