**7. Acting locally to educate globally**

Educators do not need to reinvent the wheel to accomplish the lofty goal of fostering active engagement of youth in sustainable development. Youth already possess the interest; educators just need to work within their local contexts to overcome defeatism and bridge the gap between prescribed curricular content and community/ societal needs. Models and examples for how to effectively employ the SDGs towards connecting the realities of human lived experiences to environmental science abound [25, 54, 62, 73].

In light of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [74] and the European Parliament resolution on the climate and environment emergency [75], Rodrigues [51] emphasizes how fostering emotional connections with nature is imperative to addressing the environmental challenges facing humanity and the climate change emergency. She states:

*Exploring local environmental problems, using nature as a classroom and inspiration across different disciplines, promoting field trips to nearby natural areas or recreating ecosystems in the school playground, and involving students and their families in projects with visibility, usefulness, and value to the community can foster this emotional connection. (Educational Practice Agenda Proposal and Implications section)*

She presents a compelling narrative demonstrating the power of communitycentered, intergenerational learning and illustrating how it can have a profound impact on all involved. This approach fosters a sense of mutual respect and communal understanding, strengthening the ability of stakeholders to address important issues [51]. She emphasizes empowering education as dialogic co-construction of meaning. The circle of this dialog extends to parents/grandparents, and the community. Through such engagement, students, family, and community members develop complex conceptual relationships and construct notions of what knowledge is relevant to address identified issues, how to take action to bring about change, and how to mitigate the global problem of climate change within their local community [51]. In the absence of these vital factors, students often emerge feeling powerless, anxious, paralyzed and defeated [69]. Current patterns of inequity are unacceptable and unsustainable. Students today exist within these contexts and will receive the responsibility for subverting or recreating them. We can aid students by introducing them to the data, tools, and skills of sustainability activism. It is not enough for science educators to prepare students to understand ecological issues, sustainability, and conservation. They must also help students understand how these issues fit within the social contexts of their daily lived experiences while teaching them how to be active agents of social transformation.

Climate change education can have significant impacts on individual carbon emissions by influencing behavior [76]. Students should learn how to mobilize and engage with their communities to produce lasting, meaningful change. Climate change education is effective when the program conscientiously connects climate change to the daily lives of students, engages them in cultivating stewardship, and engages students in creating change in the community [25, 76]. Each of these components can be implemented in various educational settings: e.g., schools, homes, libraries, museums, zoos, conservation organizations, and/or community centers. Collaboration between diverse community organizations and stakeholders can have a powerful impression on youth, strengthening their capacity to make deep connections and build a sense of belonging. When the members of the community come together to show youth they care about them and are willing to invest in them, young people can be inspired to reciprocate such altruistic investments.

A particularly stirring example of an effective approach can be found in a school in rural Malawi. The school took part in a participatory action research project under the auspices of Project SUSTAIN [77, 78]. Students engaged in transformative reforestation, creating sustained community development, while revitalizing an ecologically devastated area. They accomplished this by using Participatory Rural Appraisal [79] tools, including asset mapping. The project resulted in a revitalized community, improving both economic and ecological conditions for all of its inhabitants. This astonishing transformation was elicited by the facilitation of dialogic, place, problem, and phenomenon-centered pedagogical practices as championed by Freire [55] and other critical pedagogs. This technique delivered the benefits of recontextualizing environmental science content knowledge within the community's needs of reducing poverty and increasing equitable access to resources for all the villagers [57].

#### *The Goals of Science Education Should Be Linked to the Central Tenets of Sustainable… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114114*

The teacher could have stuck to the status quo but instead empowered students to collaboratively improve the existing conditions within their community.

Another inspiring example of effective sustainability education emanates from Project SUSTAIN, which worked to develop a program to utilize science education to empower female learners in rural South Africa to reach their full potential [80]. By working in collaboration with a variety of community stakeholders, including students, teachers, local government, and village elders, the researcher was able to co-produce an educational program to revitalize the science education practices of the local school and cement the value of such education in a generation of teachers, students, and community members. Together, the community was able to discover the power of scientific knowledge to produce tangible improvements in their lives, bolstering support for enabling female students to continue in the program long-term, and improving the educational experiences of all involved. Sustainable development goals such as promotion of gender equality, and inclusion of all in quality equitable education guided the development of the program. This produced a demonstrably more valuable learning experience for the learners.

The theme of this section - ACTING LOCALLY TO EDUCATE GLOBALLY - need not only be inspired by school-based initiatives or by educators. Rather, individuals and communities can be the inspirational trailblazers. A book that will surely inspire youth of today and hope for the future, while facilitating a sense of empowerment and inspiration amongst girls with the notion of 'thinking outside of the box' and 'dreaming big' is *Girls Who Green the World: Thirty- four Rebel Women Out to Save Our Planet* [81]. The book features such leaders/trailblazers/ activists as Catherine Coleman Flowers (an Environmental Health Activist and Founder of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice, p. 29); Rhea Mazumdar Singhal (Founder and CEO of Ecoware, p. 59); Komal Ahmed (Founder of Copia; solving world hunger and food waste, p. 67); Caroline Danehy (Cofounder and CEO of Fair Harbor; recycling plastic bottles into bathing suits, p. 97); Varshini Prakash (Cofounder and Executive Director of Sunrise Movement; the organization's movement in 2020 made a difference in electing Green New Deal champions, p. 141); Rhiana Gunn-Wright (Director of Climate Policy at Roosevelt Institute and Architect of the Green New Deal, p. 163); and Leah Thomas (Founder of Intersectional Environmentalism; bringing justice to the environmental movement, p. 179).

Xiuhtezcatl Martinez is a 23-year-old indigenous climate activist and hip-hop artist noted for his leadership in the global youth environmental movement. His upbringing in Aztec tradition taught him to value nature and humanity's role in it, inspiring him to begin activism at the age of 6, when he delivered his first speech on environmental concerns. Martinez also formerly served as the Youth Director of Earth Guardians until 2019, an organization dedicated to teaching youth across the world how to use civic engagement and the arts to help solve environmental issues [82]. He explains his passion as follows:

*I want to inspire people to bring activism into what they love to do. Whether you are an entrepreneur, poet, scientist, athlete, or artist, you can find ways to use what you are passionate about to have an incredible impact. Our movement desperately needs a diversity of new ideas and ways of thinking to bring forth real change. That's why we need more than traditional activist tactics. Some of the most impactful work being done in my generation is from people spreading awareness through art, music, and other creative means ([82], p. 212).*

In this chapter, we also highlight that social movements often capture the humanizing, lived experiences of individuals within local communities. Méndez [83] notes "environmental justice groups center their advocacy on community-specific public health campaigns" (p. xii). He offers an urgent and timely analysis of the contentious politics of incorporating environmental justice into global climate change policy. He tells the compelling story of people, place, and power in the context of climate change and inequality. He explores the California (USA) environmental justice movement and the advocacy work on climate change and articulates the perspectives and influence low-income people of color bring to their local communities while highlighting the importance of incorporating local knowledge, culture, and history into policymaking to address the global complexities of climate change and the threats facing local communities.
