As the global appeal of the sustainable development discourse increased from the mid-1980s onwards, environmental education became unsurprisingly linked with this concept, making sustainable development a principal aim of many environmental education initiatives on global, regional, and national agendas. Notwithstanding the political attractiveness of the discourse, the concept is a highly ambiguous and contested one. This renders engagement with individuals'understandings of sustainability, along with underlying concepts such as nature and the environment, an imperative. This is particularly the case for teachers as the individuals directly involved in the delivery of formal environmental education for sustainable development. This research explores the perspectives of 263 students at two teachers colleges in Jamaica. The research found that students had clear views about nature, the environment, and sustainable development but found that conceptions were at times narrowly focused, indicating the need to broaden teachers' conceptions in pre-service and in-service teacher education programmes.