Effective environmental education for sustainable development beyond the Plastic Age in South Korea

The skyrocketing single-plastic demand during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic proved the limitation of top-down environmental policies in accomplishing sustainable consumption and waste management. Nevertheless, ‘smart consumers' can make smart choices for sustainable development. However, a review of the South Korean environmental education curriculum reveals that the current structure heavily leans towards the elementary level and does not enlighten the public on ‘what' and ‘how' to live sustainably. This study uses a quick survey to suggest that the effectiveness of environmental education may be enhanced if: (1) guidance on how to live with the natural environment in harmony for collective cooperation towards resilient and sustainable community building is incorporated with a clear purpose, (2) environment-friendly culture-building activities are enforced to institutionalise a new paradigm of sustainability to replace today's consumerism, and (3) contents are updated regularly to include Earth and environmental science knowledge in the state of art. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.