From information
to transformation
• David Landis Barnhill
• Director, Environmental Studies Program.
• Presented to the Winnebago Sustainability
Project faculty college, University of Wisconsin
Oshkosh, May 23, 2008
From information
to transformation
•What are the goals for a sustainability
class?
•What should be a required component
in a “sustainability class”?
•What should a sustainability class
NOT involve?
Five possibilities
1. Information about nature or human-nature
relationship
2. Nature or human-nature relationship as
theme or focus
3. Information about sustainability problems
and possible solutions
4. Transformation: policy
5. Transformation: action
>> not mutually exclusive
>> fuzzy, overlapping boundaries
1. Information about nature or
human-nature relationship
• Chemistry: how certain chemicals impact
the environment
• Nursing: the impact of certain chemicals
in nature on human health
• History: the Little Ice Age (ca. 1650) and
its impact on European society
2. Nature or human-nature
relationship as theme or focus
• Ecocriticism/art: how nature is presented
in literature or painting
• Anthropology: how a culture conceives of
and relates to nature (Make Prayers to a
Raven)
• Business: what the green practices are in
a business
• Sociology: how rural society impacts and
is impacted by nature
3. Information about problems
and possible solutions
• Biology: decline of amphibians, its causes and
its implications for humans
• Politics: how the European Union responds to
genetically engineered organisms
• Communication: how different media outlets
present environmental justice issues
• Sociology/nursing: how Wisconsin water
pollution impacts the health of Hmong compared
to whites
Transformation: policy
• What are the different policy options
concerning a sustainability issue?
• What should the policy be?
– “descriptive” analysis: the “is”
– “normative” or “prescriptive” analysis: the
“ought”
Transformation: action
The pedagogical goal is to create agents of
change concerning sustainability
1. Understanding of how policies and conceptions are
changed (e.g., social marketing)
2. Gaining skills in advocacy
– public speaking
– conveying environmental science to the general public
– how to effectively run a community development organization
3. Developing a strong sense of motivation
– care about the issues and those involved
– sense of responsibility to others (social and environmental)
– disposition to act on one’s sense of responsibility and care
4. Requiring active advocacy a class assignment
So ….
• What should be a required component
in a “sustainability class”?
• What should a sustainability class NOT
involve?