ABSTRACT
The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD; 2005–2014) has laid a strong foundation for the advance of sustainable development through education and learning. Subsequent strategies on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), by UNECE, UNESCO and others, strongly promote interdisciplinary and holistic approaches to such education as key to the advancement of sustainable development theory and practice on the planet. In this chapter, Darja Piciga and Barica Marentič Požarnik illustrate the enormous complementarity between the integral approach underlying Integral Green Slovenia and those cutting-edge ESD strategies. This is then followed up with two Slovenian cases illustrating new forms of ESD. The first case, introduced by Maja Kolar and located in the Upper Gorenjska region, focuses on biodynamic school gardens on a communal and municipal level. This case is strongly supported by the three municipalities Radovljica, Jesenice and Kranjska Gora and has developed its own integral green educational model. The second case, introduced by Ana Vovk Korže, shows the establishment of an entire “learning region” as a new approach to involving a larger population in ESD. The focus of this learning region—Dravinja Valley in the Municipality of Poljčane—is on nature, permaculture and ecoremediation. Altogether, this chapter is focused on further strengthening national Slovenian and European efforts to promote sustainable development by using the integral green model not only to enhance economic sustainability but also to bring forth an integral educational perspective, serving to complement and enrich existing approaches to ESD—thereby also building on the two previous chapters on Kindergarten Slovenska Bistrica and Biotechnical Centre Naklo.
