Leading Sustainability through ReIntegrative Education: You and Higher Education Institutions

Ian D. Tran

Presentation Overview
Introduction & Methods Sustainability: Wicked Problems, Complex Systems Understanding & Higher Education Embracing, Envisioning, Enacting: Choose your adventure! Recapitulation

"You got kids who say they 'can't wait to get out they sound like prisoners...

It got real sophisticated, but slavery still exists-now youre paying for your captivity... -Willie, UM-Dearborn Wellness Center Clerk

Big Questions

Big Questions

Big Questions

Methods
1. Interdisciplinary research Complex systems Crisis management and leadership Sustainability in higher education research, epistemology Transdisciplinary studies 2. Experiential learning (LIFE!)

Sustainability: Wicked Problems and Complex Systems

Wicked Problems: Dynamic (always changing and continuously happening) Unusually complicated
can be common and pervasive

Frequently relate to real-life/death issues Defining the problem is challenging

Wicked Problems
Wicked Problems contain complex systems Wickedness: Interrelationships and context (between nested complex systems)
Acceleration of Anthropocentric Climate Change! Healthcare! National Budget! Homelessness!

Sustainability is a wicked problem!

Understanding Sustainability
Synthesized characterization: Continuity
Capacity to create and maintain conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony

Comprehensiveness
Fulfills social, economic, environmental and other requirements of present and future generations

Creativity
Tends to foster the integrity, stability, and beauty of the human, biotic, and abiotic community
(US EPA, 1987 WCED Burndtland, Triple Bottom Line, Leopold Land Ethic)

Higher Education
Barriers to understanding sustainability: Societal culture and traditions Disciplinarity Objectivism in research and practice

Higher Education
Societal culture and traditions Science for colonialism? (Lewis 1967)
Science and Policy are apart

Professionalism, notions of bias

i.e. Being removed and disinterested in land planning Media credibility no spin, media bias

Higher Education
Disciplinarity (and Multidisciplinarity) Divides departments, schools, and content Segregates learning spatially, organizationally, and intellectually Emphasizes individual learning Extreme specialization, and fragmented learning
(Buchanan 1992, Cortese 2003)

Higher Education
Objectivism in research: Describe, control and predict (Fein 2002) 1) Absolutism and false dichotomy for understanding reality and consciousness 2) Separation from context rejects experiential insight 3) Beguiles people to assume objective tools will always yield objective results 4) Tends to consumptively use others for research without necessarily providing benefit to those used for study

Higher Education
Solutions Sustainability for coherency in learning Interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity Recognize context: paradigms of research Agency and Action

Higher Education
Solutions: Sustainability for coherent vision Ask: How is this relevant and significant to the field, and to the world?

Higher Education
Solutions: Interdisciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity Integrative-learning
Insight from diverse fields Multiplicative rather than additive

Experiential-learning
Skills, engagement Field-Biology Co-op/internships Inside-Out Prison Exchange

Higher Education
Paradigms of Research 1. Empiricism/Scientific Positivism
Shared principles with objectivismclassical science/maths

2. Interpretive
Understanding

3. Action Research
Intent to change the world

4. Poststructuralism
Unifying and dissolving rigid worldviews

Structure and Agency

People (you!) are: Integral to complex systems Complex systems (identity) Capable of changing complex systems

Embracing, Envisioning, Engaging

value of sustainability is broadly acknowledged within the academic community, interdisciplinary activities tend to be seen as secondary to discipline-based approaches (Warburton 2003 cites Cartese 1992; Dyer 1997)
Deep learning and education for sustainability p. 44-56 Int. Journ. Of Sust in Higher Ed. 4,1

Understood, but no action!

Embracing, Envisioning, Engaging

Why not? Leverage points for complex systems
Realizing concepts/perception: abstract ideas Tangible initiatives need re-interpretation

Shared vision
Coordinated authentic push from diverse groups Empowerment

Enacting principle

Embracing, Envisioning, Engaging

Strategies Coordinate interest and increase collaboration Champion projects, participate in the world while learning
Educatiton Research Outreach Sustainability on campus

Do what youve learned

Embracing, Envisioning, Engaging

Examples: Place-based empowerment -What did we not know about what we already have? Re-Integrative learning -Apply the concept of context to intangible things Volunteer-led project learning -Represent the values you want to see at University

Recapitulation
Why are we here? Know context Empowerment Question how we validate reality Do it

Selected References
Complex Systems/Wicked Problems Capra, F. The Web of Life (1996) Anchor Books, New York: 1-333 Buchanon, R. Wicked Problems in Design Thinking Design Issues, vol. 8 No. 2 (1992) Meadows, D. Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System (1999) The Sustainability Institute Stafford, S.; Bartels, D.; Begay-Campbell, S.; Bubier, J.; Crittenden, J.; Cutter, S.; Delaney, J.; Jordan, T.; Kay, A.; Libecap, G.; Moore, J.; Rabalais, N.; Rejeski, D.; Sala, O.; Shepherd, J.; and Travis, T. Now is the time for action: Transitions and tipping points in complex environmental systems. Environment Science and Policy for Sustainable Development 52, no. 1 (2010): 39-45.

Selected References
Sustainability Cairns, J. Will the real sustainability concept please stand up? Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics (2004:) 49-52 Gibson, R.; Holtz, S.; Tansey, J.; Whitelaw, G.; Hassan, S. Sustainability Assessment: Criteria and Processes (2005) Routledge Kraynak, J. 2010. The Land and the Economics of SustainabilityArt Journal vol 69, no. 4. Leopold, A. 1949. The Land Ethic. A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There Oxford University Press Macnaghten, P.; Grove-White, R.; Jacobs, M.; Wynne, B. 1995 Public perceptions and sustainability in Lancashire: Indicators, Institutions, and Participation Lancashire City Council Miller, E.; Buys. L.; Summerville, J. Quantifying the Social Dimension of Triple Bottom Line: Development of a Framework and Indicators to Assess the Social Impact of Organisations (2007) International Journal of Governance & Business Ethics 223-227 Mebratu, D. 1996 . Sustainability and Sustainable Development: Historical and Conceptual Review Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 18. Norman, W. and Macdonald, C. 2003 Getting to the Bottom of Triple Bottom Line Business Ethics Quarterly, March 2003 Ratner, B. 2004. Sustainability as a Dialogue of Values: Challenges to the Sociology of Development Sociological Inquiry, vol. 74, No. 1 50-69 Seager, T. 2008. The Sustainability Spectrum and the Sciences of Sustainability Business Strategy and the Environment 17, 444-453. Wals, A. and Jickling, B. (2002) Sustainability in higher education: From doublethink and newspeak to critical thinking and meaningful learning. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education vol. 3 no 3 p. 221-232

Selected References
Imperialism/Colonialism/Objectivism/Dualism and Academia Bleiker, R. Forget IR Theory Alternatives vol. 22 (1997): 57-85. Greiffennagen, C. and Sharrock, W. (2008) Where do the limits of experience lie? Abandoning the dualism of objectivity and subjectivity. History of the Human Sciences vol. 21 no. 3 70-93 Hanson, B. (2006) Wither Qualitative/Qualitative?: Grounds for Methodological Convergence. Quality & Quantity vol. 42, 97-111. Heshusius, L. (1994) Freeing Ourselves from Objectivity: Managing Subjectivity or Turning Toward a Participatory Mode of Consciousness? Educational Researcher Vol. 23, 15-22. Lewis, D. (1973) Anthropology and Colonialism. Current Anthropology, Vol. 14, No. 5, 581-602. Michael Foucault, interview by Michael Bess, Power, Moral Values, and the Intellectual , November 3, 1980, transcript. Retrieved from Interviewers Vanderbilt University Website (http://www.vanderbilt.edu/historydept/michaelbess/Foucault Interview) Nelson, J. (2007) Economists, value judgments, and climate change: A view from feminist economics. Ecological Economics Vol. 65, 441-447. Palladino, P. and Worboys, M. 1993. Science and Imperialism Isis Shellenberger, M. and Nordhaus, T. 2004. The Death of Environmentalism The Breakthrough Institute. See also: (Buchanon 1992)

Selected References
Intervention in complex systems Dorn, B. and Mcnulty, E. Improving Situational Awareness: A Meta-Leadership Approach Disaster Recovery Journal vol 25, winter vol. 1 (2012) Haslam, S.; Reicher, S.; Platow, M. The New Psychology of Leadership Psychology Press 1st ed (2010) Hong, L. and Page, S. Problem Solving by Heterogenous Agents, Journal of Economic Theory Vol. 97 (2001) 123-163 See also: Meadows (1999)

Selected References
Sustainability, Interdisciplinarity, Transdisciplinarity, and Intervention in Higher Education Clark, S.; Rutherford, M.; Auer, M.; Cherney, D.; Wallace, R.; Mattson, D.; Clark, D.; Foote, L.; Krogman, N.; Wilshusen, P.; Steelman, T. College and University Environmental Programs as a Policy Problem (Part 1): Integrating Knowledge, Education, and Action for a Better World? Environmental Management vol 47 (2011): 701-715 Clark, S.; Rutherford, M.; Auer, M.; Cherney, D.; Wallace, R.; Mattson, D.; Clark, D.; Foote, L.; Krogman, N.; Wilshusen, P.; Steelman, T. College and University Environmental Programs as a Policy Problem (Part 2): Strategies for Improvement Environmental Management vol 47 (2011): 716-726 Cortese, A. The Critical Role of Higher Education in Creating a Sustainable Future. Planning for Higher Education (2003) Fien, J. Advancing sustainability in higher education: issues and opportunities for research International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education vol. 3, no 3 Scholtz, Roland; Lang, Daniel; Wiek, Arnim; Walter, Alexander; Stauffacher, Michael. 2006. Transdisciplinary case studies as a means of sustainability learning: Historical framework and theory International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education vol. 7 no. 3 226-251 Shriberg, M. (2002) Institutional assessment tools for sustainability in higher education: Strengths, weaknesses, and implications for practice and theory International Journal for Sustainability in Higher Education vol 3, 3, 254270 Velazquez, L.; Munguia, N.; and Sanchez M. 2005. Deterring Sustainability in Higher Education Institutions International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 6 no. 4 1467-6370 Warburton, K. (2003) Deep learning and education for sustainability. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education vol. 4 no. 1 44-56