8. Green Education Boosts Green Development

Cities are in ever fiercer competition for development today. The sustainability of a city’s economic development decides its developing potential, and such sustainability is affected and restrained by resources and ecology. As resource environment becomes ever harsher, only cities that develop in the low-carbon and green direction are sure to become green with lasting developing potential and competitiveness. They should stick to green development by making green strategic plans, building green infrastructure, and through other measures, but the premise is that all social members in the city have a certain level of green awareness, green knowledge, green skills and green quality, which mainly depend on education. Agenda 21 expressly stated that “education is critical for promoting sustainable development and improving the capacity of the people to address environment and development issues”, which indicates that green education on sustainable development can give a strong impetus to green city development, and this has received growing attention from more countries and cities. When the 12th International Congress of Educating Cities was held in the theme of “Green Environment, Creative Education” in Changwon, Republic of Korea in April 2012, city government employees and education scholars from 33 countries and regions discussed how to develop and improve the green environment in cities through creative education. At the international conference on environmental education held in Australia in 1999, some participants proposed to create a community of urban environmental education because environmental education could promote sustainable city development. The call for promoting green city development with green and sustainable education is getting louder.