Hacia una cultura de la sostenibilidad a través de los textos de Goethe

Abstract

This year we celebrate the 260th anniversary of Goethe’s birth, which also coincides with the UNESCO’s decade long project for the education of sustainable development and climate change. With this article, we would like to discover both Goethe’s personal and professional contribution to the sustainable development, because we have detected a general tendency to place this multi-faceted author in the world of literature. Goethe’s participation in public activities, which are directed to promote the sustainability include examples such as: his presence in Geheimrat, the push towards the mining sector, his concern to find alternative energies, the supervision of the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach plantations, the fight against the plague of forest parasites, his interest in forestry education, etc. The previously mentioned examples show Goethe’s intense concern for the environment.