The growing technical, political, social, and cultural interconnectedness of our world helps advance societies. However, globalization also entails some negative environmental and cultural effects, which are usually intertwined. For example, the spread of Western consumption models accelerates ecological and social degradation worldwide. A sustainable development model is necessary to face these problems, which needs a conscious and competent society. This chapter explores how heritage and landscape are, at the same time, integrative concepts and didactic resources that promote interdisciplinary learning. Both aspects have great potential for advancing sustainability education. The chapter presents some didactic proposals that use diverse strategies and resources related to heritage and landscape, adopting a local focus whenever possible to make the learning experience more significant. Some of these activities address environmental and social challenges described in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
TopIntroduction
From its beginning in the mid-20th century, globalization has triggered environmental and cultural effects. While some of these are positive changes that contribute to the advancement of society ––such as open access to information and collective building of knowledge (Rebolloso, 2008)––, others are negative outcomes that affect how that progress occurs.
Among the adverse effects of globalization, there is one that stands out: the homogenization and global spreading of a consumerist culture. The export of the so-called “Western model” to other countries has frequently entailed the degradation of the environment (UN Environment, 2019) and the impoverishment of the poorest communities on Earth (UN Development Programme, 2019). Such a model is rooted in an idea of progress linked to consumption and in a reductionist conception of nature as a mere source of material goods (Puig & Casas, 2017).
The spread of Western culture has also left its mark on the territory. “Aterritorial landscapes” are replicas of very similar landscapes that can be found anywhere in the world and built to consume the image they offer (Muñoz, 2007). Such landscapes have lost their identity, meanings, and values because they no longer reflect the characteristics of the land or the people that inhabit them. As Mitchell (2007, p.105, own translation) states: “(...) current landscapes do not represent a break with the modern past, but they rather materialize an atrocious continuation of a modern present (...) that is rooted in and shapes itself from globalizing capitalism”.
In this line, cultural homogenization reveals itself in the loss of heritage, especially the immaterial assets, which are particularly vulnerable because they lack a material substrate. Language extinction is a paradigmatic example: 9% of the world's languages have disappeared since the 1950s, and 23% of the remaining ones are in a critical situation (Moseley, 2010).
In this context, adopting a sustainable development model is necessary for finding solutions to the ecological and social problems the environmental crisis entails. According to the UN (1987, p. 54), “sustainable development is a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. To be effective, this model requires an informed, trained, aware, and committed society that is open to changing its habits and attitudes. To face this challenge, education is an essential tool.
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) must be holistic, covering environmental and social matters, and attending to their material and immaterial (identity, cultural, spiritual) aspects. ESD must be transversal and interdisciplinary, joining efforts with other disciplines such as Environmental Education (EE), which has significant experience in citizen's awareness and training (Hume & Barry, 2015). Besides, ESD must respect local values and cultures (UNESCO, 2006) by educating individuals to live in a global society without forgetting their roots: meaning the identity and culture of the local community they belong to.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) approved for the 2030 Agenda boost ESD and EE. SDG four (“Quality education”) states in one of its goals the need that “(…) all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture's contribution to sustainable development” (UN, 2015, p. 17).
Even if the SDGs inherit the spirit of previous international conferences and declarations, they “(…) put the concept of sustainability at the core of their discourse, and they do so from a 'glocal' perspective, which means global and local at the same time” (Bautista-Cerro, Murga-Menoyo, & Novo, 2019, p. 1103-11, own translation). In this sense, Geography didactics can significantly contribute to the achievement of the SDGs (Meadows, 2020; Yli-Panula & Jeronen, 2020).