Education for Ecological Civilization

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 1:45 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Theoretical Frameworks for Hope, Crisis, and Transformation

Abstract

This paper develops a conceptual framework for education in the context of ecological civilization. It contrasts industrial and informational educational models with emerging alternatives grounded in ecological responsibility, democratic renewal, and biophysical realism. Drawing on historical, sociological, and philosophical analysis, the paper presents ecological portraits of past civilizational forms and explores divergent futures: one driven by platform capitalism and algorithmic control, the other by regenerative systems and moral imagination. It argues that ecological civilization requires not just curricular reform in environmental education but institutional transformation—new rhythms, rituals, research paradigms, and learning spaces. Education is positioned not as an adjunct to sustainability, but as a generative site for cultural transformation, capable of helping societies reimagine how we live, learn, and flourish together.

Author

• Leonard J. Waks, Qufu Normal University, Shandong China