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Sustainability in Higher Education Challenges and Opportunities

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Sustainability in Higher Education Challenges and Opportunities SUSTAINABILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS Canterbury Christ Church University, July 2016 Sustainability in Higher Education: Challenges & Opportunities CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS © Copyright 2016 by the respective authors. All rights reserved. Produced by Canterbury Christ Church University December 2016. CONTENTS Foreword .....................................................................................................................................................06 The CATALYST conference series .................................................................................................................07 Heritage, Hops & Harmony Pre-conference social ..................................................................................................................................08 Opening Address: Heritage and Sustainability ...........................................................................................09 Conference Programme ..............................................................................................................................12 Strategic Intent in a Bottle ..........................................................................................................................14 1 The big ideas: exploring philosophical and conceptual understandings ................................................19 2 Strategic approaches to sustainability .....................................................................................................26 3 Advocacy, activism and transformation ..................................................................................................32 4 ESD in practice .........................................................................................................................................39 Interactive workshops .................................................................................................................................45 ESD Showcases ...........................................................................................................................................54 Conclusions .................................................................................................................................................64 Appendices ..................................................................................................................................................66 04 APPENDICES 1. Ideology, and the language of Sustainability ......................................................................................66 2. The Big Picture: Why higher education must engage critically with the global as well as local politics of the environment ...............................................................71 3. Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals: A baseline study of the contribution of UWE, Bristol ...........................................................................................80 4. Education for Sustainable Development: Exploring Tensions, Paradoxes and Denial ........................83 5. Rethinking aims: The responsible university .......................................................................................86 6. Do ‘Subject Silos’ mean that Sustainability will always be a Cinderella subject in Higher Education and education in general? ..................................................89 7. ESD, forward planning and food security: some radical ideas ............................................................96 8. Whole Earth? Meeting the University Challenges ...............................................................................103 9. Business and Sustainability: A shared experience ................................................................................106 10. Student Capital: The role of students in city transformation ..............................................................111 11. Mind the Gaps: Delivering and Receiving Sustainability Education ...................................................114 12. Education for Sustainable Development in the formal and informal curriculum: A Case Study ........118 13. Environmental Stewardship as Past, Present and Future Thinking: A decade of biodiversity on campus ...................................................................................................122 14. Re enchanting Space Through Language – The Kingsmead field Story ..............................................125 15. I would have been/ could be amazing: a social justice oriented visual art rejoinder to Whole Earth? ..............................................................................................................131 16. The Critical Global Educator: Global Citizenship Education as Sustainable Development .................136 Sustainability in Higher Education: Challenges & Opportunities 05 Foreword It was a great privilege for Canterbury Christ Church University to hold the second Sustainability in Higher Education Conference. The conference was a great success in terms of the quality and content of the presentations and the ideas exchanged. The opening, in the grounds of St Augustine’s Abbey, provided an inspirational start which infused the atmosphere and spirit of the conference. These proceedings describe the rich and wide ranging nature of the presentations. The presentations and workshops required the active engagement of participants who needed little encouragement. It was hoped that the conference would lead people to feel empowered and invigorated to turn the ideas and suggested projects into action in their own institutions. These conference proceedings have been produced to record the content and to further inspire the participants and other readers to ensuring that Higher Education Institutions are leading the way in sustainability. Tony Lavender Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Knowledge Exchange) 06 The CATALYST conference series Advancing Higher Education for Sustainability Conceived by Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) in conjunction with University of Plymouth, this conference marks the second of the CATALYST Conference Series focusing on Sustainability in Higher Education (SHE). The Global Action Programme for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) following on from the UN Decade of ESD continues to highlight the key role education, and in particular Higher Education, has to play. The ambition of this conference series is to provide a common learning space. This aims to be ‘catalytic’ in spirit; offering creative, deliberative and dialogic opportunities to participants. The conference will provide a range of interactive spaces making use of creative arts and presentation formats including paper presentation, interactive workshops and informal showcases. It also aims to be fully inclusive both within HE (bringing together academic and professional services staff and students) and to partners beyond the sector to bring fresh and challenging perspectives. The hope is that it will provide an energising catalyst for all participants and help to facilitate future collaborations in the spirit of partnership working. Sustainability in Higher Education: Challenges & Opportunities 07 Heritage, Hops & Harmony Pre-conference social On 7th July 2016 Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) hosted the second in the CATALYST conference series developed in collaboration with Plymouth University to explore Sustainability in Higher Education. Attracting 120 delegates from across CCCU and within the HE sector more generally, the conference provided an opportunity to showcase CCCU and its distinctive approach to embedding sustainability across the campus environment, the curriculum, research and knowledge exchange activity and staff and student experience. The conference was preceded by an evening event ‘Heritage, Hops and Harmony’ held at St Augustine’s Abbey which gave delegates an opportunity to meet informally and as one person said, “to contemplate, to laugh, to challenge, to rejoice, to be inspired.” Music from Frances Knight and Stephen Bridgland and a performance from the ‘Old Lone Gin Band’ created a relaxed atmosphere - also helped no doubt by the availability of the University’s Green Chapel Ale! Jeremy Law’s opening speech made the connection between the sites’ heritage, higher education and sustainability and provided an inspiring start. 08 Opening Address: Heritage and Sustainability Jeremy Law (Dean of Chapel, Canterbury Christ Church University) The opening address was delivered in the ruins of St Augustine’s Abbey which date back to the sixth century. Jeremy Law used the site and its historic connotations to draw parallels between monastic traditions which respected the environment and the modern need to live sustainability within planetary limits. This set the scene for the conference and established reference points and gave it a unique ‘Canterbury’ perspective. HERITAGE The place where we now stand – in the remains of the Crypt Chapel of the great mediaeval Abbey church - is the reason not just for the University’s sense of place, but also for Canterbury’s self-identity, and has contributed to what it means to be English. In 596, the Bishop of Rome, Gregory the Great, launched an ecclesiastical experiment. He chose Augustine, Abbot of St Andrew’s Monastery in Rome, and sent him with a small band of others to the ‘end of the world’: to place of harsh climate and a different tongue; in other words, to here! In 596, following the collapse of the
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