EEG lecture sheds light on education for sustainable development

Mr. Ken Webster, education consultant and trainer, said this is the end of the era of cheap oil", and the world will experience more impacts of climate change. He added that there will be no green economy (nor need for a green education) without system wide change. ESD primarily conceived of as 'do with less' and 'do your bit' is at best tokenism. He also added that education has to take these factors in consideration, while 'green education' is not just a case of a changing mix of vocations, as there is more at issue than that.

Mr. Webster explained that "business and industry have the biggest role to play in transforming the economy, and that the outline of such an economy is already on the horizon variously described as a circular economy (in China) a 'closed loop' economy or 'cradle to cradle' as opposed to cradle to grave model".

He added that education's role is firstly to take on board the core metaphors underlying a 'circular' economy and rethinking and redesigning everything from products to services to regulation and incentives. A part of this learning will be systems thinking, based on the rejection of a linear model of both the economy and learning itself.

Mr. Webster is consultant in ESD/environmental education for 17 years now. He is an innovator in communicating ESD and its potential at all levels. Mr. Webster is a specialist in curriculum development and learning in environmental education and has undertaken numerous consultancies in more than a dozen countries in the field of ESD. He is a prolific writer with a number of published materials including two books in his portfolio.

"EEG is proud to be one of the first organizations to bring up the concept of ESD in the country as it is highly relevant in the changing markets and in addressing numerous environmental and developmental challenges of our time. ESD is part of the social preparation of young people towards a greener future. Due to numerous environmental challenges, environmental topics could not be separated anymore from the discussion of politics, economics and other academic subjects", said Mrs. Habiba Al Marashi, EEG Chairman.

Mrs. Al Marashi opened the community lecture with a report on the success of the recently concluded Teacher's Workshop which was facilitated by Mr. Webster. She said that EEG is committed to contribute to the 'greening' of the educational system through its programs and campaigns.

In October EEG will be conducting a workshop on ESD with primary, sub-senior and senior students to further promote the concept.

At the end of the lecture, Mrs. Al Marashi thanked Mr. Webster for his engaging presentation and the British Council for its support to EEG programs and events. She also thanked Emarat Atrium for the venue and Abela Company for the refreshments and for stepping up to the challenge of staging 2 community lectures in 1 month.

A crystal was presented to Mr. Webster as a token of gratitude of EEG. He also presented certificates of membership to new EEG corporate members who were present at the workshop.
Mrs. Al Marashi informed the audience that EEG will be conducting its Inter-School Public Speaking Competition from 27th to 28th April 2008 at the Knowledge Village Auditorium, Dubai Media City.

Finally Mrs. Al Marashi thanked all the people who have regularly attended the lecture series especially those who attended the back-to-back lectures of EEG for the month of March.

The lectures in March were EEG's first attempt to conduct 2 lectures in a month so as not to miss any opportunity of featuring key informants on relevant environmental topics. She then invited the community to take part in other EEG events.

The community lecture is EEG's free public service on pressing environmental issues and concerns. It is attended by people from different backgrounds and orientations but having a common concern for the environment.