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- Fröling, Morgan, 1966-, et al.
(författare)
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From environmental problems to sustainable development and towards resilience : Development over time of a university program inenvironmental science aiming for action competences
- 2015
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Introduction:During the latest decades society has developed from an environmental awareness, with reactive thinking, of the “preBrundtland age” into having sustainability as the goal for human development after the Rio declaration. Lately, within the environmentalscientific sphere, the concept of resilience is increasingly superimposed on the sustainability paradigm. It is seen as important both forunderstanding of the present situation as well as a necessity for societies to survive in times of rapid change. During this period from “preBrundtland” until today when resilience is in focus, the environmental science program of Ecotechnology started, developed and changed inresponse to changes in society. A goal, from the very beginning of the educational program, has been to empower students to take action.The types of action and how action competence has been perceived, has changed over the three decades the program has been running.Objectives: Environmental science and sustainability is often difficult to teach since it demands an interdisciplinary approach stretching overthe traditional faculty division of natural, social, and engineering sciences. At Mid Sweden University these three branches have beenintegrated in Ecotechnology education for 30 years. The purpose of this paper is to describe the interdisciplinary teaching with special focuson the development of the student’s action competence for sustainable development, in the light of how the environmental issues havedeveloped.Methods: The paper has a descriptive approach exploring the experiences from the 30 years of interdisciplinary teaching.Results: Different teaching methods and strategies have been employed over time, partly in sync with changing overarching societal goals.Conclusion: Some observations are 1) a key element to develop action competence is to push students to a self-propelled learning behaviorrather than traditional teaching of facts, 2) to not too easily provide the students with answers will develop problem solving skills, 3) “doingbefore-reading” teaching is more time consuming but seem to give deeper knowledge.
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| 2. |
- Grönlund, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Ekoteknik (Ecotechnics / Ecotehcnology) – 30 Years of Experience in Interdiciplinery Education
- 2014
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 20th International Sustainable Development Research Conference Trondheim 18-20 June 2014. - Trondheim : Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of Product Design. - 9788291917344 ; , s. 17-21
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- An important part of a society’s resilience is how prepared it is to cope with the changing conditions during the alpha and omega phases according to resilience theory. Lars Thofelt, an academic from the mid Sweden region, early recognized this need for students to develop skills needed for a societal change, and devoted his life to pedagogy suitable for this. The main outcome of his achievement was the interdisciplinary university program in Ecotechnics/Ecotechnology (Ekoteknik in Swedish), at Mid Sweden University. Ecology, economy and technology in cooperation for sustainable development were the original approach, and still are.Thofelt’s ideas had a main focus of helping students develop their inherent capabilities of solving problems and overcome obstacles. After Thofelt’s 12 years at the program his ideas were carried on by former colleagues and students, and the teaching further developed with a mix of the Thofelt tradition and other experiences brought in by new employees. This paper describes this interdisciplinary teaching approach with special focus on development of resilience capacity in students.It was concluded that 1) a key element to develop resilience skills in students is to push them to a self-propelled learning behavior rather than traditional teaching, 2) not too easily provide the students with answers will develop their problem solving skills, 3) doing-before-reading teaching is more time consuming but seem to give deeper knowledge, 4) interdisciplinary teaching will in the long run benefit from having the interdisciplinary team within the department, rather than as a conglomerate of several departments.
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| 3. |
- Skytt, Torbjörn, et al.
(författare)
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A strategic tool to find out regional sustainability methodologies helpingindividuals to make long term decisions
- 2015
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Ingår i: Proceedings of Global Cleaner Production and Sustainable Consumption, Barcelona Sitges, November 1-4, 2015.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- There is a variety of definitions of the concept ‘sustainable’ to be found, and many interestingideas how to measure and evaluate what can be regarded as ‘sustainability’. Meanwhile,whatever the definition is used it must have a strong physical background. There is also acontinuous flow of information and a general awareness about the necessity of taking action,thereby reducing the negative anthropocentric contribution to global warming and ecologicalsystems depletion. A number of visions about (for example) future emission values typically 15-30 years from today are often presented. At the same time there is a continuous political debateabout the balance between individual freedom vs political regulations. The typical individual -standing in the intersection of all this - still seldom gets practical guidelines on how to act in thedaily life to meet future visions. This paper argues that it is necessary to simplify the indicatorsused to evaluate sustainability and at the same time ensure clear instructions of action therebyincreasing the communicability. This is believed to be possible through the application of aholistic approach based upon a detailed mapping, thus making it possible to find out an over-allstrategy and then transform it into specific guidelines for the individual to apply, taking anentrance point in a realistic description of individual everyday life. The regional level is chosenas the most suitable level to work with to keep in touch with the individual level without losingthe strategic possibilities and over-all view when attacking the problem. Without a deep andcommon understanding of the ‘daily life’ in the region, visions and guidelines might show to becounterproductive.For the Swedish region Jämtland, a sparsely populated area with large forests, a lot of hydropower, and one major city (Östersund with about 60.000 inhabitants), some industries and skiresorts (the largest being Åre), the method developed by Nielsen and Jørgensen for the minorisland named Samsø in Denmark has been chosen. By building a model for evaluating thecarbon balance and the work energy balances we are able to focus the strategies and make aguideline for individuals. It seems necessary to accept some usage of fossil fuels also in thefuture but we need to see how this usage can be steered to applications where non-fossilalternatives are less realistic. By working with sectors, built together, we are able to work withsub-models without having to compromise on either lower or higher level of societal activities.Compared to the Samsø case, Jämtland is more complex and also much larger (127.000inhabitants compared to Samsø’s 4.000 and with an area about 20% larger than theNetherlands). The sectors chosen are Industry (Businesses other than those covered in othersectors), Agriculture, Forestry, Tourism, Nature, Public, Private (households), Reindeerherding, Wastes and Energy. The budget of each sector is mapped in terms of carbon and workenergy balances as a sub-model of an over-all model of Jämtland. By finding out the limits(constrains) from simulations carried out on the region it is possible to set for example carbonand energy budgets as basis for personal guidelines for the citizens of the region.The major idea is that most citizens of the region will understand and adapt to such guidelinesto an extent that may induce a change of individual behavioral patterns thus turning the regiontowards sustainability. Jämtland has a specific “culture” which can be used to create proudnessand interest for the sustainability aims. It is important to arrange a platform that serves to shapea fruitful dialogue between all stakeholders – from individual to groups – that will make itpossible to create a common plan for measurements to be implemented, i.e. a concertedgovernance which ensure and guarantee a future of optimal existence for ecosystems as wellas human beings.
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