Living by design

Earth’s resources are limited and they must be preserved for future generations. To make a syllabus for living sustainably, humanity needs a fresh starting point. The old ‘-ologies’, were for a different age. The new beginning has to be a conceptual framework that makes us see and think differently about integrating culture with ecology in order to bring human consumption in line with Earth’s capacity to regenerate. The scientific pillar is a circular economy that mimics nature by cycling resources. The social pillar is ecological design of a conservation management system that applies arts reasoning to explain sustainability.

Lewis Doty (nfo@ecologycenter.us) puts this imperative succinctly.

“Ecological design is the art that reconnects us as sensuous creatures evolved over millions of years to a beautiful world. That world does not need to be remade but rather revealed. To do that, we do not need research as much as the rediscovery of old and forgotten things. We do not need more economic growth as much as we need to re-learn the ancient lesson of generosity, as trustees for a moment between those who preceded us and those who will follow. Our greatest needs have nothing to do with the possession of things but rather with heart, wisdom, thankfulness, and generosity of spirit. And these virtues are part of larger ecologies that embrace spirit, body, and mind—the beginning of design”

Education Strategies for Small Island States

The starting point for anyone concerned with education in small island states has to be David Atchoarena’s Fundamentals of Educational Planning published by UNESCO in 1993. Here is the Preface, written by Françoise Caillods, ( Co-general editor of the series) and Atchoarena’s Table of Contents. Much is televant to SIDS today.

The booklet is one of a series written primarily for two types of clientele: those engaged in educational planning and administration, in developing as well as developed countries; and others, less specialized, such as senior government officials and policy-makers who seek a more general understanding of educational planning and of how it is related to overall national development. They are intended to be of use either for private study or informal training programmes.

“Small states have been attracting a lot of attention for several years. Numerous publications have been devoted to them in various fields, and in particular that of education. This interest undoubtedly reflects their emergence at the forefront of the international scene, and their undeniable strategic importance - which can be demonstrated if only by counting the number of small states that have been created over the last twenty years in the Caribbean, the South Pacific, and more recently in Eastern Europe.
Nevertheless, this interest goes far beyond mere political opportunism, for small island countries are confronted with specific problems that require appropriate reflection and responses. To quote just a few examples, because of the absence of economies of scale, resulting precisely from the small size of these countries, the preparation of teaching curricula, the production of school textbooks, the organisation of examinations and the establishment of an evaluation and acquisition validation system, the training of teachers and more generally the organisation of post-secondary education are all extremely expensive undertakings. Most of these countries therefore use foreign curricula and textbooks, and send their students abroad for training. This leads to cultural dependence and vulnerability, which cannot fail to reinforce the economic dependence and vulnerability that these countries already suffer.

In this booklet, the author, David Atchoarena, starts by presenting characteristics common to small states, which constitute a set of specificities and constraints, but also advantages. He then lucidly analyses the various problems encountered by officials responsible for educational management and planning, before suggesting a number of concrete action strategies. These formulae are not entirely specific to small island states, but they constitute a coherent group of appropriate measures that educational planners in these countries can apply to their advantage.

The author reminds us that, despite their similarities and points in common , small states are quite varied: it is preferable not to adopt a standard-setting approach and not to pretend to suggest solutions valid for all. Hence the case of archipelago states, which is almost an extreme case of the effects of small size, remoteness and insularity, is discussed separately.

The author closes by giving the components of a planning approach for these countries. Here again, the suggested approaches and techniques are not fundamentally different from those that are or could be applied elsewhere. Nevertheless, the characteristics and the constraints of small island countries should lead planners to favour certain approaches and techniques and to reject others.

Because of his experience at the Ministry of Finance and Planning in Saint Lucia, and then at the ADEP in the French West Indies, David Atchoarena pays very particular attention to vocational training and human resources development policies in island states. He thereby makes a very original contribution to the existing literature on this theme, as well as to the series on Fundamentals of Educational Planning.
This very rich volume should be of interest to all individuals, decision-makers, planners and also aid agency officials, who are concerned about improving the management of education systems in small island states.

Preface

Introduction

Small states: an attempt at definition and characterisation

The notion of size

The position of small states in the international community

A heterogeneous group

Socio-economic context and education

The implications of smallness for education

Educational profile of small states

Problems specific to small states in the field of education

Strategies for action

Structuring the system

Mastering economic parameters and the instruments of planning

Pedagogical resources and systems

The administration and management of the system

Openness of the system to the outside world

The case of archipelago states

Circularity: a broader context

Questions posed by students addressing the concept of circularity in the rollout of the new humanistic curriculum for Wales.

1 Are we facing limits to Earth’s carrying capacity for human life?

2 Is it time for a post growth economy?

3 Are there limits to economic growth?

4 How can malnutrition and starvation be eliminated across the world?

5 How life threatening are the changes in the global environment that are being made by humankind?

6 What is the most important action to bring consumption in line with Earth’s ecological productivity

7 What is the most important thing that comes to mind when you buy things?

8 What is the best interpretation of sustainable development?

9 What would be an appropriate definition of prosperity in a steady state economy?

10 Where survival is reasonably assured and basic needs are met, what kind of culture will give the better quality and meaning to individuals' lives?

11 What are some of the major issues of social inequality?

12 Should we, and if so how should we, educate young and adult people in order that they learn of the socio-ecological predicaments of the Earth?

13 What kind of pedagogy is needed to cope with the socio-ecological predicaments of Earth?

Many people said, 'I can't answer these questions'. They will need to be reassured that not knowing is the beginning of the path to wisdom. They will need to recognise that these are the sort of issues that will affect their children and grandchildren in the future and so should be addressed by the adult generation of today. And they will need to realise that in a strong democracy each and every one of us has a part to play in determining what the future will look like.

What Is Circularity?

Circularity, is an economic model that follows the three Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. It is a more relevant education concept for the future than linearity, which follows the dominant common economy of Take, Make and Dump. The transition to a circular economy will require a qualified workforce with specific and sometimes new skills, with opportunities for employment and social dialogue around conservation management. If the right skills are to be developed, they will have to support job creation in the green economy at all levels of education and training.

The Radical Hope Syllabus

The Radical Hope Syllabus is the product of a two-day conference held in Germany in July 2017 by the Rachel Carson Center and the University of Texas. The conference brought scholars from around the world to exchange ideas about the role of hope as a new solution to addressing environmental crises. The idea comes from the title of a book written by Jonathan Lear from the University of Chicago, who defines ‘Radical Hope’ in a very specific way — how do you maintain hope in the face of extreme desperation, which is essential for human survival? The conference took the core idea as it applies to environmental issues and used it as an expansive term within which people could define hope in their own ways.

The question for the Green Forum today is, What if we are the people we are waiting for? We have all the technology, policies, and resources we need to create a more hopeful, sustainable future. Our history shows us to be a resilient, innovative species—capable of great harm, certainly, but also with the capacity for great and positive evolution and achievements. A crucial question for us all is, Can we educate for hope?

In this context, members of the Green Forum are invited to make a collection of online thoughts, ideas and achievements to assemble a zero waste curriculum to promote the educational theme ‘Learning Circularity With SIDS’. This will be a resource for people who want to make a conscious effort to be informed about, and help with, community-led conservation management in small island states, where their survival involves abandoning a culture of linearity for one of circularity

This process is driven by Radical hope—a radiant vision of new possibilities in the face of personal or collective devastation— that is the catalytic ingredient at the heart of all personal transformations and successful social movements for cultural change.