22nd International Sustainable Development Research Society Conference (ISDRS) Lissabon 13-16 july 2016 Section 1a. Sustainable Development Science: Fundamental Concepts Engaging in sustainable development: the worldview approach Bert J M de Vries IMEW / Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development http://www.uu.nl/en/research/copernicus-institute-of-sustainable-development
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Engaging in sustainable development: the worldview approach · 2017-04-05 · I offer a method in sustainability science research: the worldview approach. It is a heuristic framework
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22nd International Sustainable Development Research Society Conference (ISDRS)
Lissabon 13-16 july 2016 Section 1a. Sustainable Development Science: Fundamental Concepts
Engaging in sustainable development: the worldview approach
Bert J M de Vries
IMEW / Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development
Objective: With rising income, communication and connectedness, pluralism in values and beliefs has intensified and become more visible and manifest. To promote sustainable development as maintaining and improving the quality of life for all human beings (cf. SDGs), it is important to deal with this pluralism (assuming democracy is part oa sustainable devlopment). I offer a method in sustainability science research: the worldview approach. It is a heuristic framework to engage with the values and beliefs about a sustainable world. It has been applied for a couple of years in the M Sc Sustainable Development of Utrecht University. I present some outcomes of the 64 student assignments made in 2014 and 2015. I hope that teachers in sustainability science can cooperate in order to converge to an overarching framework of topics and methods – and this is meant as a contribution.
(R. Inglehart, 1997)
Tra
dit
ional
→ s
ecula
r/ra
tional
Survival → self-expression
Social science on values: World Value Survey
Balanced (28%)
Broad minded (7%)
Socially minded (11%)
Caring faithful (13%)
Conservatives (17%)
Hedonists (8%)
Materialists (7%)
Professionals (9%)
Collective
Other
Individual
Self
Progressive
[Worldly] achievement
Conservative
[non-worldly] ideals
Connecting individual values and collective manifestations…
Duurzaamheidsverkennin
g Milieu- en
Natuurplanbureau
22,35
31,16
11,91
17,46
1,79
7,83
3,59 3,92 SD course 2007-2015 (n=613)
zakelijken
ruimdenkers
geengageerden
evenwichtigen
behoudenden
luxezoekers
genieters
zorgzamen
Business-as-usual
Broad thinking
Engaged
Balanced
Luxury seekers
Caring
Conservatives
Hedonists
0
400
800
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f X
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a)
Logistic growth of X
Carrying Capacity
Exponential growth of X
0
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800
0 120 240 360 480 600 Final
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e o
f X
Timestep
b)
Logistic growth of X
Carrying Capacity
Exponential growth of X
Exponential growth Logistic growth
0
400
800
0 120 240 360 480 600 Final
Siz
e o
f X
Timestep
c)
Logistic growth of X
Exponential growth of X
Carrying Capacity
0
400
800
0 120 240 360 480 600 Final
Siz
e o
f X
Timestep
d)
Logistic growth of X
Exponential growth of X
Carrying Capacity
the optimist the pessimist
Bert J M de Vries PERL2 Paris 10-11 mars 2015
Beliefs: personal and public [change in] perceptions
Blue arrow: positive influence Red arrow: negative influence
moral resistance against birth interventions
+ education of
women
- population ‘control‘
topdown gov’t family planning: • (forced) sterilization
• abortion clinics • provision of contraceptives
+
-
children as future labour force
medical services and technology
poverty
children as security for the future
+
+ +
+
Economic order (Nature, market)
Survival
Socio-political order (Kings, castes)
Laws, Universal knowledge
Moral order (Priests)
Revelation
Inner development (art, mysticism)
Personal experience
Genes, upbringing, fate and fortune...
In the search for identity, the individual reaches out for economic, socio-political and moral order in the collective and for inner development of the individual.
Ethics is rooted in the desire, and the necessity, to reconcile the entirely individual desire with that which is collectively desirable (Bertrand Russell 1954)
Source immaterial ↔ material
Surveys Giving
Religious
Taking
Worldly
Plato Ideas
Mind
Senses
Body
Hegel Idealistic Materialistic
Sorokin Ideational Sensate
Steiner Spirit Matter
Jung Archetype –spiritual Instinctive-material
Wilber Interior Exterior
Fromm Being Having
mind spirit soul Immaterial
interior
body material exterior
(van Egmond en de Vries 2011)
“Il y a dans tout homme, à toute heure, deux postulations simultanées, l’une vers Dieu, l’autre vers Satan. L’invocation à Dieu, ou spiritualité, est un désir de monter en rade; celle de Satan, ou animalité, est une joie de descendre.” (Baudelaire)
Economic order (Nature, market)
Survival
Socio-political order (Kings, castes)
Laws Universal knowledge
Moral order (Priests)
Revelation
Inner development (art, mysticism)
Personal experience
society universality objectivity
the individual singularity subjectivity
mind immaterial
spirit interior
body material exterior
Bert J M de Vries PERL2 Paris 10-11 mars 2015
Genes, upbringing, fate and fortune...
Mental/spiritual Immaterial
small world particular individual
Big World Universal Collective
Bodily Material
Mental/spiritual Immaterial
small world particular individual
Big World Universal Collective
Bodily Material
Van Egmond and De Vries 2011
Mental/spiritual Immaterial
small world particular individual
Big World Universal Collective
Bodily Material
National govern-ments
UN Institu-
tions
Corporate business
Religions and
churches
Consu-mer
networks
Local citizen groups
Commu-nity
networks/NGOs
Artists and gurus
Procedural rationality
Business rationality: ‘ruthless logic of modernity’
Consumer rationality
Basic rules for the assignment: • To be done in groups of 3-4 students per topic • Choose topic, based on own experiences or from a list of options • Sketch problem perception from different worldviews and actors • Propose solutions from different worldviews and actors
Topics chosen for assignment: • Population (12) • Food and Land (23) • Energy and Climate (14) • Water (7) • Resources and Pollution (8) The reviewconcerns a total of 64 assignments, in the years 2014-2015 and 2015-2016.
The assignment is part of the course Sustainable Development: Integrating Perspectives, which is a compulsary course in the M Sc Sustainable Development at Utrecht University. Its goal is to make students investigate a sustainability issue from different [stakeholder] perspectives, in order to become critical and design robust solution strategies.
Student Assignment Worldviews
List of topics in the Worldview Assignments 2014 and 2015 Worldview assignments: Population (12) Population dynamics in China (1) and ageing in China (1) and Japan (1) Population growth in the Netherlands (1) and Singapore (1) Population control in Nigeria (1) Latino immigration in USA (1) Population growth and biodiversity in Amazonia (1) Tourism in South-East Asia (1) Urban sprawl and megacities (1) Tianjin Ecocity (1) and the London Green Belt and housing (1) Worldview assignments: Food and Land (23) Quinoa’s quandary (1) and Quinoa in Bolivia (1) Palm oil Indonesia (1) and Orang Oetangs and palm oil in Sumatra (1) Horticulture in Kenya (1) Brazilian Beef (1) and Meat in China (2) and in Europe (1) Food and urban sprawl (1) and Food waste in The Netherlands (1) Landgrabbing (1) and Landgrabbing and food in Ethiopia (1) Food (in)security and poverty in Namibia (1), Congo (1), India (1), Upper Egypt (1) and North America (1) GMOs and the EU (1) and GMOs and food poverty (1) Food and ecosystem conservation (1) Ecosystem and biodiversity loss (1) The honeybee in the USA (1) Return of the wolf in The Netherlands (1)
Worldview assignments: Energy and Climate (14) Ethanol production in Brazil (1) and biofuel in Brazil (1) Biofuels in EU (1) The Ilisu Dam in Turkey (2) and Large-scale hydropower in Brazil (1) Nuclear energy in EU (1) and in South Africa (1) Coal-fired electric power plant in the Eemshaven (1) and Coal in South Africa (1) Gas extraction in Groningen (1) and Shale gas in The Netherlands (1) Oil drilling in the Arctic (1) and the XL Keystone pipeline in Canada/USA (1) Worldview assignments: Water (7) Water Security in Ethiopia (1) and Water depletion in Rajasthan (1) Water privatization in Bolivia (1) Addressing water pollution in the Chao Phraya River (Bangkok) (1) Sanitation and water supply in Makoko, Lagos (1) Perspectives on Flood Risk in New York City (1) The Ongoing Drought in California (1) Worldview assignments: Resource&Pollution (8) Baikal Pulp & Paper (1) PET Waste (1) Rare Earth elements (1) Deeep Sea Mining in Papua New Guinea Food and water pollution Kenya (1) Transport pollution in Mexico (1) Mobile Phone upcycling in UK (1) No more Bhopals (1)
Mental/spiritual Immaterial
small world particular individual
Big World Universal Collective
Bodily Material
Large variety of NGOs: Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria, Global Ecovillage Network (GEN), Organic Farming Association of India (OFAI), Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation (KEHATI), Forest Peoples Programme (FPP), Federation of the organic food industry (BÖLW) , Fairphone
Large variety of CSOs: Americans for Immigration Control (AIC), Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB), Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP), Shalefree Netherlands, Slowfood.com, Feedingamerica.org, Youth Food Movement (YFM), NoWasteNetwork, Citizens for GM-free food, Amazon Watch, Zero Waste Movement (ZWM),
Multinational companies: Bayer HealthCare, TransCanada Corporation, PetroBras, RWE, Unilever, Nestlé, Monsanto, Syngenta, Cargill, World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC), Deutsche Bank, Apple, Samsung, Vodaphone
National gov’t agencies: Japan Immigration Policy, National Population And Talent Division, Brazil, Ministry of Energy and Mines
Religious organizations: Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, Catholic Coalition on Climate Change (CCCC), ,, Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN), Caritas
Science & Technology: Japan Ageing Research Center, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Wageningen University, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), South African Genetic Experimentation Committee
Global NGOs: WWF, Greenpeace, Earthlife Africa, Earth Justice, IUCN, Foodfirst Information and Action Network (FIAN), Transnational Institute (TNI), Global FoodBanking Network, FoodFirst.org, The Rewilding Foundation, Partij voor de Dieren (PvdD), Namibian Alliance for Improved Nutrition (NAFIN), International Forum on Globalisation (IFG)
Lobbying: European Biodiesel Boa (AATF)d (EBB), Foratom, African Agricultural Technology Foundation), European Livestock and Meat Trades Union (UECBV),
(Ruffion, Chadid, Bareman and Van Gessel 2015)
Discourse analysis of issues for divergent worldviews
Ten commandments Tora, Sharia
[national] constitution
market & trade dynamics and rules
Artistic - mystic
Civic community
personal welfare
NOT IN THE MIDDLE:
POLARIZATION OF EXTREMES
Mental/spiritual Immaterial
small world particular individual
Big World Universal Collective
Bodily Material
Alliances between business and consumers: Green labels and certificates, appliance standards, CSR...