In the United States, there has been a great deal of discussion about the notion of sustainability – often couched in terms of sustainable development — as well as the education of the public sufficient to promote understanding of and commitment to lifestyles that are more closely aligned with the carrying capacity of our environments...

The Footprint measures human impact on nature. In order to live, people consume what nature offers. So, every one of us has an impact on our planet. This is not bad so long as we don't take more from the Earth than it has to offer...

Mead believes we select our environment and short of a cataclysmic natural disaster or geological change, we control our environment. The environment in this scenario is passive. It is a backdrop, for all intents and purposes lifeless. But what if the environment were understood as a complex web of living systems that are acting and reacting reciprocally at all times?

In sum, we must learn the answers to the following questions: What doesn't go away? What doesn't come back? And then act accordingly...

This simulation exercise can be used in conjunction with a civics course or in a "service learning" opportunity prior to student participation in their communities...

At the National Town Meeting for a Sustainable America, SEC Director Jaimie Cloud along with Keith Wheeler, Co-Director of The Center for a Sustainable Future in Shelbourne, Vermont and Jean Perras, Director of Learning for a Sustainable Future in Ottawa, Canada launched a process for the development of an alliance/network of sustainability educators working in community settings, K-12 schools and Colleges of Education....

Do people need to grow and change in order to work toward sustainability?
As we move against the grain, and attempt to redefine value, beauty and happiness in sustainable ways, "fourth-order" cognitive capacities may be a crucial pre-requisite. We may need to develop selves large enough to change the world. Educational experiences should seek, whenever possible, to advance this growth...