If a Tree Falls and Everybody Hears the Sound: Teaching Deep Ecology to Business Students

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Abstract

This article will discuss the role of environmentalism in environmental education (EE) and education for sustainable development (ESD) in the context of ecopedagogy. Ecopedagogy calls for the remaking of capitalist practices and seeks to re-engage democracy to include multispecies interests in the face of our current global ecological crisis. In this article, the written reports by international business students on the documentary film "If a Tree Falls" about a radical environmental movement will be discussed. The aim of this article is to reflect upon the question of whether confrontational questions posed by radical environmentalism can move students to re-examine certain central assumptions within their own society and education. The analysis of students' individual writing assignments after viewing the film is placed in the context of the discussion about the aims of education in relation to environmental advocacy. This case study seeks to provide an example of how environmental advocacy and the objective of pluralistic education can be combined as mutually supportive means of achieving both democratic learning and learning "for" environmental sustainability.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)101-116
Number of pages16
JournalJournal of Education for Sustainable Development
Volume9
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2015
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Environmental Education
  • Ecology
  • Business Administration Education
  • Sustainable Development
  • Case Studies
  • Writing Assignments
  • Role of Education
  • Advocacy
  • Undergraduate Students
  • Documentaries
  • Student Reaction
  • Foreign Countries
  • Netherlands

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