Teaching academics operate in a turbulent context of natureculture challenges, as well as neoliberal institutional constraints. Therefore, understanding the experiences and observations of those teaching sustainability deserves ongoing attention. In an exploratory study, we conducted in-depth interviews at one Australian university with six academics who incorporate sustainability concepts into their teaching. In a move away from Cartesian separability we brought a relational and connected process philosophy to a qualitative interview methodology, enlivening interviews as performative “intra-views.” Applying a posthumanist sensibility to qualitative method opened the possibility of richer accounts of teaching experience. What emerged from the interviews was a sense of academics’ optimism, commitment and enthusiasm for teaching, along with their success strategies such as transdisciplinary pedagogies and cross-sectorial partnerships. This research points to the importance of ongoing attention to the lived experience of academics teaching sustainability, and to the value of bringing theory to meet data in sustainability education research.

As ecological crises intensify and planetary boundaries are exceeded, early childhood environmental education requires reimagining. Dominant stewardship and child-centred approaches often position children as autonomous actors engaging with a passive environment, reproducing human–nature divisions and obscuring more-than-human agencies. This paper introduces dust pedagogies, a posthuman approach that foregrounds dust and other microworlds as sites of ecological inquiry and relational learning. Drawing on posthuman theory, environmental humanities and Barad’s (2007) concept of intra-action, the study examines children’s encounters with dust through microscopy, multisensory exploration and co-mapping in a kindergarten in Melbourne, Australia. Commonly dismissed as waste, dust is reconfigured as agentic matter entangled with infrastructures, histories and planetary processes. The analysis demonstrates how these encounters connect local, embodied experiences with broader ecological systems, fostering curiosity, care and ethical attentiveness. Dust pedagogies offer a generative pathway for linking early childhood education with environmental justice and planetary boundaries in the Anthropocene.

Twenty-five years ago in this journal, Hilary Whitehouse described the cultural discourse of “greenies” evident in regional Queensland, Australia, and its implications for educators and students undertaking sustainability initiatives in schools. The present article draws on data from research conducted in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, to show that this cultural discourse persists in regional Australia and continues to challenge educators and students. Data from interviews and focus group discussions demonstrate that teachers and students are cautious about sharing environmentalist views at school, lest they be labelled as “greenies.” The contentious rollout of renewable energy infrastructure seems to have added further charge to the pejorative discursive practice originally described by Whitehouse in 2001. Contending with the “greenie” appellation, and its associated negative connotations, appears to be an ongoing impediment to teaching and learning about environmental issues in regional Australia.

This study investigates the extent to which language learning tasks in the Super Minds textbook series promote environmental awareness. Using a critical micro-semiotic discourse analysis, it examines 52 tasks from seven sub-units labelled “Environmental Studies” or “Environmental Science” across six textbooks. The analysis reveals that the majority of tasks promote an ecocentric worldview, with fewer instances of anthropocentric, biocentric and mixed perspectives. In terms of levels of environmental literacy, most tasks fall within the functional literacy category, followed by nominal and operational levels. These findings indicate a tendency towards surface-level engagement with environmental issues. The study calls for more diverse and transformative environmental perspectives in language education materials to support deeper learner engagement. At an international level, the findings highlight the potential of global English language curricula to play a more active role in fostering environmental literacy and sustainability-oriented mindsets among learners.

This article traces encounters with Country to reorient understandings of what it means to be literate. As a settler Australian educator, I am led by the leadership of First Nations voices that seek to challenge the dominance of the European schooling system. I map three stories of teaching and learning on Country, passing through the stories as analytical sites to re/view how students and teachers can reconfigure ways of speaking, listening, reading and writing in order to connect to Country, and therefore community. The research is approached through postqualitative inquiry, understanding stories as entanglements of humans and more-than-humans that surface tensions, possibilities and provocations for literacy in environmental education. This article moves beyond literacy-as-acquisition to that of literacy-as-relationality with/in the places we live and learn. Storied reflective practice of what it means to be Country-literate is proposed as a method of professional development for non-Indigenous educators and their contexts.

Human activity has driven planet Earth to the brink of ecological collapse, prompting discourses such as planetary boundary (PB) thinking that seek to define thresholds for sustainable living. While PB provides a powerful framework for policy and risk analysis, it is limited by its earth-centric and anthropocentric orientation, technocratic rigidity and tendency to induce eco-anxiety. Moreover, its alignment with global development agendas risks sidelining justice, creativity and Indigenous Knowledge. This article critiques PB thinking and explores an alternative orientation: solar ethics. Drawing on Don Cupitt’s (1995) metaphor of the Sun as a symbol of unconditional giving and Peters and Hung’s (2009) notion of “solar systemism,” solar ethics re-centres the Sun in ecological thought, fostering generosity, humility and cosmic consciousness. It resonates with African philosophies of ubuntu and ukama, which emphasise intra-action and relational becoming, and with Indigenous cosmologies that regard the Sun as a vital relational presence. Solar ethics opens possibilities for education that are life-affirming, imaginative and resistant to neoliberal metrics. Practical applications include curriculum design, outdoor learning, creative expression and community projects. By situating education within solar ethics, this article envisions a transformative pedagogy that nurtures ecological justice, relational flourishing and planetary care in times of systemic crisis.

The planetary boundaries framework maps the ecological limits that keep Earth stable. Current research shows that seven of nine boundaries have already been crossed, prompting urgent consideration of how we hold the planet’s fragility, live within shifting limits and imagine alternative futures. Art can support this work by communicating through material and sensory experience, helping connect scientific ideas with lived understanding. My arts practice investigates transformation – moments when matter shifts states – echoing Earth systems dynamics such as melting, slow drifts, sudden tipping points, cycles of life and death. This article examines three artworks developed during my Spitsbergen Artist Center Residency that explore these links. A seed destroys itself for its own survival uses prints on seed-storage bags to connect the Australian Grains Genebank with the Svalbard Global Seed Vault – a paradox of security and vulnerability as permafrost melts. Doomsday Core presents glass-blown seeds that burn and blister, evoking ice cores and apocalyptic futures. Portrait of Longyearbyen Glacier presses analogue film into glacial surfaces, recording atmospheric activity from a vanishing world. Rather than offering solutions, these works invite reflection and propose art as a way to engage learners with planetary systems through sensory, imaginative and human ways.

This article proposes a posthumanist transformative governance theory to reconceptualise nature education policy within planetary boundaries. Challenging anthropocentric and neoliberal paradigms, our framework informed by posthumanist philosophy, critical policy sociology and Indigenous epistemologies introduces three innovations: planetary policy ecologies (policies emerging from human and more-than-human networks), material-discursive practices (policies co-enacted through multisensory land engagement) and sympoietic policy systems (multispecies co-creation). The analysis further examines three constitutive dimensions: temporal multiplicity (non-linear implementation across conflicting timescales), material entanglement (the active role of infrastructure and ecosystems) and epistemic plurality (equivalency of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western science). This work bridges education policy, critical posthumanism and Anthropocene studies to reconfigure human–nature relationships.

This study examines how climate change education (CCE) initiatives in Philippine basic education shape learners’ climate-related knowledge, awareness, behaviours, and perceptions of environmental well-being through the interconnected influences of families, schools, and communities. While many CCE initiatives focus on school-based knowledge and awareness, less attention has been given to how environmental practices are sustained across everyday socioecological contexts. Guided by action competence, intergenerational learning, and socioecological perspectives, the study integrates a systematic review of 109 Department of Education (DepEd) and government issuances with key informant interviews involving teachers and school-level programme implementers. Findings show that DepEd initiatives – such as YES-O, WASH programmes, and school-based greening activities – serve as critical entry points for environmental engagement but do not consistently lead to sustained behavioural change. The continuity of environmental practices depends on the degree of alignment across school, home, and community systems. Inconsistent family routines, limited local government unit (LGU) support, infrastructural constraints, and programme discontinuities weaken learners’ capacity to internalise environmental practices. Conversely, experiential learning, family modelling, lived experiences of climate risks, and active community participation strengthen children’s action competence and resilience. The study advances a socioecological alignment framework that conceptualises CCE as a relational and multi-level process shaped by structural, cultural, and institutional conditions. It argues that strengthening intergenerational learning, community engagement, and governance continuity is essential for cultivating sustained climate action. These insights offer implications for rethinking climate education in the Philippines and other climate-vulnerable and resource-constrained contexts.

This paper addresses the paradox of environmental education in India, where escalating ecological crises are treated as de-politicized facts in formal curricula. The manuscript argues that the nation’s environmental challenges are fundamentally a matter of planetary justice, driven by political and economic choices. We propose a conceptual framework that fuses the rigorous threads of Earth System Science with the critical insights of political ecology and the empowering principles of critical pedagogy. This new curriculum is designed not merely to teach science, but to courageously confront the “politics of Earth.” Using a transdisciplinary qualitative inquiry and case studies of a formal school and an informal community learning centre, the research reveals a profound dichotomy: formal education promotes rote learning and individual action, while the informal model empowers learners through direct engagement with political struggles. The discussion argues that a transformative approach is needed to merge these two worlds, and the paper provides a conceptual framework and recommendations for a justice-oriented pedagogy that fosters critical thinking and empowers a new generation to address the root causes of environmental injustice.

As kerbside waste and recycling management practices evolve, integrating technology, community engagement, and policy enforcement are essential for achieving the transition from linear disposal to circular resource economies. Yet, where councils are the focus, research tends to determine what they should do rather than what they can do, arguably contributing to policy development that shifts waste and recycling management expectations onto local councils rather than producers, consumers and processors. In this study, responses to a poll of Australian council-based waste services staff (n = 82) are analysed, providing a snapshot of current contamination management processes to assess the efficacy and trends in kerbside collections. Focusing on New South Wales – an Australian state currently transitioning its waste and recycling management practice – the poll revealed trends in contamination strategies, policy responses, and community engagement processes. It also showed an increase in the use of in-truck technology as a tool for identifying contamination events. Results indicated that contamination remains a persistent, increasing, and pernicious issue, with recycling bins exhibiting the highest contamination rates, exceeding 11% in many cases, and 60% of participants noting an increase over the past decade, despite public education efforts. Garden Organics and Garden/Food Organics bins generally have contamination levels below 5%. This study seeks to encourage discussion between policymakers, councils, and researchers on how to optimise kerbside waste and recycling collection systems and promote circular economy principles, thereby narrowing the gap between theory and effective practice.

Our work brings together three educators – a doctoral student and sessional instructor, a middle years teacher and master’s student, and a university professor – who come to this project from divergent positionalities, ancestries and educational geographies. Across the span of one summer, we engaged in critically reflexive dialogue, sharing field texts including teaching artefacts (syllabi, assignments, lesson plans) and personal writings that map our entangled pedagogical transformations. These stories are not linear narratives of improvement, but rather messy, layered accounts of yearning, grief, contradiction and co-becoming in entangled relational worlds. As we story our experiences, we ask: What does it mean to teach science in ways that resist colonial erasures? How might we reimagine science education as a site of ethical response-ability, rooted in Land, story and ancestral relation? Our inquiry is situated in the Canadian education system, but it resists nationalistic framing by foregrounding Indigenous sovereignties, spiritual geographies and the deep affective currents of learning in stolen land. With the reminder that locating ourselves – through ancestry, land, language and community – is an act of relational accountability; we delve into situated, plural stories that trouble the singularity of “Science” itself.

Education policy is always at risk of working at cross-purposes toward education goals. Using a meta-ethnographic methodology and Massey’s geometry of space theory, the present article addresses this in relation to a particular policy realisation problem of teaching for sustainability in schools in depopulated rural areas with identified population challenges. Specific attention has gone to research addressing the enacted curriculum and teachers’ experiences of working with sustainability goals. The results highlight features for goal realisation such as the presence of and attention to rural natural and cultural environmental heritage, having local access and giving curriculum attention to local employment and sustainable vocations and professions, and having community support from the local community and engagement of the school in the community. Working against sustainability were global epistemic rural marginalisation, performative curriculum relations, market competition and competitive exclusions from market participation, tepid community involvement in schools, and socially isolated schools insulated from the local community.

The study investigated the effects of the integration of augmented reality (AR) into water resources education on 23 Taiwanese sixth graders’ water and vocabulary knowledge. Based on the descriptive analysis of quantitative data (pre- and posttests on water and vocabulary knowledge) and thematic analysis of qualitative data (interviews, observations, and teaching reflection notes), the study reached the following conclusion. First, the provision of a contextualised scenario through AR helped the students acquire water-resources knowledge. Secondly, the interaction between the user and AR assisted the students in comprehending abstract concepts. Thirdly, 3D virtual objects enhanced the students’ meaningful learning. Moreover, AR video helped the students improve the retention of word meanings.

Art-making has long been a feature of education and is increasingly being engaged to challenge normative perspectives in environmental education. This collaborative piece reflects on a creative pedagogy of zine-making for climate justice education based on the experiences of a zine/arts-making workshop held on Bundjalung Nation Country (so-called Kingscliff, Australia) for the annual retreat of The Sustainability, Environment, and the Arts in Education Research Centre. Members attended the workshop and collectively created a “zine” on the day. From a myriad of transdisciplinary spaces in education, the workshop was inspired by collective concerns and political commitments to climate justice education. Working in the space of de/anti-colonial and ecofeminist education, facilitators opened a space to understand, collage and create manifestos, stories, poems, and art on climate justice through zine-making. Based on collective reflection and writing together, this article contextualises and describes a pedagogical approach for climate justice education through zine-making. Artfully it exhibits our collectively created zine intermingled with reflective responses regarding the possibilities and challenges of zine-making as pedagogy for climate justice education. We recommend zine-making be put to work as a playful and creative pedagogy of generative rebellion toward climate justice with care.

Ecological awareness is a global priority, and Green School initiatives seek to embed environmental education in everyday school practice. This study examines how the “Green School” is discursively constructed by interpreting visual materials from Indonesian schools designated as Adiwiyata (Green) Schools. Guided by social semiotic theory, we conducted a phenomenological interpretative analysis. The analytical framework follows three metafunctions: Ideational, interpersonal, and textual. We analysed images, icons, and posters associated with two recurring activity domains: (1) greening the school environment and (2) promoting environmentally friendly behaviour. The findings indicate that Adiwiyata discourse foregrounds ecological awareness, normalises pro-environmental practices, and positions students and teachers as key agents of environmental preservation.

We designed and implemented a clay art-making workshop with teacher candidates called Change with the Earth in Mind, focused on listening to the Earth. Drawing on Bentz’s (Bentz, J. (2020). Learning about climate change in, with and through art. Climatic Change, 162(3), 1595-1612). Framework, we sought to engage teacher candidates in, with, and through art that evokes climate change themes. Leveraging this art education experience as a research study utilising a/r/tography and narrative inquiry, we drew meaning from our observations of the workshops and the resulting art pieces. Here we feature composite narrative reflections on how the teacher candidates were preparing and working the clay, leaving traces, creating clay leftovers, and how we engaged with decay of the clay. The contributions of this study to teacher education, art education, and environmental education are in how clay art-making pedagogies can become a generative medium, and a generative metaphor, for human relationships to the Earth, and for climate education pedagogies.

This paper explores the multiple stories and affective traces that wetlands and swamps generate in more-than-human environments. Situated on what was once a swamp, Naarm (Melbourne) provides the setting for the authors’ collective creative inquiry. This work explores more-than-human methodologies of knowledge creation, examines how these approaches impact multispecies justice and investigates how wetlands can serve as transitional, unstaged spaces that challenge and disrupt colonial infrastructures. While drawing back on memories and experiences of wetlands in Southern China and Southeast Europe, the authors incorporate poetic mappings and autoethnographic interviews in exploring the reminisces and encounters living with more-than-human pasts and presents. Following the way of wetlands, the authors seek to foster unexpected ecologies between water, land, species and a multiplicity of ontologies in the abundance of in-between spaces as a generative learning-creation site.

This article examines the intersection of environmental and testimonial injustice and everyday peace in the lived experiences of 43 LGBTQIA+ individuals in Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereafter Bosnia). Expanding environmental (in)justice, testimonial (in)justice and everyday peace as Queer individuals of Bosnia establish and maintain shared community spaces, this article argues that increased homophobia in Bosnia reduces queer people’s engagement with socio-environmental spaces, and this leads to testimonial and environmental injustice in everyday spaces and restricts everyday peace opportunities with one another. Drawing on participant narratives collected through interviews that reflect their courage, resistance and personal risk, the article identifies five key findings that illustrate how queer voices are often discredited and silenced. The participants’ stories shed light on how they persist in their advocacy against social and systemic oppression by enacting personalised strategies of peacebuilding with community building, managing self-disclosure and fighting for a future where queer people can be visible, respected and safe from violence.

The Planetary Boundaries framework aligns with Earth System Science to delineate the biophysical and biochemical systems known to regulate the state of the planet. Boundary ranges, as historically known, are scientifically likely to maintain Earth system stability and life support systems conducive to human welfare and social stability during the Holocene. The planetary boundaries literature brings a scientific understanding of Anthropocentric global environmental impacts into a framework for considering the state of the Earth system as a whole. Several boundaries have been transgressed while the others are close to boundary limits. As benchmarks for many scientific limits, boundaries may align to affect the Earth system boundaries as Anthropocentric activity related to the Earth’s overall state. Recent research also provides strong evidence supporting the conclusion that climate change and biosphere integrity, as core boundaries, are in a zone of rapidly increasing risks. This paper explores recent developments relating to ongoing activities of Earth system governance in navigating transformations that underpin the global sustainability agenda.