Transformative Pedagogy (Asynchronous Session)
Sustainable Development Goals through the Custom-Made Apparel Manufacturing Small and Micro-Enterprise Owners’ Perspectives on Sustainability View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Mariette Strydom, Lorna Christie, Elizabeth Kempen
With an increasing global population and a culture of overconsumption, the sustainable development goals (SDG) should be at the forefront of all business endeavours, mediating the global environmental footprint. Although seen as a developing economy, the prevalence of overconsumption is rife in Africa and particularly South Africa. To promote the SDG, specifically regarding the clothing and textile industry, which is one of the most polluting industries worldwide, it is postulated that the custom-made apparel manufacturing by small and micro-enterprises (CMSME) should be utilised to minimise the use of resources, while simultaneously increasing the conscientious consumption of the South African population in terms of clothing. It is therefore instrumental to investigate the CMSME owners’ perspective of sustainability as well as their business practices throughout the entire product development process. After data saturation was reached with individual interviews in the qualitative study, findings, however, indicate that the CMSME owners do not recognise sustainability in terms of a pro-environmental approach, if they were indeed aware of sustainability, but rather in terms of designing quality garments through cost-saving initiatives only. These business owners dissuade the use of fast fashion, while promoting high quality garments through minimising the use of resources. By ensuring the long-term survival of their businesses, these owners increase their own and their community’s well-being by addressing several SDG within an emerging economies context. It is however recommended that CMSME’s in South Africa be educated regarding the potential to design, manufacture and promote garments aiding in reducing the global environmental footprint.
Student-led Sustainability Projects in Dentistry: Integration of Environmental Education in a Time of Eco-system Crisis and Drive to Reduce Waste in the National Health System in the UK View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Vitalia Kinakh
The purpose is to explore the case study of partnership between dentistry students and staff at the University of Manchester (UoM) through two student-led sustainability initiatives. These initiatives prepare dental students to become a workforce with the skills to respond to eco-system crisis, to contribute to a more socially-responsible and sustainable dental and oral health system in the UK. Methodology - a single-institution case study evaluating meaningful outcomes of two initiatives (projects), successes and challenges of the projects and summary of reflections of students and practitioners involved in the projects. Findings to date include the longevity and impact of student-led projects; a set of recommendations will be provided to the audience on what embedding Education for Sustainable Development could look like in their courses and to encourage positive change in the dentistry sector.
Assessing Transition-oriented Policy Programs that Seek to Integrate Environment, Economy, and Society: Proposing and Discussing the Framework for Transformative Learning and Action View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Hilde Brouwers, Barbara Regeer, Anne Loeber
Innovative governance approaches addressing sustainability challenges increasingly translate into policy programs that pursue societal transformative change via experimentation and learning. Methodological innovation for assessing and evaluating programs and their impact however lag behind such developments. ‘Transition’-oriented policy programs need assessment methodologies that appreciate their emergent nature, that help identify systemic barriers inhibiting transformation and that offer involved actors feedback to facilitate actionable learning. Contributing to this need, this paper presents the ‘Framework for Transformative Learning and Action’, developed to assess a Dutch learning-based policy program (the Inter-administrative Program on Vibrant Rural Areas) that combined a short duration (two years) with two long-term transition ambitions: stimulating inter-administrative collaboration and developing a (socially, ecologically and economically) “vibrant” countryside. The framework integrates insights from the fields of transition studies, policy studies and reflexive monitoring, and practical insights developed within the evaluated program. The paper critically discusses the two functions of the framework in practice. Firstly, it enables evaluators to assess the relative value of program actions in the light of program ambitions. Secondly, it may serve as a monitoring tool, helping actors to reflect on the relevance of their actions in the context of the ambitions. The paper concludes that the framework is useful in explicating barriers to system change and in identifying valuable actions related to the ambitions. However, it potentially runs the risk of highlighting systemic barriers that actors cannot cope with in their daily professional practice, and, thus, of inciting a sense of paralysis among the users of this framework.
Educating Children about Climate Change: It's Time for a Rethink View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Laura McGuire, Geoffrey Beattie
This paper evaluates different approaches to educating the future generation about climate change, aiming to identify which educational initiatives produce the most significant behaviour change in children. There are numerous educational initiatives aimed at teaching children about both climate change and sustainability, however, the effectiveness of such initiatives are assessed primarily through self-reported attitudes of children, self-reported behaviour and, of course, assessment of knowledge. However, self-reported attitudes and behaviour do not necessarily correlate with actual behaviour in this area. Indeed, previous research has demonstrated that self-reported attitudes only correlate with self-reported behaviour and not actual behaviour (at least for adults). Within psychology, however, there are other measures that may be better predictors of behaviour – namely implicit attitudes - attitudes that are not necessarily consciously held and develop slowly over time. They may be more closely associated with everyday habitual (non-conscious) behaviours, highly relevant to climate change - consumer habits, transportation and home energy use. Implicit attitudes seem harder to change than explicit attitudes, but in the area of sustainability, it has been recently shown by the present author that they can be changed with suitable emotionally-charged stimuli. However, to date, there is no research considering the impact of education initiatives on such implicit attitudes in children. This is the focus of the present research programme which considers the efficacy of conventional educational programmes and arts-based programmes on both implicit/explicit attitudes and behaviour. This research will have significant implications for the design of future climate change educational initiatives in schools.
What a Waste!: A Living Lab Experience at the Faculty of Commerce and Administration at the Autonomous University of Tamaulipas View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Yolanda Mendoza
Nowadays, sustainability is an issue of great importance for higher education institutions. Every day institutions' participation in sustainability-related rankings and evaluation systems is increasing. This can be appreciated in UI GreenMetrics ranking, AASHE STARS Reporting, Times Higher Education Rank, ISCN, and SDNS Networks. Waste management is an essential sustainability element within a University campus. In this context, higher education institutions, particularly business schools, have an essential role in contributing to the formation and engagement of those who may become the citizens responsible for critical decisions for sustainable development in the near future as general business managers. Students from the Autonomous University of Tamaulipas are learning through entrepreneurship workshops about sustainable business. This work aims to explore the existing possibilities of reducing waste from a living lab experience. Students of the Natural Resources Economics course, in conjunction with the Entrepreneurs program, analyzed and classified the school generated waste to formulate proposals of reducing, reusing, or recycling. There was 22kg of solid urban waste produced at the Faculty of Commerce and Administration at the Autonomous University of Tamaulipas during an average class day. As a result, it was evident that there is a great potential for reducing solid waste at school, with the possible reduction of 75% of the generated waste. The entrepreneur program generated several projects to use some of the material in the same buildings.
