Monday, April 16, 2012

education for sustainability at Otago Polytechnic



all this interlocking view of life, both biological, spiritual, manufactured and economic, including issues of equity and ethical practice, is what our institution is trying to implement. It should be threaded through any qualification offered by us. At CAPABLENZ it should be threaded throughna ny qualification we award, so I need to come to grips with what it means.
To this end I'm looking at three major resources- the Education for Sustainability Blog that can be found in the links on the lefthand side of Insite- has some interesting contributions from school champions. I found the Vet Nursing discussion on uniforms (made in China) and Jenny Rudd's Mental Health Support threading of great interest. Also I have borrowed two books by Sam Mann- "Sustainable Lens" is to be recomended- it has a vast array of diagrams that attempt to depict sustainability in many forms, faced by a one page commentary by SWam who with his usual insight is always pushing me just a little beyond my comfort zone. His second publication "The Green Graduate" is an account of the process introducing Sustainable Ppractice into Otago Polytechnic qualifications- and again causes me to take time out to consider. (you could always listen to Sam's radio programme on Thursday nights as well).

Sustainability, that began for me on an environemntal level is becoming moral and ethical. A matter of values, equity, fairness and stewardship -kaitiaki- over both material and biological resources.

2 comments:

trixie said...

I agree with your thoughts on how sustainability also involves equity, fairness and stewardship over both biological and material resources. The more I read on this topic the more I relise how big and encompassing the cocepts within it are. We live in a capitalist system which I think flies in the face of many of the concepts/ values to live well sustainably. Are western governments going to be able to make the difficult decisions needed so that we do start to live more sustainabily?

jean gordon said...

Well put Willie. A simplistic view of sustainability for many is a matter of environmental considerations. But as you have pointed out it is so much more. Sustainability concerns itself with “moral and ethical values, equity, fairness and stewardship. Kaitiaki over both material and biological resources.”