Educating for Eco-Justice and Community

Rating:
Summary: All educators should read this book!
Review: After last year's impressive "Let Them Eat Data: How Computers Affect Education, Cultural Diversity, and the Prospects of Ecological Sustainability", this new book of Bowers establishes him in my view firmly as the Noam Chomsky of Environmental Education. Just as the latter has convincingly shown that the entire spectrum of mainstream politics, from conservative to progressive, shares in fact the same basic convictions with regard to Western capitalism and the US's right to govern the world, Bowers has made clear that almost all educational theories that were elaborated in the last half a century, including those intending to be progressive and radical, ignore the cultural roots of the ecological crisis we face. However radical and critical they might be of the capitalist system and its exploitation, they still buy into the modern myths of anthropocentrism, linear progress, development and the autonomous individual as the basic social unit. By doing this and by largely ignoring the environmental degradation, these theories perpetuate the system they claim to criticise.
Against these theories of Dewey, Freire, Peter McLaren, Henry Giroux and others, Bowers sets his eco-justice-based approach. Its most fundamental element is the insight that any educational reform has to be set within the framework of sustainability. Or in Bowers' words: "Reform efforts that contribute to eco-justice must address the right of future generations to inhabit an environment that has not been diminished by the greed and materialism of the current generation." This is the sine qua non and whatever we endeavour as teachers has to be judged against this background: "environmental issues must have primacy in thinking about educational reform." Bowers is very clear about the fact that only a society that reduces its dependence on consumerism, technology and experts can repeal the commodification of all aspects of life and thereby stands a chance of survival.
I believe that Bowers is a unique voice in the discourse of environmental education/ education for sustainability. This is due to two aspects of his work: firstly, he has the courage to question deeply held believes and fundamental convictions which others either dare not touch or are unaware of. Secondly, he has recognised that educational practice cannot continue to be a specialist discipline ignorant of the wider world around it. Only if education, just like any other (professional) activity, is framed by the limited carrying capacity of our planet, will there be any chance of it fulfilling its potential.

Rating:
Summary: All educators should read this book!
Review: After last year's impressive "Let Them Eat Data: How Computers Affect Education, Cultural Diversity, and the Prospects of Ecological Sustainability", this new book of Bowers establishes him in my view firmly as the Noam Chomsky of Environmental Education. Just as the latter has convincingly shown that the entire spectrum of mainstream politics, from conservative to progressive, shares in fact the same basic convictions with regard to Western capitalism and the US's right to govern the world, Bowers has made clear that almost all educational theories that were elaborated in the last half a century, including those intending to be progressive and radical, ignore the cultural roots of the ecological crisis we face. However radical and critical they might be of the capitalist system and its exploitation, they still buy into the modern myths of anthropocentrism, linear progress, development and the autonomous individual as the basic social unit. By doing this and by largely ignoring the environmental degradation, these theories perpetuate the system they claim to criticise.
Against these theories of Dewey, Freire, Peter McLaren, Henry Giroux and others, Bowers sets his eco-justice-based approach. Its most fundamental element is the insight that any educational reform has to be set within the framework of sustainability. Or in Bowers' words: "Reform efforts that contribute to eco-justice must address the right of future generations to inhabit an environment that has not been diminished by the greed and materialism of the current generation." This is the sine qua non and whatever we endeavour as teachers has to be judged against this background: "environmental issues must have primacy in thinking about educational reform." Bowers is very clear about the fact that only a society that reduces its dependence on consumerism, technology and experts can repeal the commodification of all aspects of life and thereby stands a chance of survival.
I believe that Bowers is a unique voice in the discourse of environmental education/ education for sustainability. This is due to two aspects of his work: firstly, he has the courage to question deeply held believes and fundamental convictions which others either dare not touch or are unaware of. Secondly, he has recognised that educational practice cannot continue to be a specialist discipline ignorant of the wider world around it. Only if education, just like any other (professional) activity, is framed by the limited carrying capacity of our planet, will there be any chance of it fulfilling its potential.