All hands on Deck: Teaching Sustainability
David W. Orr, Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics
What does the word sustainability
mean to a typical high school or college student? The answer probably
is “not much." For all of the learned talk about sustainability
and despite the flood of ink spilled to define the term, the first generation
that must confront the stark reality of the global crisis of unsustainability
is, I suspect, either overwhelmed by it all or just oblivious.
To most, climate change, biotic impoverishment, decline of land seas,
deforestation, pollution, poverty, terrorism and so forth seem very
distant from the problems they face every day including those of drugs
and violence.
Teaching about the challenges
of sustainability generally can be rather like teaching health care
in the emergency room of a big city hospital on a Saturday night in
July—one human tragedy followed by yet another, all night long.
The history of environmental policy in the United States, for example,
is one sorry record of thirty years of evasion on the most important
issues of the time, For the young people who do study such things it
must be disconcerting to learn that their future is being compromised
daily by shortsightedness, greed, ignorance, and stupidity.
In my own approach to teaching
environmental studies I’ve found one generally dependable antidote
to what is otherwise a fairly dismal pedagogical situation. The
origins, not surprisingly, are in the writings of John Dewey, Alfred
North Whitehead, Maria Montessori, and J. Glenn Gray. In varying
ways each proposed to make learning an active engagement with the world,
not merely the study of second hand abstractions. Applied to the
problems of sustainability, that approach underlies much of the green
campus movement and campus ecology courses taught over the past fifteen
years. In those efforts students have applied their energy and
intelligence to the goal of making their college and university campuses
sustainable. The scale is small enough to be understandable but
large enough to be a significant model. All campuses take in energy,
water, and materials and put out waste in various forms. The idea
behind the green campus movement is simply to make environmental impacts
transparent and thereby render them into solutions that reduce and recycle
wastes, reward efficiency, eliminate carbon emissions, improve policies
governing grounds management and building standards, and use institutional
purchases and investments to catalyze sustainable local economies.
But this is a means to the larger end of equipping young people with
the analytical skills and wherewithal to become change agents beyond
the years of formal education.
From the beginning of the campus
ecology movement in 1987 to the present, hundreds of institutions have
begun the process of transformation. Beyond some tipping point
they become what Peter Senge calls “learning organizations" that
calibrate their mission and operations with the larger biophysical realities
of the Earth. Many of the most exciting experiments in sustainability
are being led by students and recent graduates still in their twenties
who are helping to fill a vacuum of leadership in the general society.
They are helping to lead the effort to reduce carbon emissions, promote
renewable energy, build high performance buildings, and eliminate waste.
Instead of the typical career path that defers leadership to the later
stages of life, they’ve recognized the emergency of the twenty-first
century for what it is. In naval terms it is time to get all hands
on deck to join the fight for a habitable planet. And when the
fight is joined, real learning begins.
Tips*
Begin With the Fundamentals
Teach about basic environmental,
economic, and social concepts that provide a foundation for understanding
the larger picture of sustainability. In Earth in Mind,
David Orr identifies ten concepts that he argues all college graduates
should understand: (1) the laws of thermodynamics, (2) basic principles
of ecology, (3) carrying capacity, (4) energetics, (5) least-cost and
end-use analysis, (6) limits of technology, (7) appropriate scale, (8)
sustainable agriculture and forestry, (9) steady-state economics, and
(10) environmental ethics.
View the World Through a Systems Lens
Challenge narrow, disciplinary,
short-term approaches with systems thinking.
Recognize the Power of Consumers as Agents of Change
Calculate the ecological, economic,
and social impact consumers can make through purchasing choices.
We positively affect our economy, community and the natural environment
if we are more deliberate with our consumer decisions.
Remember the Pen is Mightier Than the Sword, but the Wrench is Mightier Still
Connect people with those who
hold the tools needed for sustainability, who can help redesign engines
and buildings or grow food without chemical pesticides or fertilizers.
Use Precaution as Wisdom
Encourage open and honest dialogue
about what we don’t know, and how we can proceed when consequences
of our actions, innovations, or technologies are unpredictable.
Present the precautionary principle, the idea that if the consequences
of an action are unknown, but are judged to have some potential for
major or irreversible negative consequences, then it is better to avoid
that action.
Tie Classes and Programs Together
Identify what you can do to
bind individual classes or programs to some greater message on sustainability.
Study Controversial Issues
The brain is like any other
muscle; it needs regular, vigorous exercise. Sustainability demands
new and innovative thinking. We can all practice these skills
by starting with the data and forming our own conclusions.
Walk the Talk
Be a model of sustainable behavior.
What we model speaks volumes to those watching. We all learn much
from observing what others do.
* From 147 Practical Tips
for Teaching Sustainability. Click here for more on these and the other
139 tips.
Resources
Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)
Oberlin College maintains a
membership that is valid for anyone accessing the AASHE web site from
a computer with an Oberlin IP address. You will need to create
your own account using your institutional e-mail address.
AASHE maintains an online directory
of listings for syllabi related to sustainability and the environment.
Articles, journals, books, etc.
A wide range of publications
is available related to campus sustainability.
Discussion lists and electronic newsletters
Joining one or more discussion
lists or electronic newsletters is a great way to tap into a network
of resources on many different scales.
Organizations and higher education associations
National and international associations for advancing campus sustainability.