“Our biggest challenge in this new
century is to take an idea that seems
abstract -- sustainable development -and turn it into a daily reality for all the
world’s people.”
Kofi Annan, Secretary-General United Nations
General Public Not Engaged
Governments
Industry
General
Population
NGOs
Academics
The Power of SD Remains Dormant
Locked in Isolated Issues
AIDS
Prevention
Clean
Air
Safe
Water
Sustainable
Consumption
Poverty
Eradication
Climate
Change
Sustainable
Development
Rainforest
Preservation
Bio-diversity
Population
Growth
Global Disjointed Approaches
STEM
Trade Barriers
Tax policies
Currency manipulation
Towards Global Sustainability?
Strong Global Warming Observed
Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research
Based on Folland et al (2000) and Jones and Moberg (2003)
Development at whose expense?
Bonn Declaration – A Call for Action
Encourage and enhance scientific excellence, research
and new knowledge development for ESD through
the involvement of higher education institutions and
research networks in ESD.
Mobilize the core functions of universities: teaching,
research and community engagement to strengthen
global and local knowledge of ESD, and utilize the
UNESCO ESD Chairs and UNESCO program networks in
this process.
Why are HEI Addressing Sustainability?
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To better take advantage of globalization
To help your institution compete
To attract funding
To create global citizens
To make life better for others
To infuse relevancy, meaning, etc., to better their
ed.
• To improve the life of all future generations
Northern Problem As Well
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Hard to serve students suffer
Preferred learning style other than reading
Poverty related issues
Irrelevant curricula
Engaging the disenfranchised
Home/family related issues
Student/school conflict
Narrowing the curriculum for testing
Surface area
Volume
Square miles
Cubic Miles
139,500,000
270,000
317,000,000
25,000
330,000
—
6,000,000
900,000
197,000,000
30,000
300
6,300,000
680,000
3,100
Percentage
of Total
Salt water
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The oceans
Inland seas and
saline lakes
97.2%
0.008%
Fresh water
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Freshwater lakes
All rivers (average level)
Antarctic Icecap
Arctic Icecap and glaciers
Water in the atmosphere
Ground water within half
a mile from surface —
Deep-lying ground water
Total (rounded)
—
100.00 %
—
1,000,000
1,000,000
326,000,000
0.009%
0.0001%
1.90%
0.21%
0.001%
0.31%
0.31%
Understanding World’s Water
Type
Salt Water
Fresh Water
Antarctic
Ground < 1/2 mile deep
Ground > 1/2 mile deep
Arctic Ice Caps
Lakes
Atmosphere
Rivers
Yards Feet Inches
95
0
7.53
5
8.41
11.16
11.16
7.56
.3240
.0360
.0036
A Perfect Storm … of Opportunities
10 Market Forces
5 Mega-Issues
5 Demanding
Stakeholders
Climate Change
Green
Consumers
Pollution & Health
Activist
Shareholders
Globalization
Backlash
Civil Society /
NGOs
Energy Crunch
Government
Regulators
Erosion of Trust
Financial Sectors
Growth
Revenue
Competitive
Advantage
Business
Value
Preparing for the World of Work
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Linking to TVET
ESD for all
Right to work
Right to change the world of work
Forming an international network of
exploration
• First meeting in Thailand in summer of
2007
I.
Policy Level
1. Educational System Integration
To Integration of TVET into Education System
——Articulation, mobility, career guidance
——Qualification Framework
——Collaboration with relevant industries/stakeholders
——Decent Work – salary
——Selection and hiring process of TVET teachers
——International Cooperation (faculty exchange)
——Vocationalization of the General Education
The Sustainability “3-Legged Stool”
Sustainable Development (SD)
Corporate Responsibility (CR)
Triple Bottom Line (TBL)
Economy / Profits
Sustainability
Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR)
3Es / 3Ps
Environment / Planet
Sustainable business Eco-Efficiency
Manufacturing efficiencies
Profits
Equity / People
Ethical business
Internal employees
Taxes, R&D
Operations efficiencies
Human rights
Jobs
Product efficiencies
Health & Safety
Expenditures
Smart design
Empowerment
Training
Cradle-to-cradle, take-back
Respect, Caring
Fair trade
Beyond compliance
Local community
Core values
Restorative to nature
Rest of the world
Humanities in decline
• We are in a major crisis of education.
• Nations change educations for economic purposes, humanities are
being cut back. (useful skills for short term profits)
• Technology and engineering, applied science, emphasized.
• Abilities crucial to democracy and more humane world not
developed.
• Old development model emphasizes GDP growth. But mere pursuit
of growth does not necessarily improve other aspects of quality of
life.
• Critical thinking (philosophy), history, literature & arts is not very
important in the education systems oriented towards economic
growth.
• Singapore good example.
• Martha C. Nussbaum
The Real Bottom Line!
“We Need A World We Can Live In”
At the global scale, there is only one
bottom line: “Maintenance of the earth’s
life support system for humans. If critical
thresholds are crossed and the earth
system shifts to another state much less
amenable to human life, then everyday
life as we know it –social systems,
economics, politics – ceases to have
meaning.”
Uno Svedin – Swedish Research Council for the Environment, Agriculture
Sciences and Spatial Planning
Re-discovering Commerce
Social entrepreneurship
The arts
Service to others?
The Challenge for Education
• Our greatest experiment-civilization itself-will
succeed only if it can live on natures terms, not
man’s. To do this we must adopt principles in
which the short term is trumped by the long; in
which caution prevails over ingenuity; in the
which absurd myth of endless growth is
replaced by respect for natural limits; in which
progress is steered by precautionary wisdom.
Ronald Wright-A Short History of Progress
UNU Regional Centre of ESD Expertise
Messengers
Local Information
Non Formal
Formal
Informal
Sources
Ngo’s
Tertiary
Media
Regional/National
Zoo/etc
Secondary
Peers
Gov Agencies
Elementary
Society
Private Sector
Corp Training
Preschool
Life Exp.
Research (HE, NGO) etc.
Local Government
Outcomes
• Improved academic outcomes
• More knowledgeable/supportive citizenry
• More sustainably oriented production and consumption
• Perhaps a shift in behaviour as learning is relevant and in scale
etc.