Transformation

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?”

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”

Rebecca Solnit: Slow Change Can Be Radical Change “Describing the slowness of change is often confused with acceptance of the status quo. It’s really the opposite.” By Rebecca Solnit January 11, 2024 “To see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.”–Georgia O’Keeffe* Someone at the dinner table wanted to know what everyone’s turning point onContinue reading

DEEP REGENERATION

In the midst of today’s tumultuous times, as we grapple with a rapidly changing climate and deepening social divides, the need for action has never been more pressing. The concepts of regeneration and sustainability have long been discussed in academic circles, but we must move beyond the realm of theory and into the arena ofContinue reading “DEEP REGENERATION”

Applying Systems Thinking to the Implementation of the SDGs

Before the UN SDG Summit to be held in New York, US, this September, UN Member States must decide on their priorities for accelerating progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We argue that Member States can prioritize some Goals above others, to boost progress on the 2030 Agenda. To be able to doContinue reading “Applying Systems Thinking to the Implementation of the SDGs”

New Ways of Seeing the World: Big History and Great Transition

Opening essay for a GTI Forum David Christian May 2023 As the first astronauts peered down on Earth from space, they saw the planet anew. They all had the same epiphany, as the sight of one small, fragile world, embedded in a huge universe briefly replaced the multiple, ever-changing impressions of everyday life. To buildContinue reading “New Ways of Seeing the World: Big History and Great Transition”

HOSPICING OUR UNIVERSITIES IN DECLINE

In this the third of my most recent blogs on the theme of a University for the Common Good – I reflect on the decline of our current model of the University and how the concept of “hospicing a habit of being” coined by Stein et al(2020) might enable those of us who have arguedContinue reading “HOSPICING OUR UNIVERSITIES IN DECLINE”

NEW ECONOMY based on NEW SYSTEMS

The role of human agency is an essential element of the authors of this new books analyses, evaluations, and prescriptions. If humanity is to live in harmony with itself, with other creatures, and in balance with the planet’s ecological systems, then we must be clear about what we can and cannot do, and what weContinue reading “NEW ECONOMY based on NEW SYSTEMS”

OUR economy is killing us.

Even before the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, rates of healthy life expectancy were falling in Scotland. People living in the poorest areas in the UK were dying younger because of deliberate cuts to social security and public services. Now, each week sees a new headline about the rising tide of destitution. At the same time,Continue reading “OUR economy is killing us.“

PEDAGOGIES OF TRANSITION

The times call for pedagogies that cultivate integrated knowledge and global citizenship, yet we continue to educate for a world we don’t want. In the long term, we need educational systems aligned with new imperatives, while in the near term offering innovate curricula and teaching within existing systems. The forward-looking educators on this Forum’s panels—Frameworks and Practices—probeContinue reading “PEDAGOGIES OF TRANSITION”