The time lag between the
advancing frontier of research in various disciplines and their incorporation
into school curricula has always been problematic. When the research is
multi-disciplinary, this also adds to the problem when schools are tied to
organising learning into separate subjects that make problem-based
investigation of ‘big issues’ hard to pursue. The Global Educational Reform
Movement’s (GERM) widespread emphasis on accountability by use of standardised
testing and league tables has raised further barriers to making school
curricula relevant to the complex issues of our time. Staying up-to-date with complex and
accelerating change becomes more complicated when such knowledge becomes
politically contentious as in the case of the impact of human activity on
ecological systems. Current debates about carbon emissions and the use of
fossil fuels, the instability of global financial systems and the increasing
mal-distribution of wealth fall into this category.
Every conceivable perspective on
these issues is now available on the internet to learners whether they are
researching independently or are guided by their teachers. This example is one
of countless numbers that provide quick access to ig ideas for teachers and
students:
http://www.therules.org/en - Global Wealth Inequality – what you never
knew you never knew - a remarkable graphic representation of the
increasing concentration of wealth globally and the huge outflow from poor to
rich nations of wealth as a result of ‘the rules’ of trade, aid and the
servicing of debt.
Specialist teachers and academics
seeking to keep up-to-date have an almost impossible task, particularly in
accessing cross-disciplinary research and publications outside their own
specific disciplines. Even getting to
grips with emerging new concepts is a problem.
Let’s take just three terms that are central to the debate about
maintaining a sustainable future for humanity and the planet: the ‘circular economy’ (the alternative to
exponential economic growth) and the notion of the ‘Anthropocene’ (the unprecedented phenomenon of humans as the main
geological force acting on the planet). Here is a description of a recent
publication from a highly reputable international inter-disciplinary research
centre that has identified nine ‘planetary
boundaries’ that define the limits of the earth’s safe carrying capacity of
human activity, three of which are already exceeded - http://www.stockholmresilience.org/21/research/research-news/12-5-2012-avoiding-bankrupting-nature.html:
Circular economy - key to well-being in the Anthropocene
The World Bank warned of an imminent global warming of 4°C. As Stockholm
Resilience Centre research has previously shown, accelerated climate change due
to raising temperature levels is just one of the planetary boundaries we risk
transgressing. Altogether, the human pressure on the planet is at a level where
it poses a major risk for the future prosperity of society. Johan Rockström and Anders Wijkman argue that this
dilemma can only be addressed through a transformation of the entire economic
system, including the financial markets which should be obliged to disclose their risk
exposure in terms of high-carbon investments. Bankrupting
Nature - Denying our Planetary Boundaries is an official Report to the Club of Rome,
and was launched in Brussels at the European Parliament in December 2012. It
argues that "Green growth" is
not enough "The challenges of sustainability cannot be met by
simply tinkering with the current economic system... We need a 'circular
economy' that decouples wealth and welfare from resource consumption, and
assigns a value to natural capital, so the depreciation of the earth's
resources and the loss of biodiversity are taken into account in national as
well as company budgets... We need new business models such as moving from
products to services or towards a circular economy based on re-use,
reconditioning and recycling — all with the aim of facilitating sustainable
development".
The new book argues that a radically changed
economic system that links economics with ecology is the only way to generate
economic development in the future. A key element of such a new economy is to
design industrial systems that recycle and reuse materials wherever possible
and phase-out fossil fuels. This would be promoted through adopting binding
targets for resource efficiency, increasing the taxes on the use of virgin
materials and lowering taxes on labour, and a research policy that emphasises
sustainable innovation and design.
So, what can educational
leaders and teachers do to keep up-to-date and try to help their students do
the same? Clearly the internet is their first port of call for teachers with
little time to read widely. For example the link to the planetary boundaries
research can be immediately accessed at https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/dp-a-safe-and-just-space-for-humanity-130212-en_0.pdf
This 17-minute illustrated presentation by Kate Raworth brings together the planetary boundaries research with what she terms ‘social boundaries’ to create a ‘doughnut economy’ that provides a ‘safe space for humanity’. Spending a short amount of time watching the presentation allows one to get to the heart of the issue in a fraction of the time needed for tackling a book such as that above. A catalogue of time-efficient links to big ideas will be presented at the next ENIRDELM conference.
David Oldroyd
This 17-minute illustrated presentation by Kate Raworth brings together the planetary boundaries research with what she terms ‘social boundaries’ to create a ‘doughnut economy’ that provides a ‘safe space for humanity’. Spending a short amount of time watching the presentation allows one to get to the heart of the issue in a fraction of the time needed for tackling a book such as that above. A catalogue of time-efficient links to big ideas will be presented at the next ENIRDELM conference.
David Oldroyd
