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Sense & Sustainability 2010A EDITION N D REVISEDNEW SENSE & SUSTAINABILITY Educating for a circular economy Ken Webster Head of Learning - Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Craig Johnson Foreword by Jonathon Porritt SENSE & SUSTAINABILITY Educating for a circular economy Ken Webster & Craig Johnson Copyright © 2008 Ken Webster and Craig Johnson. All rights reserved The publisher has made every effort to locate and contact all the holders of copyright to material reproduced in this book. Please email [email protected] with any updates. No part of this book may be reproduced for any means or transmitted, or translated into a machine language unless for the express purposes of classroom materials, whereupon the authors names must be clearly credited on each page unless permission is otherwise granted by the authors in writing. ISBN 978-0-9559831-0-8 Typeset by i-site2020 Cover design and book layout by Deborah Oakes Front cover image One Day a Big Wind Will Blow by David Shrigley Book illustrations by Richard Crookes Second edition published by TerraPreta 2010 in association with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and InterfaceFLOR. Contact [email protected] First published by TerraPreta 2008 in association with Yorkshire Forward and InterfaceFLOR. Contact [email protected] ‘TerraPreta’ is the name for the rare black earths of the Amazonas region in Brasil. It is a soil enriched thousands of years ago by the then tribal peoples. It is fertile still. Scientists hope to recreate it for the modern world, remake tropical agriculture and sequester carbon at the same time. It represents a hopeful source of new relationships between humans and ecosystem. TerraPreta publishing hopes to use the analogy of a fertile source of great potential in its publishing activities directed towards systems thinking, education and sustainability. TerraPreta Eco-policy This book’s footprint has been reduced by using print on demand and e-book formats, as well as diverting support materials to the website to reduce book length. Used books can be recirculated via Ebay or Amazon or via the publisher who will donate books to low income students and educators. Our emphasis is on shifting to digital formats (redesign) reduction (zero stock) and reuse. Using a major print on demand channel means that at present recycled paper stock cannot be specified. To Peter Martin: for his integrity, insight and a commitment to innovation that enabled this book and much more besides CONTENTS Foreword 9 Introduction 12 Chapter 1 A Message from the Ants 19 Why ESD/EfS programmes based on a ‘do with less’ approach are inadequate and often marginalised. Why we need something more satisfying and realistic. Changing perspectives described: from a ‘cradle to grave’ to a ‘cradle to cradle’ economy illustrated by A Message from the Ants, an extended storyboard for the accompanying powerpoint presentation based on the work of William McDonough and Michael Braungart. The role of frameworks for thinking discussed, why ‘worldviews’ matter and how they can help in EfS/ESD. Chapter 2 Moving on – Recycling AND... 33 How did we get here? The strength of the mechanistic and linear ‘take-make- dispose’ worldview – a legacy of industrialisation. The sustainability choices: matching economy with ecology. Five routes out but many are controversial. Consequences of existing ESD/EfS thinking and its limitations. Missing the big picture – the Prisoners’ Dilemma, Jevons’ Paradox, the Emptiness of Affluence and how more choice can turn out worse. Less bad is not good-more on the ‘cradle to cradle’ design philosophy, business and sustainability. Chapter 3 The Twin Pincers 52 How the world is changing – the end of the era of cheap energy and the impacts of climate change. How the linear worldview has influenced how we see change. Why we need to understand ‘tipping points’ and the role of feedback loops: change can be sudden. The story of the lily pond. The disconnected citizen, or the limits of just telling the facts. Sustainability in a ‘what about me?’ Society. How we can’t shop our way to sustainability. The rebirth of community: transition towns Chapter 4 Innovative business in a sustainable low carbon future 73 Why business is leading. Clean tech and the green collar economy on the move. A question of design. Examples of cities, products, processes: Masdar, InterfaceFLOR working with a closed loop, Nature inspired model. Principles of a sustainable economy explored. Service not goods, radical resource efficiency, biomimicry, restoring natural capital. Shouldn’t education be a part of this? Exciting ideas and prospects from business but a ‘greenwash’ raincheck. Chapter 5 Learning and Transition 97 Pressure for change from grassroots and changing understanding of science, systems, teaching and learning added to innovative business. How a ‘systems thinking’ worldview is becoming ‘resonant’ and how it can promote the effective work of schools and colleges facing transition to a low carbon economy. Campus, curriculum and community prompts and discussion. Sustainable Schools. school gardens, living machines, green buildings to zero input farming and vertical farms– examples. Why it’s big picture not bolt-on. Chapter 6 The future – towards the Sustainable school or college 118 A low carbon economy and a systems perspective will not leave schools and colleges unchanged as institutions. Stages towards a sustainable school. Individualised learning and community learning networks. ‘Closing the loop’ in nature, business and learning. An ecorestorative school? Discussion of the responsibilities of educators towards learners. Sustainable development is not a destination but a journey, and how frameworks for thinking help us on our way. Why we must be building cathedrals not just cutting stones. Chapter 7 Worldviews Matter – Sense and Sustainability 134 An illustrated and concise summary of the main arguments. A low carbon economy based on the closed loop economy will draw its insights from Nature and systems thinking. Describes a coming together of several forces for change which will mean a change in perspective, or worldview, from which education for sustainability can draw a lot of strength and direction, as well as participate wholeheartedly. Six pointers to what to change in the here and now. Acknowledgements 145 Chapter notes and references 146 “...This book sets a major challenge to educators and educational establishments by not only introducing the principles of sustainability to students but also seeking to change the way schools and colleges approach education and view themselves in the context of the local community and society in general. Those that think they are well on the way to achieving this by recycling waste and turning the heating down by half a degree are in for a jolt. Recycling is just a single part of the first stage of a four stage process that results in a school where, amongst other things , the boundary with the community becomes indis tinct, the campus is ‘eco-restorative’ and the curriculum is focussed on learning for change in society. The authors accept that this aspiration will not be easily understood by all and a fundamental shift in attitude is required to achieve it. For this reason the book is aimed as much at educating the educators as it is at providing exercises to help with student development. Indeed the first four chapters are used for putting forward the case for a cradle to cradle approach, or ‘circular economy’, rather than the currently ingrained paradigm of ‘take-make-dump’. One of the key messages is that the journey is not about tightening belts or attaching blame, readers are encouraged to ‘let go of the guilt’, and this results in a positive tone that is not preaching.” Barry Sheerman MP , Chair of the House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Select Committee. May 2009 “...Sense and Sustainability is based around systems thinking. It applies this to all its work as a reflection of changes in science, which identify non- linear systems as the norm and the older machine like linear models as special cases or of limited value. Systems approaches based on feedback are the key to understanding participatory learning, to understanding design processes, to understanding how change happens; to the circular or closed loop economy, to understanding ecology, living systems and other feedback led processes such as climate and indeed democracy. Throughout, the authors, Ken Webster and Craig Johnson, use and celebrate lessons from Nature. Environmental education and ecology are at the very heart of education for sustainability in as far as they illustrate the way living systems work. These are a model for sustainable economies and a guide to the successful redesign of product and services and the functioning of successful human communities. This book clearly shows how there is no conflict between EE and ESD in this formulation. This is an ESD publication that understands and explains money and debt and its role in creating unsustainable economies. Using systems analogies Sense and Sustainability is unique in bringing into the ESD mainstream an explanation of the impact of compound interest and debt and why it is central to any education for sustainability. The authors argue that educational institutions can learn from leading businesses such as General Electric, Toyota and InterfaceFLOR, or designers like William McDonough who are taking their cues from how living systems work. The ‘closed loop’ or circular economy is exciting product designers , industrialists, architects, community enterprises and municipal or regional governments. The book is consistent with, often draws from and illuminates the aims and aspirations of businesses who adopt these ‘living systems’ models. This is a hugely positive book. We believe that it helps separate the worthwhile from the spurious. It will give schools and colleges a coherent and aspirational picture as we seek to shift to a low carbon, green economy. It’s about making sense of sustainability after all!” Chief of the Section for DESD Coordination Division for the Coordination of UN Priorities in Education UNESCO Foreword by Jonathon Porritt I used to be a teacher.
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