Uncategorized – Page 5

Replacing Sustainable Development: Potential Frameworks for International Cooperation in an Era of Increasing Crises and Disasters.

Jem Bendell This preprint(full paper in the link below this abstract)written by Professor Jem Bendell outlines his thinking on the impact of the SDGs . It’s not comfortable reading but nor is what’s happening across the globe in terms of fires, floods and huge changes in weather events as well as the increasing evidence ofContinue reading “Replacing Sustainable Development: Potential Frameworks for International Cooperation in an Era of Increasing Crises and Disasters.“

REBOOT THE FUTURE JONATHON PORRITT ANNOUNCES, ‘HOW WILL YOU REBOOT THE FUTURE?’

CAMPAIGN TO MOBILISE SCHOOLS FOR COP-26 IN GLASGOW On Wednesday, 21st April, Reboot the Future, a UK-based NGO, launched ‘How Will You Reboot the Future?’, a multi-media project targeted at UK 14–19-year-old students to stimulate debate and action as we approach the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow laterContinue reading “REBOOT THE FUTURE JONATHON PORRITT ANNOUNCES, ‘HOW WILL YOU REBOOT THE FUTURE?’”

Regeneration – ending the climate crisis in one generation

I came across the work of environmentalist Paul Hawken during my time as Director of Learning at Forum for the Future. In his new book published on the 21 September-2021-at the start of the autumn equinox he espouses a new way of framing the solutions to our climate crisis. It’s title is an alternative twist thatContinue reading “Regeneration – ending the climate crisis in one generation”

CULTURE AND SUSTAINABILITY

As Raymond Williams now-famously said, ‘culture’ is one of the two or three most complicated words in English usage Embedding sustainability into the higher education curriculum has been far from straightforward. Consequently, implementation has been patchy – both in terms of disciplinary spread and in terms of the understandings of sustainability A culture for sustainabilityContinue reading “CULTURE AND SUSTAINABILITY”

Ireland is in the news again!

But it’s not only about the ongoing border dispute over Brexit this time, important though this is. It is about the future of universities, and the impact of marketisation. Headlined- Irish president: ‘market-driven’ universities face ‘ruination’. Michael Higgins warned last week that universities ‘have suffered attrition of range and depth, loss of interdisciplinary exchange, leadingContinue reading “Ireland is in the news again!“

Some Thoughts on Nature

I have been on a great WEA course for the past 6 weeks exploring the work of the Welsh novelist, critic, and academic Raymond Williams. He is also noted for his exploration of Key Words. Our WEA tutor framed the course thus: Using the work of cultural theorist, novelist and WEA tutor, Raymond Williams, togetherContinue reading “Some Thoughts on Nature”

PREFACE TO THE DAS GUPTA REVIEW ON THE ECONOMICS OF BIODIVERSITY

We are facing a global crisis. We are totally dependent upon the natural world. It supplies us with every oxygen-laden breath we take and every mouthful of food we eat. But we are currently damaging it so profoundly that many of its natural systems are now on the verge of breakdown. Every other animal livingContinue reading “PREFACE TO THE DAS GUPTA REVIEW ON THE ECONOMICS OF BIODIVERSITY”

The Coming of the Ecological University

“Universities have been with us on this Earth for at least one thousand years and will surely be with us in the future; perhaps so long as there is life on this planet that has any well-being. There is now something in not just the name of the institution but in the idea of theContinue reading “The Coming of the Ecological University”

Michael Crow and the New Realms of Learning at Arizona State University

I have just watched a short video(made in June 2020) of Michael Crow-President of Arizona State University articulating clearly and convincingly this university’s approach to learning post Covid. I would describe it as visionary, comprehensive and accessible, along with many new features; one in particular called by the extraordinary name “Alien Zoo” which they areContinue reading “Michael Crow and the New Realms of Learning at Arizona State University”

WHAT IS A UNIVERSITY EDUCATION FOR? ARE WE EDUCATING EARTH LITERATE LEADERS?

Is there a Case for Re-Purposing our Universities? We are now citizens of the Earth joined in a common enterprise with many variations. We have every right to insist that those who purport to lead us be worthy of the task. Imagine such a time! (Orr, 2003)Hundreds of delegates met late last year in Madrid(Cop25)Continue reading “WHAT IS A UNIVERSITY EDUCATION FOR? ARE WE EDUCATING EARTH LITERATE LEADERS?”