The authors of this book come from a range of academic disciplines related to political science or education for sustainable development, but they have one central aim: to analyse the challenges we face in making the changes that are needed in order to build an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable world.

The world is facing some very serious social and environmental challenges over the next 50 years. These include climate change, global poverty, inequality, and war and conflict, all set against a backdrop of highly consuming lifestyles and a growing population that is likely to reach 9 billion by the end of the century. Yet, governments have been extremely slow in addressing these issues. One of the obstacles to change has been a reluctance or an inability to integrate social and environmental concerns into policymaking and practice. The concept of sustainable development was devised in order to promote a new way of thinking that incorporates these concerns, and it does provide a new vocabulary of political change. The concept of sustainable development has become increasingly used in mainstream policymaking over the last 10 years, though its meaning and application still remain contested.

There are still many tensions evident within both policy and practice between environmental and development issues. Politicians, concerned about winning elections, seem rather reluctant to promote awareness-raising of the major global and local challenges among the general public in any meaningful way. Equally, the general public, or at least significant sections of it, seem unable (or unwilling) to grasp the challenges ahead for both people and the planet. This raises some key questions about our current education systems and their ability to develop the knowledge, understanding and competences that are need for the world in the 21st century. Despite the Agenda 21 commitments of the world's governments at the 1992 Rio Summit to reorient education systems towards sustainable development, the evidence shows that the process is still very patchy and far from complete.

This book explores the links between politics, pedagogy, learning and sustainability. It seeks to answer a fundamental question: how do we move to a politics in which political leaders are honest with voters about the need to fly less, to use less energy, to use our cars less and to forsake the latest high-tech gadgets? This presents a real challenge for the world's political leaders.