Aimed at all members of the UIC Barcelona community and anyone interested in reflecting on holistic sustainability, the Thinking Classroom on Sustainability, led by the GRC – Sustainability and Holistic Education (SEI) at the Faculty of Education, concludes its fourth academic year with contributions from experts on topics such as measuring care, universities and religions, expectations for COP30 and innovation for sustainable fishing.

Dr Sílvia Albareda, a lecturer at the Faculty of Education Sciences and organiser of the sessions, noted that this academic year has included participants from Sweden, Argentina and Chile. “We have been asked to continue next academic year; the response has been very positive and we are already finalising next year’s programme,” she explained.

The Thinking Classrooms were initially established in response to Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato si', which addresses issues related to ecology. Over the years, however, they have evolved to cover cross-cutting themes related to sustainability. “Our aim is to strengthen our discourse; there is still climate change denial, and through the Thinking Classrooms we have sought to educate ourselves from an academic perspective so that we can make well-founded arguments based on rigour and scientific evidence,” she noted.

Sustainability, a constantly evolving concept

The modern concept of sustainability emerged formally in 1987 with the publication of the Brundtland Report, named after Norwegian doctor Gro Harlem Brundtland, who chaired the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development. “This report addressed how we use our resources without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” recalls Albareda.

The 2030 Agenda marked another turning point and serves as a roadmap for achieving sustainability. As Dr Albareda observed, “its publication reminds us that sustainability has three dimensions: environmental, social and economic”.

Looking at the present, the lecturer, who also heads the Office for Cooperation and Sustainable Development at UIC Barcelona, believes that the social dimension of sustainability has seen progress: “The inclusion of social issues related to climate change in public debate has increased, and the approach is becoming less and less reductionist. Today, the impact on the most vulnerable groups is being discussed from a more inclusive perspective,” argues the expert.

Thinking Classroom on Sustainability has also served to bring cross-cutting issues such as eco-anxiety and moral disengagement to the fore – two concepts of particular concern to younger generations. “Are you willing to give up flying to reduce your carbon footprint? Even when we want to act responsibly, we often disengage when we realise that our actions are harming the planet,” explains Dr Albareda.

These and other topics can be found in the Thinking Classroom on Sustainability online repository.