Edu-eco-communities: designing sustainable and community based learning environments

Abstract The Anthropocene era, marked by limited resources and shared responsibility for their use, calls for educational settings to model eco-sustainable practices against resource misuse and waste. To achieve this, learning environments should mirror the ecological realities of the Anthropocene by offering limited resources to be shared and preserved across generations. They should also foster democratic, participative practices to distribute the responsibility of resource conservation. Given the urgency of redirecting educational practices toward sustainability, we draw on the well-established Montessori Method, which exemplifies eco-sustainable learning by integrating local resources with specially designed educational tools. Additionally, its principles of freedom, organisation, care, and rituals demonstrate democratic participation in governance.