Going beyond the 3 Rs in Australian schools

This World Environment Day we consider the benefits of embracing Stockholm+50 ‘5 Rs’ – Regenerating, Recovering, Rebalancing, Renewing, and Reimagining our shared life on earth – in the Australian curriculum.

Monash Education researcher Professor Alan Reid offers his reflections on new words drawn from this year's UN global environmental conference that should be foundational to teaching and learning.

What are the 5 Rs?

Traditionally, schools have understood the 3 Rs to be reading, writing and arithmetic.

In environmental and sustainability education, the 3 Rs mantra of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle has been used since the 1970s to encourage students to consider ways to protect our environment, sometimes swapping out or adding an R for Refuse or Repair.

This June, many will celebrate Stockholm+50 and World Environment Day. But if this is to go beyond mere tokenism, their harder ask is as follows.

Are we prepared to rethink a narrow interpretation and focus on literacy and numeracy, if we really want to make a difference to life on this planet through education?

Stockholm+50 is being used to reflect on 50 years of activities since the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. Unsurprisingly, we can read the event as arguing we need a ‘kick up our Rs’ so we focus more attention and action on its 5 Rs:

Regeneration and Restoration

Regeneration of nature and ecosystems, of social and community resilience, and institutions of solidarity. Restoration through reciprocity between humans – and between people and nature – and recognition that the planet provides for people and other species the need for a healthy planet and human environment.

Recovery

Recovery from COVID-19, from social and environmental and implementation deficits. It also points to recovery from the loss of jobs and income through skills-building opportunities, innovative financing, and social protection schemes.

Rebalance

Rebalance the relations with other living species and through access and use of resources, energy, food, and materials through reduction of wasteful production. Rebalance consumption, and the unequal footprints that come from – and result in – unequal access to opportunities and income. And rebalancing by aligning finance with healthy planet actions through repurposing of agricultural, fossil fuel and fishery subsidies.

Renewal

Renew multilateralism that is stronger, more networked, inclusive, and anchored within the United Nations. New social contracts and interconnections between peoples, governments, civil society, children and youth, and the private sector.

Reimagine

It’s time to reimagine our shared life on Earth. We can reimagine a common future by listening and responding to the voices of current and future generations, the youth, First Nations peoples, and those who are marginalised. We need to accommodate the needs of non-human species on our fragile planet.

Why it’s time to embrace the 5 Rs in education

The Australian Government election last month showed we can press a reset button collectively using our vote to support policies and priorities that are both meaningful and sustainable for the generations of today and tomorrow.

A common expectation is we will soon be on more secure ground to create a fair and liveable future for everyone in Australia. Teal independent and Greens candidates have disrupted the two-party landscape and brought much needed attention to the importance of climate action now. In a flurry of announcements, amongst other things the new Prime Minister has declared an end to the climate wars and signalled a commitment to implement the Uluru Statement in full.

As Australians come face-to-face with the global vocabulary of the 5 Rs this June, it is fair to ask if past versions of the 3 Rs can also be updated in the Australian Curriculum.

Students’ interest and concern is growing for the environment and climate change. Many voices want to see a shift from the 3Rs to the 5Rs this year, at home and abroad, particularly if we are to make real progress towards the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Embracing the 5 Rs would be a timely update to the curriculum, and show that we are serious about regenerating, recovering, rebalancing, renewing, and reimagining our shared life on earth through education. While crucially for this vision to succeed, schools must not be asked to fix society on a shoestring, but be funded and supported as an essential partner to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

girl studying at home using an ipad and a phone — Students’ interest and concern is growing for the environment and climate change.

Fifty years from now

As a thought experiment, imagine Stockholm +100, held 50 years from now. What will it take to ensure this is a true celebration of what had been achieved, rather than another season of handwringing that requires yet another call to action?

More positively, imagine we had embedded the 5 Rs in schools. Imagine the students who had graduated. And best of all, picture what the world would look like when those students achieve the ambition of those words: regeneration, recovery, rebalance, renewal and a reimagined world.

Stockholm+50 and World Environment Day

With World Environment Day and the Stockholm+50 meeting held this June, it’s now time to make a change and create a healthy planet for the prosperity of all.

World Environment Day revisits the theme of #OnlyOneEarth, encouraging us to come together for the sake of our most precious shared asset, Earth.

In Australia, the 2020s have been marked by record-breaking floods, bushfires, and storms, which caused devastation to people, country, animals, and our natural environment.

Both World Environment Day and Stockholm+50 ask us to renew our commitment to taking action in ways that make a real difference to the people of these lands and waters, including by learning from the past, with each other, and for our common future.

action on its 5 Rs — Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.

Transformation begins with education

The United Nations Environment Program’s (UNEP) 2022 guide for #WorldEnvironmentDay highlights that we cannot transform our societies and economies unless we know how. That requires building a shared culture of learning for sustainability, and “unlearning unsustainability”, to coin a phrase.

Only then will each generation have the understanding and tools to create positive change.

Here are three of UNEP’s many tips for building change-makers through education:

Building sustainability into education programmes for all ages so that they understand the risks facing their generation and how we can bring about transformative change.
Establishing an environment club for students ready to dive deeper into finding solutions to climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.
Hold a World Environment Day event for your students where they write to local and national leaders asking for the changes they would like to see. Examine the impacts that your institution and its activities have on the environment and work out a plan to become more sustainable – including measurable targets.