自1992年里約地球高峰會起，全球永續發展的推動工作已經歷二十餘年，雖然在若干指標上取得了長足的進展，但是在自然環境與生態保育方面，卻依然面臨艱鉅的挑戰。主要的原因之一，即在於當前各國推動永續發展計畫的思維，仍以工具性的經濟手段為主，希望透過創造外在利益誘因以及建立懲罰機制的方式，來引導人類的經濟行為。由於缺乏對於人與自然之關係的深刻省思，此種思維模式與政策手段在本質上便與「永續」的概念相互衝突，而此一矛盾也限縮了環境教育政策的內涵。近年來儒學的重新受到重視，正可為當前以西方為中心的永續發展理念提供新的思考方向。因此，本文希望能夠從儒學的角度出發，重新檢視永續發展的概念內涵，並對國內現有的環境教育政策進行檢討。

The idea of global sustainable development has been promoted for more than two decades ever since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. Though quite a few indexes show that some significant progresses have been made, there are still great challenges for us to overcome regarding natural environment and ecological conservation. One major cause of these challenges is that the programs of sustainable development are still launched through instrumentalist economic approaches, wishing to guide people’s economic behaviors by creating the “reward-and-punishment” system. Due to the absence of profound reflection on the relationship between men and nature, such a model and tactic are in conflict with the idea of “sustainability” by definition. In recent years, Confucianism has been revived as an alternative to the current west-oriented idea of sustainable development. Therefore, this article tries to re-examine the idea of “sustainable development” and review Taiwan’s environmental education policies through the lenses of Confucianism.