Strong Sustainability is the name of a visionary project & its documentation paper published by a group called Sustainable Aotearoa New Zealand (SANZ). The project evolved through SANZ coordinating three think-tank workshops in 2008 calling together about 90 people knowledgeable in the subject of sustainability. The aim of the Strong Sustainability project is to provoke thought & debate about sustainability specific to Aotearoa and particularly in an educational context.
Strong Sustainability is a a set of ideas, ethics, conditions & strategies that map a path that might lead to survival & continuation of civilization in the face of imminently catastrophic changes to the biosphere, sociosphere & econosphere. These changes are the result of greenhouse gas emissions, pollution & a financial & economic system based on continual growth.
The basis of Strong Sustainability is the concept that human activity must lie within the constraints of the biosphere.
Strong Sustainability proposes that a very different ethical stance is needed by people committing to strong sustainability; ethics that:
- Ensure material Basic Needs of people are satisfied
- Place much greater importance on non-material sources of happiness
- Remove the perceived linkage between economic growth and success
- Affirm the deep interdependence of all people and mutual respect between all
- Value nature intrinsically through knowing that human society and its political economy is an integral and interdependent component of nature and the ecosphere of Earth. Humans have reverence for nature and consider themselves stewards of it.
The bulk of the Strong Sustainability publication is devoted to describing future scenarios of a strongly sustainable Aotearoa. These read like a synopsis of a science fiction. The focus is one of optimism but the booklet prefaces these descriptions with the equally plausible scenario of catastrophe & chaos.
The projected optimism is consistent with Otago Polytech's adoption of a Swedish-developed framework called The Natural Step, selected as a plan to manage the process of embedding a sustainable approach in all areas of study. Instead of attempting to forecast, the natural step methodology backcasts from a desired state for future of the organisation that adheres to ‘rules’ for sustainable practice, then moves step by steptowards such a vision.
What would a strongly sustainable Jewellery & Metalsmithing Studio look like?
- It would be contained in a energy efficient, architecturally inspiring building.
- The studio would be part of a complex that integrated arts and education within a local cultural community.
- Students would take a much longer study that incorporated arts within common subjects of systemic ecology, ethics & practice of strong sustainability.
- Students would participate actively in decision making & leadership.
- J&M students would make artwork that was critically responsive to the needs values of the community.
- J&M students would specialise in the incorporation of sustainable design, material & processes in artworks.
- Art students would understand & care for the landscape in which they & the school is located.
- The art school & its students would be supported by the community & role of the school & students would be commensurately valued by the community.
So how does your department stand up to this vision currently?
ReplyDeleteI can see how there are some areas that need work, but some aspects are beginning to come together, such as art in the community, through support, inspiration, and participation, also there is a new inspiring building, and some students choose to be involved in decision-making through the student council.... but I can also see where there is a lot of work to be done.
It would be quite cool to table this to your department and see where your colleagues think they are in terms of your visionary list.