Sustainable Languages

Bringing Students into the Journey of Sustainability

Today I joined an online session connected to the High-Level Political Forum 2026, where I had the opportunity to meet colleagues from across the world who are passionate about higher education and sustainability. It was inspiring to hear how educators, researchers and practitioners are thinking about the role of universities in supporting more sustainable futures.

There were many interesting talks and discussions throughout the session, but I was particularly inspired by the contribution from Melissa Brown from the Regional Futures Lab at Yale’s MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies. One idea that strongly resonated with me was the importance of bringing students into the journey of sustainability, rather than treating sustainability as an external topic or abstract policy agenda.

The Regional Futures Lab at Yale MacMillan Center aims to use regional expertise and international partnerships to address global challenges, with particular attention to the Global South. It documents, visualizes and shares regional approaches to global issues, and aims to cultivate students as “changemakers” able to navigate a complex and divided world.
This is relevant because it shows how sustainability education can be grounded in regional knowledge, cultural context and global-local connections. It supports the idea that language education can help students understand sustainability not as a single global idea, but as something shaped by place, culture, language and lived experience.

Yale Global Table is part of the Regional Futures Lab. It brings culinary leaders from around the world to campus and uses food to connect sustainability, health, culture and community. Melissa Brown describes the programme as using food to tell an interconnected story of “tradition, sustainability, justice, and community.” These examples reminded me that sustainability education becomes most meaningful when it is connected to students’ lived experiences, cultural identities and everyday practices.

Language education can create spaces where students explore sustainability not only through abstract concepts, but through stories, food, place, memory, translation and intercultural dialogue. Bringing students into the journey of sustainability means recognising them as active contributors who bring their own languages, cultures and experiences into the classroom.

For those interested in exploring the wider context of sustainability, higher education, global governance and academic freedom, the following resources may be useful: