This book has sought to cover a wide range of themes with regard to sustainability, politics, education and learning. They are too numerous and interlinked to list here, but it would be helpful to identify some of the key themes that have emerged from our analysis. These can be grouped under three main headings.

Policy imperatives

There is a growing realisation that traditional neoliberal growth models are proving increasingly problematic for the people of this planet, with countless millions unemployed and living in poverty. We need a different kind of economy, but neoliberalism, with its emphasis on free markets and consumerism, remains remarkably robust in spite of its clear and apparent failures. However, the increasing inequality between the high-earning super-rich and the rest threatens our very social fabric and sense of a shared public good. A new, fairer, social and ecological contract is needed that enables us to avoid increased social conflicts and unrest and promotes a shared sense of purpose and responsibility. This is in the interest of us all, including chief executive officers (CEOs) of big corporations – after all, it is not in the interest of capitalism to kill the customers!

The constant pumping of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and the eating up of the world's resources are laying waste to the planet at an ever-increasing rate. We are now in what has been described as the anthropocene era. It is the argument that the impact of human activity on the planet has been so significant as to constitute a new geological epoch. Policymakers and politicians need to publicly acknowledge the overwhelming scientific evidence that climate change is happening and that it is due to human activity. Therefore, it is of crucial importance to tackle climate change if we are to support and strengthen environmental and social justice.

Ecological modernisation and improved technology are part of the solution but there are no quick fixes to sustainability. What is needed is transformative change through a policy agenda that balances social and ecological needs, not merely for present generations, but into the future also. This will require a step change in the way that policy is developed, with much more collaboration between different policy areas and between different ministries.