Handbook of Ecological Civilization

This handbook examines the concept of Ecological Civilization (EC) comprehensively. It focuses on three sections: 1. Concept and History of Ecological Civilization; 2. Philosophy of Ecological Civilization and Sustainable Development; 3. Comparisons with Education for Sustainability and Ecopedagogical Models. Section 1 foregrounds the historic philosophical development of the concept in theory, as well as its contemporary connotation in practice. The chapters discuss the genesis of this concept and its academic development, and also develop a contemporary picture of EC as a transdisciplinary concept that, in its developmental centrality, informs and pervades the teaching, research and practice of myriad physical and social sciences in China. Section 2, 'Philosophy of Ecological Civilization and Sustainable Development' is anchored in ancient Chinese aesthetics and spirituality, characterizing civilization essentially as harmony between humanity and Nature. The chapters cover a widerange of topics, such as the philosophical foundations of EC, EC and Marx, and theological environmentalism. Section 3 compares and contrasts the framings of teaching for ecological civilization (EC). The chapters discuss the connections, intersectionalities, and disconnections of teaching for EC with other environmental pedagogies, such as environmental education (EE), education for sustainable development (ESD), and ecopedagogies. It also includes critical comparisons between the teachings for contested terrains of citizenships (e.g., local citizenship to national citizenship, to global then to planetary citizenship spheres) and the teachings for EC.

Michael A. Peters (Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand) is currently Distinguished Professor at Beijing Normal University (China), and Emeritus Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaig (the United States of America). He was awarded a Personal Chair at the University of Auckland (New Zealand) in 2000, and was Research Professor at the University of Glasgow (the United Kingdom) during 2000-2006, before being appointed Excellence Hire Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Professor of Education at the University of Waikato (New Zealand). He has Honorary Doctorates in the Humanities from Aalborg University (Denmark) and The State University of New York (SUNY, the United States of America). Professor Peters had been Editor-in-Chief of the journal Educational Philosophy and Theory for 25 years, and he is currently Editor of the Beijing International Review of Education. He is the founding editor of Policy Futures in Education, E-Learning & Digital Media, Knowledge Cultures, Open Review of Educational Research, Video Journal of Education and Pedagogy, and is on the board of many other journals and book series. He has written over 120 books and over 600 journal articles on a wide range of topics, and has worked with and mentored many younger scholars. Professor Peters received the Award of the Social Science and Humanities Leader in China in both 2022 and 2023 (Research.com), and is ranked 1st in China and 5th in Asia for Education and Educational Philosophy & Theory (AD Scientific Index, 2023). He is also ranked in the World's Top 2% of Scientists by Stanford University.
Benjamin J. Green is currently an Assistant Professor at the College of Teacher Education, Beijing Language and Culture University (China), after having previously taught at both Beijing Foreign Studies University, and Beijing Foreign Affairs University. He obtained a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from California State University (the United States of America) in 2010, a Master's degree in International Policy and Development from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (the United States of America) in 2012, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Education from the Faculty of Education at Beijing Normal University (China) in 2021. Dr. Green is the author of the book 'How China’s System of Higher Education Works: Pragmatic Instrumentalism, Centralized-Decentralization, and Rational Chaos' (2023), as well as over 25 international publications in SSCI (Social Sciences Citation Index) and/or Scopus indexed journals, such as Educational Philosophy and Theory, Postdigital Science and Education, and Beijing International Review of Education. His previous works on postdigital collective intelligence, higher education (HE) governance,HE internationalization, US-China relations, critical cosmopolitanism, Ecological Civilization, and Chinese internationalism, highlight an overarching concern for co-evolutionary systemic adaptability in the face of increasingly complex global crises.
Greg William Misiaszek, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in Theories of Education Institute, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University (BNU), China. He also holds various positions, including Associate Director of Paulo Freire Institute, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA, the United States of America), Executive Editor of the journal Teaching in Higher Education: Critical Perspectives, Editor of the book series Freire in Focus (with Carlos Alberto Torres, UCLA), and Editor of the 'Encyclopedia of Environmental Education' (with Karen Malone, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia). His work focuses on critical, and comparative analysis of education, with specific emphasis on ecopedagogy, through theories of globalizations, citizenships, race, gender, migration, indigenous issues, linguistics, epistemological justice, and media, among others. One of his published books, 'Freire and Environmentalism: Ecopedagogy' (May 2023), caters to a wider audience beyond the academic one. His book 'Ecopedagogy: Critical Environmental Teaching for Planetary Justice and Global Sustainable Development' (2020) deconstructs critical environmental learning and literacies, while his 2018 book 'Educating the Global Environmental Citizen: Understanding Ecopedagogy in Local and Global Contexts', focuses on citizenships and environmental pedagogies. Dr. Misiaszek has several edited books including the 'Palgrave Handbook on Critical Theories' (2023) and 'Paulo Freire Centennial: Reinventing and Reinvigorating Freire' (2024). He holds a Ph.D. from UCLA in Comparative Education, a Master's degree in Education from the University of Southern California (USC), and a Bachelor's degree from USC in Environmental Studies.
Professor Xudong Zhu is the current Dean of Faculty of Education at Beijing Normal University (China). He also serves as the Director of the Center for Teacher Education Research at Beijing Normal University (Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences for Universities, Ministry of Education of China), and is a Distinguished Professor of the Yangtze River Scholar Program by the Ministry of Education of China. Professor Zhu is a member and secretary-general of the National Advisory Expert Committee on Teacher Education, Ministry of Education of China, and the secretary-general of Teacher Education Branch of China Association of Higher Education, and a guest researcher of the Central Committee of the China Association for Promoting Democracy. Professor Zhu has long been engaging in research on discipline construction of teacher education, system and policy, comparative education, and foreign education history. Hehas published more than 160 academic papers, and has written, edited and translated 27 sets of books. Professor Zhu has received various awards. He is the candidate of the Beijing New Century “Hundred-talent Project” for Social Sciences, and one of the first “Four One-group” talents in Beijing’s publicity and cultural system. He also won first prize in the National Teaching Achievement Award in Higher Education, and the grand prize in the Beijing Teaching Achievement Award in Higher Education. In 2010, he was selected as an Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Advisor in Beijing, and was a candidate for the New Century Excellent Talents Support Program by the Ministry of Education of China, which includes the first experts in the 'National Training Program' of the Ministry of Education. Professor Zhu is also a senior visiting scholar in the University of Maryland in the United States of America under the Fulbright Program fund.