The Handbook of Sustainability Literacy Skills for a Changing World

by Stibbe, Arran

• ISBN13: 9781900322607
• ISBN10: 1900322609
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-09-01
• Publisher: Green Books

Summary

Responding to the threats of climate change, peak oil, resource depletion, economic uncertainty and energy insecurity demands the utmost in creativity, ingenuity, and new ways of thinking in order to reinvent self and society. InThe Handbook of Sustainability Literacy, leading sustainability educators are joined by permaculturists, literary critics, ecologists, artists, journalists, engineers, mathematicians, and philosophers in examining the skills needed in the twenty-first century. Among the many skills, attributes, and values described in this volume are values reflection, coping with complexity, permaculture design, transition skills, advertising awareness, effortless action, and ecological intelligence, each accompanied by ideas for active-learning exercises to help develop the skill. Far from being a rigid or definitive statement of the one right way,” however, the handbook is exploratory, aiming to open up new, unthought-of paths, possibilities, and choices. It is intended primarily for educators across the spectrum from higher education to informal education, but is also suitable for learners themselves and anyone interested in the literally vital” issue of the skills we need to survive and thrive in the twenty-first century and build a more sustainable future. Contributors include John Naish, Satish Kumar, Patrick Whitefield, John Blewitt, Stephan Harding, and Stephen Sterling.

Author Biography

Arran Stibbe has an academic background in both humanities and human ecology, and combines the two in his teaching and research into Education for Sustainability. He lectures in the Humanities Department at the University of Gloucestershire, is a National Teaching Fellow, and a fellow of the Centre for Active Learning. He has published widely in the area of ecolinguistics and is convener of the Sustainability in Higher Education Developers group (SHED Share), a network of 200 sustainability educators from across the UK.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. 8
Introduction	p. 9
Skills for a Changing World
Ecocriticism: the ability to investigate cultural artefacts from an ecological perspective	p. 19
Optimisation: the art of personal sufficiency	p. 25
Grounded Economic Awareness: economic awareness based on ecological and ethical values	p. 30
Advertising Awareness: the ability to expose advertising discourses that undermine sustainability, and resist them	p. 37
Transition Skills: skills for transition to a post-fossil-fuel age	p. 43
Commons Thinking: the ability to envisage and enable a viable future through connected action	p. 51
Effortless Action: the ability to fulfil human needs effortlessly through working with nature	p. 58
Permaculture Design: designing our lives with nature as the model	p. 64
Community Gardening: skills for building community and working within environmental limits	p. 70
Ecological Intelligence: viewing the world relationally	p. 77
Systems Thinking: the ability to recognise and analyse the interconnections within and between systems	p. 84
Gaia Awareness: awareness of the animate qualities of the Earth	p. 89
Futures Thinking: the ability to envision scenarios of a more desirable future	p. 94
Values Reflection and the Earth Charter: the ability to critique the values of an unsustainable society and consider alternatives	p. 99
Social Conscience: the ability to reflect on deeply-held opinions about social justice and sustainability	p. 105
New Media Literacy: communication skills for sustainability	p. 111
Cultural Literacy: understanding and respect for the cultural aspects of sustainability	p. 117
Carbon Capability: understanding climate change and reducing emissions	p. 124
Greening Business: the ability to drive environmental and sustainability improvements in the workplace	p. 130
Materials Awareness: the ability to expose the hidden impact of materials on sustainability	p. 137
Appropriate Technology and Appropriate Design: the ability to design systems, technologies and equipment in an appropriate way	p. 144
Technology Appraisal: the ability to evaluate technological innovations	p. 150
Complexity, Systems Thinking and Practice: skills and techniques for managing complex systems	p. 156
Coping with Complexity: the ability to manage complex sustainability problems	p. 165
Emotional Well-being: the ability to research and reflect on the roots of emotional well-being	p. 171
Finding Meaning without Consuming: the ability to experience meaning, purpose and satisfaction through non-material wealth	p. 178
Being-in-the-World: the ability to think about the self in interconnection and interdependence with the surrounding world	p. 185
Beauty as a Way of Knowing: the redemption of knowing through the experience of beauty	p. 191
Educational Transformation for Sustainability Literacy
Citizen Engagement	p. 199
Re-educating the Person	p. 204
Institutional Transformation	p. 209
A Learning Society	p. 215
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