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The severity of the two deeply correlated crises, the environmental and the economic ones, needs to be faced also in theoretical terms; thus, the authors propose a model yielding a global “stationary state”, following the idea of a “steady-state economics” by Georgescu-Rogen and Herman Daly, by constructing only one dynamical system of ecological and economic coupled variables. This is possible resorting to the generalized Volterra model, that, translated in the Hamiltonian formalism and its Hamilton equations, makes possible to “conjugate” every pair of variables, one economic, the other one ecological, in describing the behavior in time of a unique dynamical system. Applying the model to two of the most relevant ecological-economic pairs of variables leads to a suggestive geometry in the “phase space” of the model: the trajectories are curves wrapping a “donut”, their set is the “stationary state” we were looking for. Those trajectories are “quasi-periodic motions”, characterized by two frequencies, for whose values a good estimate is provided in the “small oscillations” approximation. A more general, but more abstract, “stationary state” is defined by virtue of the stability of the solutions of the Hamilton equations, just in this article recognized. The global character of the model is assured when world data of variables are used. A very interesting feature of the model is that the path to a scenario of sustainability is given in terms analogous to the Newtonian Dynamics.

Over recent decades, education policy has been preoccupied with economic growth while paying insufficient heed to global sustainability challenges. International initiatives to promote education for sustainable development (ESD) have been hampered by a lack of clarity on how to implement this form of education. To address this concern, a Rounder Sense of Purpose (RSP) began as a three-year EU-funded project that set out to develop a practical accreditation model for educators working on ESD. Expert and user opinion was sought through several rounds of structured consultation with over 500 people, chiefly using a Delphi approach, to develop and validate the model. The resulting framework comprises 12 competences, each with three learning outcomes and several underpinning components. This is supported by a range of activities largely reflecting a constructivist pedagogy. A range of assessment techniques have also been piloted within the project although this remains an area for further enquiry. Ultimately, it was decided not to design a single qualification template because defining the award to such a level of detail would make it more difficult to apply across multiple jurisdictions. Partners also felt that such an approach would atomize learning in a way that runs counter to the holistic principles of sustainability. RSP provided a rich learning experience for those involved and has already demonstrated its potential to extend its impact well beyond the original participants.