Sustainability: an issue of education to the cultural inheritance of the Earth

The last hundred years have marked the sustainability of our planet. Today we live in a very interesting but also terrifying historical step. This step of the life of the earth is interesting because its destiny is in our hands; therefore, what the Earth will be tomorrow depends only on us all. But this historical period is also terrible because our generation is the first to have the power to destroy everything in a short time and therefore to compromise forever the future of our planet and its immense cultural heritage. Especially in the last century (twentieth century), man has perfected his ability to adapt to the different natural environments present on Earth, but to do this he has modified the territories in relation to the needs of the communities. All this has been achieved by forgetting the principles of sustainability linked to local cultural values. In fact, with our actions, we have destroyed and continue to destroy natural environments fundamental to the balance of our planet, consolidated over millions of years of evolution. This paper intends to focus attention on the values of the cultural heritage of the planet and how this heritage is fundamental to direct our present and future choices in dialogue with the principles of sustainability. For these important reasons, it is now essential to activate educational programs on the cultural heritage of the Earth and develop projects shared with the local needs of the communities. This paper will also present some application cases carried out in different countries of the world, especially in primary education schools.