Education for Sustainable Development

Japan-U.S. Teacher Exchange Program for Education for Sustainable Development

Fulbright Japan

Cathrine Prenot Fox

I am always seeking the next adventure, and I love to travel.  However, this summer's adventures may yield a little more than I anticipated for my connection to the place that I call home, the Four Corners region of the United States.  I will be traveling half-way around the globe to learn from others about Education for Sustainable Development but, much of the impact may be much closer geographically.

What then, is Sustainable Development?  The Japan-U.S. Teacher Exchange Program for Education for Sustainable Development is administered by the Japan Fulbright, which was initiated in 1952.  For the past 61 years, their mission has been the same.  In the words of its founder, J. William Fulbright,  "The Fulbright Program aims to bring a little more knowledge, a little more reason, and a little more compassion into world affairs and thereby to increase the chance that nations will learn at last to live in peace and friendship."  So, how does this program meet the mission of Japan Fulbright, and what in the world is Sustainable Development?

I traveled to San Francisco this past week to meet with educators from across the United States and Japan as a prequel to the U.S. teachers' trip in June.  We heard from many interesting lecturers, but I perhaps got the most clarity about our mission from Professor Noah Feinstein from the University of Madison School of Education.  He termed 'sustainable education' as a form of Intergenerational Equity.  In other words, it encompasses many fields, but in the end, we should ensure that the generations that come after us have access to clean air, water, and soil.

Mesa Verde

I teach in the Four Corners region of the United States, and I do a fairly good job at connecting my students to the land.  We are very rural, and many of my students come from families that have ranched here from the 1800s.  A few are descendants of the Ancestral Puebloan peoples that farmed the land of the Mancos Valley as early as AD 750 and then retreated to build the Cliff Palaces of Mesa Verde, right above my school.  However effective I am at "increasing(their) affection for the land," I think I often fail at providing them a broader perspective on global environmental issues due to the politicized nature of the environmental movement.  I hope that this program will 'increase the chances that nations will live in peace and friendship' and give me the tools to capitalize on our community's tradition of caring for the land, soil, water, and air towards a more sustainable future. 

I'll be blogging more as the weeks roll by and we get closer to traveling to Japan.  And yes, don't fret; there will be cartoons.  I wouldn't let you down.

Until our next adventure,

Cat

View of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Japanese Consulate