Kuala Lampur, Aug. 14 -- If you want to see the future of Malaysia, don't look at the Parliament. Look inside a preschool classroom at 10 a.m., where tiny hands are building cities out of blocks, or pretending the water in the sandpit is an endless river. Here, in these small worlds, the habits that will one day shape the real one are already forming.

A recent 2023 study by UPSI researchers involving 219 preschool teachers across Malaysia revealed something both hopeful and worrying: teachers actually know about sustainability. They believe in it. They want to model it for their students. Many can explain environmental care, social equity, and responsible resource use with ease. Their hearts are in the right place. But when the storybook...