Today is International Mother Earth Day, 2024. I am pleased to release the inauguration edition of CareOurEarth Archives.
CareOurEarth Archives is not a collection of the posts available at careourearth.com. It is a data-driven, innovative, and informative communication product that provides quick, easy access to vital information about planetary crises, environmental issues, and sustainable development challenges.
In 2021, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launched a campaign – Learn for Our Planet – calling on people to engage in education for sustainable development and ensure it is embedded in learning systems globally. Given the exploding volume of knowledge and information related to climate change, ecological systems, environmental problems, and sustainable development, developing a theoretical framework to integrate multidisciplinary knowledge for ecological education and learning is a great challenge.
Although the United Nations has announced a framework entitled “Education for Sustainable Development: Towards Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals” (ESD for 2030) through resolutions A/RES/74/223 and A/RES/76/209, its structure and content remain vague. This framework is developed at the policy rather than the educational practice level. Thus, a suitable and practicable framework for environmental education is needed. CareOurEarth is an ideal framework to fill the gap. It recognizes that the natural environment, humanity, species, and prosperity are all part of one earth system. This framework can integrate multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge or information effectively.
UNESCO urges to make environmental education a core curriculum component in all countries by 2025. A study has analyzed educational plans and curricula frameworks in nearly 50 countries across all regions and found that more than half do not refer to environmental issues and climate change. Scholars have criticized the current efforts on environmental education as insufficient to “reach its potential in fighting climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation.” The most significant obstacles to environmental education may be related to the large volume of knowledge, fragmented information, and overcrowded curricula. So far, few communication products have included multidisciplinary expertise and information on climate, environment, socioeconomic practice, and sustainable development.
CareOurEarth Archives is a systematic, informative, and exciting communication product that can be used as a handbook for environmental education. It aims to aggregate, compile, and deliver the most crucial data and information, carefully selected and extracted from various international reports and scientific studies, for all environmental challenges concerned at the global level. Using authoritative scientific information, as the United Nations advises, can avoid misinformation and disinformation that may distort perception or create confusion. In addition to explaining the scale of different problems, this handbook also aims to convey some solutions recommended by authoritative agencies to engage people and mobilize action.
To my knowledge, CareOurEarth Archives is the first handbook where an attempt has been made to integrate all significant environmental issues into a single communication product. The information provided in this handbook can enable people to extend the scope of their knowledge and facilitate them to explore specific problems further. It will help integrate climate change, environmental issues, socioeconomic practice, and sustainable development challenges into education and training at every level and ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and information needed to promote sustainable development. The handbook may be handy for youths, students, non-professionals, and amateurs. It may also be helpful for some professionals or scholars to expand their knowledge scope. This handbook lets us learn about our planet’s challenges more quickly and efficiently. It can help us work together better to promote environmental sustainability and human health.
CareOurEarth Archives will be updated annually to provide up-to-date knowledge and information.
(This post is adapted from and only a part of an article originally published in the first edition of CareOurEarth Archives)
View or download a preview version of CareOurEarth Archives
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