William B. Stapp, a major author of the founding documents of environmental education (EE), foreshadowed the triple concerns of education for sustainable development (ESD) with environment, social justice and economic health. Yet EE in the USA tended to follow the advocacy orientation of the environmental movement of the 1970s and later, following criticism, largely aligned with science education. Stapp's original version of EE is still widely practiced in the USA and in many places around the world. Today EE and ESD have an overlapping and intertwined existence. Perhaps it does not matter what we call it; we need quality education that prepares people to understand multiple views; to listen and communicate with others; to vision and evaluate options; to collect, synthesize and understand data; to learn how others have balanced contentious elements of an issue; and to be able to adopt actions.