RCE British Columbia

Date of RCE Acknowledgement:
December, 2009

Description of RCE and Geographic Region:
We are a collaborative of researchers and practitioners from a variety of British Columbia institutions including universities, colleges, school districts, provincial and regional governments. Our goal is to support community based research on best practices in environmental and sustainability education in both the formal and informal education sectors.

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Organisation Hosting RCE Secretariat:
Simon Fraser University, Institute for Environmental Learning

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Goals and Objective:
Vision:
The vision of our RCE is to facilitate a network of action and community-based research on best practices in ESD. This is to be enacted in the K-12, Post-secondary and informal contexts.
Goals and objectives:
The BC Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development aims to develop and support education for sustainable development in the communities and schools throughout the cascades region of British Columbia and beyond. Education for sustainable development is fundamentally about values, with respect at the centre: respect for others, including those of present and future generations, respect for difference and diversity, respect for the environment, and respect for the resources of the planet we inhabit.
Education enables us to understand ourselves and others and our links with the wider natural and social environment, and this understanding serves as a durable basis for building respect. Along with a sense of justice, responsibility, exploration and dialogue, education for sustainable development aims to move us to adopting behaviours and practices which enable all to live a full life without being deprived of basics. Sustainability is a concept, a goal and a strategy. The concept speaks to the reconciliation of social justice, ecological integrity, and the well being of all living systems on the planet. The goal is to create an ecologically and socially just world within the means of nature without compromising future generations.

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Key Partners:
Please see www.eco-learning.org