Sustainability is not only about addressing environmental threats, it is also about ensuring that everyone is able to enjoy the full set of human rights, in a way which does not jeopardise the rights of human beings in the future. These rights should include social and economic, civil and political, cultural and environmental rights. In other words, sustainability demands a quality of life for all which not only meets physical needs, but also meets social and cultural needs, and which is distributed equitably.

For this reason, it is now accepted that sustainable development demands action across at least three different dimensions: environmental protection, social inclusion and economic development. The relation between these three dimensions can be illustrated by the Venn diagram in Figure 1: actions in the economic realm must satisfy the needs of social inclusion, and our social demands must satisfy environmental possibilities.

• develop young people’s knowledge of environmental and social issues at local and global level, for example with regard to:
• * – whether fish sold in the local supermarket have been caught in a way that is likely to endanger future populations (see the activity “Fishing game”);
• * – where plastic wrapping is likely to end up (see “Waste manifesto”);

what the impact of our own habits may be on children in other parts of the world (see “Take a step forward”);

• f promote understanding of key concepts and principles related to sustainability, for example:
• – carbon emissions (see “Chain reaction” or “Climate superhero auditions”);
• – sustainable agriculture (see “Chicken sandwich”);
• – pollution (see “The cost of fashion” or “Waste manifesto”);
• f develop critical thinking skills and encourage participants to question prevailing opinions, where necessary, for example:
• – the activity “Greenwashing” encourages participants to look beyond advertising claims made by
• companies;
• – “A finite planet” is a discussion activity which looks at some commonly held views about common
• priorities for the economy;
• f encourage active participation in order to promote sustainability, including at the personal, local or
• global scale:
• – see Chapter 5, “Making a difference”, in particular, but each of the activities contains ideas for action
• at the end;
• f strengthen values relevant to sustainability, for example: empathy, equality, solidarity, responsibility,
• concern for future generations, appreciation of nature;
• – all of the activities aim to promote values by giving young people the space to discuss and question what they regard as important. The starter activity “Needs and wants” can be used to spark
• discussion on what is really important – both to participants individually, and to the planet.