Diapositiva 1

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What is Sustainability Literacy? Dr. Laura
Colucci-Gray University of Aberdeen
Interdisciplinary Research Institute on
Sustainability (IRIS) Glasgow School of Art,
Thursday 26th June 2014
Education for Sustainable Development in Higher
Education Topic support network
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A recent document has just been published by the
Higher Education Academy and the Quality
Assurance Agency
Education for sustainable development Guidance
for UK higher education providers June 2014
... is intended for educators working with
students to foster their knowledge, understanding
and skills in the area of sustainable
development (p. 4)
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An authoritative document

• Mapping sustainability literacy against four
  dimensions
• Global citizenship
• Environmental stewardship
• Social, justice, ethics and well-being
• Future-facing outloook

Aims to prepare graduates to be able to lead the
debate on complex issues such as what constitutes
global citizenship and good governance,
sustainable resource use, and the determination
of ecological limits. (p.7)
But sustainability is a contested concept
fraught with contradictions, fuzzyness and
uncertainty of language, aims, values and
practices. Perhaps we need to inquire into the
philosophical and relational basis of our current
ways of knowing the world? Facts, values,
experience and perspectives are inextricably
interwoven.
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Outline of this talk

• Knowledge and development in the 21 century
• key forces
• key actors
• Describing or Inhabiting the Planet?
• Risk, Uncertainty and Ignorance
• Towards a sustainability literacy
• Understanding the role of language as a
  technology for sustainability
• Education and the dialogical experience

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Education in STEM - June 2013 Foundations
partnered in stem cell research
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Ethical issues
Picture of embryonic human stem cells, with added
colours. (Image Miodrag Stojkovic/Science Photo
Library)
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Regulation faces legal challenges
David Cyranoski reports on biotech industries
proposing therapies which are not being
sufficiently tested. Stem cells in Texas
Cowboy culture http//www.nature.com/news/stem-cel
ls-in-texas-cowboy-culture-1.12404
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Social and Environmental questions

• STEM celle research
• What expectations are being met and satisfied?
• How does it sit in with global priorities in
  healthcare?
• To what extent will the therapies be financially
  sustainable?
• Why so much support given by both the public and
  private enterprises?
• How to do we ensure safety and how do we measure
  effectiveness of these new treatments?
• Will it provide a better alternative to other
  treatments?

Many EVENTS around the country Nanosciences and
nanotechnologies are a core sector of
techno-scientific innovation According to many
researchers they are destined to change many
aspects of our everyday life.
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Big Science Research (50s onwards) (nuclear
bomb aviation nylon industries)
Shift from science to techno-science
NETWORK OF ACTORS Scientists, technical staff,
financial agencies industry citizens
consumers... POWERFUL FORCES economic, political
and financial interests mechanical, electrical
and computing power to support global research
and impact. Some important implications...
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• There is no longer a neat separation between
  description and application the Earth is the
  laboratory for innovation.
• All inhabitants of the Earth are relevant
  stakeholders who participates in decisions?
  Whose views are heard? Who takes responsibility?
  
• Technological innovation appears to increase
  complexity and interdependency across systems
  are we able to regulate appropriately?

Genetic manipulation overrides the fundamental
biological principle of co-evolution
organism/environment
Genetic manipulation is driven by immediate
concerns and interests
Genetic manipulation is operated in a short
time-span many variables flows of chemical
reactions physical variables.
Who pays? Who benefits?
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The laboratory of post-normal science
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Certainty, control, domination or
unpredictability, precaution, humility?

• TECHNO - SCIENCE
• is driven towards the development of
  instruments to determine outcomes for the future
  (revenues products goals) to minimise possible
  pitfalls and to maximise expected, positive
  results.
• the objective is the modification of the
  outside world, developing and maintaining power
  and control over natural phenomena.
• SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE
• is founded upon the preservation and refinement
  of the abilities of human beings - and more
  generally, of all living creatures - to respond
  and to adapt.
• aims to sustain and imprpove individual and
  collective resilience.

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According to some authors, we are now able to
model also the living systems, and entire
ecosystems, just like climatologists do (Purves,
2013). The world described quantitatively becomes
predictable. According to others, the complexity
generated by our techno-science is such that we
are not only unable to control it but not even to
understand it (Harris Sarewitz, 2011). The
evolution of complex systems in which we are
included is unpredictable.

• An example from NANOTECHNOLOGIES
• The applications of nanotechnologies will
  contribute positively to the quality of life
  thanks to the production of light and durable
  materials, cleaner energy, production of pure
  water they will also offer beneficial medical
  applications, like the smart drugs. The science
  community needs to act now if strategic research
  is to support sustainable nanotechnologies, in
  which risks are minimized and benefits maximized
  (Maynard, A.D. et al. Safe handling of
  nanotechnology. Nature 444, 267269, 2006.)
• With the increasing use of engineered
  nano-materials the workers exposure to these
  materials will also increase significantly. We
  know very little about the risks of these
  sub-cellular, high reactive materials for human
  health. (Savolainen et al. Risk assessment of
  engineered nanomaterials and nanotechnologiesA
  review, Toxicology 269 (2010) 92104)

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Trust in scientific progress and economic growth.
The secrets of nature will be unveiled and
humanity will dominate the Planet. The
intelligence and human power will overcome the
biophysical limits of the Earth, and everybody
will benefit from the benefits brought by
innovation.
Two different VISIONS. And their different
NARRATIVES
Science is only one of the ways we can look at
the world and understand its complexity.
Beneath every problem there are values,
beliefs, interests and conflicts. Equity and
democracy require to put limits upon innovation.

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The learning perspective

• A growing field of analysis agreeing that much of
  our problems with education and action are to do
  with our ways of thinking

Difficult to solve a problem, if we do not
realise that we are part of it! (Sterling, 2002)
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INHABITING THE ENVIRONMENT The mind is a
biological system rooted in bodily experience and
interconnected with the bodily actions and
interactions with other individuals Acting and
interacting in the world, representing it,
perceiving it... Are different levels of the same
relational link which exists between organisms
and the local environment in which they think and
live Garbarini Adenzato, 2004
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Embodiment

• Recognising that we exist as a nexus of
  interactions between energy, matter and
  information
• We are part of the global fluxes of the biosphere
• Our cognition is distributed across the mind-body
  system, and develops from action and perception.
• Our language is the expression of our biophysical
  and relational positioning in the fabric of Life
  on the Earth (E.G. METAPHORS).

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Language and literacy

• There is an implicit relationship between
  signifiers and signifieds in different forms of
  language, and the underlying representations of
  reality
• The Junk DNA
• The killer cells
• The building blocks

Need to promote a dialogue between experience
and knowledge!
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Problematic aspects
The rapid shift from a situation of total
dependency from Nature to a partial and relative
autonomy has led to a break, a rift, a
discontinuity
Language, self-consciousness, neuro-motor system
structures, artistic expressions which evolved
slowly within a variety of ecosystems have been
projected onto an artifical environment, which is
no longer in continuity with the energy flows of
Nature
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HIGH POWER CIVILIZATION
year activity POWER produced
1900 A U.S. Farmer with 6 working horses 5 KW
2000 A U.S. Farmer with a tractor 250 KW
1900 A U.S. Train master with a steam engine (at 100 Km/h) 1 MW
2000 The pilot of a Boeing 747 (at 900 Km/h) 120 MW
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VISIONS and ideas of SCIENCE how do we make decisions? VISIONS and ideas of SCIENCE how do we make decisions?
The normal model Science describes and presents the facts as they are Uncertainty is only temporary Experts speak truth to power from the truth of science derives the right of politics Technological power and human creativity produce innovation which will solve the problems and overcome the biophysical limits of the Planet. Risk is managed A focus on what is known and can be determined Short-term framing Quantitative mesures Specialised language Ignoring the unknown unknown (Jasanoff, 2003) Epistemic and normative black box (Harding, 2004)
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VISIONS and ideas of SCIENCE VISIONS and ideas of SCIENCE
The post-normal model Many sciences interpret the facts with different methods and perspectives, which change over time. Uncertainty is integral to life and cannot be eliminated Decisons require democratic dialogue amongst different points of view and value-systems Humanity needs to accept its dependency from the natural systems and adopt humble technologies. Risk is intrinsic High complexity Values in conflict Multiple framings Open dialogue (Funtowicz and Ravets, 2003)
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Sustainability Life on the Planet
Life is a creative force It transforms and
transfers chemical states of matter. And so do
human beings al the time Life in other words
is like us. Or, rather, we are just life doing
what comes naturally to it. Our genius follows
the lines of the ancestral genius of life (Volk,
2003, p. 170) Human societies as part of life,
continuously transforms, develop and respond to
the environment around them.
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Knowledge and learning

• Curriculum is not given but continously changing
  as the environment around us changes...
• Knowledge is not simply acquired but produced
  in contexts of action and interaction...
• Teaching and learning do not exist and cannot be
  identified separately from the networks through
  which they are themselves encted (Fenwick,
  Edwards and Sawchk, 20111, p. 6)

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The post-normal laboratory
Variety of relational competences
Everyday topics
What journeys are made possible?
What bodily experiences?
Battaglia, M. in Gray, D., Camino, E.,
Colucci-Gray, L. (2009) Science, Society and
Sustainability. Education and Empowerment for an
Uncertain world. Routledge, New York,
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Sustainabilty literacy

• It is embedded in our experience of the natural
  world biographical literacy
• It is based on awareness of prejudice and
  expectations, of ourselves and other people
• It engages with the relationship between people
  and the land
• It interrogates power relationships
• It develops from ongoing encounters with the
  natural environments
• It interrogates the quality of the tools and
  conditions for dialogue (contextual literacy)

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The world can be narrated many times and in many
different ways

• Re-formulation of the University as a place where
  students-citizens are both critics and creators
• The teacher has the important role of
  facilitating dialogue, bringing forth a plurality
  of epistemic positions in an educating community
• How does this change professional expectations of
  university graduates?

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It is important to become aware of the visions
which underlie individual and collective
choices!!
Visions for Sustainability IRIS
Interdisciplinary Research Institute on
Sustainability www.visionsforsustainability.net vi
sions_at_iris-sostenibilita.net
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Selected references

• Siegel, D. (1999) The developing mind. New York,
  Guilford Press.
• Condit C.M., Bates B.R., Galloway R., Brown
  Givens S., Haynie C.K., Jordan J.W., Stables
  G. Marshall West H. Recipes or blueprints for
  our genes? How contexts selectively activate the
  multiple meanings of metaphors Quarterly Journal
  of Speech Volume 88, Issue 3, 2002 pages
  303-325
• Fox Keller E. Making sense of life. Explaining
  biological development with models, metaphors and
  machines. Harvard University Press, 2002.
• Fox Keller E. Refiguring life. Columbia
  University Press, 1995.
• Gitelman L. Raw data is an oxymoron. The MIT
  press, 2013.
• Harris P. Sarewitz D. Destructive creation and
  the new world disorder. Current History pag.
  29-33 January 2012.
• Hauskeller C. Weber S. Framing pluripotency
  iPS cells and the shaping of stem cell science
  New Genetics and Society Volume 30, Issue 4,
  2011 pages 415-431
• Hellsten I. From sequencing to annotating
  extending the metaphor of the book of life from
  genetics to genomics New Genetics and Society
  Volume 24, Issue 3, 2005 pages 283-297