ABSTRACT
Arctic indigenous and non-indigenous students understand the main characteristics of SD and energy, but they demonstrate different levels of experience in relation to these notions. These different levels of experience have implications as to how meaningful these notions are to them and how meaningfully they can apply their knowledge in practice. For some, these are more theoretical discussions, but for others, SD and energy have practical impacts in their everyday lifestyles and on their well-being, now and in the future. The students’ perspectives present more dissimilarities than similarities in the four case study institutions, but three common points emerged: critical thinking, SD as practice, and intergenerational dimension. These aspects permeate students’ reflection on the dilemma between modern life and a traditional way of life and the importance of ESD as a way of influencing people to think how they can impact positively the development process by considering more than one perspective in the educational discourse.
