Abstract:

Environmental and sustainability issues had become topical in high school teaching by the beginning of this century. The calls to integrate these themes in the school curriculum are getting louder in the wake of the Anthropocene, and the climate change emergency which, to date, has brought environmental disasters and hazards that have destroyed livelihoods, killed and displaced people, destroyed homes and infrastructures, and have contributed to diseases and death of humans. The key argument is that including issues of the environment and sustainability in the school curriculum has the potential to inculcate skills, values and attitudes that promote stewardship of the planet and its resources. This will help in developing a new generation of responsible communities who are environment conscious, in the process helping to save the planet. This paper seeks to analyse various articles that have been published in the Daily Maverick, a South African based newspaper which, in 2019, introduced a special issue called ‘Our Buring planet’, which delves in various matters relating to the environment and sustainability at local, regional and global scales. It seeks to analyse the contents of this series, interrogate how these articles relate to the aims of the South African Social Sciences curriculum and explore how these could be utilised as Teacher-Learner support material, for this subject in South African schools. It is hoped that findings from this research will be useful guide for Social Sciences teachers and other stakeholders working to educate learners and students on matters of communities, the environment and sustainability.

Keywords:

Environment, Social Sciences, Sustainability, Teaching and Learning.