World Wise: Can universities be models for ethical and sustainable communities?

1. World Wise:Can universities be models for ethical and sustainable communities? Dr Rolf Jucker University of Wales Swansea r.jucker@swansea.ac.uk

2. A few awkward questions • How come success in politics, the workplace and at home is still bound up with wealth, social status and material luxury, all hallmarks of an unsustainable society? • Why is overexploitation of the Earth and overconsumption accelerating, despite 30 years of EE and a string of international declarations for EE/ESD? • Why are universities the world over still churning out future leaders utterly ignorant of how to live within the limits of our life-support system Earth?

3. Sustainability? Source: Procter&Gamble http://www.scienceinthebox.com/en_UK/sustainability/sustainabledevelopment_en.html

4. Sustainability! Source: Jucker, 2002, 33.

5. Earth (Economy | Empowerment | Equity | Equipment) Earth: Interest, not capital! Source: Wackernagel/Rees, 1996, 34.

6. Earth (Economy | Empowerment | Equity | Equipment) Sustainable economy? • within carrying capacity • reuse/recycle economy • one organism’s waste is another’s sustenance (Brown/Mitchell, 1996, 169-170) ↨ • fossil-fuel dependency • overfished stocks • deforestation • water scarcity • degraded soil

7. Earth (Economy | Empowerment | Equity | Equipment) Economy: does GDP make us happy? Source: Cobb, Clifford and Jason Venetoulis (2004), The Genuine Progress Indicator 1950-2002 (2004 Update)

8. Earth (Economy | Empowerment | Equity | Equipment) Empowerment: Are you in control? • self-determination • self-sufficiency • horizontal and equitable distribution of power ↨ Disempowerment: • WB, IMF, WTO, TNCs, US • money-driven party politics • technological dependency • ‘monoculture of the mind’ (Vandana Shiva)

9. Earth (Economy | Empowerment | Equity | Equipment) Equity: Is this justice? • A fair global Earth share: 1.8 hectares per person ↨ • 20% of world population occupy 70% of global footprint and use 80% of all resources • an average US citizen uses 9.6 hectares, 5.3 times their fair share • ‘The world’s richest 1% of people receive as much income as the poorest 57%’ (UNDP)

10. Earth (Economy | Empowerment | Equity | Equipment) Equipment: for whose benefit?

11. Let’s face … The mess we’re in • overdevelopment of the rich countries • overconsumption of the world’s middle classes • exploitation of people and planet Both the crisis of justice and the crisis of nature necessitate looking for forms of prosperity that would not require permanent growth, for the problem of poverty lies not in poverty but in wealth. And equally, the problem of nature lies not in nature but in overdevelopment. (Sachs, 1999, 89)

12. How do we get out of here? If we don’t do it, nobody else will do it for us. So what about you? If we are serious about sustainable change, we have to accept responsibility for it: • at home in our families • in our jobs and workplaces • in public as citizens • in the shops as consumers

13. Sustainability values and principles • Planning for the future / stewardship • Acceptance of limits • Slow is beautiful • Small is beautiful • The precautionary principle • Gandhi’s Principle = Humility and simplicity ‘To solve the problems of an unjust and unfair world order we need to “live simply so that others may simply live”.’ (Kumar, quoting Elizabeth Seton, 2000, 3)

14. Train the trainers first! • the educators, not the students, are the problem • change them, i.e. us, first, and now! • link training to the above principles and values, i.e. provide: • eco-justice training • sustainable lifestyle training • sustainable knowledge systems training.

15. Face up to the consequences! Source: Factor Four, 1997, 162+.

16. Live within your fair Earth share! Source: Wackernagel/Rees, 1996, 101.

17. Sustainability literacy Source: http://www.verdant.net/food.htm

18. Humility and Simplicity