Kategorier: Alla - skills - environment - education - awareness

av Jay Roberts för 11 årar sedan

433

No Planet Left Behind

The primary aim of environmental education is to cultivate a global populace that is knowledgeable and proactive about environmental issues. This encompasses fostering awareness of the interconnectedness of economic, social, political, and ecological systems.

No Planet Left Behind

No Planet Left Behind Education for Sustainability

Methodological Drivers of EfS

Place-Based learning

Problem/Project-based learning

Community-Based Research

Learning laboratories

Service learning and civic engagement

Experiential learning

Integrated, thematic curriculum

Epistemological Claims

Transformative Learning

Social, collaborative knowledge co-generation

Pragmatic "action" research

Systems Thinking

"A sustainable society is one that is far-seeing enough, flexible enough, and wise enough not to undermine either its physical or its social systems of support.”- Donella Meadows

Interdisciplinarity

Definitions

Education ABOUT sustainability-> Education FOR sustainability->Education THROUGH sustainability

"Education for Sustainability (EfS) is defined as a transformative learning process that equips students, teachers, and school systems with the new knowledge and ways of thinking we need to achieve economic prosperity and responsible citizenship while restoring the health of the living systems upon which our lives depend." (Cloud Institute) From: http://cloudinstitute.org/brief-history/

Sustainability

Defined

Sustainability as an "infinite game" (James Carse)

"Infinite games, on the other hand, do not have a knowable beginning or ending. They are played with the goal of continuing play and a purpose of bringing more players into the game. An infinite game continues play, for sake of play." from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_and_Infinite_Games

The three-legged stool

Brundtland Report

"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". (1987)

Sustainability and Schooling

Schooling as a fulcrum point of social change

What role can schooling play in encouraging positive, life-giving attitudes, values, and behaviors about the natural world?

What role does schooling play? What role should it play?

What role does culture play in normalizing destructive attitudes, behaviors, and values about the natural world?

How do we come to a relationship with the natural world?

Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth." Not once did he mention the role of education and schooling.

"My point is simply that education is no guarantee of decency, prudence, or wisdom. More of the same kind of education will only compound our problems. This is not an argument for ignorance but rather a statement that the worth of education must now be measured against the standards of decency and human survival-- the issues now looming so large before us in the 21st century. It is not education, but education of a certain kind, that will save us." (Orr, p. 8)

A Curricular Response

EFS at all grade levels
College

AASHE

"AASHE envisions a prosperous, equitable, and ecologically healthy world. In such a world, higher education plays a vital role in ensuring that people have an understanding of the interdependencies between environmental, social, and economic forces and the skills and abilities to meet sustainability challenges." http://www.aashe.org/about/aashe-mission-vision-goals

High School

Environmental Charter High School "Environmental Charter High School (ECHS) is an award winning, free, public high school in South Los Angeles that prepares students for 4-year colleges using the environment as a lens for real-life learning. Our schools place an emphasis on experiential, project-based learning that engages students as it prepares them to become leaders in their communities." http://echslawndale.org/

Middle School

Eco-Literacy Requirements (MD)

"The goal of environmental education is to develop a world population that is aware of, and concerned about, the environment and its associated problems, and which has the knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivations, and commitment to work individually and collectively toward solutions of current problems and the prevention of new ones. The Tbilisi Declaration followed the Belgrade Charter and established these objectives for environmental education: To foster clear awareness of, and concern about, economic, social, political, and ecological interdependence in urban and rural areas; To provide every person with opportunities to acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes, commitment and skills needed to protect and improve the environment; To create new patterns of behavior of individuals, groups and society as a whole towards the environment." From: http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE/programs/environment/

Kindergarden/Elementary

"Forest and Eco-Schools"

"Imagine a world with communities thriving by revitalising the ecosystems they are part of - producing healthy water, clean energy, rich biodiversity, nurturing buildings and healthy food. Where schools and community are one, with young people gaining skills, knowledge and experiences to design and create their schools, neighbourhoods and country. 877 schools, kura and early childhood centres have already begun!" http://www.enviroschools.org.nz/

What is currently being done?
Discussion

What did you come up with?

In groups

You can focus on a particular grade-level if that helps

Remember: your entire focus is a comprehensive curriculum to this planetary emergency. You should think BIG! We can't afford half-measures...

Deliberate on your curriculum response

Read the case

Commencement

There is real work to be done- both at the individual and structural levels. Let's begin.
There is much we don't know
What role will educators (and schools) play in responding to this crisis when we look back 25 years from now?
What kind of planet will our children, and our children's children inherit?
This much we know
We are experimenting with the stability and resilience of this life support system at a grand and unprecedented scale
Many of these changes are dramatically affecting the ability for all lifeforms on this planet to flourish and thrive- both now and into the future
Our world, our life support system, is changing rapidly and we are the cause of it
The Real Work
The Real Work It may be that when we no longer know what to do we have come to our real work, and that when we no longer know which way to go we have come to our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings. W. Berry

A Quiz!

Small Groups
Orr: "This is not the work of ignorant people." Is this a problem? Should every college student know these things? Why or why not?
How many did you get right?
#10. Define the following terms: Triple Bottom Line Accounting Cradle-to-Cradle Design Cap and Trade Systems
#9. What combination of plants make up the Native American farming model known as the “3 sisters”?
#8. What type of energy sources heat, cool, and power the buildings on campus and where does it come from?
#7. A monarch butterfly must lay its eggs on what plant?
#6. When you take a drink from the water fountain in this building, where does that water come from?
#5. Which of the following were native to this area? Moose Black Bear Mountain Lion Wolf Bison
#4. What is the name of the main river system in this area and what river does it flow into?
#3. Name 3 tree species that can be seen on campus
#2. Which of the following vegetable seeds can be successfully planted before May 1st in this area Carrot Tomato Radish Broccoli
#1. Name at least 3 non-resident bird species that we might expect to see in this area during the Spring migration.
10 questions. Complete on a piece of paper
David Orr: "The truth is that many things on which our future health and prosperity depend are in dire jeopardy: climate stability, the resilience and productivity of natural systems, the beauty fo the natural world, and biological diversity. It is worth noting that this is not the work of ignorant people. Rather it is largely the result of work with people with BA's, BSs, LLBs, MBAs, and PhDs." (p. 7)
Beyond Climate Destabilization
Growing up "de-natured"

Declining recess time in US elementary schools: 26 minutes http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/hard-times-for-recess/

Children, ages 8 to 18, spend more time (44.5 hours per week) in front of computer, television, and game screens than any other activity in their lives except sleeping (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005).

6% of 9-13 yr olds play outside in a typical week

Consumption

Source: World Bank Development Indicator 2008

3.2 planets

How many planets would we need if everyone on the planet lived like an American?

EAARTH? A "Artificial World"

Geo-engineering

Plastics: The Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch

Genetically modified (and privately owned) species

Population Growth

The next billion will take only 13 years.

Three billion more arrived in the next 60 years.

The second billion took only 100 years -- from 1830 to 1930.

The first billion took from the dawn of humanity until 1830.

Habitat Loss

Lose 36 football fields of forest/minute Extinctions 1000 times the background rate (pre-industrialization) 30-70% loss of amphibians since 1970

From http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/globalmarkets/forests/item3577.html Henson (2008) Rough Guide to Climate Change http://www.globalissues.org/article/171/loss-of-biodiversity-and-extinctions#DecliningOceanBiodiversity http://www.whole-systems.org/extinctions.html

Climate De-Stabilization
"Technology will fix it"

"... We need Nobel-caliber breakthroughs." Stephen Chu, Energy Secretary

"We Can't Get Here From There" "[The] numbers show the enormous challenge we face. The world used 14 trillion watts (14 terawatts) of power in 2006. Assuming minimal population growth (to 9 billion people), slow economic growth (1.6 percent a year, practically recession level) and—this is key—unprecedented energy efficiency (improvements of 500 percent relative to current U.S. levels, worldwide), it will use 28 terawatts in 2050. (In a business-as-usual scenario, we would need 45 terawatts.) Simple physics shows that in order to keep CO2 to 450 ppm, 26.5 of those terawatts must be zero-carbon. That's a lot of solar, wind, hydro, biofuels and nuclear, especially since renewables kicked in a measly 0.2 terawatts in 2006 and nuclear provided 0.9 terawatts. Are you a fan of nuclear? To get 10 terawatts, less than half of what we'll need in 2050, Lewis calculates, we'd have to build 10,000 reactors, or one every other day starting now. Do you like wind? If you use every single breeze that blows on land, you'll get 10 or 15 terawatts. Since it's impossible to capture all the wind, a more realistic number is 3 terawatts, or 1 million state-of-the art turbines, and even that requires storing the energy—something we don't know how to do—for when the wind doesn't blow. Solar? To get 10 terawatts by 2050 ... we'd need to cover 1 million roofs with panels every day from now until then." - Sharon Begley http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2009/03/13/we-can-t-get-there-from-here.html

But the global population and energy demand continues to grow... To keep atmospheric concentration of CO2 near 350-400ppm we will need to drop to 80% of today's levels by 2050

Reduce global carbon emissions by 20% of today’s levels by 2020* (no problem, right?)

To keep atmospheric CO2 levels at or near 350-400ppm we will need to...

So What?

Global Warming Weirding

Costs: Hurricane Sandy= $65 Billion. Midwest Drought= $35 Billion (http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2013/01/24/global-disaster-report-sandy-drought/1862201/)

Droughts, flooding, heat waves, unusual freezes will be more and more common

Weather patterns more severe and unpredictable

Negative Impacts

Loss of artic sea ice (in 2007, 39% below summer average from 1979-2000)- an area roughly the size of 5 United Kingdoms

Rise in mosquito populations and resultant expansion of malaria and dengue fever

Permafrost in arctic regions could shift from sink to source

Loss of glaciers that millions depend on for water

Melting of Greenland ice cap and sea level rise which would threaten cities and island nations including London and New York City

Oceans will rise by as much as 1 foot in next century. 634 million live in low level coastal areas- 1/10th the world's population. (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9162438)

Above 350 ppm? A "grand experiment" on a planetary scale (we are already at 392 and growing by 2ppm/year)

350 ppm in atmosphere is a tipping point- keeps us around 2 degrees centigrade warmer (global average) which most scientists believe is manageable.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Predicting a rise of 1.1-6.4 celsius by 2080-2099

2007 “Human-induced warming of the climate system is widespread”

2001 “there is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributed to human activities”

1995 “the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate

Pre-industrial atmospheric CO2 concentrations were approximately 275 parts per million. Today concentrations are approximately 392 ppm, an increase of over 30 percent and going up 2 ppm/year
"Spaceship Earth:" The Only Home We Have
An incredibly thin layer, ~11km, of atmosphere protects us from the uninhabitable void of space and enables life on this planet as we know it
Our ecological systems thrive in a very narrow range of temperature, oxygen, and atmospheric conditions
We know of no other planet in the universe that can support human life

Introductions

Overview of the Evening
Question and Answer
A Curriculum Response Exercise
Education for Sustainability
A Quiz
The State of Our Life Support System
"No Planet Left Behind"
Some background
My Story of Ecological Conversion