Have the Cake and Eat It: Ecojustice Versus Development? Is it Possible to Reconcile Social and Economic Equity, Ecological Sustainability, and Human Development? Some Implications for Ecojustice Education

Abstract

In this article I argue that it is impossible to look at educational issues before we develop a clear understanding of the dominant ideologies that currently perpetuate unsustainability. Only if we appreciate the pervasiveness and the fallacies of such concepts as "development," "growth," and "progress" within a limited biosphere can we start to see what ecojustice might mean: equitable sharing between all human beings, the natural world, and future generations. This, then, has stark consequences for our Euro-American lifestyles and should make us look to indigenous and/or vernacular societies for prompts for a good, yet noncommodified life. On the basis of such an analysis, we can then proceed to formulate some fundamental parameters for ecojustice education, the most important one being that tutors have to embody the ecojustice principles they are likely to advocate to their students.