Opportunity and Obligation: A Role for Outdoor Educators in the Sustainability Revolution

Authors

  • Adrienne Cachelin University of Utah
  • Karen Paisley University of Utah
  • Dan Dustin University of Utah

Keywords:

outdoor education, outdoor recreation, sustainability, sustainability education

Abstract

A primary educational challenge of the 21st century is to inspire students

to become socially and ecologically conscientious citizens who

are empowered, responsible members of the larger world. Outdoor

educators and, in many ways, outdoor recreation as a broader field are

well-suited to take the lead in this educational enterprise that requires

transcending the dichotomy between people and nature to see ourselves

in the Leopoldian tradition as plain members and citizens of a

larger community of life. Drawing on the strengths of constructivism

as a pedagogical approach, outdoor recreation as a pedagogical context,

and the inherent compatibility of the big ideas of ecology and

recreation, we assert that outdoor educators, specifically those involved

with higher education at the curricular level, have both an opportunity

and an obligation to be vanguards of the sustainability revolution.

Issue

Section

Regular Papers