Sustainability-minded young professionals are needed to facilitate movement toward a sustainable planet. Their development has largely been left to Higher Education Institutions charged with equipping future generations of professionals to address current and future intractable problems, with limited research on how they perform in these important roles upon entering professional careers. This study documents how sustainability-minded young professionals engage in education for sustainability, the process by which humans will learn to live sustainably. Grounded theory methods were used to analyze interview and focus group data collected from 10 sustainability-minded young professionals who participated in sustainable energy research experiences as undergraduates. Findings indicate sustainability-minded young professionals engaging in education for sustainability navigate sustainability identities, which is a fluid, contextual process; participate in lifelong sustainability learning; serve as sustainability educators; and adopt a positive stance toward our ability to achieve sustainability.

需要具有可持续发展意识的年轻专业人士来促进迈向可持续地球的运动。他们的发展在很大程度上留给了高等教育机构，这些机构负责培养后代的专业人员以解决当前和未来的棘手问题，而对他们在进入职业生涯后如何在这些重要角色中发挥作用的研究有限。本研究记录了具有可持续性意识的年轻专业人士如何参与可持续性教育，即人类学习可持续生活的过程。扎根理论方法被用来分析从 10 位具有可持续发展意识的年轻专业人士那里收集的访谈和焦点小组数据，这些专业人士作为本科生参与了可持续能源研究。调查结果表明，从事可持续发展教育的具有可持续发展意识的年轻专业人士能够驾驭可持续发展的身份，这是一个流动的、情境化的过程；参与终身可持续发展学习；担任可持续发展教育者；并对我们实现可持续发展的能力采取积极的态度。