Abstract
The ongoing ecological crisis makes it evident that the question of how a sustainable way of being human within planetary boundaries can be shaped remains unresolved. While scientific knowledge about environmental change is increasingly precise, the challenge persists of embedding sustainable thinking and action deeply into both societal structures and individual lives. One aspect requiring further inquiry is how humans perceive themselves as part of a more-than-human world: To what extent is ecological awareness not only conveyed cognitively but also experienced sensorially and emotionally? What kinds of learning and experiential spaces might deepen this understanding and foster reflective connectedness with the environment? As an illustrative example, the practice of freediving is introduced. Reports and research from this field suggest that full immersion in the underwater world can generate a heightened sense of embeddedness: the water surrounds the body, alters perception and movement, and renders one’s environmental dependency physically tangible. Drawing on reports and studies of professional freediving, as well as insights from environmental philosophy, this paper explores the potential of bodily-mental experiences for environmental and sustainability education. Based on ten interviews with beginner freedivers, it examines how such experiences might be integrated into educational contexts to foster awareness of planetary boundaries on both cognitive and sensory levels, supporting the development of ethical competencies for future planetary stewardship. Contributing to an Education for a New Humanity, the paper considers how immersivity as pedagogical concept might help bridge the gap between abstract sustainability discourses and a lived ecological ethics.
Presenters
Pia WimmerPhD Candidate, Wissenschaftszentrum Umwelt, University of Augsburg, Bayern, Germany
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Past and Present in the Humanistic Education
KEYWORDS
Environmental Ethics, Ethics Education, Planetary Boundaries, Ecological Awareness, Immersivity
