I've been on both sides of this in the classroom: it's a pretty easy and often illuminating assignment to ask students to do individual carbon footprint analyses, measure their water use, etc. There are plenty of tools available for this sort of thing. The students are usually surprised by their own results. But I believe Dr. Harrison is wrong on his central point, that "The only way to change a complex social system is from the bottom up." In fact, there are now years of research showing that an individualization-only approach bears little fruit, specifically of the kind he notes: that asking your students to change their behavior with regard to sustainability "May change how their friends live as well, and so on." In fact, without top-down policy change and regulation, there is little hope of addressing the challenges that face us with regards to energy and natural resource use and depletion. But I am comfortable being one of the "dour environmentalists" that Dr. Harrison refers to on his website, who believes that government regulation is necessary in order to achieve social change. And by the way, a great place to start in the literature on individualization is with the work of Mike Maniates, our list admin.
In this vein, when I teach an introductory class on sustainability, and it is small enough for this sort of assignment to be manageable, I ask the students to engage directly in the democratic process. One way to do this is have them identify who their elected officials are, wherever they are registered to vote, and have them choose an issue they care about that their elected official can speak to, and write a letter to that elected official. I assign this early in the semester, and then work with them closely on the letters, reviewing drafts with them, and then have them send the letters, present them to the class, and report back to the class if they receive a response before the end of the semester. If students own up to not being registered to vote, I have been known to require them to register to vote, especially in a presidential election year, which itself provides a wonderful opportunity for discussion and engagement. This coming semester, for example, I am assigning my students in an advanced class to run a nonpartisan voter registration drive on campus. THAT is the sort of individualization that I can get behind! Sincerely, Rich Wallace Professor and Chair of Environmental Studies Ursinus College Collegeville, PA On Jan 9, 2016, at 12:43 PM, NeilE. Harrison <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Shannon: How about helping your students live more sustainably? More than regurgitating some vague theories about sustainable development they would have to think about how they live. If this changes their behavior, it may change how their friends live as well, and so on. Our modern lifestyle is unsustainable. So, change the system. The only way to change a complex social system is from the bottom-up. The best way to do that is to show people how they can save the planet while improving their lives. The hair shirt of self-denial offered by so many environmental writings is unattractive (too much like dieting?). The alternative of nanny-state regulation seems un-American, especially now. Instead people can save the planet by pursuing their personal well-being (and what's more American than capitalist self-interest?). [Beware shameless self-promotion: the theory for this approach is laid out in my book Sustainable Capitalism and the Pursuit of Well-Being - now out in paperback - and I'm working on a 'how to' book for 'everyman/everywoman' and a supporting website.] First your students need to understand how they have learned their lifestyle and why they so often use 'retail therapy' to feel good, for a short term fix of their problems. Exercise: ask them to describe how they have been trapped on the hedonic treadmill and give examples of how they consume to remedy unhappiness. Can they explain why retail therapy leaves them unfulfilled and unsatisfied? Why is it addictive? Second they need to understand their psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Exercise: ask them to give examples from their personal experience of how satisfying any/each of these needs made them feel. How could they satisfy these essential needs in the future? How would that change their lives? Third your students could examine Flow, the state of total engagement with an activity (and then with life). Exercise: have they ever experienced Flow? How did it make them feel? How does Flow relate to Mindfulness? How does Flow relate to their psychological needs? If you want to go further, you could get into issues of financial resilience, debt management, and investing that all satisfy psychological needs better than retail therapy and reduce consumption. While these issues may be beyond the purview of the class, they are important for well-being (viz the suffering from the 2007-2008 housing meltdown and the pain of recessions and unemployment). These are matters I am particularly interested in because of my CPA/CA training. I have not developed a syllabus for teaching this approach - perhaps I should - and these are just a few ideas I cobbled together in a few minutes. If you are interested in using this approach, I would be happy to work with you in any way you need, Cheers, Neil Neil E. Harrison, Ph.D., FCA, CPA Executive Director The Sustainable Development Institute (www.sd-institute.org<http://www.sd-institute.org/>) P.O. Box 423 Laramie, WY 82073 Goodshop to save money and support The Sustainable Development Institute at www.Goodshop.com<http://www.goodsearch.com/goodshop> Author, Sustainable Capitalism and the Pursuit of Well-Being (Routledge 2014) more information at <http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415662819> www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415662819<http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415662819> Co-Editor, Climate Innovation: Liberal Capitalism and Climate Change (Palgrave Macmillan 2014) more information at http://us.macmillan.com/climateinnovation/NeilEHarrison. Author, Constructing Sustainable Development (SUNY Press) Co-Editor, Science and Politics in the International Environment (Rowman and Littlefield) Editor, Complexity in World Politics (SUNY Press) Editor, National, Regional and Global Institutions, Infrastructures and Governance, Vol. 1, National and Regional Institutions and Infrastructures. London and Paris: EOLSS/UNESCO, 2008. (EOLSS/UNESCO) ________________________________ From: "Shannon Kathryn Orr" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Sent: Friday, January 08, 2016 10:17 AM To: "[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: [gep-ed] non-traditional class assignments Dear All, I am teaching a new class in Global Sustainable Development and because it got added to the schedule late I have less than 20 students (normal enrollment should be 50). Since it's a small class I thought it might be fun to offer students the opportunity to do a non-traditional project instead of a research paper if they so choose. I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas for projects. So far I've listed a comprehensive time line of events in a narrow area (with a paper discussing the connections between events), doing a project through the UN online volunteering system, and blogging once a week about current events in sustainable development. If you have an idea, please email them to me off-list and I will compile them into one post. Shannon ___________________________ Shannon K. Orr, Ph.D. Associate Professor/Graduate Coordinator 118 Williams Hall Bowling Green, OH Department of Political Science Bowling Green State University [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> https://twitter.com/CapacityBldg4SD -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. 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