Understanding Environmental Heterodoxy via EcoTypes

Abstract

We present in-progress results and future directions of a cross-national collaboration involving EcoTypes, an online survey and set of resources our undergraduate students use to explore ideas and frameworks by which they approach environmental issues. Launched in 2017, the EcoTypes survey has now been completed roughly 7000 times, and we are broadening our network via a collaborative online international learning (COIL) resource. The EcoTypes survey offers an empirically-based comparison of environmental frameworks, with five major resultant EcoTypes summarized by names such as Small is Beautiful, Science for Humanity, and Indigenous Justice. More fundamentally, it offers a starting point for students to explore this heterodoxy of environmental frameworks in the context of three statistically-derived themes—Place, Knowledge, and Action—for which geographic differences are expected to be significant. We plan for the EcoTypes COIL to offer training and support to instructors, and learning activities for students to advance conceptual rigor, appreciate ideological heterodoxy, and build skills in communicating across these differences. We also plan to translate the EcoTypes COIL to assist non-English speaking students. Presentation titles include: (Jim Proctor) “EcoTypes: Exploring Environmental Frameworks”; (Naciba Chassagnon) “Small is Beautiful: From E.F. Schumacher to ESSCA”; (Aideen Foley) “Using EcoTypes to Approach Knowledge Decolonization”; (Sailaja Nandigama) “Controversies Around Environmental Action among Undergraduates in BITS Pilani.” We invite session attendees to ask questions concerning both the larger scholarly dimensions of EcoTypes and its applications to teaching and learning, and we invite attendees to consider joining our collaborative group in future.

Presenters

Jim Proctor
Professor and Director, Environmental Studies Program, Lewis & Clark College, Oregon, United States

Sailaja Nandigama
Associate Professor, Humanities and Social Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Rajasthan, India

Naciba Chassagnon
Professor, Research Director , Economics, Law, and Society , Essca school of management , France

Aideen Foley
Senior Lecturer, Geography, Birkbeck, University of London, United Kingdom

Details

Presentation Type

Colloquium

Theme

Environmental Studies

KEYWORDS

Environmental Frameworks, Heterodoxy, Education, Place, Knowledge, Action

Digital Media

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Understanding Environmental Heterodoxy Via Eco Types (Embed)

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Environmental Heterodoxy via EcoTypes (pdf)

ISSConferenceJul22-EcoTypesOverview.pdf

Navigating Environmental Heterodoxy (pdf)

ISSConferenceJul22-NavigatingHeterodoxy.pdf

Understanding Environmental Heterodoxy via EcoTypes: Proctor (2020) article (pdf)

Proctor_-_2020_-_EcoTypes_exploring_environmental_ideas__discoveri.pdf