We Are All in the Anthropocene! Disciplinary Crossroads and Pedagogical Crossings

Abstract

Sustainability and sustainable development are increasingly common words, often used improperly, without understanding their deep epistemological, historical, and process-related roots. For some years now, scientists have been pointing out that we are facing a new geological era: the Anthropocene. It is so defined because our weight on the ‘Common Home’ has gone beyond all limits. The situation is dramatic and may put the future of us all in crisis. The possibility that the human species can preserve itself and survive depends on man himself. Therefore, it is necessary to implement a reform of thinking and teaching that has been theorized for too long but has not yet been implemented. After outlining the historical, theoretical, and epistemological foundations of sustainability in the Anthropocene, the paper focuses on the pedagogical and educational implications of sustainability, emphasizing that sustainability is a pedagogically based principle.