Sustainability

John Dewey Social Action and Democracy.

John Dewey Social Action and Democracy. John Dewey (1916), in Social action, took as central to his concerns the notion of democracy, arguing: ‘Democracy must be reborn in each generation. Education is the midwife.’ His view of knowledge as a ‘public and common store’ (Dewey 1900) shaped his view of democracy, alongside notions of ‘intelligenceContinue reading “John Dewey Social Action and Democracy.”

GOVERNANCE AND THE ANTHROPOCENE

A recent paper has traced the evolution of selected global environmental agreements from 1971 to 2025. And, it asks why the increasing intensity and focus of international environmental governance has not been matched by urgent and scalable improvement in planetary conditions. Using qualitative comparative document analysis across climate, biodiversity, and pollution, the study assesses theContinue reading “GOVERNANCE AND THE ANTHROPOCENE”

When will Labour take the initiative and be bold? Or are we facing yet another crisis of governance?

Our letter to John Whitby our MP Emma Hickling and Steve Martin We saw the Peoples Emergency briefing last week at Matlock Imperial Rooms, during the final night of the fifth heatwave that the UK has experienced this year. The next night we watched the National Emergency briefing videos on YouTube. These briefings highlight theContinue reading “When will Labour take the initiative and be bold? Or are we facing yet another crisis of governance?”

Sneinton Mini Civic Climate Assembly

A great pleasure to support the 25 th Mini Civic Climate Assembly in the Sneinton Community Centre last week. It attracted some lively and informed residents from the city of Nottingham who had many great ideas for making Sneinton Market a more environmentally and socially sustainable venue for the residents of its community and other residentsContinue reading “Sneinton Mini Civic Climate Assembly”

TRANSFORMATIVE SKILLS GUIDE

I have written recently that we need a transformative system -wide change process across our education and learning programmes and institutions to tackle the wicked global issues we face. This recently published Skills Guide puts some astonishingly accessible and credible ways to achieve this transformation. It deals with inner skills such as “thinking ,relating, collaboratingContinue reading “TRANSFORMATIVE SKILLS GUIDE”

TRANSFORMING OUR UNIVERSITIES TO MEET THE ISSUES OF THE 21 CENTURY?

How can we overcome our blindness to what is now right before our eyes: heat, storms, fires, floods, desecrated lands, extinctions, and social injustices and what these portend for their lives. Young people are now recognising that there needs to be more urgency and social focus in our educational systems and crucially we need toContinue reading “TRANSFORMING OUR UNIVERSITIES TO MEET THE ISSUES OF THE 21 CENTURY?”

The right have hijacked Englishness. Can it be reclaimed?

I spent Saturday morning listening to an exceptional former Green MP Caroline Lucas talk about England and being English and how distorted our electoral system has become. She is a formidable and eloquent analyst of how our system has become a bandwagon for the right and how we might change this dynamic by transforming manyContinue reading “The right have hijacked Englishness. Can it be reclaimed?”

What does progress look like on a planet at its limit?

Putting endless growth above our wellbeing and the environment is no longer tenable-from a Guardian Culture article by Kate Raworth Here’s a question for our times: how should we imagine the shape of progress? In the twentieth century the answer may have seemed to be very clear. It was growth, measured in terms of nationalContinue reading “What does progress look like on a planet at its limit?”

Of Sandboxes and Hourglasses: Reflections of a Young Person in Times of Change

Author: William Capps, University of Bristol Will is a 23-year old sustainability advocate and recent graduate from the University of Bristol. With a critical perspective on Higher Education, he is keen on exploring the more-than-necessary radical and disruptive ideas about how universities can lead the transition to a more just, equitable and environmentally sound future. Continue reading “Of Sandboxes and Hourglasses: Reflections of a Young Person in Times of Change”

What do faculty owe future generations?

By Sharon Stein, originally published by Resilience.org January 30, 2024 I’m a millennial faculty member. The millennial generation – also known as Generation Y – came of age with 9/11, followed by the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and then the 2007/8 financial crisis. While we were growing up, promises of perpetual progress and prosperityContinue reading “What do faculty owe future generations?”