SUSTAINABILITY LITERACY A CORE COMPETENCY A Progress Report

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SUSTAINABILITY LITERACY A CORE COMPETENCYA
Progress Report

• Prof. Stephen and Maureen Martin
• Open University Centre for Complexity Change

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Policy Drivers

• To maintain a more competitive economywe will
  needto make sustainability literacy a core
  competency for professional graduates.

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Aims and Objectives

• To explore progress in FHE towards making
  sustainability literacy a core competency
• To explore integrated approaches to campus,
  curriculum and community in meeting the
  objective
• To encourage a debate on how we can build on the
  good practice which exists

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Sustainability Literacy Skills, Knowledge
Attributes

• Environmental, social economic context of each
  discipline
• Key principles of sustainable development
• Non-reductionist problem-solving skills
• Creative holistic thinking
• Understand adopt ethical values
• Participate in interdisciplinary teams
• Initiate manage change

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Local Action
ESD ,by definition demands practical, applied,
interdisciplinary, holistic, problem solving
thinking-global thinking but local action. Martin
Haig 2005
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Environmental Impact of English HE Sector

• Consumes 5.2 billion kWh of energy/annum costing
  over 200 million
• Consumes over 16 million cubic meters/annum of
  water
• Spends 3 billion/year on goods and services
• Over 1 million people travelling to work study
  every day
• Produces hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste
  / annum

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Number and Capacity of CHP Schemes in non
industrial use by sector 2005(DTI)
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New College Durham
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Embedding ESD into Teaching Learning in HE
Key Report Findings

• Good practice in Engineering, English, Geography,
  Earth Environmental Sciences
• Limited progress in Biosciences, Leisure, Sport
  Tourism, Philosophy Religious Studies
• Negligible progress in IT, Maths, Statistics,
  Performing Arts, Psychology and Economics

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Courses Curriculum in the Learning and Skills
Sector

• 67 report that they embed some SD concepts or
  approaches into some of their courses
  programmes.
• Using existing SD modules materials
• Developing own SD materials
• SD links with healthy college programme

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Buildings, Estates Procurement in the Learning
and Skills Sector

• 45 are addressing aspects of SD in this area.
• Buildings design operation
• Biodiversity
• Procurement (including Fair Trade)
• Travel plans

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Good Practice Using an Integrated Approach

• Pershore Group of Colleges Project Carrot
• Somerset College of Arts and Technology - Genesis
  Project

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PERSHORE COLLEGE

• The College Sustainable Development Committee has
  a series of task groups that monitor and develop
  work in curriculum, biodiversity, energy use,
  recycling, health, sustainable buildings, water
  management, procurement, local sales of produce
  and community work.
•  

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Water Conservation at Pershore Campus
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Composting Big Time at Pershore
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Somerset College - Genesis Project

• consists of a series of pavilions constructed of
  earth, straw, clay and timber, with living roofs,
  and a water pavilion demonstrating the latest
  water-saving devices
• is used by the local community and regional
  networks as a hub to promote sustainable
  development in its widest sense
• provides a wide range of resources and learning
  opportunities for schools, colleges and
  universities.
• offers access to the general public through open
  days and other events

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Genesis _at_ Somerset College
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Key Messages

• Make SD more tangible in FHE
• Bring it down to earth for a wider audience
• Communicate the SD message inside and out of the
  classroom
• Identify and promote the skills or learning to be
  exemplified through the campus and community
• Encourage all staff to seek ways to integrate
  local SD learning opportunities
• Make integration a key institutional strategy

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Transitional Towns, Universities, Colleges A
Community-wide strategy

• We must increase the emphasis on applied local
  research
• Identify and work with local employers and
  community stakeholders
• Collaborate with transitional towns and cities
  like Totnes, Lampeter Kinsale
• Build on the benchmarking process initiated by
  EAUC and BiTC

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Leadership?
Saint Stuart - The man who is turning MS
green Stuart Rose is the UK's greenest grocer.
His mission to turn Marks Spencer carbon
neutral by 2012. Stuart Rose, chief executive of
Marks Spencer and architect of the store's
renaissance, has gone green. Very green. He
had An Inconvenient Truth moment on holiday last
summer. 'I took the Al Gore book with me and I
read it, because I'd heard a lot about it. And I
thought, "Yeah, this is interesting".