A call for sustainability education in post‐secondary outdoor recreation programs

The purpose of this paper is to examine the link between sustainability education and outdoor education and to encourage outdoor recreation educators to evaluate their programs with regard to sustainability and sustainable living.

This paper starts by presenting several factors that currently hinder the delivery of sustainability education in outdoor recreation training programs. It then turns to a presentation of Lefebvre's sustainability education framework, which offers a helpful structure for integrating sustainability education into outdoor recreation academic curricula.

Although there are programs that have successfully implemented sustainability training into their curricula, there are many factors that serve to hinder the education of outdoor recreation students in the philosophy and techniques of sustainability and sustainable living. No doubt these impediments pose critical challenges to those offering academic training programs. These challenges must be identified, met and overcome if the profession is to contribute, as it should, not only to local, national and global sustainable outdoor recreation, but also to sustainable living in general.

It is hoped that this paper will encourage educators of post‐secondary outdoor recreation to better equip their students to introduce and teach others with respect to sustainable living values and practices.