NEW ARTICLE BY ALEXANDRA DELGADO IN DIARIO DE NAVARRA : "ECOLOGICAL TRANSITION AT SCHOOL: EDUCATION, BUILDINGS AND SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTS"

Source: The Conversation; diariodenavarra.es

Ecological transition is on everyone's lips, both internationally and in the European Union and neighbouring countries. In Spain, an ad hoc name has even been created for the ministry, formerly the Ministry of the Environment, which indicates the current focus of its mission: Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge.

However, a green transition does not depend only on one ministry, but involves the government as a whole, business and society.

Social change for a possible future

It is often unclear what the ecological transition is. And the definition is simple: in the words of researcher Ernest García, it is a "social change that leads from an environmentally unsustainable situation (the current one) to an environmentally sustainable one".

In other words, it consists of transforming the future together so that the way we live (and consume) takes into account environmental limits and does not exceed them. This will allow future generations to live on a better planet than the one we have inherited.

This is, as can be seen, a major challenge.

And in relation to building this social change, the Spanish government has announced a budget for the "ecological transition of schools". This is good news because focusing on children and adolescents is always a bet on the future. And in this case, designing the best possible future for those who will live in it the most.

The three E's: education, buildings and environments

But it is necessary to review what this budget should be used for so that it is not an opportunity that is not fully exploited. And because this challenge must be faced with the serenity and wisdom for the continuity that this cause deserves.

Firstly, it would be key to distinguish two issues with respect to schools: software and hardware.

The software is the main thing: education, what is taught in them. But the hardware is also important. It is in school buildings and school environments that students' lives take place for many hours a day.

The environment as a protagonist

In education, the challenge of the ecological transition must be incorporated as a framework and in a cross-cutting manner. As the ecologist Alain Lipietz points out, the environment (territory, space) is no longer the backdrop to the events of history, but its current protagonist.

And this means that it should not only be the content of a subject or a series of subjects. In the words of researcher Katia Hueso, "we need to educate in nature and eco-literate". Just as in the eighties and nineties some of us learned to recycle at school. And we teach it at home: the ecological transition has an ally in schools that should be reflected in every subject and syllabus.

A complexity without compartments

The researcher César Rendueles talks about the glaring deficit in environmental education at university. This is something that is changing, fortunately, although there is still much to be done. This is also the case in schools, where the ecological transition has not yet been clearly incorporated.

Schools can foster the creation of environmental citizenship: future citizens who understand the world and its challenges and who do not close their eyes to them. The tools (language, mathematics, etc.) taught in schools are the tools with which we create another future.

The power of a trained, informed teacher is enormous. I, for example, still remember my teacher Paloma, when almost three decades ago she told us that in the future we would tackle the problem of energy, and that the development of renewables was going to be our working challenge. This issue, now, is the present.

Teachers need to be released from some of their duties so that they can be trained to train in the ecological transition. This is part of the investment that needs to be made.

Examples of environmental comfort and laboratories for society

Another key issue is to intervene in buildings, playgrounds and streets around schools to achieve green criteria and adapt to climate change. So that we can have safe and natural school environments that support the process of ecological transition. Above all, to practice by example.

Does it make sense to talk about climate change while children are suffering from high temperatures in the classroom? And to promote non-pollution while there are no bicycle racks in schools? And when playgrounds and school paths are not planted with trees to improve temperature and comfort?

Theory and practice in schools

Improving the climate resilience of schools and colleges must be a major part of the investment. An ambitious vision that turns schools into laboratories for children and adolescents to be the protagonists of change.

Installing renewables, improving building envelopes or planting trees: these are all actions that bring about change. With information, with transparency, explaining what is being done and why it is being done.

Schools should be the preferred public buildings for pilot projects to improve the ecological transition. But we need to reach every child, both in the village and in the city. Therefore, a systematic programme of investments in school environments is needed to improve these centres, for social and intergenerational justice.

Education is a never-ending task. And it transmits certainties that must be learned. In times of uncertainty it shows the possibility of a better future for our children. Science, including social and educational science, allows us to design the future.

We can make education a carrier pigeon.