27 April 2010

Sustainable Future

So...I'm on this sustainable future work team for the college academic plan and we've been challenged with the question of how to best prepare the current and next generation of learners with the skills, aptitudes and attitudes they will need to help shape an environmentally sustainable future for the Province. It's an interesting opportunity.

First we have to agree upon the term 'sustainability'. It's generally agreed that, like the unfortunate watering down of the term 'green', the corporate adoption of the term is now muddling the understanding of 'sustainability'. In corporate circles, it's been adopted to indicate longevity of a business or used to position oneself against the competition. It's less about society and the environment and more about economics...the economics of survival.

I've been using the term 'restorative' for a while now because I think it better reflects the rise of societal and environmental activism around the world; the heightened awareness of eco-degradation; the increasing desire for a simpler way of life to offset the incredibly fast pace of a materialistic industrialized western society...one that's on track to engulf billions of individuals around the globe. Restorative means to restore and make stronger. We can use our technologies and knowledge to not only replenish a weakened environment but to also enhance our environment with inclusive and innovative practices and policies. We can make our world a better place by committing to global equity, gender equality, eliminating warfare, engaging in peaceful religious and ethnic collaborations. We can restore the health of our environment and we can make our world a much better place to live.

That being said, sustainability is not a 'term' that can be defined because sustainability is not a thing, it is alive, just as any organism is alive. Organizations are living entities too, they evolve and grow and repair themselves like we do; it is not that people are the heart of an organization, rather it should be understood that the organization is in the heart of the people. How I see an organization is how it is communicated to me through the people that represent that organization. I am my organization, it is not me. I have my own soul which I use to express my connection with the organization's soul. If I do not relate well with the soul or expression of the organization it will be reflected in my relationship with the broader community.

So...back to the question 'how to best prepare the current and next generation of learners with the skills, aptitudes and attitudes they will need to help shape an environmentally sustainable future for the Province?"

I think when we think about our own relationships with other entities as life forms, we start to see them as not forms of hierarchy or power but as systems. We can better relate to systems because we ourselves are systems. How more natural is it to identify with our commonalities than to distinguish what makes us different...or weaker, or more powerful? it is intriguing to identify our strengths and similarities with others to see how we can be stronger. But in the western world, we don't do that. We look for ways to compete, survive, surpass, overcome, achieve, accumulate, advance and acquire. This means that we look for ways to stand apart from others, to be different, to gain respect. But, this is not a healthy sense of individuality and self-awareness. This is a sense of conformity and acquiescence. We survive and succeed by fitting into a mold predetermined by centuries of patriarchal, industrial rule.

Again...back to the question 'how to best prepare the current and next generation of learners with the skills, aptitudes and attitudes they will need to help shape an environmentally sustainable future for the Province?"

We now have a discourse on sustainability and a systems thinking approach to sustainability. What we have achieved is the breaking down of stereotypes and predetermined notions about sustainability and organizations. So now we must continue to break down barriers.

In a school, the most obvious barriers are: barriers to entrance, barriers between disciplines, barriers between gender, ethnicity, power, ability, access and language; barriers between student and faculty, faculty and administration, barriers between pedagogy and cultural understanding (evaluation, delivery, practice of the learning), barriers between institutions and industry; physical barriers between people in offices, cubicles, classrooms and single desks.

One way we could begin to prepare the current and next generation of learners with the skills, aptitudes and attitudes they will need is to remove barriers. Life does not draw a line in the sand between biology and poetry or math and art. One flows into the other naturally. In schools we've organized knowledge into neat and tidy piles of sand, each pile representing all things related to a particular discipline. How can that be? How can you draw without understanding angles? How can you visualize depth without art? They're inseparable yet we have moved them apart into different disciplines. Why is biology or ecology not taught to business students? Isn't it in the best interest of all business students to expose them to the realities of natural systems?

Let's agree that the removal of barriers, all barriers in an organization, will provide the access and exposure students need to develop an understanding of their world, local, national, regional and international. Great, but what will they do with their knowledge. Will they act on it? Does being informed equate with being engaged? Does empathy equate with compassion? No, in both cases, it doesn't.

A second way we could begin to prepare the current and next generation of learners with the skills, aptitudes and attitudes they will need to help shape an environmentally sustainable future for the Province is to engage them in their learning, in the process of becoming a citizen. All curriculum should include opportunities for students to apply their learning in a sustainable application; volunteerism, assignments, journaling, service learning, projects in the community, etc. Learning is important but so is the application of the learning and finding relevance or a personal connection to the learning. When we are able to make the connections between what we learn and the world, we grow. When we are able to change our environment based on our learning, we develop new understanding and skill.

The process we need is basically dialogue and deliberate action. But we're still missing something important. I call it taking down the exit sign.

When students enter school, secondary or post-secondary, it is a temporary task with a well trampled path laid out before them. Yawn. This linear path always has an exit sign symbolizing the end of your learning...now time to join the real world and get a job. I think this is totally wrong. Sure, it is a fine fit for the industrial age when assembly lines were the latest and greatest but this is no longer the industrial age, that 200 year adventure has gotten us into a heck of a mess. No, now we're in an information revolution and what I hope is the age of restoration. It would be enormously helpful if students entered the world of education as if it were a community that grew around you and sheltered you. instead of visualizing a path with a start and finish line, try to imagine a village with a town centre and surrounding neighbourhoods with their own specialities. A students should start in the middle of the community where most of the support is located and have the opportunity to explore the different neighbourhoods to learn and grow as individuals. Likewise, we should see this village as a manifestation of ourselves, with our soul in the centre encircled by life experiences and learning and adaptations. As we replenish the soul with our lives, we find our purpose and are better able to serve others. In the school centre students can replenish their learning through dialogue and sharing and recognition.

What was that question again...how to best prepare the current and next generation of learners with the skills, aptitudes and attitudes they will need to help shape an environmentally sustainable future for the Province. My answer would be to remove barriers, infuse sustainability learning and the application of that learning, and grow an inclusive soul-seeking community of learners.

12 April 2010

Life's Not Fair

Sometimes procrastination for me means I get to blog. Yes, a blog is a therapeutic tool that comes in handy when avoiding other work. On to the therapy.

I've been reading a lot about fairness lately, especially through the lens of ecofeminism ecology. It is striking what we value and what we don't value. In our patriarchal capitalist market-driven society we value production and power. Find it, make it, profit from it...find more, make more, earn more, spend more...on and on and on. We think about life as a 'thing', something to be consumed. It got me to thinking of what it would be like to live in a world where we valued the opposite of 'things'.

Imagine...a society where the highest value is placed on families raising children. In this world, parents earn a living by working in the community, helping other families, and raising their children to be good citizens; who are indeed the most valuable products of society. Teachers are highly valued because they are responsible for shaping the minds of children...the future leaders. Producers of goods and materials to mobilize and entertain families play a supportive role in this society and to acknowledge the value for what they do, the governing bodies would provide a monthly stipend to cover their costs (a sum determined by the government).

People know where their food comes from and they know how to grow some of their food, how to repair materials, and how to live comfortably. Mentors are highly regarded in society and sought out as leaders. This society values wisdom, not titles. This society values people, not things. This society understands how to live with nature, not to profit from it. Housework is valued as a skill, as are the skills of cooks, nurses, artists, farmers and tradespeople. Men and women are paid equally and recognized equally under law.

Even in dreaming of this world I have a hard time shaking the concept of money from my head. It is not easy to imagine a world where money is not the driving force, albeit an illusion of power. It is quite a crippling thing really, this money we so value and spend most of our lives trying to accumulate and spend. What would it be like to have a world without money...or without debt?

About fairness: I often hear the phrase 'well, the world is not fair' and it makes me angry. The phrase is so passively-aggressive that I find it frightening. What does it mean really? Since the world is not fair and we can't do anything about it, it's OK to be unfair? Exploiting other parts of the globe is OK because 'the world is not fair'? Bupkis!

If we could just retract that statement from everything we do we'd be left with a sense of responsibility for once. If it doesn't seem fair, either don't do it or find a better way to do it that is fair. Seems simple enough. But we don't take the time or effort because 'the world isn't fair'. Could it be that the 'developed' world is not concerned about millions of starving, sick and dying people in the low-income world because, well...'life's just like that, be glad you were born here and not there'? Now that India and China are developing, the Western world is crying foul because it's not fair, there are too many of them and they will make our energy and production costs skyrocket. Boo hoo...I guess life's not fair.

03 April 2010

What Does Reading Do?

I read and read and read. I read about injustices all over the world, in the South Pacific, Indonesia, Central and South America and so on. I read about displaced populations, gender and poverty discrimination, hate, degradation, destruction and starvation. But, I also read about heroic acts, bravery, pride, determination, protests, confidence and strength.

And I read on...

Now I sit here typing this entry wondering what I am to do? Who am I? I read about many terrible things that are going on around the world and I want to cry. I want to cry because it is so horrible, because I am part of the problem, because I don't know what to do. I just read.

But it's not enough! I'm not content. What good am I if all I do is read? Do I not have any power to act? Let's see...

I don't have any real power here in Canada. I'm one of millions in the 'developed' part of the world. I work, have children, own my own home, have leisure time and plenty of time to read. I do what I can at a very small level regarding the environment. I plant trees, reduce paper waste, promote environmental awareness, raise funds for hospices and orphanages in South America and Zambia, live simply (or try to) and so on. Woopdeedoo. I don't deserve a pat on the back which I often get, I deserve a slap in the face. Well, maybe not a slap...

I know I can do more. But what? Should I go back to school for more education? What would that do? Should I sell my house and move to another part of the world to help? What can I do? I'm stumped. Should I write about what's going on in the world or about my own self-imposed oppression?

Listen to me...I can't, I don't...what a wimp. So, what to do? I can keep on reading and hope that someday I'll get some guts. Where does the fear come from? Am I afraid of change? Failure? My own inadequacies?

These are difficult questions to answer. I'm as good as the next person, maybe not as educated, powerful or rich. And to be honest, I don't understand why the world is as unfair as it is, why I get to live a comfortable life while others suffer, why I feel paralyzed to act.

So I'm not well educated (relative to what exactly I don't know), powerful (according to whom) or rich (compared to whom exactly). In my eyes, I should see myself as very educated because I am aware of what's going on and feel a need to act. I should feel powerful because I am strong and lucky and determined. I should feel rich, not because I earn and spend more than the majority of the world but because I have a family, a home, good health and a strong support network.

So, I have nothing to stop me. What next?