You may have heard this word a lot lately and assumed it is something relatively new. You may even wonder exactly what it means! What’s Sustainability? Sustainability is simple: it is about finding ways to meet our needs without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet theirs. It’s about protecting the planet, and creating a fair and just society for all. It isn’t really new Sustainability has a rich history in many Indigenous cultures who developed ways of life based on deep respect for the natural world and for community. It has also played a role in movements advocating for social justice, conservation, and internationalism. Achieving sustainability requires long-term thinking and collaboration. Time for a change This is why Education Curriculum Consultant Diya Kanoria founded Make The Change in Switzerland. She says thinking in an isolated, specialized way was great for invention development but ignored the impact of one system on another. As a result, problems we thought were fixed are coming back, and we’ve created new ones. She wants to change the way people think by changing our style of education. “We need to bridge the gap between traditional education and its lack of realworld skills. There is an urgent need for young people to be equipped with the knowledge, skills, and values to solve today’s complex world problems. If all 2 billion people on the planet of school-going age are educated with the same mindset, we exacerbate rather than solve our problems.” says Diya. Diya believes that education needs a radical reinvention to become holistic and build in more real-world experiences. She believes it must be interdisciplinary and emphasize systems thinking, creativity, and collaboration. She also believes that making mistakes needs to be seen as part of the creative process of trying to solve problems. “In this model, teachers become coaches and students become leaders, willing to learn about themselves and their motivators. They will gain the skills needed to adapt and thrive in an uncertain world. Systems thinking, circular economies, self-discovery, and community partnerships are at its central core. Values will drive the learning.” S u s t a i n a b i l i t y c re a t i n g a b r i gh t e r f u t u re A Jobs of Tomorrow (WEF 2023) paper predicts that in the next seven years almost 100 million new Green and Social Jobs will be created to build a sustainable and inclusive future. Diya believes that it is the forward-thinking Gen-Zs who will become change-makers, ready to tackle the challenges of the 21st Century. Will you be one of them? Diya Kanoria is based in Switzerland and offers 1618 year olds an immersive summer experience, going into companies and the environment to learn from real challenges and real solutions. These experiences are designed to give students the drive, the confidence, and the tools to take action in their own communities.
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