‘Swallowing a world’: Reflections on education for sustainable development in higher education

This chapter offers a critique of the current state of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Higher Education. It argues that ESD today is too de-politicised, too de-radicalised, and too disconnected from the social, political, economic, and other drivers that shape the world, for it to be able to contribute significantly to the ongoing and urgent debates and actions involving environmental and social injustices globally. The chapter presents brief sketches of four areas where gaps or failures in ESD are observed. One, a failure to critique the conventional narratives of international development that inform our understanding of sustainable development, and consequently our approaches to ESD. Two, a failure to think beyond the narratives of neoliberal capitalism when analysing the current political economy of the architecture of global decision-making. Three, a failure to look at the world through lenses other than the Western, and to give due respect and consideration to other systems of thought, thereby narrowing the range of lenses or perspectives to view the world through to arrive at multiple, richer understandings. And four, a failure to ‘tell the truth’, about environmental and social justice issues.