EERJ Moot: Is the Time for Green Education in Europe?

• Speakers: Paolo Landri (CNR-IRPPS, Italy), Noah Sobe (Loyola University Chicago), Zsusa Millei (Tampere University), Iveta Silova (Arizona State University)
• Chairpersons: Paolo Landri, Sotiria Grek
• When: 00 SES 15 B / Friday, 25/Aug/2023: 11:00am - 12:00pm 
•  Location: James McCune Smith, 438AB [Floor 4]

In February, the European Parliament decided to ban the sales of petrol and diesel cars in the EU from 2035 to move to electric cars. This choice followed a set of deliberations for accelerating the shift to a low-carbon economy and combating climate change. The decision mirrors a growing sensibility towards ecological issues, a new key direction in many European policy documents in this new normality of the post-pandemic.

Making Europe green and the first neutral climate continent is one of the top priorities of Next Generation EU, the most crucial strategy and financial document to renew the dream of a common European space. This orientation is not singular, as it follows the 2030 Agenda and the ongoing attempts of COPs of the UN to find global strategies and initiatives for moving towards sustainable development.

The climate crisis requires reshuffling the debate on the relationship between the economy, society, and education. Classic modern education configurations are challenged to give due attention to education and its relationship with the Anthropocene and the devastating consequences of climate change. Modern education is not neutral. It played a role in the Anthropocene: it has often nurtured and sustained models of development that led to the current regime of the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources. Education fed the human desire for unlimited expansion and control, with increasing and often irreversible harmful effects on the planet. While these challenges of the Anthropocene are widely debated and have led to social movements and the restructuring of political agendas, they are not discussed with the same emphasis in the field of education.

This Moot intends to remedy this gap and provoke a debate among educational scholars on these crucial issues. After an introduction to the theme, the Moot will invite participants to address the following questions:

1. Is the current crisis of the Anthropocene a sign of a more profound cultural crisis? To what extent has modern education been implicated in this crisis?
2. Is it time for a green education in Europe and elsewhere? To what extent education policy and practice have addressed this green turn?

Program

Introduction. Iveta Silova (online if possible), Zsusa Millei and Noah Sobe. Debate