Since its acceptance as a pedagogic field, environmental education has experienced divergence and antagonism in its theoretical and methodological approaches and standpoints. In this paper, the author talks about the conflicting relationship between environmental education and education for sustainable development as well as the many discourses found in environmental education. He argues that, in order to countermand the maximalism associated with ESD, the political priority of environmental education has to be reinforced by intensifying the development of skills, and stimulating interaction on key environmental issues between environmental educators and educators in related fields that complement this issue. He further asserts that environmental education cannot be blamed for the poor results of environmental, social and economic policies, thereby justifying the imposition of obscure neologisms in an attempt to postpone the inevitable confrontation between the risks and threats of the present, and those waiting around the next corner.