Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book introduces the importance of contemporary art forms to realizing the primary objectives of Eco Justice Education, a set of theories and pedagogical practices that begin from the fundamental acknowledgment that humans are utterly dependent upon a complex and diverse ecological system. It focuses on the work of international artists, educators, and scholars across many genres—literary, poetic, graphics, dance, theater, sculpture, and mixed media—to examine these necessary interconnections among social justice and ecological well-being. The book takes a look at a number of internationally inspired art projects that we see as having specific educational value. It introduces in more detail the theoretical foundations of the framework, along with a general discussion of how art moves us toward the ethical, epistemological, and ontological shifts needed to change course from the current destructive trajectory of Western industrial culture.