The Journal of Sustainability Education (JSE), started as a class project, is entering its third year of applying ecological and ecosystem knowledge twinned with a commitment to social justice to further the field of sustainability education. The JSE journal grew out of a doctoral mentored course of study within a sustainability education learning cohort at Prescott College. Exemplifying heutagogical praxis, it was born as a collaborative learning project at the intersection of ecology and social justice. Applying praxis, the students designed the infrastructure, principles, and mission to establish an academic publishing venture, expanding their cohort learning collaboration to offer online learning communities of practice.
JSE, now housed by the Institute for Sustainable Social Change and the Prescott College PhD Program in Sustainability Education, is a peer-reviewed, open access trans- and interdisciplinary e-journal. Each issue includes research and practice feature articles, professional and news reports of projects and initiatives, opinion pieces, announcements of educational and research opportunities, and book and other media reviews. Continuing with student leadership, graduate assistants support the core operations of the journal and serve on the advisory board.
Results/Conclusions
The JSE has published over 100 peer reviewed and opinion pieces in the last two years and averages 11,000 visitors per issue from over 100 countries. Contributions from sustainability educational organizations such as the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), the Center for EcoLiteracy, and the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) make the JSE vibrant and timely.
This class project with an organic process and emergent design has been able to blossom in an e-journal venue. With a special niche of integrating ecology and social justice with scientific rigor, the journal has featured innovative pedagogies based on soil ecologies and school gardens and offered case studies and articles on organic gardening, stormwater education in Hawaii, and sustainability strategies amongst the globalized migrants of Costa Rica. The journal has garnered the attention of sustainability experts. Jamie Cloud, Fritjof Capra, Stephen Sterling, and others have been contributors to the journal.
The Journal of Sustainability Education in 2012 announced an annual award to feature effective sustainability education initiatives. The 2012 issue on geographies of sustainability extends JSE’s reach further into the sciences. At a time when ecology in education can richly preserve and sustain life on earth, the Journal of Sustainability Education provides a place for standout sustainability ecology education to flourish.