Three students attended some sessions of the May 20-22, 2010, Understanding Sustainability conference held at Portland State University (PSU). For some extra credit, these students then reported on what they learned.
Posted in Events, SHP Spring 2010, What is Sustainability? | Tagged portland oregon | Leave a Comment »
This week’s Reading Response assignment asked students to find 1-3 primary sources (government reports, news articles, website blurbs, etc.) and 1-2 related peer-reviewed secondary sources, and compare-and-contrast these sources. I designed this assignment to help students prepare for writing their essay.
This post complements student research highlighted in this post.
More details below the fold!
Posted in SHP Summer 2010, Student work, Uncovering & Evaluating Sources | Leave a Comment »
Jack Hart wrote a thought-provoking piece in today’s Oregonian outlining what he identifies as our culture’s misguided commitment to the “fallacy of growth.”[1] Hart finds that, in the short term, “growth supports families, relieves social pressures . . . pays for amenities . . . [and] offers opportunities for entrepreneurs . . .” However, he asserts that growth has long-term negative consequences that outweigh the short-term benefits: “growth is also an addiction. And, like most addictions, it threatens to destroy us.”
Hart doesn’t see “sustainable growth” as a viable option, either:
- Hardly anyone, it appears, stops to think that ‘sustainable growth’ is an oxymoron. Combine constant economic growth with a constantly growing human population, place them on a finite world with finite resources, and you have a recipe for unsustainability.
Providing alternatives to the “fallacy of growth” are “a small but growing contingent of “steady-state” economists and activists is arguing that humanity needs to find a better way.” These include:
- ** E. F. Schumacher‘s Small Is Beautiful (1973) which “made the case for reasonable consumption combined with fulfilling work and community life.”
** Kenneth Boulding‘s “Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth” (1966) that “argued for truly sustainable consumption.”
** Herman Daly‘s idea of “steady-state economics.”
** New Economics Foundation (UK) “Happy Planet Index.”
** New Economics Institute (MA).
** Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (VA).
** De-Growth Vancouver (BC).
—-
[1] Jack Hart, “The fallacy of growth in a finite world,”Oregonian, Aug. 1, 2010.
–
Posted in Economics, Equity, Uncovering & Evaluating Sources, What is Sustainability? | 1 Comment »
We had a recent assignment this quarter that echoed an assignment from the spring quarter (here) in which students uncovered two peer-reviewed sources to help them formulate interview questions and/or to provide materials for their essay assignment.
Highlights of this work below the fold.
Posted in SHP Summer 2010, Student work, Uncovering & Evaluating Sources | 1 Comment »
A former student alerted me to the ongoing 2010 Aspen Environment Forum, July 25-28. The forum this year is in conjunction with National Geographic and is themed “Bridges to Sustainability: People, Planet, Possibility.” The forum will “present discussions on sustainability as the global human population continues to rise” and explore the “shifts in thinking and imagination that will be required to rise to the awesome challenge, from ways of reorganizing urban ecosystems, to preserving biodiversity and providing a stable climate, clean air, clean water and food for a growing global population.” Participants include “energy experts, government and business leaders, writers and photographers, and other knowledgeable and committed voices in the field,” who will discuss “innovation and technology, urban ecosystems, biodiversity, population, conservation.”
Here is the forum’s twitter feed, and here is the forum’s Facebook.
I look forward to making use of the resources available through the forum’s website in the coming weeks and months, and welcome any relevant comments below related to this event and its repercussions.
Posted in Events, Organizations, Uncovering & Evaluating Sources, What is Sustainability? | Leave a Comment »
One assignment for the Spring 2010 quarter asked students to read two peer-reviewed sources of their own choosing that related to their essay topic and/or interviewee.
Below the fold is selection of student observations based on their research, followed by a list of their sources and, finally, the details of the assignment itself.
Posted in SHP Spring 2010, Student work, Uncovering & Evaluating Sources | 1 Comment »
In my recent Internet meanderings I happened upon an intriguing and rather complex timeline of key people, events, movements, and ideas related to “Sustainability” that will likely be of interest to our readers.[1] Authors Amir Djalali and Piet Vollaard call their project “a subjective attempt to historically map the different ideas around the problem of the relationship between humans and their environment.” Their timeline was published in 2008 in the journal Volume, produced by Archis, “an experimental think tank devoted to the process of real-time spatial and cultural reflexivity and action.”
Posted in History of Sustainability, Uncovering & Evaluating Sources, What is Sustainability? | Tagged sustainability history | Leave a Comment »
I recently received an email from a student in Portland State University’s MBA+ program and the Center for Global Leadership in Sustainability. This student was looking for information to help chronicle the history of sustainability in the northwest. I began writing an email reply and then realized that it would be more informative to the broader community if I posted my response here on the SHP website and then invited this student (and anyone else) to respond.
Posted in History of Sustainability, Uncovering & Evaluating Sources, What is Sustainability? | Tagged pacific northwest, sustainability history | 2 Comments »
Once again, student responses to our readings this quarter have provided many fruitful avenues for thought and discussion, and I wanted to bring some of these topics to the attention of the broader community.
This post complements last quarter’s discussion of student responses to the same readings, Discussion of oral history methods & philosophy.
Posted in Oral History, SHP Summer 2010, Student work | Leave a Comment »
This post will serve as the medium through which students in the Summer 2010 quarter can provide updates on the group work and research that they’re doing to prepare for their interview and/or to write their essay. Updates can include:
- ** Identifying noteworthy research findings, such as new concepts, facts, stories, projects, etc.
** Bringing to light useful research methods or sources
** Expressing preliminary comparisons and contrasts between different sources
** Seeking guidance to help make sense of a source or help find relevant connections between sources
** Asking for help to resolve research dead-ends
This comment thread will, ideally, also provide students the opportunity to process some of their research findings in writing. I’ve consistently found it beneficial to jot down thoughts spurred by new information I’ve uncovered. Expressing in writing comparisons, contrasts, and other relevant points often helps me work-through my ideas on the topic which, in turn, helps me compose more appropriate interview questions and more coherent essays.
–
Posted in SHP Summer 2010, Student work, Uncovering & Evaluating Sources | 8 Comments »
Pages
Categories
- About the SHP (4)
- Architecture & Engineering (1)
- Community Service (1)
- Critiques of Sustainability (8)
- Economics (8)
- Enigmas of Sustainability (2)
- Environment (7)
- Equity (12)
- Events (12)
- Food & Agriculture (4)
- Greenwashing (3)
- History of Sustainability (9)
- Implementing Sustainability (13)
- Media (10)
- Oral History (4)
- Organizations (11)
- Quantifying Sustainability (14)
- SHP Fall 2010 (9)
- SHP Spring 2010 (8)
- SHP Spring 2011 (11)
- SHP Summer 2010 (9)
- SHP Summer 2011 (7)
- SHP Winter 2011 (5)
- Student work (41)
- Uncovering & Evaluating Sources (36)
- Urban Infrastructure (9)
- What is Sustainability? (49)
Archives
Links of Interest . . .
Meta
Sustainability History Project 