Many species of bees are threatened. An accurate assessment of their distribution, abundance, and phenology drives conservation efforts. Citizen science invites the public to participate in large-scale data collection on bees, assisting professional researchers in making recommendations to remediate anthropogenic causes of species decline. Citizen scientists commonly collect data in public and private gardens and within managed bee populations, but rarely in educational settings. A handful of bee-focused citizen science projects have been administered in the K-12 sector, but such projects are lacking in higher education. With college campuses open during the summer months, correlating with bees’ most active period, college students are ideal citizen scientists. Citizen science research can be built into college curricula, allowing students to participate in co-creating projects and managing them online. College campuses, many of which are certified Bee Campuses, are also well equipped to implement meaningful conservation efforts based on the findings of citizen science student projects.
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This case study invites a collaborative exploration with Exceptional Learners (ELs) in the Transition from School to Work (TSW) program, and Multilingual Learners (MLs) in the IB Spanish language class and the Spanish for Spanish Speakers class at Coconino High School, to create an ADA accessible garden under the leadership of EL students. The partners in this collaboration included Special Education students, Spanish Language students, and the students in a Woods, Career and Technical Education (CTE) class. The Community Engaged Critical Research (CECR) case study worked through inclusion and demonstrated how working across content and ability amplifies voices that may have been silenced in exclusionary models of education. Engaging participant observation, action research, and relational qualitative approaches, this case study moved through a project-based, co-created learning process to inspire student growth in awareness and connection to local ecologies, environment, and sustainability. In addition, building from Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Teaching (CRST), Sustainability Education, and Critical Disabilities Studies (CDS), this case study offers additive perspectives of ELs and MLs in Sustainability Education, that may have been left out. The collaboration across ability and languages encouraged all participants to embody a community focus and local ecology in the process of creating a garden and path of inclusion, together.
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Abstract: This article provides an overview and reflective narrative of a partnership between Grand Valley State University (GVSU) and Ducks Unlimited (DU) to build mutually benefiting relationships with agricultural communities to preserve and restore healthy wetlands through sustainable farming practices. The partnership involved GVSU students engaged in Human-Centered Design (HCD) working with DU managers, policy makers, and researchers to observe various sectors of agricultural communities and authentically communicate with stakeholders. Through the design thinking process of empathy, ideation, and defining concepts and values, students developed educational programs and protypes focusing on communication efforts aimed towards a new generation of farmers who study agricultural sciences and natural resources. The article observes and analyzes a multi-semester case study that demonstrates best practices in sustainability education by developing holistic education plans involving systems thinking to implement and lay the groundwork for sustainable agricultural practices. The first project involved an educational programing designed for the FFA National Convention to serve as the launching point for a positive education experience economy to establish DU as a familiar ally in sustainable agriculture practices. The second project is a restoration proposal for 34 acres of farm fields at GVSU to become a multiuse sustainable agriculture and wetlands experiential learning center. The case study provides evidence that students who engage in learning through doing such as visiting restoration sites with regional biologists to observe eco-services, talking with farmers about their livelihoods, and meet with local government representatives to explore the challenges associated with transition areas between suburbia, farms, and forests can provide mutually benefiting solutions to promote sustainable agriculture and wetland preservation. The application of HCD by students enhanced their awareness of grassroots level needs of local communities, governments, and non-profits to create new sustainability initiatives.
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Abstract: Black women activists are scrutinized and discredited in the press which contributes to the withdrawal of support for their work and the deterioration of their well-being. This is particularly salient for Patrisse Cullors, the most public facing organizer connected to Black Lives Matter (BLM). Although Black women activists understand how sexism and racism contribute to their delegitimization, and though there is burgeoning research on journalism’s role in the demoralization of BLM, research that engages with methods centering Black women’s experiences is lacking. By using Black feminism as the main lens through which to consider Black women activists’ treatment, an analysis of scripted media tropes and news articles revealed four truths: 1) Black women activists are not allowed to thrive; 2) The media harms Black women activists in two ways; 3) False narratives don’t die; and 4) Optics are valued over truth. Some discoveries can be applied to Black women, Black activists who are not women, and activists who are not Black and not women. Further research is needed to assess how other intersections impact Black women activists, and future studies regarding trans, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming activists is necessary to determine media effects on the most targeted in activist communities.
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This paper examines the history and globalization of anti-fat bias and diet culture, highlighting how these ideologies have been perpetuated by both governmental and non-governmental actors, beginning with white European colonizers. Throughout history, fat bodies have been commodified, stigmatized, and pathologized, with the rise of global media and public health campaigns further reinforcing these harmful narratives. The paper explores how anti-fat bias has been entrenched within biomedical and mental health fields and examines the far-reaching consequences on individuals and societies. Additionally, it provides actionable steps for mental health professionals, educators, and policymakers to address these injustices through social justice frameworks, counselor self-reflection, and inclusive pedagogical practices. Ultimately, the paper calls for systemic change to confront weight-based discrimination and promote body diversity as an essential component of health and equity.
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Abstract: Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are more than buzzwords. They are concepts that promote sustainable, civic-minded, non-discriminatory environments in academic, professional, and personal lives. DEI work may be accomplished in many ways; one option in academia may be providing professional development workshops targeted to faculty. This article explores how the author (full-time faculty member at a community college) created a collaborative professional development workshop—using community engaged critical research and participatory action research—for community college faculty, staff, and students and based on interactive tasks in first-year composition classes. The article provides context for the urgent need for DEI work, in part, through the disruption of supremacist pedagogy. It also explains and reflects on the in-class activities and workshop outcomes.
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Abstract: By reflecting on a research project involving the evaluation of a Neighborhood Association program in the Pacific Northwest, I develop a taxonomy of ethical research practices and considerations for social science researchers to use in their own critically engaged community research, ranging from institution- to researcher- to community-led practices. This paper makes visible the competing concerns of a diverse community in research processes, and suggests that hybridizing accountability practices can support ethical engagement across power differentials in pursuit of social justice. The taxonomy of practices theorized here is supported by a set of values that act as less-tangible orientations for researcher-led decision making. Practices include formal processes such as organizational and legal policies, critical self-reflection in positionality and active reflexivity, desire-based narrative and design, member checking and collaborative interpretation, and power-mitigating theories including un/ethics and elite theorizing. The values and orientations highlighted include discernment, flexibility, transparency, reciprocity, contextuality and critical iteration.
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This study explores the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), consciousness, and posthumanism through a Community-Engaged Critical Research (CECR) approach. Inspired by Noemie Florant’s TEDx talk on reducing algorithmic bias in AI through youth engagement, researchers Julika von Stackelberg and Florant collaborated to explore the process of a CECR approach in a school-based youth-led context. The research aimed to stimulate rapid consciousness-raising about AI and its implications, particularly among youth. Based on the World Café model for community dialogue and Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) principles, the dialogue engaged seven high school students in discussions about their experiences with AI, the meaning of being human, and the impact of technology on human experiences. Students expressed a cautious and critical stance toward AI and technology and emphasized the need for regulation, ethical considerations, and preservation of uniquely human traits. As a result of the discussions and collective evaluation of the emerging themes, students reported an immediate change in their behavior and interaction with technology and each other as they consciously chose to disconnect from their devices to prioritize human-to-human interactions as a practice. The study highlights the importance of including youth voices in AI discussions, challenging adultism, and promoting democratic knowledge production. The CECR approach proved effective in raising consciousness and fostering community-building in an increasingly posthuman world. This research suggests potential applications in education, particularly in addressing critical sustainability issues. Future directions include expanding the project to connect college and high school students to explore these methods further and to collaboratively develop programs that engage the community to build resilient communities in the face of technological advancement and climate change.
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The globalized intertwinement of modern education systems has resulted in an upsurge in transnational collaborations. Existing literature suggests that transnational inclusion is in jeopardy due to its rapid and haphazard expansion prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. To address this challenge, the aim of this research was to develop essential themes for fostering more inclusive learning spaces between Higher Education Institutions that are partnered transnationally. The researchers performed an Integrative Literature Review that sought to identify existing gaps in how inclusive interactions are currently facilitated in Transnational Education (TNE). The transnational experiences of the researchers in higher education supported an understanding that inclusion can be best enhanced through the responsible use of collaborative, technological, and financial resources. Each of these resources were explored, which led to the creation of the Safety Net for Transnational Inclusion (SNTI). By considering SNTI, institutions involved in TNE relations at the higher education level are better informed on how to cultivate a more inclusive learning experience.
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Engineering education increasingly recognizes the need to incorporate sustainability and community engagement, but significant challenges remain in implementation. This study explores how sustainability-focused research-in-community can be integrated into critical and creative engineering education to build climate resilience and justice. We develop the concept and practice of “community work” to refer to both work building communities (forging and maintaining relationships) and work by these communities (to improve their present conditions and build towards better futures). Community work offers hope rooted in embodied experiences with present, evolving collectivities, contrasting with decontextualized, depoliticized, techno-optimistic visions of engineering solutions. While risks of extraction are always present in neoliberal higher education contexts, our research aims to improve the quality, not just quantity, of university-community relations. Through participant-observation and ethnographic interviews with leaders of a collaboration between local community organizations and faculty at a polytechnic institute, we argue that community work can contribute to a shared sense of “home,” foster social relationships and networks, expand imaginations of sustainability beyond technical fixes, and intervene in power hierarchies in town/gown dynamics. Together these practices create conditions for greater climate resilience and justice.
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Low-income communities and communities of color are at greater risk for natural disasters and face greater barriers to recovery than predominantly middle-class white communities. Environmental justice claims made by these communities frequently take place in a politically charged atmosphere against competing industrial economic demands. The experiential knowledge of those who live in communities at risk is often contested and downplayed against the claims of corporate and/or government experts. Here we use a community-engaged research approach to examine the impact of a community-science partnership that seeks to amplify the voices of a community impacted by repetitive flooding. The community-science partnership consists of environmental advocates, scientific experts, university partners, and community members. We document the ways in which the community-science partnership counteracts policymakers who favor economic development over disaster protection, but also faces county officials who engage in various tactics to maintain strategic ignorance and deflect scientific expertise it finds inconvenient to its economic priorities.
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Higher education institutions (HEIs), educating the leaders of tomorrow and influencing regional trends, have been implementing sustainable practices for decades. Though many of these practices are effective, their functionality can be negated by a variety of institutional barriers. These difficulties vary, including lack of followthrough and maintenance, poor interdepartmental communication, absence of coordination, and fragmentation of information. Often, these problems can be attributed to an unsustainable institutional culture. Like many other universities, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) experiences these sustainability challenges. UWM is exploring ways in which ArcGIS StoryMaps, a place-focused storytelling platform, can begin solving interdepartmental communication problems within sustainability as a community-accessible information centralization and outreach tool.
Continue ReadingThis article explores community engaged critical research (CECR) with youth climate activists and their adult facilitators to examine U.S. policy-making for transformative climate justice. Using post qualitative inquiry and thinking with new materialism, it presents a collaborative approach of building and analyzing assemblages (collections of more-than-human entities) to consider relationality and agency in complex systems. It explores how adults might act for climate justice in solidarity with young people and other entities that have historically been excluded by opening up a youth climate lobby day, thinking beyond current hierarchical approaches to policy-making to foster inclusivity, ethical solidarity, and dynamic intergenerational relationship.
Continue ReadingProtected areas are essential for biodiversity conservation. However, the creation of protected areas often excludes Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC), who are seen as a threat to biodiversity, and therefore their access to natural resources becomes restricted. This approach is known as fortress conservation and it is a colonialist approach towards conservation because IPLCs are excluded from decision making and often from their own lands and banned from using natural resources in the areas to be conserved, while only governments and professionals have agency to decide the future of these lands. Approaches to decolonize conservation that attempt to integrate IPLCs´ worldviews, local ecological knowledge (LEK) and practices may be highly efficient in biodiversity conservation as well as local development. In the Argentine Dry Chaco region, Quimilero Project frames its conservation efforts in this inclusive framework, aiming to conserve cultural and biological diversity and seeing both as interconnected. This project involves multiple approaches, based on the principles of horizontality, IPLCs´ empowerment and the co-creation of knowledge and conservation initiatives based both on scientific and on LEK. In this paper we explain our work approach in the Argentine Chaco from a decolonizing perspective. We describe two of our programs, community-based wildlife and hunting monitoring and environmental education, to demonstrate what a decolonial approach to conservation can look like in practice.
Continue ReadingAbstract: In the context of global ecological degradation, scholars and practitioners have increasingly emphasized the interconnectedness of education and ecology, with particular attention given to the concept of ecological literacy. Over the past decades, numerous definitions, approaches, and conceptual frameworks have emerged for ecological literacy, each associating it with various meanings and methods. This broad scope is a significant characteristic of ecological literacy as it underscores its interdisciplinary nature. However, for stakeholders in the field of ecological literacy as well as related domains such as environmental education and sustainability education, this plurality of meanings has become problematic because it creates confusion and makes the concept difficult to work with. This article assesses the concept of ecological literacy to enhance the general understanding among researchers and practitioners. It is structured into four main sections: definition of the concept, early articulations, frameworks, and empirical research. Finally, the article concludes with a discussion on the implications of these findings for environmental educators.
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Abstract: This article traces the evolution of MoonPads, a social benefit company founded by the author, weaving a narrative that spans personal experiences, academic pursuits, and a commitment to sustainability, social equity, and menstrual justice. The article explores the interconnected journey from childhood influences, through academic endeavors in sustainability education, to the entrepreneurial realm, shedding light on the intersection of gender equity and environmental sustainability. MoonPads emerged as a response to period poverty, seeking to provide accessible and eco-friendly menstrual products while challenging societal stigmas surrounding menstruation.
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Abstract: At Schumacher College, Dartington, UK in 2008 we introduced the Deep Time Walk – a transformative learning experience in which college participants walk 4.6km in the countryside of the Dartington Estate representing the entire 4,600 million years of our planet’s history. The aim of the walk is to increase the ecological awareness of participants by giving them an embodied experience of the immense age of our Earth. At certain points during the walk a facilitator explains key events in earth history, such as the formation of the planet and the first appearance of living cells. Here we assess the effectiveness of the Deep Time Walk offered to eleven distinct groups of walkers during 2022 -2023. Participants on each of the eleven Deep Time Walks were asked to respond to a simple questionnaire asking them to quantify how much of seven qualities they felt immediately before and immediately after their walk (these were: Awe and Wonder, Sense of Earth’s Ancientness, Connection to Nature, Consequences of the Crisis, Hope, Commitment to Personal Change and Commitment to Political Change) . In total, 153 participants took part in the eleven walks and responded to the questionnaire. Analysis of the data showed a highly statistically significant increase across all seven qualities (p<0.00001 for each quality), suggesting that the Deep Time Walk is an effective means for developing and enhancing ecological awareness and commitment to action in these times of severe global crisis. Qualitative data were not collected during this phase of the study due to time limitations during walks. We recognise the importance of this kind of data and are devising ways of gathering it for both past and future walks.
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Abstract: One way to disrupt traditional Eurocentric teaching practices is through modifying curriculum in classes. Particularly, in an English Composition 101 course, an ongoing assignment called the Poetry Journal may assist students in thinking critically and reflexively. The concept was inspired by a high school English teacher, Brett Vogelsinger (2016), called “4 Reasons to Start Class with a Poem Each Day.” His four reasons: 1. Poems are short; 2. Poems are intense; 3. Poems connect (to other readings); 4. Poems inspire (writing). When building the assignment for a community college class, an instructor may make intentional (disruptive) choices for the poems. This article explores the project, which is grounded in culturally sustaining (Paris, 2021) and disruptive pedagogies (San Pedro, 2018)—both of which encourage the rethinking and dismantling of traditional Eurocentric-based instruction—and how the author (full-time faculty at a community college) applied said pedagogies to a specific in-class student activity to engage students in critical and reflexive thinking.
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Abstract: The Keepers of the Flame Initiative, now in its fifth year, is a dynamic partnership between cultural fire practitioners, UC Davis faculty, and a diverse study body. This experiential learning initiative at the University of California, Davis centers Indigenous Fire Workshops, focusing on cultural fire. By centering Indigenous science and teaching approaches, this initiative inherently becomes high impact. High Impact Practices (HIPs) are pivotal educational interventions that promote holistic student development and experiential learning. These practices encompass features such as setting appropriately high expectations, experiences with diverse people and circumstances, sustained student engagement over an extended period, meaningful interaction with faculty and peers, public demonstration of learning, real-world relevance of classroom learning, and structured opportunities for reflection. The Keepers of the Flame Initiative incorporates two types of powerful high impact practices: collaborative group projects and community-based learning. These educational practices significantly enrich student learning and particularly benefit historically underserved students as well as broader student populations. I analyze HIP features within the Keepers of the Flame Initiative using survey data gathered in winter 2023, while also delving into the importance of Indigenous-led educational approaches. Indigenous perspectives and educators are crucial in broadening educational approaches, providing a pathway to uphold sovereignty of diverse knowledge systems, and nurturing a sense of responsibility towards land stewardship and environmental justice.
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Abstract: Southern Arkansas University has developed the SOAR Sustainability Conference to spotlight current sustainability-related efforts. SOAR, representing the southern Arkansas region, was added to the conference name to signify the area of emphasis for the event. This spring conference event has been held in April of 2022 and 2023. The 2023 conference included over 50 presenters from academia, private businesses, government agencies, and volunteer organizations. Session topics were aligned with the critical components of sustainability education including anticipatory thinking, empathy, change of perspective, justice, responsibility, and ethics. Surveys were distributed to SOAR conference attendees to gauge their level of attitudes, knowledge, and behavior regarding sustainability issues. Responses were very positive overall, showing gains in attendees’ attitudes, knowledge, and behavior between 2022 and 2023. The behavior category showed the largest annual increase while knowledge gains over the same period were lower. Overall, the SOAR Sustainability Conference has shown success in engaging students and community stakeholders to take part in this effort to address sustainability-related challenges in the area.
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ABSTRACT: In this paper we offer an approach to sustainability-related education that can help students integrate the lessons they are learning in the classrooms to the type of real-world applications they will encounter in the workplace. We believe that by using our campus as a living-learning laboratory and engaging students in hands-on projects within a campus lab that directly contribute to one of their institution’s leading sustainability initiatives, we can unlock the highest levels of educational achievement and student satisfaction. We describe our course as intentionally designed because we have developed it with a specific purpose that goes beyond the stated learning objectives. Our course not only addresses recognized institutional and course-level educational outcomes, but also uses a community engagement approach that also directly supports important aspects of an enterprise-wide Sustainability Strategic Plan. We present relevant literature, highlight the significance of our approach to sustainability education, and describe its impact at our institution and in the community. We then offer detailed descriptions of our course’s activities, discuss lessons-learned and suggest future potential avenues of research and application. We hope this case study may prove to be an exemplar or a catalyst for other institutions of higher education as well as inspire further research aimed at improving sustainability education.
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Abstract: This photo essay illustrates my journey of decluttering my childhood home. I have spent eight-months decluttering so far. Interestingly, I initially planned to declutter quietly and not document my experience. But the more I decluttered, the more I felt there was a story to tell, a cautionary tale of sorts. In this essay, I document my reflections on decluttering and raise questions about Western consumer culture. Logos and brand names have intentionally been edited/removed from photos.
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Abstract: While the majority of today’s youth accept climate change as a factual phenomenon, many educators and their curricula lag behind with a continued emphasis on confronting climate skepticism and denial. This article highlights our experience teaching a course, Climate Change and Sustainability, in which we encountered disruptive objections to our lessons from students who believe climate change is happening and desperately want action. However, the all-or-nothing stance of these students stifled conversation, and their lack of engagement with various topics kept them uninformed. To address these issues, we recommend structuring classroom debate around consensus-building activities to practice solution-oriented communication.
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Abstract: This case study discusses the implementation of a park audit project with undergraduate college students in teacher education and public health programs. With a focus on drawing attention to the importance of urban green spaces in these two professional fields, the design of this project extended course activities into local parks. Students prepared to conduct park audits by engaging with course material focused on the importance of urban green spaces for individual health and children’s development, as well as inequities in access to high quality parks. The capstone of the course project was the audit of parks using the Community Parks Audit Tool (CPAT) in which each student assessed several parks in their local communities and documented their findings. This article discusses the contextual relevance of this project, its value in increasing attention to environmental considerations in the education and public health fields, as well as student responses to the implementation of the project in these specific classes.
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Abstract: The concept of sustainability has been gaining increasing attention worldwide, especially over the last 30 years. To foster sustainable development, education plays a crucial role. Higher education institutions have assumed the leading role in sustainability education and advocating sustainability. However, the literature that evaluates sustainability initiatives at higher education institutions is still fragmented and sparse, with existing studies often focusing on certain aspects of the sustainability initiatives. We designed a questionnaire that covers a broad spectrum of sustainability measures in the operation, curriculum, research, and outreach, which allowed us to investigate the perceived importance of those sustainability initiatives from the perspective of university community members including undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and staff at Texas State University in San Marcos. Our results indicated that the Texas State University campus community believes that the themes of Waste Management, Buildings & Infrastructure, and Water Use & Management were the most important themes. The campus community believed that Transportation and Academics are the least important themes. We also identified a set of action items under each theme the most and least important.
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Abstract: This paper reports part of a larger study on the development of systems thinking skills in German 7th grade comprehensive school students regarding the climate. Research has shown a fragmented understanding of climate change among students that hardly accounts for the dynamic interrelations in the climate system and may pose a barrier in understanding adaptation and mitigation strategies (Shepardson et al., 2017, 2011, Calmbach 2016). While much is known the impact of short-term interventions on the general system understanding of students, what is lacking to date is 1) a specific intervention on climate system understanding and 2) insights into the process of developing system understanding in students. Helpful insights in this context come from Conceptual Development theories for they allow the development of systemic thinking to be viewed in terms of conceptual expansion or conceptual change. Starting from these desiderates, a teaching-learning sequence was developed based on the SYSDENE model of system competence (Frischknecht et al. 2008). In the sequence young learners systematically link experiences from formal science education with the experiences at three non-formal learning environments. A mixed-methods approach was used to explore the impact of this 3-month sequence on 19 7th grade students. A written pre-/post-test suggested a significant improvement in Climate System Reconstruction for the group (pre-test Median = 6.75 vs. post-test Median = 12.5, Wilcoxon Test: p = .003, r = .82). However, a qualitative analysis of classroom conversations, interviews and concept maps indicated that cognitive development toward a higher level of system thinking was neither continuous nor did every student reach it. Moreover, the SYSDENE model’s Competence Area “Describe System Model” proves critical. Being able to describe the main climate system factors is not sufficient, one also needs to be able to distinct weather from climate and grasp several scientific concepts related to the climate (e.g. greenhouse effect, water cycle, evaporation, reflection) in order to understand climate as a system.
Continue ReadingLink to the JSE Winter 2023 General Issue Table of Contents Editor’s Note: This contributed poem connects with the Councils of All Beings article by Karen Hindhede in this issue. In this circle wide in species and sparkling imaginings In this circle of story-sharing about sharing stories The call goes out rippling through Creatures, Places, […]
Continue ReadingAbstract: Actualization of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) conceived by the United Nations in 2015 is a global challenge that may not be feasible in sub-Saharan Africa by the year 2030, except higher education play a committed role. There is need for higher education to embrace partnership and train people on the concepts of sustainability and sustainable development in the region. This paper presents a model center with curricular framework and partnership structure for the training. The Model Center for Sustainability Studies (MCSS) will enable partnerships with institutions in Africa and in advanced nations, thereby creating a global network for sustainability studies not found in sub-Saharan Africa. MCSS will train and certify public servants, government agencies, policymakers, entrepreneurs and personnel from organizations and students on aspects of the SDGs and sustainability science. It is important to add sustainability into environmental education and make environmental education a compulsory course in higher institutions and a secondary school certificate exam subject in sub-Saharan Africa. MCSS has 11 training modules that can be replicated anywhere in the world. Higher institutions in sub-Saharan Africa should follow this training perspective, to achieved SDGs, predicted 2040 against 2030.
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Abstract: Sustainability depends on biological diversity and the investment of individuals and communities in maintaining ecosystems. To engage the public in local biodiversity—specifically birds—we developed a program combining science and the arts. The science involved a group field experience, led by area birders guiding observations and providing information on the birds; the arts produced written reflections and visual representations of the birds and birdwatching. The integration of experiences, as manifested in field notes, artwork, and writing, reinforced understanding of, as well as interest in, birds and their natural habitats. In short, the data confirmed that participants gained a deeper appreciation for the natural world when seeing it in the contexts of both science and creative expression.
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Abstract: Sustainability is a core value of Gen Z and is increasingly a focus of campus strategic plans. Undergraduate survey data can inform campus programming by increasing our understanding of student sustainability behaviors, knowledge, attitudes, and how these relate to student participation in curricular and cocurricular activities. Repeated surveys can track change over time in general and among underserved demographic segments of the student population. Here we evaluate the first in a series of biennial sustainability surveys that will guide planning at a mid-sized midwestern university in the USA. Our survey, modeled after existing surveys, was distributed to undergraduate students at the University of Minnesota Duluth (348 respondents) and collected demographic information including: college affiliation, year in school, gender, race/ethnicity, and campus residence. Our study showed that student knowledge scores were comparable to similar surveys at other institutions (66%) and the average attitude score was very high (88%). However, scores related to sustainability action were strikingly lower, indicating a gap between students’ understanding and acceptance of sustainability concepts and their willingness to engage, which we refer to as value-action gaps. When significant differences were detected between demographic groups, students who self-identified as female were more likely to have a higher sustainability score than students who identified as male and students who lived off campus were more likely to have a higher score than students who lived on campus. Other demographic results were mixed or not significant. We also noted a trend for students to score lower on questions related to business or economic sustainability and, similarly, for business students to score lower on sustainability questions overall than students in other colleges. Based on these baseline results, we provide recommendations to improve sustainability education and address the value-action gaps identified in this survey.
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Abstract: The contribution first outlines the state of research on the relatively new Fridays for Future (FFF) movement and categorises first studies particularly from a German perspective, to provide a basis for a further differentiation in this field of research. In this context, fundamental aspects of the movement are presented. The self-concept of the German Fridays for Future movement in terms of a young protest movement with a global orientation is then compared against the educational tasks stipulated in the school legislation of the federal states (Bundesländer) with their societal-educational objectives. The contribution focuses on the question in how far the self-concept of the German branch of the FFF movement as an international protest movement and the activists’ engagement for climate protection and political participation is reflected in the educational objectives stipulated in school legislation. Statements are analysed regarding climate and environmental protection, participation and democracy and transnational references in the school legislation. A link can be found between the self-concept of the Fridays for Future movement and school legislation, but this does not resolve the conflict between the school strikes and compulsory schooling – a conflict that is intended by FFF to highlight the perceived urgency of the cause. Schools, educational administrators and educational policymakers are thereby urged to take a stance.
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Abstract: This article provides a case study of place-based sustainability education on the use of plastic bags in a wet market in Hong Kong. We organised two field trips and engaged 20 students in conducting both quantitative and qualitative research in the wet market to examine single-use plastic consumption. Our research has found that at least 1 million plastic bag is consumed on a daily basis in all the wet markets in the city of Hong Kong. Qualitatively, we found that some of the vendors may use plastic bags as a sale strategy and to engage with customers in conversations. In contrast to the conventional schooling that promote sustainability or plastic reduction in a very abstract sense, the place-based education we attempted aims to critically rethink the concept and knowledge of sustainability in ways that also empathize with the local tradition, and remain critical of modern corporate branding, and modernization discourse. The paper ends with a discussion on reflecting plastic use in traditional wet markets in contrast with chained supermarket shifting to more plastic pre-packages.
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Abstract: The West Virginia Climate Change Professional Development (WVCCPD) Project was developed in 2019 as an effort to engage West Virginia K-12 teachers and informal educators in climate change professional development to encourage learning and action. Started by astronomy educators who are passionate about climate change, the project has been an experiment that has iteratively grown each year. By bringing in social science experts, communication specialists, community activists, master teachers, and learning how to best support teachers and their students through misconceptions and empowering action, we have engaged over 130 W.Va. educators. WVCCPD represents a promising case study for how educators can come together across disciplines and institutions to build an engaging climate change learning community, even in West Virginia, an area that is known for fossil fuel extraction. We hope this paper informs other teacher education practitioners.
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Abstract: This case-study supports the implementation and social investment in university campus community gardens as an interdisciplinary resource for academic research, extra-curricular activities, and community building. Using a permaculture design model, the St. Lawrence University community permaculture garden in Canton, New York State exists to enhance the diverse academic curriculum and varied community engagement opportunities to provide experiential and interdisciplinary learning opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and remaining stakeholders. This case-study will focus on one of St. Lawrence University’s student-led clubs, its operations, history, and challenges (e.g., participant transience). Our findings suggest that campus permaculture gardens require adequate investment, including financial and academic support. The development of a conceptual seasonal and academic community calendar provides a fundamental framework for operations and governance. The sheer number of opportunities and broad capacity of the club and the presence of physical student space brings meaningful accessibility and community engagement. Over time, the club and garden has remained resilient due to a holistic approach which keeps the bigger picture in mind. Each year the club faces a variety of challenges and obstacles, yet such experiences have provided opportunity for adaptation and evolution. Recommendations can be used to support a replicable model for other educational environments and communities in both urban and rural areas, interested in developing a permaculture garden as a resource that improves social cohesion during a time of ecological fatigue, social unrest, the COVID-19 pandemic, and climate change.
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Abstract: I find it concerning, as a former elementary teacher and now a teacher educator, that not much attention is given to the preparation of new teachers on the environmental and social crisis of climate change. I have taught in two teacher preparation programs at public universities in the United States and understand the complexities, barriers, and limitations that these programs must contend with when trying to implement something new into an existing curriculum. In this paper I will describe my first attempt in navigating through the process of trying to include climate change education into a teacher preparation program. The focus of this initial effort was to understand the climate change literacy and self-efficacy towards teaching about climate change of the students in my elementary science teaching methods course.
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Abstract: Gaining a better understanding of human behavior change is vital to encouraging individuals to adopt an environmentally sustainable lifestyle and to the long-term goal of preserving nature. To explore how life experiences lead to the adoption of environmentally sustainable behaviors, this author turned to autoethnography. Through this reflective method, the author examines their development of environmental identity and their experiences with nature, as they relate to major concepts within the field of conservation psychology, such as ecological literacy, Theory of Planned Behavior, and connection to nature. Leading concepts concerning environmental identity in the conservation psychology literature suggest a very specific pathway for developing environmental identity, and thus pro-environmental behaviors, including experience in nature from a young age, the presence of an environmental mentor, and access to environmental literature. However, the author reveals that there may be other pathways to development of environmental identity, which include virtual environmental mentors (e.g., nature TV show hosts), environmental media (e.g., magazines, documentaries, and internet sources), and other methods of driving emotional connection to nature (e.g., sense of place). Alongside the author, the reader will have the opportunity to consider their environmental experiences and factors influencing their environmental identity, in relation to these major concepts within conservation psychology.
Continue ReadingAbstract: In her narrative, Rioux argues for the significance of teaching place-based ecocomposition to diverse and multilingual writing students in order to emphasize and demonstrate the interconnectivity between all places and spaces that we inhabit despite human-made geographic boundaries. Addressing global issues with writers who represent various places around the globe enables writing students and instructors to hone in on the international nature of climate change while emphasizing the exigence that our natural context requires. Based on primary research, the author examines how teaching place-based ecocomposition to a uniquely diverse student group affects the writing students’ recognition of the interconnectivity of all places despite geographic location. Rioux explores how diverse environmental writing students perceive the effectiveness of a place-based course as it pertains to its objectives of helping students recognize their role within our extended environments, how to become more aware of the interconnectedness that combines and connects all places, and general environmental concerns that mark the Anthropocene. Providing pedagogical insights, Rioux also shares what the students find most effective in regards to course materials, design, and overall pedagogy, as it is imperative for our collective future to understand how to engage and motivate the next generation’s thinkers, writers, and Earth-dwellers.
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Abstract: Finding love and reciprocity in the garden during challenging times by growing community-based learning experiences.
Continue ReadingAbstract: Formal and nonformal educators help develop the environmental literacy (EL) of K-12 students, but do so in very different contexts. This paper describes educators’ views of their roles in developing student environmental literacy and barriers to that work. Educators with more advanced EL mentioned practices such as perspective taking and information evaluation. Many educators highlighted developing a connection – between students and the environment or between curriculum and students’ lives – as key to their work. The barriers identified reflect previous research, with nonformal educators also identifying access to student and peoples’ access to their sites as a major barrier.
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Abstract/Description: What happens when educators and professionals take a long-standing pedagogical activity, The Council of All Beings, and reshape the experience into a picture book? This paper provides a link to the story and relates the storytelling process that occurred with such an adaptation. The paper then explores the benefits of storytelling for young people and considers how co-creating stories can be an antidote to ecophobia while fostering empathy and sparking emotional engagement in the natural world. Finally, the author suggests that co-creating storytelling activities and picture book creations could be used to help children reimagine the world.
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Abstract: This case study follows the eight-year development of an environmental anthropology course, beginning with my own failure as a teacher to provide students an adequate way of thinking and acting amid planetary crisis. It then turns to a diagnosis of three challenges students face when thinking about global ecological futures: (1) an inability to act, (2) an inability to imagine how an individual can make a difference, and (3) an inability to conjure an adequate sense of hope. For each of these challenges, I introduced a conceptual metaphor designed to help us think anew, where a conceptual metaphor is a trope that enables thinking about one conceptual domain in terms of another. The metaphor of wayfaring helped us overcome the conviction that one must become an expert before acting. The metaphor of seed planting helped us reimagine how an individual can contribute to larger-scale change. Finally, I introduce two new conceptual metaphors for thinking about hope amid planetary crisis—weedy invasions and broken jars. By working with these tropes, I propose an alternative way of thinking about hope that does not rely on a sense of optimism. Along the way, I make two broad arguments. First, thinking through novel conceptual metaphors, what I call metaphor work, is a worthwhile technique for approaching planetary crisis with students. Second, an undergraduate seminar is an excellent place to experiment with new ways of thinking about, and living in, the Anthropocene.
Continue ReadingAbstract: Sustainability educators are in a difficult spot. They must describe our unsustainable impacts on the environment and marginalized peoples, our growing understanding of how these impacts affect future generations and other species, and our failures to make the changes necessary to approach sustainability. At the same time they must avoid pushing students over an obscure tipping point where such information causes them to retreat into despair. For despair leads to inaction, which will only hasten the deterioration of planetary health. We propose two approaches to helping students avoid despair and strengthen their motivation for pursuing sustainable changes. One approach appeals to the motivational energy of hope and the other to the power of tranquil resolve described in Stoicism. We understand these approaches to be complementary. The skills of hope work well when we are pursuing long shot goals, while those of tranquil resolve aid when the achievement of our goals is beyond our own control. While the skills of hope are more aligned with our cultural norms and thus likely easier to teach, skills associated with a tranquil resolve can more powerfully (and lastingly) address the climate challenges we face. Pedagogical examples and strategies of these skills in action are offered throughout.
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Abstract: A brief history of climatological science sets the stage for understanding the rise of the greenhouse gas thesis. That science is true as far as it goes, justifying our confidence, but it is an incomplete assessment of climatic systems. We have spent 40 years accepting the “pot lid” as the cause of the pot boiling over. That the “sun-warmed surface” impacts climate has been known for nearly 200 years. But greenhouse science failed to incorporate that and other scientific findings on urbanism, water cycles, and land management practices. To remedy this, I propose a broad climatic paradigm to address the actual cause of warming and provide a far more hopeful future with ample opportunities to resolve over-heating more completely, locally, and in a matter of months, years, or maybe decades, instead of centuries. Lastly, I discuss the significance of paradigm change, a new approach, and an expanded curriculum as challenges to sustainability education.
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Abstract: This case study provides insights into a collaborative effort involving D.C. Virgo Preparatory Academy, a public university-run lab school in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina. The article overviews the combined efforts of DCVPA staff, university faculty, and community partners to engage the students in unique, hands-on learning experiences, particularly in the STEM areas. Students have taken the initiative to serve as change agents and leaders in the work. Several efforts at the school, including a composting program, a recycling effort, a seedling project, and a mycology lab, provide a window into dynamic experiential learning that has brought the university and school together.
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Abstract: To successfully implement the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we must encourage all citizens to work together to enable a good life not only for us now but future generations too. In this article, we present an experiment carried out in autumn 2020 on a smart aeroponic garden. The goal of the experiment was to learn more about aeroponic cultivation and IoT technology and to acquire the know-how that would enable the participants to influence the environmental burden of food production. Our experiment showed that technology could also be used to introduce sustainable development themes to reach those target groups whose attention could not be attracted through other methods.
Continue ReadingAbstract: Many have written about the different ways people participate in authentic scientific research. However, some of the means used to engender public support in research may prove ultimately counterproductive. In this opinion piece we argue that science is not fun much of the time, and more importantly that fun in itself is not an end goal in engaging public audiences. To draw participation, we need to focus on motivation; which can include fun some of the time.
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Abstract: A partnership between a university and local arboretum was expanded to include the campus library as a collaborator. Instead of having sustainability-themed programming between the two institutions focus on just the environmental components of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a library brings attention to literacy and information access across all aspects of the partnership. We share two public programs held between our university and an arboretum with strong involvement by the library in the development and execution stages, thereby increasing the connections across the SDGs and progress towards the 2030 agenda.
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Abstract: Staff members play an important role in guiding students through living lab sustainability projects at Harvard University. Since there are significant opportunities for co-curricular learning in these settings, we created the “We Are All Educators” professional development workshop to empower those staff members to optimize and track student learning throughout these projects. In this case study, we will briefly summarize key principles of CCL and discuss its benefits as a tool for sustainability education in higher education. We will also describe our planning and implementation process for the workshop, the content of our training materials, and the results. Finally, we will end with key takeaways, as our workshop may be applicable to co-curricular learning in a variety of higher education contexts.
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Abstract: This word journey explores flaws in our approach to cultivating environmental ethics and caring for biodiversity, especially among youths, through the lens of Carson McCullers’ classic story about the tragic but common failure of so many to achieve love between human beings.
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Abstract: This study examined how placemaking curricula shaped teacher candidate (candidate) knowledge, dispositions, and skills to understand, appreciate, and sustain local diversity, as evidenced through candidate reflections and products created in an elementary teacher education course integrating civic science concepts and practices into elementary classrooms. This study explored how placemaking curricula engaged community stakeholders in meaningful shared inquiry on real-world challenges, while meeting state science education standards. Placemaking inquiry projects developed by candidates focused on soil and water conservation, and sustaining diversity in schoolyard spaces. Curricula engaged candidates in learning soil and water conservation techniques from local farmers and conservation leaders, then developing and sharing co-authored civic science children’s books on conservation topics aligned to grade-level standards. As further placemaking curricula, candidates partnered with elementary teachers and students to guide schoolyard observations, designs, and models constructed to sustain diverse abilities, cultures, and ecologies. Presentations to parents and peers celebrated shared insights.
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Journal of Sustainability Education is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. 
