Topic 1 - Introduction to Sustainable Development (Part 6)

Main ideas and lessons (Session 6)

• Purpose of the session: Bring together earlier course themes—especially:

  • Sustainable Development (systemic perspective)
  • Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
  • Global Citizenship Education (GCED)
  • Sustainability competencies (especially systems thinking)
  • Transformative learning—and explain what it takes for learning to translate into real-world action.

• Core problem addressed: People may know what the right thing to do is (facts/competence), but do not always act on it—sometimes even acting against that knowledge. → The session asks: What enables knowledge and skills to become actual behavior change?

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Transformative learning: stages of transformation

1) Deep knowledge (the “know” stage)

Learners need:

• Facts and evidence about sustainability issues and realities in life
• Multiple perspectives
• Underlying values
• Understanding of real-world sustainability phenomena such as:
  • greenhouse gas effects
  • climate change and its causes/effects
  • heat waves
  • sea level rise
  • poverty and hunger
• Awareness of local social realities, including:
  • who is marginalized
  • who is underrepresented
  • community-level gaps and inequities

Emphasis: Most schools/universities already do a strong job teaching this factual and informational layer.

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2) Imagining solutions (the “can envision” stage)

Learners also need abilities to:

• anticipate
• problem solve
• critically think
• creatively think
• create conversation spaces where people can discuss issues and options safely
• connect issue understanding to potential steps forward:
  • “what could be done”
  • “how we get out of the problem”

Emphasis: Education often stops after this point—knowledge + theoretical solution imagining.

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3) Experiencing to develop the “heart” and social dimension (the “do” stage)

To reach transformative learning, learners must go beyond head-based learning and include:

• Experiential exposure to realities of sustainability challenges so people understand with:
  • head (understanding)
  • hands (doing/engaging)
  • heart (emotional and empathetic understanding)

Learning targets include experiencing:

• what climate change feels like
• what sea level rise impacts look/feel like
• what poverty/hunger means in lived experience
• what it means not to have a voice in decisions or conversations

Purpose of experiential exposure:

• foster the emotional dimension (feeling what others face)
• foster social learning and empathy
• build compassion
• motivate change even toward places learners may never personally see

Virtual exposure can help, but…

• the speaker contrasts virtual learning with being outside one’s comfort zone in another place/city/country
• describes a psychological and emotional process:
  • unfamiliarity → repeated learning → familiarity → belonging → sustained attention and care later

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Compassionate learning → empowerment → collective action (ESD + GCED combined)

How ESD contributes

• ESD works “through education, training, and advancing public awareness”
• It is positioned as a key enabler to address sustainability issues across:
  • the 17 SDGs
  • sustainability issues not yet captured in the SDGs

What GCED adds (moving from individual to collective agency)

In addition to ESD’s knowledge/skills/attitudes/values for informed decisions:

• learners must develop the ability to act collaboratively
• build responsible actions in community
• create agency:
  • knowing they have a voice
  • acting to address injustices and challenges

The combined outcome the session advocates

• compassionate learning
• empowerment
• action
• recognition that one person is never enough—collective action is required

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Why classroom-only learning is insufficient

• The speaker argues that transformative learning is hard to create in a closed classroom setting (“four walls… tables and chairs”).
• Instead, learners benefit from:
  • exposure to surrounding communities
  • collaboration with communities around schools/universities
  • real moments of experiential learning that create compassion locally and globally

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Role of higher education in advancing sustainable development (two main aspects)

Aspect 1: Higher education as an “anchor point”

Higher education is described as:

• a carrier of values needed for sustainable development, including:
  • knowledge and learning
  • demonstration and knowledge sharing
  • societal impact
  • collaboration
• able to collaborate across borders even when governments cannot
• built on trust and shared values
• a trusted broker of reliable information and values (contrasted with declining public trust in media/news channels)

Aspect 2: Higher education aligned with the SDG framework

• Higher education can engage directly with SDGs because:
  • SDGs include calls for research, science, and evidence
  • these can support access to education and evidence-informed sustainability work
• Recommendation: scan SDGs and find those that call for research/evidence/science, then localize them in practice.

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Systems perspective: how sustainability should be integrated into institutions

The speaker stresses that sustainability must be infused throughout the organization, not treated as an add-on:

• not merely “adding the word sustainable”
• not just attaching sustainability to an existing product/service claim

Instead, integrate sustainability across:

• footprint of operations
• material and resource use
• purchasing decisions
• hiring practices
  • especially sustainability criteria in leadership hiring
• performance management
  • whether sustainability is part of evaluation and promotion
• career advancement
  • whether sustainability-engaged people can progress
• partnership choices
  • where sustainability plays a role

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Practical examples of “institution-wide” sustainability (three dimensions)

The session provides examples spanning:

• Environmental

  • reducing operational footprints (e.g., resource/material use)

• Economic

  • aligning organizational decisions and innovation with sustainability goals

• Social

  • equitable involvement of people working/participating
  • ensuring indigenous and underrepresented voices are equally represented
  • supporting gender equality and eliminating inequalities
  • creating a decent workplace for all
  • contributing to the community

The speaker summarizes: sustainability is more than “saving paper”; it involves equity, participation, gender justice, decent work, innovation, and community benefit.

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Included video message (UNDP clip) — key points

A short embedded motivational clip from UNDP argues:

• extinction is bad, and humans should not “drive themselves extinct”
• compares fossil fuel subsidies to subsidizing “meteors” (symbolic absurdity)
• suggests poverty alleviation and rebuilding should be prioritized over harming planetary conditions
• frames the post-pandemic rebuilding period as a “big chance”

Message: “Don’t choose extinction. Save your species before it’s too late.”

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Methodology / instructional elements (structured bullets)

A) To transform learning into action (implied steps)

• Build deep knowledge:
  • teach facts/evidence
  • teach perspectives
  • teach underlying values
• Enable solution imagining:
  • cultivate anticipating/problem-solving/critical/creative thinking
  • provide safe spaces for discussion
  • connect issues to potential steps forward
• Create experiential exposure to build:
  • emotional understanding (“heart”)
  • social understanding and empathy
  • compassion through lived or simulated-but-impactful experiences
• Combine ESD + GCED so learners:
  • develop informed decision-making and responsible action (ESD)
  • develop collaborative action and agency (GCED)
• Move learning beyond classrooms by:
  • involving learners with surrounding communities
  • creating real moments of exposure that link local/global compassion to action

B) To “infuse sustainability” within higher education or any institution (systems approach checklist)

• Assess and improve:
  • operational footprint
  • resource and material use
  • purchasing and supply decisions
• Ensure sustainability criteria in:
  • hiring (especially leaders)
  • performance management
  • career progression
• Embed sustainability into:
  • partnerships
  • internal and external institutional choices
• Apply sustainability across all three dimensions:
  • environmental, economic, and social (equity, inclusion, gender equality, decent work, community contribution)

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Speakers / sources featured

• Katherine Cole (instructor/host; York University, UNESCO Chair; Toronto, Canada)
• UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) — referenced and shown via an embedded short video clip
• Music / onscreen background elements (instrumental or score; no named artist given in subtitles)