The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy by EcoLabs

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy 



Designing, Learning and Emergent Ecological Perception

Joanna Boehnert A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University of Brighton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

– April 2012 – Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council

Abstract One of the major premises of this thesis is that fragmentary thinking is an obstacle to sustainability and reductive attitudes towards knowledge cannot address problems associated with complex ecological systems, or social and economic systems for that matter. Responding to this dilemma, this project uses a whole systems approach facilitated by visual communication. Ecological literacy (EL) is a powerful concept developed by sustainability educators that has the potential to create an integrated foundation for understanding environmental problems and potential solutions. Unfortunately, ecological literacy has largely failed to spread across disciplinary boundaries in the two decades since the concept was first conceived. To address this problem this project will create learning processes for ecological literacy facilitated by visual communications with a focus on audiences in the design industry and design education. This research serves to synthesise different traditions while producing new visual displays and transformative learning processes. It aims to help learners develop new cognitive and social capacities including the agency to put new ideas and values into practice. The main contributions developed by this thesis project are a socially, politically and ecologically responsive approach to communication design; an overview, analysis, synthesis and re-presentation of literature on ecological literacy; the creation of new learning processes and visual resources for EL; and the development of methods fostering ecological perception. The design methodology and the practice-based work itself are also contributions. The project aims to bridge the value/action gap in sustainable education and demonstrate how visual communication can facilitate a transformative learning process for ecological literacy. This project places itself in the middle of a fast moving discourse on sustainability and ultimately aims to inform policy and practice in design. The research will examine how visuals can communicate complex ecological concepts, make new information normative and nurture ecological perception. Humankind is embedded within the natural world and dependent on ecological systems for life yet our belief systems, and consequently the world we have designed does not reflect this basic relationship. Ecological boundaries are being crossed. The capacity of ecological systems to maintain relative stability is deteriorating. Science is expected to spark innovation but attitudes swing to bitter acrimony or complete dismissal when science warns us that we are undermining the Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tolerance limits. The work of redesigning economic, social and political systems to function in sympathy with the Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s patterns and processes is an enormous undertaking requiring the revision of many basic assumptions and premises. This thesis will examine what it means to be ecologically literate. Our cultureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s radical discontinuity with nature constitutes an epistemological error that is currently reproduced in education, communication, media, design, policy and law resulting in industrial systems that are quietly destroying the ecological systems on which humankind depends. This thesis outlines a communication design practice to heal this rift.

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Contents Summary

Introduction

Part 1 - Theory

1. Ecological Philosophy 2. Ecological Literacy 3. Processes of Nature

Part 2 - Methodology

4. Design Research 5. Action Research 6. Transformative Learning 7. Methods

Part 3 - Communication

8. Communicating Ecology 9. Communication Failures 10. Visual Communication

Part 4 - Praxis

11. Praxis Conclusion Bibliography

Table of Contents Abstract Table of Contents List of Figures Preface Declaration Acknowledgements Introduction

0.1 Research Context 0.1.1.Global Ecosystems Report 0.1.2 The Crisis Discipline and The Market 0.2 Summary 0.3 Contribution and Limitations

Part 1 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Ecological Theory

3 4 8 11 12 13 15 15 15 16 20 21

1. Ecological Philosophy 1.0 Introduction 1.1 The Emergence of Ecological Thought 1.2 Paradigms as Maps of Collective Cultural Assumptions 1.2.1 Three Parts of a Paradigm 1.3 Ecological Rationalism: The Crisis of Reason 1.3.1 Quantitative reasoning 1.3.2 Backgrounding 1.3.3 Remoteness 1.3.4 Instrumentalisation 1.3.5 Disengagement 1.3.6 Ecological Rationality 1.4 Ecological Ontology: Embeddedness 1.5 Ecological Epistemology: Error 1.6 Ecological Ethics: Extended Boundaries of Concern 1.7 Ecological Philosophy in Communication 1.8 Chapter Conclusion

25 25 26 31 33 34 34 35 35 35 35 36 37 41 42 43 45

2.0 Introduction 2.1 Ecology, Holistic Science and Systems Theory 2.2 Ecological Epistemologies 2.3 The Development of the Concept of Ecological Literacy 2.4 Critical Ecopedagogy 2.5 Typologies of Ecological Literacy 2.5.1 Mode One 2.5.2 Mode Two 2.6 Sustainability vs. Ecological Literacy 2.7 Chapter Conclusion

47 49 54 55 56 57 57 58 59 60

2. Ecological Literacy

3.0 Introduction 3.1 Networks 3.2 Nested System 3.3 Cycles 3.4 Flows 3.5 Development 3.6 Dynamic Balance 3.7 Chapter Conclusion

61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68

3. Patterns and Processes of Nature

Part 2 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Methodology and Methods Part Two Introduction

4. Design Research

4.1 Early Ecological Design 4.2 Design Thinking and Systems Thinking 4.3 New Transformative Design Methodologies 4.4 Communication Design Strategies for Ecological Literacy 4.4.1 Communication Design as a Crisis Discipline 4.4.2 Ecological Epistemology in Communication Design 4.4.3 Illustrating Processes and Patterns of Nature 4.4.4 Agency and Critical Consciousness in Communication Design 4.4.5 Graphic Design Conclusion 4.5 Chapter Four Conclusion

73 74 77 80 81 84 87 89 89 90

5. Action Research

5.1 Problems in Traditional Research 5.2 Critical Consciousness in Research and Education 5.3 Power in Research and Knowledge 5.4 Extended Epistemology and Multiple Ways of Knowing 5.5 Chapter Five Conclusion

93 94 97 98 99

101

6.1 Transformation Learning Theory 6.2 Levels of Learning and Communication 6.3 Ten Phases of Transformational Learning 6.4 Chapter Six Conclusion

101 103 103 105

107

6. Transformative Learning

7. Methods

7.1 Main Methods: Speculative Graphic Design & Transformative Design 7.2 Research Design: Action Research Cycles 7.3 Design Process: Design Method within AR cycle 7.4 Description of the Design Process Model 7.5 Other Methods and Documentation 7.6 Part Two Conclusion

Part 3 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Ecological Communication Design

Part Three Introduction

107 108 109 111 113 114

117

118

8.1 EC Design as a Crisis Discipline 8.2 Discourse and Symbolic Violence in EC Design 8.2.1 Design as Symbolic Violence 8.2.2 Mapping Environmental Discourses with Visuals 8.2.3 Visuals as a Discursive Trojan Horse? 8.3 Identity in EC Design

119 121 124 127 131 133

8. Communicating Ecology: Crisis, Discourse and Identity

9. Communication Failures: Strategies of Denial of Ecological Self 9.1 Denial and Acknowledgement in EC 9.2 Emerging Ecological Psychology: Mental Health in EC 9.3 Embodied Mind, Metaphor and Framing in EC 9.4 Ecological Perception vs Perceptive Myopia & the Depth Metaphor

136 137 141 148 150

10. Visual Communication and Emergient Ecological Perception

152

10.1 Visual Culture, Literacy, Intelligence and Language 10.2 Making the Invisible Visible 10.2.1 Complexity

153 157 158

10.2.2 Context 10.2.3 Causality 10.2.4 Connections, Networks and Patterns 10.2.5 Qualitative Whole Systems 10.3 Aesthetics and Ecological Perception 10.4 Conclusion

160 162 164 166 168 171

Part 4 – Praxis 11. Praxis 11.1 Practice-based Processes and Activities 11.2 Description of the Design Process Model 11.3 Deliverables 1. Triangle 1 2. Triangle 2 3. Triangle 3 4. Teach-in – postcard 5. Teach-in – poster 6. Teach-in – logo & identity 7. Teach-in – programme 8. The Teach-in itself 9. Teach-in – slideshow 10.Teach-in – Ten-Point Checklist for Universities 11. Teach-in – 2012 Imperative 12. Teach-in – Ning website 13. Teach in – Questionnaires 14. Teach-in – Case Study 15. PhD poster – The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy 16. Literature Review - Epistemological Error 17. Literature Review - Patterns and Processes of Nature 18. Literature Review - Constellations 19. Literature Review - Triangle Levels of Learning/Paradigm Models 20. Literature Review - Tree Diagram 21. Methodology - Research Design 22. Methodology - Theory and Practice 23. Methodology - Action Research Spiral 24. Methodology - Design & TL Strategies for Ecological Literacy 25. Methodology - Working with Systems: EL in Higher Education 26. Cognitive Map 1 - Strategies Towards Acknowledgment 27. Cognitive Map 2 - Denial in EC: The Psychology of Crisis 28. Cognitive Map 3 - Discursive Models 29. Cognitive Map 4 - Econopoly: Economics and Ecosystems 30. Cognitive Map5 - Six Modernist Ds 31. Cognitive Map - Planetary Boundaries 32. Eco-Literacy Map 33. Ten Steps of Transformative Learning for EL 11.4 Praxis Summary 11.4.1 Action Research in Praxis 11.4.2 Transformative Learning in Praxis 11.4.3 Graphic Design in Praxis 11.5 Praxis Conclusion

175 175 179 180 180 182 184 186 188 190 192 194 196 198 200 202 204 206 210 212 214 216 218 220 222 224 226 228 230 232 234 236 238 240 242 244 246 250 250 251 254 254

Thesis Conclusion

255

Bibliography

261

List of Figures Figure 1.1 Figure 1.2 Figure 1.3 Figure 1.4 Figure 1.5 Figure 1.6 Figure 1.7 Figure 1.8 Figure 1.9 Figure 1.10 Figure 1.11 Figure 1.12

Urpflanz Six Modernist Ds Constellations of Ecological Literacy Systemic Levels of Knowing Three Parts of a Paradigm Disengaged Ontological Embeddedness Globes in Epistemological Error Embedded Systems The Stable and Unstable Constellation of Three Economies Triangle No.2 - Systems as Embedded and Interdependent Triangle No.3 - Systems as Interdependent

Figure 2.1 Figure 2.2 Figure 2.3

Acanthophracta, Prosobranchia, Stephoidea and Phaeodaria Haeckel’s artwork from Die Radiolarien Places to Intervene in a System

Figure 3.0 Figure 3.1 Figure 3.2 Figure 3.3 Figure 3.4 Figure 3.5 Figure 3.6 Figure 3.7

Patterns and Processes of Nature Networks Nested Systems Cycles Flow Development Dynamic Balance Planetary Boundaries

Figure 4.1 Figure 4.2 Figure 4.3 Figure 4.4 Figure 4.5 Figure 4.6 Figure 4.7 Figure 4.8 Figure 4.9 Figure 4.10 Figure 4.11 Figure 4.12 Figure 4.13 Figure 4.14 Figure 4.15 Figure 4.16 Figure 4.17 Figure 4.18 Figure 4.19 Figure 4.20 Figure 4.21 Figure 4.22 Figure 4.23 Figure 4.24 Figure 4.25

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy PhD Poster Sustainability Literacy in Higher Education: Levels and Types of Obstacles System diagram: Sustainability in Higher Education Technological Fixes do not Work Ecological Illiteracy in Higher Education Communication Design Strategies for Ecological Literacy Arctic ice 1997-2007 The Game Plan UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions Carbon Stocks Six Degrees ABCD Scenarios Guangdong Plastic Toy Parts Midway: Message from the Gyre Cereal Killer. Food, Fibre and Forest Product A Little Big Apocalyse We have Four: Pick One The Syntax of a New Language’ in Visual Complexity Califormia Cycles The Oil Age: World Oil Production 1859–2050 Haeckel’s drawings of Embryos Out of Equilibrium: The Game Plan The Values / Action Gap Good Design Flower

Figure 5.1 Figure 5.2

Teach-in postcard Examples of codified images used by Paulo Friere

Figure 6.1 Figure 6.2

Teach-in poster Ten Phases of TL for Sustainable Design Education

Figure 7.1

Methodology Diagram No.2: Embedded Systems in Research Design

Figure 7.2 Figure 7.3 Figure 7.4 Figure 7.5 Figure 7.6 Figure 7.7 Figure 7.8

Four Stages of Action Researh Design Method: Research Design Methodology Diagram No.3 Methodology Diagram No.3b Methodology Diagram No.1: Research Design Types of other Documentation: Ecopsychology Sketch Methodology Illustration

Figure 8.1 Figure 8.2 Figure 8.3 Figure 8.4 Figure 8.5 Figure 8.6 Figure 8.7 Figure 8.8 Figure 8.9 Figure 8.10 Figure 8.11 Figure 8.12 Figure 8.13

Diesel Adverts Symbolic Violence Symbolic Violence No.2 The Living Principles and Ecological Identity The Living Principles and Ecological Identity History of EcoSocial Movements 1840-1995 (1999) Drysek’s environmental discourses Drysek’s environmental discourses Discursive Model: Disaster Capitalism in EC - No.1 Discursive Model: Disaster Capitalism in EC - No.2 Econopoly: Economics and Ecosystems Circumplex model of values Schwartz’s value circumplex

Figure 9.1 Figure 9.2 Figure 9.3 Figure 9.3b Figure 9.4

The Psychology of Crisis. Mapping Strategies of Denial No.1 The Psychology of Ecological Crisis: Mapping Strategies of Denial No.2 Sketch for Strategies towards Acknowledgement Sketch for Strategies towards Acknowledgement Strategies towards Acknowledgement

Figure 10.0.1 Figure 10.0.2 Figure 10.1.1 Figure 10.1.2 Figure 10.1.3 Figure 10.1.4 Figure 10.1.5 Figure 10.2.1 Figure 10.2.2 Figure 10.3.1 Figure 10.3.2 Figure 10.3.3 Figure 10.4.1 Figure 10.4.2 Figure 10.5.1 Figure 10.5.2

Rushkoff’s Map of Media Power over Time Topic Map: How Scientific Paradigms Relate The Oil Age: World Oil Production 1859–2050 National Water for Agricultural Products How Long Will it Last? Gapminder World Map 2010 Enviromental Balance - Federlegno Environmental Report 2008 Biodiversity, as a ratio or species abundance before human impacts Califormia Nation under Siege. Sea Level Rise at Our Doorstep An Atlas of Pollution: The World in Carbon Dioxide Emissions The Crises of Capitalism with David Harvey World Finance Corporation and Associates. ca. 1970-84 George Bush, Harken Energy and Jackson Stephens The True Cost of Coal Map of Humanity

Figure 11.1 Figure 11.2 Figure 11.3 Figure 11.4 Praxis 1 Praxis 2 Praxis 3 Praxis 4 Praxis 5 Praxis 6 Praxis 7 Praxis 8 Praxis 9 Praxis 10

Action research cycle Stages of the design process Methodolog: Action Research Spiral Methodology: Research Design Triangle Graphic no.1 Triangle Graphic no.2 Triangle Graphic no.3 Teach-in postcard Teach-in poster A2 Teach-in logo & identity Teach-in programme The Teach-in itself Teach-in slideshow Ten-Step Plan for Universities

Praxis 11 Praxis 12 Praxis 13 Praxis 14 Praxis 15 Praxis 16 Praxis 17 Praxis 18 Praxis 19 Praxis 20 Praxis 21 Praxis 22 Praxis 23 Praxis 24 Praxis 25 Praxis 26 Praxis 27 Praxis 28 Praxis 29 Praxis 30 Praxis 31 Praxis 32 Praxis 33 Figure 11.5

2012 Imperative Teach-in Ning site Teach in Questionnaire Teach-in Case Study The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy Literature Review - Epistemological Error Literature Review - Patterns and Processes of Nature Literature Review - Constellations Literature Review - Triangle Paradigm Model Literature Review - Tree Diagram Methodology - Research Diagram Methodology - Research Diagram No.2 Methodology - Research Diagram No.3 Methodology - Design Strategies for Ecological Literacy Method: Working with Systems: EL in Higher Education Cognitive Map No.1 - Strategies Towards Acknowledgment Cognitive Map No.2 - The Psychology of Crisis Cognitive Map No.3 - Discursive Models Cognitive Map No.4 - Econopoly: Economics and Ecosystems Cognitive Map No.5 - Six Modernist Ds Cognitive Map No.6 - Planetary Boundaries Eco-Literacy Map Ten Steps of Transformative Learning for Ecological Literacy Ten Steps of Transformative Learning for Ecological Literacy

Part One: Ecological Theory

Preface I grew up in Guelph in Ontario, Canada; a city near Toronto with a university best known for its agricultural college. My family spent long summer holidays in Vermont, New England where I learned to love walking and hiking in the Green Mountains, the upper part of the Appalachian Mountains range. My mother grew up in Vermont in a household where the reality that daughters were less important than sons was manifested by sharply contrasting privileges and responsibilities. She became a professor of psychology and started a women’s studies department at the University of Guelph. I sat through many women’s studies seminars when childcare was not available and enjoyed reading the journals of firsthand accounts that students wrote about growing up female and their development of political consciousness. My mother died in a car crash in 2001 but my childhood memories of the women’s studies classes inspired my interest in critical consciousness, which are developed in this thesis. My father was a history professor who specialized in modern history and the contemporary arms race. He had the bad fortune to have been taken from Canada to Germany in 1936 by his parents and spent a good part of the war years as a child in an internment camp for enemy aliens. My father’s PhD, A Sociography of the SS Officers Corps 1925-1939, reveals the contours of the growth of fascism in Germany. Although it is always far easier to look at the faults of other generations rather than our own problems, we now know that seemingly good people can be complicit with the most atrocious evil when that wrong-doing is systemic and supported by ruling institutions. My own questions of the evolution of inherited norms, customs and ideologies grow out of my life experience as my mother and father’s daughter. My sister is now at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Colorado working as a GIS coordinator and mapper of climate change impacts. I founded EcoLabs in 2006 as an ecological literacy initiative that focused on the visual communication of complex environmental ideas. I now live in Brixton, south London, but often escape to the mountains in Wales where some of this work was written. This thesis is dedicated to my mother, Joanna Bartlett Boehnert (1939-2001).

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy - J.Boehnert - PhD 2012

Part One: Ecological Theory

Introduction Whether or not we are interested in ‘the environment’ or identify with the concept of being ‘an environmentalist’ each of us is entirely dependent on the air we breathe, the food we eat and the environment we inhabit for life. Despite this basic fact, statements about our connections with the natural world are often interpreted as platitudinous and widely dismissed. We have inherited a highly reductive intellectual tradition and worldview in profound denial of our fundamental interdependence with the natural world. We are embedded within the natural world and dependent on ecological systems for life but our belief systems do not reflect this basic relationship. Consequently, the world we have designed is deeply unsustainable. This thesis argues that fragmentary thinking is an obstacle to sustainability and that reductive attitudes towards knowledge cannot address problems associated with complex ecological systems – or social and economic systems. Responding to this dilemma, this project uses a whole systems approach, facilitated by the visual communication of ecological literacy (EL). Ecological literacy creates the frame of mind that recognizes ecological embeddedness and adjusts cultural priorities appropriately. Ecological literacy is a powerful concept providing an integrated foundation for the understanding of environmental problems and solutions. However, ecological literacy has largely failed to spread across disciplinary boundaries in the two decades since the concept was conceived and remains marginal in education, policy and practice. This thesis proposes that communication design, informed by diverse traditions such as social theory and critical pedagogy, has the potential to facilitate large-scale learning processes to mainstream ecological literacy. Furthermore, communication design has unique properties that can nurture the development of new cognitive capacities and ecological perception. This thesis examines what it means to be ecologically literate. Ecological literacy is a philosophical and educational programme for recognition of humankind’s essential relationship with the Earth and re-visioning educational, social, political and economic priorities to acknowledge this basic fact. Following the chain of consequences and the discovery of interdependence, ecological understanding reveals the fundamental ethical nature of environmental problems. As such it is a necessity for informed decision making for citizens in societies with the industrial capacity to severely disturb ecological processes. Unfortunately ecological learning can be a profoundly difficult learning process due to the fact that it challenges cultural traditions and basic assumptions. The practice-based work in this thesis aims to facilitate ecological learning. This work is informed wide reaching study of ecological thought and learning and communication theory. The research creates a basis for the practical work of communicating complex issues and navigating the obstacles encountered in environmental communication. The practical work is compiled as 33 individual projects in the Part Four - called Praxis. The praxis is primarily speculative graphic design but also includes other methods. As current design methods are not considered to be reflective of an ecological epistemology, it was necessary to expand the scope of enquiry and integrate methods from action research as well as critical pedagogic practices into the design methodology. The practice-based work was created in four cycles of action research. It aims to visually communicate EL with a focus on audiences in the design industry and design education. This research serves to synthesise different traditions and brings ideas from adjacent disciplines into design theory and practice while producing new visual displays and transformative learning (TL) processes. 15

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy - J.Boehnert - PhD 2012

Research Questions Q1: What is ecological literacy? Q2: How can the value/action gap be bridged? Q3: How can visual communication nurture ecological perception? These questions have been investigated in both theory and practice and are addressed in a variety of ways throughout this thesis. The main contributions of this thesis are: 1) a socially and politically responsive approach to communication design; 2) an overview, synthesis and re-presentation of the literature associated with the communication of ecological literacy; 3) the creation of new processes and visual resources for ecological learning; and 4) the development of methods for nurturing ecological literacy and perception. Ultimately the work intends to 5) help establish ecological literacy as a foundation for the redesign of sustainable ways of living. Almost everyone loves science when it sparks innovation, but attitudes swing to bitter acrimony or complete dismissal when science warns us that we are undermining Earth’s tolerance limits. The work of redesigning economic, social and political systems to function in greater sympathy with the Earth’s patterns and processes is an enormous undertaking, requiring revision of many basic assumptions and premises. It will remain impossible to make sustainability possible within a culture that does not value, understand or relate to the ecological system in which it is situated. Our current way of knowing determines that we are incapable of perceiving systemic interconnections between our problems and thus we are ill-prepared to deal with the complexity presented by the converging ecological, social and economic crises. Our culture’s radical discontinuity with nature constitutes an epistemological error that is reproduced in education, media, communication, politics and law resulting in industrial systems that are quietly (and almost invisibly) destroying the ecological systems on which humankind depends. This thesis outlines a communication and pedagogic practice to heal this rift by making visible the ecological consequences of our actions.

0.1 Research Context 0.1.1 Global Ecosystems Report Due to the dramatic changes that humankind is inflicting on Earth systems, scientists warn that we are now exiting the relatively stable Holocene age in which civilization developed (Hansen 2011:6). We are entering a new geological epoch, that of the Anthropocene (Zalasiewciz, Williams, Haywood and Ellis 2011:835) wherein humankind is responsible for altering the functioning of ecological systems. This power over nature has not been accompanied with the foresight to use industrial capacities wisely. Over the past forty years the Living Planet Index (an indicator of the state of biodiversity) has fallen by 30% in Northern Countries. During this time there has been a doubling of demands on the natural systems (WWF 2010:4,6). In the tropical world the Living Planet Index have fallen 60% since 1970 (Ibid:6). This higher number is largely due to the fact that richer nations both source resources and export wastes to the tropics (Ibid:4). At a global level, the yearly ecological footprint of consumption takes 1.5 years of regenerative capacity or ‘biocapacity’(Ibid:32) to replace. Thus biocapacity continues to shrink while consumption rates continue to grow. Even the most basic analysis indicates the extreme danger of this situation. Global ecological systems are in states of crisis. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment warned that: 16

Part One: Ecological Theory

‘human activity is putting such strain on the natural functions of Earth that the ability of the planet’s ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted’ (Assadourian 2010:4). A research project led by Stockholm Resilience Centre has proposed Earth boundary conditions: Anthropogenic pressures on the Earth System have reached a scale where abrupt global environmental change can no longer be excluded... We estimate that humanity has already transgressed three planetary boundaries: for climate change, rate of biodiversity loss, and changes to the global nitrogen cycle. Planetary boundaries are interdependent, because transgressing one may both shift the position of other boundaries or cause them to be transgressed. (Rockstrom et al. 2009:1). Biodiversity is impacted by each of the other proposed Earth systems in this model and thus the consequences for species loss are severe. Climate change tends to get more attention, as the implications of destabilising the Earth’s climate system are perilous. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that climate change is already causing major disruptions in Earth’s systems (2007). More recent studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology study warn that the current trajectory indicated that: Median temperature increases would be 5.1 degrees Celsius by 2100, more than twice as much as the climate model had projected in 2003. A September 2009 study reinforced that finding, stating that business as usual would lead to a 4.5 degree Celsius increase by 2100, and that even if all countries stuck to their most ambitious proposals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, temperatures would still go up by 3.5 degrees Celcius. In other words, policy alone will not be enough. A dramatic shift in the very design of human societies will be essential (Assadourian 2010:5). James Hansen explains that the IPCC WGII (2007) scenario estimates that, if ‘business-as-usual (BAU) CO2 emissions continue this century, between 21% and 52% of all species will be committed to extinction.’ (Hansen 2011:2) Public understanding of tipping points in Earth systems is critical. Hansen explains: ‘…recent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions place the Earth perilously close to dramatic climate change that could run out of our control’ (2007:1). Despite these dangers, humanity’s global carbon footprint has increased by 11-fold since 1961 and by over 1/3 since 1998 (WWF 2010:8) and continues to rise. This brief overview cannot do justice to either the scope of environmental problems or the difficulty in protecting ecosystems while also committing to social and environment justice. Vastly disproportionate responsibility for global ecological problems lies with the rich: ‘the world’s richest 500 million people (roughly 7 percent of the world’s population) are currently responsible for 50 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions’ (Assadourian 2010:6). The first causalities of degraded natural systems are the poor. Healthy ecological systems are a basis for prosperity and a foundation for social justice. While many people see ecological systems as having value outside of their worth for humankind, even if we have no regard for nature, the destablisation of global ecological systems creates grave risks for humanity. Addressing environmental problems is a basic imperative.

0.1.2 The Crisis Discipline and the Market Communication design has a responsibility to respond to the crises in the Earth sciences described above. Social communication determines a civilization’s capacity to respond to environmental problems. While complexity has been proposed as a central cause of historical ecological collapse (Tainter 1988) it is also a society’s response to signals of environmental danger that influences its capacity to avoid collapse (Diamond 2005). Environmental communication design must engage with complexity in order to function as feedback signals of systemic danger to both warn populations 17

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy - J.Boehnert - PhD 2012

and facilitate appropriate responsive social change. Communication is key to mobilizing responses at moments of contingency. Communication designers are central to this enterprise. This thesis aims to help communication designers assume the role of acknowledging environmental communication design as a crisis discipline and to facilitate practices that could achieve ecological literacy. The interface between the crisis discipline of communication design and the market economy (or capitalism) is a recurrent issue throughout this thesis. The contradictions and systemic priorities created by market processes are critical to understanding the cause of environmental communication failures. This introduction offers a brief overview of these tensions as the political context in which the rest of the research is situated. While an analysis of the economic drivers of the ecological crisis is beyond the scope of this thesis it is necessary to briefly review why it is structurally impossible to create sustainability in a financial system fixated on quantitative growth. The obsession with growth as measured by increasing GNP demands the constant increase in the flow of ecological resources. Mechanical engineer Professor Roderick Smith describes the material consequences of world GDP growth: …relatively modest annual percentage growth rates lead to surprisingly short doubling times. Thus, a 3% growth rate, which is typical of the rate of a developed economy, leads to a doubling time of just over 23 years. The 10% rates of rapidly developing economies double the size of the economy in just under 7 years. These figures come as a surprise to many people, but the real surprise is that each successive doubling period consumes as much resource as all the previous doubling periods combined. This little appreciated fact lies at the heart of why our current economic model is unsustainable (Smith 2007:17). The basic contradiction of growth-oriented capitalism is that it is dependent on a premise that is physically impossible. Infinite quantitative growth is unachievable within a finite ecological system. Herman Daly describes the need for ‘a system that permits qualitative development but not aggregate quantitative growth’ (Daly 2008:1) Daly points out that growth’s first, literal dictionary definition is ‘to spring up and develop to maturity’ and ‘thus the very notion of growth includes some concept of maturity or sufficiency, beyond which point physical accumulation gives way to physical maintenance’ (Daly in Simms, Johnson & Chowla 2010:4). Fritjof Capra and Hazel Henderson’s report Qualitative Growth describes the difference between good and bad growth: ‘Good growth is growth of more efficient production processes and services which fully internalise costs that involve renewable energies, zero emissions, continual recycling of natural resources and restoration of the Earth’s ecosystems’ (Capra & Henderson 2009:9). Fundamentally, a financial system reliant on quantitative economic growth demands an ever increasing flow of resources and energy. This growth depends on natural resources extracted from the Earth moving through the economic system and generally returning to the ecological system as waste. The focus on profit and growth in capitalism marginalizes other systemic priorities or values to the point of obscurity and also results in severe distortion of knowledge in environment communication. The capacity of the system to support truthful knowledge is weakened because the systemic priorities of the market strongly influence or control communciation channels (including educational systems). Perspectives privileging the interests of industry distort knowledge of the implications of ecological disturbances and the limits of ecological systems. Public exposure to truthful information on the state of ecological issues is a direct threat to powerful industries (especially the fossil fuel industry, the meat industry, industrial agriculture, mining and biotechnology) and so information on the consequences of industrial activities are obscured, hidden and made invisible in the public domain. It is not 18

Part One: Ecological Theory

surprising that in this context motivating pro-environmental change is extraordinarily difficult. Despite the best intentions of well-meaning designers and communicators, structural obstacles designed into the market economy make sustainability virtually impossible under current economic and political systemic conditions. The Herculean task of helping the public understand the nature of the environmental dangers is severely compromised by the dominance of advertising and the marginalization of environmental messaging. The advertising industry creates a vision of nature as open to exploitation. The UK advertising industry, worth £17,318,000,000 in 2008 (1.2% of GDP) (World Advertising Research Centre 2009:7) has plentiful resources to communicate a view of nature that suits the needs of industry and convince the public that new products and business as usual is sustainable. Design skills are harnessed to help advertisers communicate attitudes and values supporting consumer capitalism. Advertising offers highly paid work for graphic designers but a recent report by the new economics foundation (nef) found that ‘for every £1 of value created by an advertising executive, £11.50 is destroyed’ (Lawlor, Kersley & Steed 2009:4). Meanwhile this visibility of corporate advertising marginalizes environmental concerns to the point of obscurity. Truthful information on the state of Earth’s systems cannot compete with the information overload by advertisers characterizing nature as infinitely exploitable. Consider that the largest campaigning environmental organization in the UK (WWF) is only the 100th largest UK charity and the three largest campaigning environmental NGOs in the UK (WWF, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace) have less than have 0.04% of the gross advertising expenditure to establish a visibility in an advert-dominated public domain (these statistics are presented in detail in Chapter Eight). The government has the primary responsibility for strategic environmental planning and in 2008 the Sustainable Development Commission UK (SDC) published Prosperity Without Growth, an analysis of how quantitative market growth threatens not only social well-being and ecological sustainability but now even economic prosperity. Author Tim Jackson describes infinite economic growth within a finite environment as a contradiction in terms. Neither decoupling nor technological fixes can solve the structural problems in the market economy dedicated to quantitative growth due to the ever increasing need for natural resources and energy. The UK government effectively ignored the warnings of the SDC and in 2010 the Sustainable Development Commission, with an annual budget of only £3 million and the government’s only independent environmental watchdog and advisory body, was abolished. At £3 million/year the SDC costs the UK government the equivalent of a few metres of motorway1. The termination of the SDC demonstrates deep antipathy for independent environmental analysis by governing institutions who systemically prioritize the needs of industry over those of the natural world. Changing the economic system to acknowledge social and environmental priorities will require profound shifts in governance systems and corporate culture. This thesis will argue these transitions can be facilitated by design informed by ecological literacy. This transformation, however, will ultimately be dependent on design becoming liberated from the systemic goals of the market economy. As crisis conditions continue to escalate more people are recognizing the inherent contradictions in capitalism. The design of the market itself is the most critical design problem for those of us who recognize the context in which the market is situated as the social and ecological. Although shifting systemic priorities to recognize context is difficult, there is no other choice but to face the problems humankind has created through unsustainable development. Facilitating ecological and whole systems learning is a basic imperative. 1 The M74 extension is about to open in Glasgow at a cost of £692m, which works out at £138.4m per mile (Castella 2011:1). 19

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy - J.Boehnert - PhD 2012

0.2 Summary Part One: Theory Part One explores the theoretical and philosophical foundations of ecological thought, its history and exactly what it means to be ecologically literate. Chapter One examines problems arising from the Western philosophical tradition of reductionism, mechanism, dualism, rationalism and a radical disconnection with nature. This chapter introduces ecological rationality, ontology, epistemology and ethics. Chapter Two examines the development of both ecology and ecological literacy, proposes a new typology of EL and describes the relationship of ecological literacy to the concept of sustainability. Chapter Three briefly describes patterns and processes in ecology and how these could inform ecological design. Part Two: Methodology Part Two examines methodologies and methods appropriate for research and practice in ecological literacy. Ecological thought challenges many of the conceptual frameworks that moderate perception (i.e. paradigms) and requires methodologies that reflect shifting epistemic positions. Traditional research methods exhibit critical flaws when examined from a whole systems perspective including a problematic gap between theory and practice. This thesis’ research methodologies are a combination of design research (Chapter Four) and action research (Chapter Five). Action research is necessary due to its focus on participation, its awareness of how power influences knowledge and its epistemological insights. Transformative learning is introduced in Chapter Six as a process with the potential to transcend the value/action gap. Chapter Seven describes the choice of methods within this thesis. The methods combine critical whole systems thinking within transformational learning processes in a politically engaged communication design practice. The research design consists of a series of iterations involving design, analysis and redesign. Part Three: Communication Part Three explores the synthesis of theory and practice in environmental communication (EC). Chapter Eight examines issues of crisis, power, discourse, identity and values in EC. Chapter Nine explores insights from studies of denial, psychology and cognitive science in order to understand failures in EC. Ultimately, successful EC depends on acknowledging a personal relationship to the wider environment, described in this thesis as the development of ‘ecological self’. Chapter Ten investigates visual communication design. The final chapter proposes that visuals can facilitate the communication of ecological concepts due to their ability to circumvent fragmentation and support the development of perceptual practices for relational ways of thinking. Visual communication design is capable of communicating complexity, context, connections, causality, quantity and quality thereby facilitating emergent ecological perception. Part Four: Praxis Praxis is the documentation of the practice-based work. The projects are displayed here (although the work itself was created for specific context and thus some of the images are not legible – many were designed as A1 posters). Graphic work was created throughout the research project. Here each project is displayed with notes on how it responds to the design method developed for this research. These images develop content introduced in the Parts One and Three, using methods introduced in Part Two. The practice-based work not only communicates EL but often functions as part of a knowledge building process.

Part One: Ecological Theory

0.3 Contributions and Limitations This thesis proposes that visual communication can contribute to the development of ecological literacy. The practical work visualises issues, discourses, dynamics, causalities, frameworks, concepts and networks of ecological thought. The visuals synthesise findings from transdisciplinary research, communicates complex webs of interdependence and reveal patterns in complex systems. This project contributes to fast-moving discourses on sustainability by using visual language to contextualize information and make links between disparate knowledge systems. A whole systems overview has inherent weaknesses in its expansive scope. I believe that this limitation must be encountered rather than avoided in pursuit of ivory tower standards of academic rigour.2 Research fulfils its social function through dealing with society’s most pressing problems. These problems are inherently complex and transdisciplinary. Effective engagement with real issues is not possible with purist methodologies and narrow disciplinary boundaries. Academic tradition generally requires doctorate candidates to focus on a small part of a particular discipline and some readers might be concerned with the expansive breathe of this thesis. Perhaps some mistakes have been made as the potential for error is magnified when commenting across different disciplines. Nevertheless, I defend this approach by asserting that the standards of rigour are often tightened at the expense of relevancy. This thesis has committed to take a systemic overview as a necessary approach to address ecological problems which literally cannot be understood, much less resolved, from a reductive perceptive. Reductive attitudes toward knowledge sit at the very core of our current problems. Design is by nature ‘both interdisciplinary and integrative’ (Friedman 2000:21) and ecological literacy itself spans across disciplinary traditions, so this thesis is fundamentally transdisciplinary. In some cases this thesis reviews other people’s work rather than contributing new knowledge. Although this is the case with all research, because the point of the research is the ‘communication’ of a topic, the review, analysis, synthesis and re-interpretation of previous work is part of the practice of communication design. Displaying relationships and re-contextualising information is part of the contribution. This practice is integrated into all chapters as a goal of the research is to build new communicative tools to disseminate ecological literacy. My research questions have been continually reviewed through an iteration process that has allowed me to reflect on my practice at every stage of the research. While I developed my practice-based work around my interpretation of research literature, I was also able to inform my written work from knowledge gained from practice. A contribution is the design methodology (informed by insights and practices from action research, transformative learning, critical pedagogy and various design methodologies) and the practice-based work itself (informed by an even wider ranger of disciplines). I have attempted to write, as much as possible, in an accessible manner and avoided the opaque language that far too often keeps ideas from contributing outside the academy. I have designed the thesis with text on both sides of the paper to avoid the paper waste that is standard in doctoral thesis. Each of our customs that perpetuate unsustainable practice must be challenged. This research has been able to offer many valuable contributions as this field of study is under-researched relative to the seriousness of these issues. 2 Occasionally in this thesis I inject my own, first person voice. I believe this is sometimes necessary when describing a personal position or referring to the design practice wherein I need to articulate my position as the designer. The use of the third person is a technique taught to reflect objective reality, which is not consistent within a participative, ecological whole systems paradigm. I use third person in order to conform to academic standard, although both design and action research encourage the personal voice. With an emphasis on practice and pragmatic knowing (rather than abstract knowing) the third person style is no longer an exclusive modality (see ‘ways of knowing’ - 5.3). 21

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy - J.Boehnert - PhD 2012

Part One: Ecological Theory

Part One Ecological Theory

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy - J.Boehnert - PhD 2012

Part One: Ecological Theory

Chapter 1 Ecological Philosophy 1.0 Introduction One of the premises of this thesis is that there is great distance between accepting something as an intellectual truism and perceiving, thinking and acting according to this position. Another major theme is that the current way of knowing, the dominant cultural paradigm in the West is such that we are unable to deal with the complex, interconnected world in which we are situated. We suffer from an inadequate epistemology that manifests itself in our perception of the world and in our actions. Our current way of knowing determines that we are incapable of perceiving systemic interconnections between our problems and ill prepared to deal with the complexity presented by converging ecological, social and economic crises. Furthermore, hegemonic ideological, ontological and epistemological premises succeed in part because of how its infrastructure – both physical and metaphysical, is not visible. It is not that humankind cannot deal with interconnectedness and interdependence, but that this reality is effectively being hidden from us by the complexity of current conditions and the legacy of error in premises inherited from modernity. An emergent whole systems paradigm is grounded in a paradigm of relation and participation with the natural world, recognizing essential ecological embeddedness on both ontological and epistemological levels. Ontology is the study of the nature of being. Epistemology is the study of ways of knowing. In brief, ecological ontology describes our essential embeddedness as participants of ecological processes. Ecological epistemology is the way of knowing that recognizes embeddedness in ecological systems. The notion that the dominant ontological and epistemological positions are ecologically ill informed and as such are poor reflections of reality has been described in detail by cultural commentators in multiple fields (Bertalanffry 1969; Bateson 1972; Orr 1992; Capra 1982,1997; Bohm 1992; Sterling 2001; Lazlo 2005; Meadows 2008). This chapter will define the philosophical basis of ecological thought by explaining: 1) the historical emergence of ecological thought; 2) the power of paradigms to determine assumptions; 3) a crisis of reason; 4) ecological embeddedness as ontology; 5) the concept of epistemological error; and 6) ecological ethics. Ideas will be synthesized and re-contextualised to inform ecological literacy as a pedagogic priority. Finally, the chapter will begin to briefly explore how communication design can help build perceptual and cognitive capacities for an ecological rationality, ontology, epistemology and ethic. This chapter will examine the ecological paradigm as a profound challenge to the individualism, anthropocentrism and dualism in the western philosophical tradition and how communication design is in the position to help facilitate emergent ecological understanding. ‘Modernity’ in this thesis refers to the contemporary worldview in the West inherited from enlightenment science, Christianity and patriarchy. Modernity was largely born out of the scientific revolution (16th – 17th century) and the resulting traditions that assume that reality is objective and knowable through independent observation and empirical research methods. This worldview has been subject to intense criticism for its inherent reductionism and mechanism – amongst other recognized difficulties. Ecofeminist analysis asserts that modernity was founded on the ‘logic of domination’ of both women and nature (Warren 2001:256). The sum effect is a lack of awareness of our fundamental dependence on the natural world. While there is no absolute consensus on the nature of reality, the

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy - J.Boehnert - PhD 2012

dominant descriptions are the theoretical building blocks of the ruling institutions (scientific, political and cultural). These also form the basis of shared assumptions creating the cultural fabric and social order. Although ‘modernity’ is largely characterized negatively in this thesis, this should not be interpreted as anti-modern but rather as highly critical of a type of modernity that disengages from the ecological processes of which we are a part. Modernity is described as encompassing both western scientific positivism tradition and deconstructive post-modernism3. This chapter will explore the philosophical frameworks underlying modernity and describe an emergent whole systems ecological paradigm as a more appropriate model for understanding complex systems. Modernity is essentially ecologically illiterate in terms of its failure to acknowledge our embeddedness in nature and in its conception of the human/nature interface. As such, modernity has created the philosophical foundation leading to converging crises, both ecological and socio-economic.

1.1 The Emergence of Ecological Thought The conditions of modernity have arisen partially from western positivist science. Some of its origins are much older. Nevertheless, the scientific revolution saw a complete change in ontology and epistemology from earlier periods, replacing the geocentric view of the Bible with Copernicus’ heliocentric theory of the movement of planets, Galileo’s theory of gravitational bodies, Frances Bacon’s empiricism, Rene Descartes’ rationalism and Isaac Newton’s mechanism (Sousa Santo 2007:17). The result was a new perception and conception of the world. The vision of nature as a machine was born as ‘a mechanism whose elements can be disassembled and then put back together again’ (Ibid:17). Stephen Sterling describes this new worldview as ‘an ontology which emphasized a mechanistic cosmology, which was primarily determinist, and materialist; and an epistemology that was objectivist, positivist, reductive and dualist’ (2003:143). Enlightenment science and positivism set the stage for the unfolding of industrial exploitation of nature by creating a legitimizing conceptual framework as a basis on which industrial society is built. Even a brief exploration of its philosophical underpinnings are ridden with ethical problems, ontological difficulties and even rational contradictions (rationalist contradictions will be explored in The Crisis of Reason – see 1.3). Carolyn Merchant describes how Frances Bacon used metaphors that treat ‘nature as a female to be tortured through mechanical inventions’ (Merchant 2001:277) and thus embedded problematic sexual politics into the tombs of enlightenment science. Bacon described the role of science as a means to put nature into ‘constraints’, made a ‘slave’ and to be ‘bound into service’ (Bacon in Merchant 2001:277). Scientific methods should not just ‘exert gentle guidance over nature’s course; they have the power to conquer and subdue her, to shake her to the foundations’ (Ibid: 279). Bacon created a powerful cultural metaphor of nature as female to be controlled: The removal of the animistic, organic assumptions about the cosmos constituted the death of nature – the most far-reaching effect of the scientific revolution. Because nature was now viewed as a system of dead, inert, particles moved by external, rather than inherent forces, the mechanical framework itself could legitimize the manipulation of nature (Merchant 2001:281). Bacon’s misogynistic rhetoric is reflective of an attitude towards nature that is deeply problematic. The enlightenment philosophical tradition is based on an epistemology and ontology that are radically reductive and mechanical. It conceives of human society as separate from nature. Modernity’s conception of the world is largely based on these presuppositions which have all been subject to intense critique over the past century. 3 This thesis considers post-modernism to be ‘ultra-modernism’ as suggested by Griffin (1992) and explained in this chapter. 26

Part One: Ecological Theory

Figure 1.1 - Urpflanz. Goethe’s booklet The Metamorphosis of Plants (1790) describes and illustrates the archetypal plant, die urpflanze, the primal plant. Sketches such as this imaginary plant were part of Goethe’s method, known as ‘delicate empiricism’. Source: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Opposition to the enlightenment tradition in positivist science has a long history. A century before the recognition by physicists in the early 20th century of the observer as a participant within a process of knowledge making, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832) created a scientific methodology based on participation and active engagement with the object under study (see Figure 1.1). Daniel Wahl explains that Goethean science can ‘lead us see beyond perceptual blind spots of a strict adherence to scientific epistemology and Cartesian dualism of self and world’ (2005:59). Goethe’s method acknowledges personal involvement and ‘recognizes the observer as a participant’ (Ibid:59) in the early 19th century. The opposition to positivism gained scientific credibility in the early 20th century when Einstein and other quantum physicists demonstrated that the process of acquiring knowledge and the product of knowledge are inseparable (Santo 2007:37). Pragmatist philosophers John Dewey and Charles Pierce developed the notion of the primacy of experience over theory based on a philosophical critique of Cartesian science (Ehrenfeld 2008:94). The 20th century saw increasing criticism of positivism culminating perhaps with Vandana Shiva’s paper Reductionist Science as Epistemological Violence which critiqued positivist science for its inherent arrogance and its role in creating the ecological crisis; ‘Reductionist science is also at the root of the growing ecological crisis, because it entails a transformation of nature such that the processes, regularities and regenerative capacity of nature are destroyed’ (Shiva 1988:unpaginated). Positivist science ‘destroys’ nature first by objectifying it, creating caricatures that erase complexity, such that ‘knowledge gains in rigour what it loses in richness’ (Santos 2007:27). The intense criticism of positivism has created the ground for ecological thought to emerge in the sciences and social sciences alike.

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy - J.Boehnert - PhD 2012

Figure 1.2 - Six Modernist Ds. Praxis No.30. Visualisation of the concept of the Six Modernist Ds. Source: J.Boehnert 2011

Following the multi-faceted 20th century critique of positivism, a paradigm arose that supports the belief in socially constructed, subjectively based reality. This new deconstructive ‘post-modernism’ is a dominant position in intellectual inquiry in the social sciences and the arts although it has its own set of limitations (Spretnak 1997; Plumwood 2002; Sterling 2003; Reason 2006). Arguing that concepts such a language, knowledge systems and culture are socially constructed, all knowledge and ‘truth’ become relative to one’s personal point of view. Spretnak argues that an exclusive focus on social construction denies ‘the power and presence of nature’ and in this way it supports the ‘existing parameter of the modern worldview’ (Spretnak 1997:66). By failing to challenge the core discontinuities of modernity, deconstructionism is held to be hyper-modernity or ultra-modernity (Griffin in Spretnak 1997:223) rather than post-modernity. Like positivism, deconstructionism is still ‘disembodied, disembedded and decontextualized’ (Sterling 2003:222) and modernity’s ‘repression of the real’ continues (Spretnak 1997). Spretnak contends that a truly post-modern alternative ‘would counter the modern ideological flight from body, nature and place’ (1997:223). The arts have been central to the reclaiming of the body in intellectual discourse but the failure to make the jump across disciplines to engage with ecological and political discourses has meant that this corporal focus has generally not resulted in an engaged ecological politics or a cultural transformation. Briefly and in extreme simplification, positivism attempts to deny ecological embeddedness by placing itself both outside of nature and in control of nature. Deconstructionism denies ecological reality by arguing that all knowledge is socially constructed. Both positivism and post-modern deconstructionism are characterized by what this thesis calls ‘Six Modernist Ds’: disembodied, dis-embedded, de-contextualized, disengaged, disconnected and in denial.

Part One: Ecological Theory

Feminism, with its legacy of struggle to pull half of the human race out of oppression, has in places contributed a deep reaching critique of modernity as a conceptual framework sanctioning the domination of women. Building on feminist thought, ecofeminists extended the critique of subjugation of women to the subjugation of the natural world. Ecofeminists have demonstrated that similar intellectual strategies are used for the domination of nature. Feminist analyses place the historical roots of cultural frameworks of domination emerging at different times: Raine Eisler’s The Chalice and the Blade (1988) as the 6th-3rd century B.C.; Carolyn Merchant’s The Death of Nature (1980) as between the 16th -18th century; and Val Plumwood’s Environmental Culture: The Ecological Crisis of Reason (2002) with the tradition of rationality in the West – starting in Greece but coming to a fruition in the scientific revolution (3rd century B.C. -18th century). There is some truth in all accounts as each era contributed to the logic of domination that was apparent in the basic belief, values, attitudes and assumptions toward women that the feminist movement resisted, critiqued and eventually transformed (at least partially). Feminist philosopher Karen Warren describes why feminism is essential for environmentalists: A responsible environmental ethic must embrace feminism. Otherwise even the seemingly most revolutionary, liberational, and holistic ethic will fail to take seriously the interconnected dominations of nature and women that are so much a part of the historical legacy and conceptual framework that sanctions the exploitation of nonhuman nature (Warren 2001 [1990]:337). According to Warren, an understanding of the connections between oppressions of woman and nature is critical because it accurately represents historical reality; it is necessary to understand the logic of domination; and finally because feminist analysis reveals how domination works and which strategies have worked to resist domination (Ibid:337). The oppression of woman, human ‘others’ and the non-human ‘others’ are all connected (Ibid:322). Feminist analysis reveals the unjust conceptual frameworks, social conditions and institutional practices supporting domination. Liberatory feminist analysis and practice is integral to several of the main arguments throughout this thesis. Relativism is appealing to feminists and others because it acknowledges the socially constructed nature of cultures and belief systems, but as already noted, relativism creates new problems in failing to address moral issues. Relativism refers to the philosophical position where truth is seen as relative to context and perception. It has gained traction due to the dominance of post-structuralism and deconstructionism in academia. Yet the destruction of global ecological systems is not an intellectual construct but a material reality. Relativism is important in the context of this thesis as it is a prominent intellectual strategy used as a means of denying responsibility for action in response to ecological crisis. Spretnak claims that relativism has ‘confused our relationship with the real’ (1997:4) resulting in what she identifies as the ‘repression of the real’ (Ibid:5) and ‘ideologies of denial’ (Ibid:8). Within relativism ‘all knowledge and “truth” are relative, our actual reality is utterly groundless’ (Ibid:64). Ethical relativism ‘characterizes and exacerbates rootlessness of meaninglessness’ (Reason and Bradbury 2006:6). Responses to environmental problems under the influence of relativism are weak because relativism creates an excuse to disengage from moral philosophies. Ethical relativism creates an ethical void where we need an embodied, embedded, engaged and ethical platform for action - the ‘Four Es’ in response to the ‘Six Ds’. In light of these multiple critiques of modernity, new forms of knowledge aiming for wholeness and participation have contributed to the emergence of an ecological paradigm. Supporting a worldview that describes our complex interdependency with the natural world, a whole systems ecological paradigm is necessary to underpin effective practice across disciplines. Ideas presented in this thesis

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy - J.Boehnert - PhD 2012

Visual Language

Crompton McCandless

Lombardi Spretnak

Kasser

Humantific Lima

Lakoff

Tufte

Shiva Morelli

Reason

Crisis Discipline

Embeddedness Six Modernist Ds

Design 4.0

Density Design

Harris & Wasilewski

Ecopedagogy

Diamond

Horn

Mezirow

Barry Sterling

Sewall Tainter Leopold

Gray

Roszak

Berry

Cox

Merchant

Epistemelogical Error

Bower

Kahn

Learning Levels

Friere

Macy Warren Bateson

Dewey

Capra

Goethe Cohen

Kuhl

Bateson

Ecoliteracy

Naess Plumwood Cross

Orr

Carson

Gaia Theory

Barabasi

Wilber

Birkeland

Ehrenfeld

Lovelock

Santos

Bohm

Fuller

Lukes

Harding

Manzini

Tonkinwise

Meadows

Thackara

Fry & Willis

Milestone

Symbolic Violence

Goodbun Drysek

Energy Descent

Klein

Sachs

Bourdieu

Daly Hopkins

Holmgren

Foucault

Disaster Capitalism Steady State Jackson

Foster

Harvey

Figure 1.3 - Constellations of Ecological Literacy. Praxis No.18. Visualisation of PhD themes as constellations. Source: J.Boehnert 2011

resonate with the deep ecology approach originated by philosopher Arne Naess. His term ‘deep ecology’, coined in 1972, refers to a movement engaged in deeper questioning of every economic and political decision in public (Naess 2001:195). Harold Glasser explains that the ‘depth’ metaphor refers to the ‘level of problematising’ towards all practices, politics, values and assumptions that propel the ecological crisis (Glasser 2001:205). Naess’ ‘Ecosophy’ describes a world with ‘high degree of symbiosis‘ (Naess in Benson 1999:141), a recognition of the importance of ‘ecospheric belonging’, ‘biophilia’ as a connection with the rest of life, and ‘solidarity’ where a set of common interests is internalized (Naess in Benson 1999:275). For Naess, the move to an ecological society will be a struggle; ‘the frontier of the environmental crisis is long and varied’ (Naess 2001:191) but dialogic non-violent debate will pave the way to an ecologically sane world. While deep ecology has been influential, it is only one of several formulations of ecological thought underpinning current environmental movements. Other traditions include social ecology and primitivism; and theorists Murray Bookchin, Ivan Illich and Graham Purchase. Social movements such as the transition movement can be seen to represent the emergence of a more popular acceptance of deep ecology principles (see 4.3). While holistic and ecological thought does not require a spiritual orientation advocated by Naess, some ecological thinkers believe that only spiritual concerns provide the moral energy necessary to encounter the significant obstacles in confronting ecological crisis. The rest of this chapter will explore an emergent ecological ontology, epistemology and ethics, starting with an introduction the concept of paradigms as a central concept enabling a thorough interrogation of unstated philosophical assumptions.

Part One: Ecological Theory

1.2 Paradigms as Maps of Collective Cultural Assumptions The reason we don’t see the source of our problems is that the means by which we try and solve them are the source (Bohm 1992:3). Thomas Kuhn popularised the concept of paradigm in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962)4 where he describes paradigm shifts in science as a change in the basic assumptions, epistemology and collectively held worldviews to a scientific community. Paradigms are the ‘entire constellation of achievements – concepts, values, techniques, and so on shared by the members of a given community’ (Kuhn 1970/1962:175). Paradigms define legitimate problems and solutions. Since Kuhn’s seminal book the concept has been used to describe worldviews beyond the scientific community. Fritjof Capra describes paradigms as ‘a constellation of concepts, values, perceptions and practices shared by a community which forms a particular vision of reality that is the basis of the way the community organizes itself’ (1996:6). Paradigms are powerful tools. Understanding the role of paradigms in the development of cultural assumptions and dominant ideological positions is central to addressing social change. In an attempt to address the narrowness of perception created by fragmented modernity the notion of paradigms gives us ‘more power to design and redesign ourselves, to interpret experience’ (Enhrenfeld 2008:24). Paradigms have normative value in that ‘they tell people what is important, legitimate and reasonable’ (Sterling 2003:121). A paradigm is ‘the lens through which we look at the world and it therefore determines what we perceive’ (Stacey 1996:257). Paradigms are not only the map of reality but they determine how we examine reality (as will be explored in Part Two: Methodology – see: 4.2). Thus, paradigms influence a way of thinking as well as methods and practice. The power of the concept of a paradigm is that it indicates that a worldview is a map, model or a way of knowing, rather than reality itself. This idea was succinctly expressed in Alfred Korzybski’s famous statement: ‘the map is not the territory’ (1933:750). Once we acknowledge that paradigms are useful constructs rather than a reality itself, we are in a position to judge the usefulness of a paradigm to our own ends. If a paradigm no longer serves our best interests, if inconsistencies need to be ignored and if the sum effects of our actions are destructive; then it is time for a deeper analysis of our conceptual frameworks in order to find more appropriate models as a basis for action.

The concept of paradigms as a way of perceiving associated with a collective worldview is central to understanding the emergence of ecological thought as a new paradigm or map of reality. Kuhn explains that paradigm shifts are preceded by times ‘that one can appropriately describe the field affected by it as in a state of growing crisis…generated by the persistent failure of the puzzles of normal science to come out as they should’ (1970:67-68). The premise of this thesis is that a Cartesian empirical/reductionist/mechanical paradigm is already in the process of giving way to a systemic/ ecological worldview in order to address the complexity of the natural world: Western societies are experiencing the emergence of what can be termed a revisionary postmodern ecological paradigm, a fragile quality of ‘third order change’ or learning which offers a direction beyond destructive tendencies of modernism, and the relativistic tendencies of deconstructive post-modernism (Sterling, 2003:115). Sterling explains ‘the case against the dominant western worldview is that it no longer constitutes an adequate reflection of reality – particularly ecological reality. The map is wrong, and moreover, we commonly confuse the map (worldview) with the territory (reality)’ (Sterling 1993:119). According 4 Although the idea has origins in the writing of Alfred North Whitehead (Sterling 2003:107). 31

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy - J.Boehnert - PhD 2012

to physicist Fritjof Capra, we are living in a time of changing paradigms as great as the change in the Copernican revolution; a paradigm shift that has ecology at its centre (1997:4). By acknowledging that there is geophysical reality and also constructed models of reality, we can learn to change our models (paradigms) to function more effectively with geophysical reality. Paradigms allow us to ‘differentiate things that are around us that are undeniable and unchangeable from those reified, abstract objects that live only in our linguistic assessments and interpretations’ (Ehrenfeld 2008:4). This awareness of paradigms as ‘maps of reality’ rather than reality itself is core to the concept of ‘epistemological flexibility’, meaning the capacity to shift epistemic positions. This thesis describes paradigm shifts as evolutionary, as opposed to revolutionary. The evolutionary view acknowledges the ‘partial validity of preceding views and stresses the role of learning’ (Sterling 2003:9). Hence paradigm shifts do not need to occur in a mechanistic and dualist manner, but can build from the partial validity of earlier paradigms (Wiber 1996). In this fashion, Perception the ecological paradigm does not negate positivism or deconstructivism but it asserts the partial

3rd: Ethos

Seeing

Epistemology

validity of reductionist science and the importance of deconstructive analysis, yet it challenges these affirms beliefs paradigms as the exclusive mode and source of knowledge. The ecological paradigm asserts that an epistemological position not grounded in an awareness of our embeddedness and interconnection

with geophysical reality is fundamentallyConception dangerous for people and planet – while acknowledging the

2nd: Eidos

Knowing

Ontology

value both positivist science and deconstructionism in certain instances. Reductionism is recognized how weof conceive of the world as useful for building clocks, planes and solar panels – yet not capable for understanding or managing complex systems (Harding 2006:32).

1st: Praxis

Practice

Doing

Methodology

representations

Metaphysics / Cosmology Paradigm / Worldview Beliefs / Values ecology

Norms / Assumptions Ideas / Theories Actions Sterling 2003

Figure 1.4 - Systemic Levels of Knowing. Praxis No.19b. Visualisation of Stephen Sterling’s systemic levels of knowing. Figure 1.5 (opposite) - Three Parts of a Paradigm.. Praxis No.19. Visualisation of Stephen Sterling’s ideas on aspects of a paradigm. Source: J.Boehnert 2011

Part One: Ecological Theory

Perception 3rd: Ethos

Epistemology

normative aspect: affirms beliefs

Conception Ontology

2nd: Eidos descriptive: how we conceive of the world

Practice Methodology

1st: Praxis practice: representations and action

Seeing Knowing

Doing

Three Parts of a Paradigm (Sterling 2003)

1.2.1 Three Parts of a Paradigm – Perception, Conception, Practice The ‘Three Parts of a Paradigm’ model provides a theoretical explanation for why people accept ideas as intellectual concepts but fail to put them into practice. Stephen Sterling expands on Gregory Bateson’s Theory of Learning Levels as consisting of different levels of abstraction with the Three Parts of a Paradigm theory. This theory functions to make the process through which paradigm shift occur explicit by explaining how paradigms manifest in epistemology, ontology and methodology (Figure 1.4). Three Parts of a Paradigm (Sterling 2003:92,264&423) 1st

Ethos

Seeing

Epistemology

Perception

2nd

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Knowing

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Cognition

3rd

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Methodology

Practice

The terms ‘ethos, eidos and praxis’ are descriptive of nested levels of learning (Sterling 2003:423). These levels reflect basic ways of perceiving, thinking and doing - from epistemological to practical (see figure 1.5). The theory describes how it is possible to intellectually understand the world in a systemic way, but still perceive it in a reductionist manner (Sterling 2003:122). Heron explains; Today, a significant majority of people have abandoned the Newton-Cartesian belief system in favour of some elaboration of a systems worldview. But it may be that they, and certainly the majority of people, still see the world in Newton-Cartesian terms. It is a big shift for concepts to move from being simply beliefs held in the mind to beliefs that inform and transform the very act of perception (1992:251). This theoretical work describes the gap between belief and perception during paradigms shifts, also informing the gap between belief and practice (see Figure 1.5). This thesis explores how designers and educators can help to negotiate this space from epistemology to praxis to facilitate the emergence of an ecological whole system paradigm. It is important to note that while an ecologically informed paradigm is potentially emergent there is no guarantee that this paradigm will prevail. Challenges are severe. Ecological understanding and solutions will only come forth through a process of intensive transformative interventions. 33

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy - J.Boehnert - PhD 2012

1.3 Ecological Rationalism: The Crisis of Reason For modernist societies capable of very major and rapid ecological impacts, to lack adequate ecological correctiveness is like having a vehicle which is capable of going very fast but has faulty or poorly developed brakes or steering system. (Plumwood 2002:67) Feminist scholar Val Plumwood describes ‘a crisis of reason’ resulting from the systemic devaluing of nature and the dualistic split between nature/culture, reason/nature, body/mind within positivist science and modernist thought. She explains that: ‘A cult of reason that elevates to extreme superiority a particular narrow form of reason and correspondingly devalues the contrasted and reduced sphere of nature and embodiment’ (Plumwood 2002:4). The critique of reason is also developed by Naess who states: ‘What counts as a rational decision is challenged, because what is “rational” is always defined in relation to specific aims and goals’ (Naess 1985:198). Whereas the rationalist explanation of the environmental crisis explains that ‘it is our “nature” that has caused the crisis (greed, etc.) and it will be reason intensified that saves us’ (Plumwood 2002:6) (often meaning ‘reformed market places’), the critique of rationalism holds that the rationalist frameworks lead to underestimation of complexity and irreplace-ability of nature (Plumwood 2002:108) and the only way to ‘save nature’ is to revise reason itself to reflect ecological context. This section of the thesis is almost entirely based on Plumwood’s work that clearly defines the problem of the traditional forms of reason. Plumwood also explores exactly how rationality functions to disengage from ecological realities. Problems with traditional forms of reason include: 1) an overreliance on quantitative reasoning and its tendency towards 2) backgrounding, 3) remoteness, 4) instrumentalization and 5) disengagement. Each of these precise mechanisms through which nature is devalued will be briefly introduced as a key concept to be addressed by ecological literacy. As a remedy to the current crisis of reason, ecological reasoning offers a more thorough form of rational thought.

1.3.1 Quantitative Reasoning Traditional rationality is based on the dominance of quantitative thinking that reflects empiricism’s reliance on mathematical models (Santo 2007:8). While quantitative reasoning has obvious virtues its hegemonic importance within modernity has dramatic consequences in the manner that the society is organized. In Cognitive Justice in a Global World Boaventura de Sousa Santos describes two main consequences from the centrality of quantitative thinking and mathematics in modern science: To know means to quantify. Scientific rigour is gauged by the rigour measurement. The intrinsic qualities of the object, so to speak, do not count, and are replaced by quantities that can be translated. Whatever is not quantifiable is scientifically irrelevant (2007:18). Secondly ‘the scientific method is based on the reduction of complexity’ (Ibid:18). Positivist science converts raw data into numbers or abstractions as soon as possible (Harding 2010). This reliance on quantitative reasoning inhibits the possibility of the perception of depth and intrinsic value and diminishes the complexity of nature. This sense of being able to quantify all objects of study is premised on reductionist assumptions and is characteristic of the epistemological error that will be introduced shortly. The single-minded faith in quantitative methods and ignoring of qualitative values is highly problematic and central to both ecological crisis and now socio-economic crises.

1.3.2 Backgrounding Backgrounding is the process through which the activity and agency of nature is denied or disappeared (Plumwood 2002:99); a ‘profound forgetting’ of nature (Ibid:30) leading to ‘dangerous 34

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perceptual and conceptual distortions and blindspots’ (Ibid:100). Backgrounding results in situations where ‘nature’s needs are systemically omitted from account and consideration in decision-making… we only pay attention to them after disasters occur’ (Ibid:108). Backgrounding can happen through a failure to pay attention and therefore appears to the disengaged as if is not necessarily intentional. For example it is not so much that ecological limits are misrepresented, ‘but that limits are simply not recognized or investigated’ (Ibid:26). As such, backgrounding is the mechanism that negates responsibility. Backgrounding allows us to ‘identify the biospheric other as passive and without limits’ (Ibid:16) and it gives modernity its rationalist hubris and overconfidence that fails to see ‘nature as collaborating partner or to understand relations or dependency on it’ (Ibid:30). Backgrounding also keeps ecological concerns separate from professional concerns. Through backgrounding nature, we develop the illusion of autonomy (Ibid:8). Backgrounding nature’s needs is similar to the strategies traditionally used to background women’s needs and thus ecofeminists argue that feminism is essential to understand the conceptual mechanisms used to exploit the natural world. Backgrounding can be addressed by communication design strategies that expose ecological impacts (see Chapter Ten).

1.3.3 Remoteness Remoteness refers to distant consequences of our actions in a highly complex industrial society. Remoteness takes different forms, the most relevant being spatial, temporal and technological. Spatial is the physical distance between the cause and the effect (Ibid:72). Temporal refers to consequences that are not felt for some time; often future generations (Ibid:72). Technological refers to the technological advantages that allows powerful groups to avoid the impact of environmental harms (Ibid:72). Remoteness protects decision makers and the powerful from the impact of their decisions and often even from an awareness of the impacts of decisions. Remoteness is a result of poor communicative and feedback links between actions and effect (Ibid:71). It feeds the illusion of disembeddedness and denial, i.e. the refusal to admit the reality of ecological crises. Remoteness is a problem that can be addressed by communication design strategies as will be explored in this thesis.

1.3.4 Instrumentalisation Instrumentalisation refers to the use of natural ‘resources’ as instruments for human consumption as opposed to a recognizition of nature as having a value outside its use to humankind. The problems associated with instrumentalisation are similar to the problems with quantification. Instrumentalisation distorts our sensitivity to nature and ‘produces a narrow type of understanding and classification that reduces nature to raw materials’ (Ibid:109). Plumwood explains that ‘in an anthropocentric culture, nature’s agency and independence of ends are denied, subsumed in or remade to coincide with human interests, which are thought to be the source of all value in the world’ (Ibid:109). Plumwood describes how ‘the pacification of the objectified is a prelude to their instrumentalisation, since as a vacuum of agency, will and purpose, they are empty vessels to be filled with another will and purpose’ (Ibid:46). This anthropocentric logic also leads to the illusion of autonomy from nature and rational hubris.

1.3.5 Disengagement Plumwood describes disengagement as the public face of modernist rationality. Disengagement poses as neutral but ends up easily being co-opted by economic forces. Plumwood explains that disengagement considers itself neutral but: Power is what rushes into the vacuum of disengagement; a fully ‘impartial’ knower can easily be

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy - J.Boehnert - PhD 2012

one whose skills are for sale to the highest bidder, who will bend their administrative, research and pedagogical energies to wherever the power, prestige and funding is. Disengagement carries a politics, although it is a paradoxical politics in which an appearance of neutrality conceals a capitulation to power (Ibid:43). Disengagement and neutrality aim to appear rational but what they reveal in fact is an absence of care, ‘cloaking privileged perspectives as universal and impartial, and marking marginalized perspectives as “emotional”, “biased” and “political”’ (Ibid:44). Disengagement is perpetuated through ‘well-practiced conceptual and emotional distancing mechanisms which legitimize the exploitation’ (Ibid:44). Today disengagement is perhaps the greatest tactic for denial of ecological reality.

1.3.6 Ecological Rationality The denial of the ecological world in which we are embedded is profoundly irrational. We exist within an environment that gives us life and will also determine the exact cause of our death. Maintaining the illusion of separateness from nature is profoundly dysfunctional and even irrational. As ecological beings the consequences of ecological denial are mental imbalances (see Ecopsychology 5.5), ecologically destructive behaviour (such as the creation of an industrial system that degrades ecological systems) and ultimately total ecological collapse. Ecological thought proposes a better form of reason where actions are matched with survival claims (Ibid:68). Ecological rationality critiques the denial of the social and ecological ground that supports our lives. It suggests that the ‘contrived blindness to ecological relationships is the fundamental condition underlying our destructive and insensitive technologies’ (Ibid:8). There is nothing rational about destroying the ecological system on which we depend. Plumwood says, ‘machine of reason depends on what it destroys for its survival. Its rationality is ultimately suicidal’ (Ibid:236). In his seminal book Ecological Literacy, David Orr asserted that ‘no rational society rewards members to undermine its existence’ (1992:6). Denial of ecological embeddedness is fundamentally irrational. Acknowledging this condition is the first step in a process of societal change.

disengaged Figure 1.6 - Disengaged. Praxis No.30. Visualisation of disengagement - displaying a character who ignores ecological context. Figure 1.7 (opposite) - Ontological Embeddedness. Praxis No.30. Visualisation of the concept of ecological embeddedness - displaying a character who understands herself as part of the larger ecological system. Source: J.Boehnert 2011

Part One: Ecological Theory

embedded embodied engaged

1.4 Ecological Ontology: Embeddedness Ontology is the study of the nature of being. An ontology of embeddedness refers to humankind’s situation as part of a larger ecosystem on which we are completely dependent for life. John Ehrenfeld claims that awareness of the interdependence is very different from our current belief system ‘where we practically worship independence and autonomy as social norms’ (2008:105). In Resurgence of the Real, Spretnak describes an upheaval in belief systems and cognitive conceptual metaphors away from the illusion of independence from nature towards a recognition of our ‘constitutive embeddedness’ in ecological processes (1997:72). This shift represents a profound conceptual transition. Ehrenfeld maintains that the realization that ‘we are deeply embedded within, and a part of, the world that we normally think about as detached and out there’ needs to be understood as an ‘ontological, not a moral statement’ (2008:179). Theologian and cultural historian, Thomas Berry, describes a change from ‘an anthropocentric to a biocentric sense of reality’ (2001:177) which is essential as the danger of denial of this basic relationship grows: That the value of human beings is enhanced by diminishing the value of the larger community is an illusion, the great illusion of the present, which seeks to advance the human by plundering the planet’s geological structure and all its biological species’ (Berry 2001:177). Awareness of embeddedness as an ontological and epistemological state (achieved through third order learning – see 5.4 and 6.2) leads to extended boundaries of self: earth/nation/bioregion/ community/neighbourhood/family/self (Sterling 2003:72). Understanding basic ecological embeddedness is central for ecological literacy. Ecological embeddedness is illustrated above (see Figure 1.10). We are nested within larger systems on which we depend for survival. The theory of nested systems refers to the relationship between different systems that are nested inside each other (Koestler 1967 in Sterling 2003:72). Nested systems describe relationships between systems where ‘the higher level depends upon the lower [levels]’ (Feibleman 1954:60). Ecosystems come in many sizes each nesting within the next (from microscopic to planetary). This understanding of systems also describes the relationship between ecological, social and economic systems (see figures 1.8-1.10). Human society is

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy - J.Boehnert - PhD 2012

Figure 1.8 - Globes in Epistemological Error. Praxis No.16b. Visualisation of the economic, social and ecological systems in epistemological error. The economic system is not recognized as a smaller sub-system of the ecological and social systems. Source: J.Boehnert 2011

Part One: Ecological Theory

economy society ecosystem

Figure 1.9 - Embedded Systems. Praxis No.16. Visualisation of the ecosystem, society and economy as embedded systems. Source: J.Boehnert 2011

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy - J.Boehnert - PhD 2012

a system nested within an ecological system. Society is dependent on nature but nature will carry on regardless (albeit in some degraded form, i.e. significantly less biodiversity, dead seas, desertification, toxicity, etc.). Dysfunction occurs when the parts (i.e. human society) do not recognize themselves as a system nested within a larger system (i.e. ecological system).This illusionary autonomy results in pathological behaviour, i.e. the case with the current economic system, which does not acknowledge or respect ecological limits (Meadows 1992; Daly 1996; Brown 2001; Jackson 2009) and fails to conceive of itself as nested within the social order, which in turn is nested within the ecological system. The theory of nested systems describes how humankind is embedded within ecological systems and dependent on ecological processes.

market economy market economy

sustenance economy

sustenance economy nature’s economy

nature’s economy The stable constellations of three economies

The unstable constellations of three economies (Shiva 2005:52)

market economy market economy

sustenance economy

sustenance economy nature’s economy

nature’s economy The stable constellations of three economies

The unstable constellations of three economies (Shiva 2005:52)

Figure 1.10 - The Stable and Unstable Constellation of Three Economies. Praxis No.16c. Visualisation of Vandana Shiva’s description of relationship between economies. Source: J.Boehnert 2011

Part One: Ecological Theory

1.5 Ecological Epistemology: Error The organism that destroys its environment destroys itself (Bateson 1972:457). Epistemology is the study of knowledge. Alfred Korzybski said ‘the map is not the territory’ which reminds us that our ideas about reality are not the same as reality itself. Instead, ‘reality is interconnected, dynamic, and multivariate and always more complex than the theories and methods that we have at our disposal’ (Greenwood & Levin 2007:54). The notion that the dominant epistemological position is a poor reflection of reality, suggested by Gregory Bateson in his seminal book Steps to an Ecology of Mind, is a pivotal concept in the emergence of ecological literacy. Bateson explains that the dominant map of reality is a poor reflection of reality itself; ‘most of us are governed by epistemologies we know to be wrong’ (1972:493). Our understanding of reality leads to a particular type of practice in business, finance, culture, education and politics. When our ideas conflict with the way that the world actually works, we make dysfunctional systems. Our way of knowing determines that we are incapable of perceiving systemic interconnections between our problems. Sustainability educator, Stephen Sterling, explains that ‘the dominant western epistemology, or knowledge system, is no longer adequate to cope with the world that it itself has partly created’ (Sterling 2003:3). Sterling elaborates; ‘This concerns the shift from mechanism, which has dominated western thinking for over three hundred years to a new organism; from the machine metaphor to the systemic metaphor of ecology’ (Ibid:8). The notion that the current understanding of reality (or epistemology) is a poor reflection of reality has been described in detail by cultural commentators in multiple fields (Bertalanffry 1969; Bateson 1972; Shiva 1988; Orr 1992; Capra 1997; Spretnak 1997; Sterling 2001; Plumwood 2002; Barabasi 2002; Meadows 2008; McGilchrist 2009). The shift to sustainability depends on our capacity to address the cultural assumptions regarding humankind’s relationship with the natural world. Challenging common assumptions is possible using Bateson and Sterling’s theories of levels of learning and communication (see transformational learning: 2.3.3). In Steps to an Ecology of Mind Gregory Bateson described how our rational premises are disconnected from our actual behaviour. Bateson explains that the ‘massive aggregation to man and his ecological system arise out of efforts in our habits of thought at deep and partly unconscious levels’ (1972:495). Human consciousness evolved toward instrumental ends to serve human desires, without taking into account our embeddedness within larger ecological systems. The reductive focus is ultimately self-defeating: When you narrow down your epistemology and act on the premise ‘what interests me is me or my organization or my species’, you chop off consideration of other loops of the loop structure. You decide that you want to get rid of the byproducts of human life and that Lake Erie will be a good place to put them. You forget that the ecomental system called Lake Erie is a part of your wider ecomental system – and that if Lake Erie is driven insane, its insanity is incorporated in the larger system of your thought and experience (Ibid: 460). Our inability to perceive ourselves as embedded within ecological systems is the result of a system of erroneous thought: ‘There is an ecology of bad ideas, just as there is an ecology of weeds’ (Bateson 1972:492). Epistemological error is not necessarily a serious problem ‘up until the point at which you create around yourself a universe in which that error becomes immanent in monstrous changes of the universe that you have now created and try to live in’ (Bateson 1972:493). Epistemological error in a technologically advanced society is lethal. The basic epistemological fallacies are that mind and nature are independent of each other; that humans are separate from the natural world; and that instrumental approaches to knowledge can describe an objective truth5. The theory of epistemo5 Bateson suggests that the body/mind extends out into the world. The things we make are extensions of our mind. 41

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy - J.Boehnert - PhD 2012

logical error suggests that humankind is undergoing a crisis of perception, based on mis-perception. This misperception is a basic failure to see relationships between systems (see Figures 1.7 & 1.8) and recognize human systems as embedded in ecological systems (Shiva describes ‘stable economies’ – see Figure 1.9). A radical shift in our perception, our thinking and our values will be essential to facilitate an understanding of the fundamental interdependence of all phenomena (see Figure 1.11). This thesis will propose practical techniques for the development of ecological perception in Chapter Ten.

1.6 Ecological Ethics: Extended Boundaries of Concern A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise (Leopold 2001 [1949]:110). In The Land Ethic Aldo Leopold advocates an ‘extension of ethics’ to include the natural world. All ethics, according to Leopold, are based on ‘a single premise: that we are members of a community of interdependent parts’ (Ibid:98). He wrote: The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land... In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo Sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members and also respect for the community as such (Ibid:204). While not all environmentalists agree with Leopold’s holism, the necessity of a new ethic in regards to the human relationship with nature is increasingly recognized as an urgent priority. Leopold’s extension of ethical boundaries offers a solid foundation for radical reconfiguration of ethical premises as do traditions of ecofeminism, deep ecology, permaculture and other environmental projects. The ecofeminist contribution to the debate about ethics is evident through their ‘articulation of values lost in mainstream ethics, e.g., the values of care, love, friendship, and appropriate trust’ (Warren 2001:334). Deep ecology, founded on principles of identification with nature, a commitment to the intrinsic worth of all life and an engaged practice or ‘spiritual activism’ strives to bridge the gap between ethical principles and practice. Permaculture is born out of both deep ecology and ecofeminism and has spawned the global Transition Movement which is embedding the ecological ethics in local community design. Each of these social movements is a manifestation of emergent ecological ethics. The notion of extended ethical boundaries introduced by Leopold is complicated by the might of contemporary industrial society (see: remoteness 1.3) that results in dramatic unintended consequences. The power to disrupt ecosystems through industrial processes and the remoteness of these consequences makes ethics an exceedingly difficult terrain. Developing ethical standards in the context of complex contemporary conditions demands an engagement in transdisciplinary research in order to monitor the wide-reaching impacts of industrial development. Industrial ecologist John Ehrenfeld explains: Ethics is responsibility, the idea of being accountable for one’s actions, especially the act of avoiding harm knowingly. Modern technological life has diminished the ability to know the consequences of action taken by individuals or by collective social entities, because these consequences are often displaced in time and space, and as such have made responsibilities problematic. One result is the emergence of unintended consequences (2008:60). Unintended consequences are a characteristic of modernity (Giddens 1990) resulting in a seeming loss of ethical ability to act responsibility (Enhrenfeld 2008:34) because the consequences of our action are distant in time and space. The ethical response to unintended consequences is to attempt

Part One: Ecological Theory

Figure 1.11 - Triangle No.2 - Systems as Embedded and Interdependent. Praxis No.2. Visualisation of the ecological, social and economic systems as related, interdependent and embedded. Source: J.Boehnert 2009

to understand their nature rather than to deny their existence â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as is often the case today (i.e. disengagement â&#x20AC;&#x201C; see: 1.3.5). Complexity and our basic inability to know the consequences of our actions call for precaution as an operating principle (Enhrenfeld 2008:186). Ecological ethics are an extraordinarily difficult task in a technologically powerful society where technology and industry develop faster than the ethical frameworks and social institutions to ensure humankind uses innovation ethically.

1.7 Ecological Philosophy in Communication Ecological ontology, epistemology and ethics are philosophical modes of understanding that can potentially be addressed through communication and education (Figures 1.12 & 1.13 aim to facilitate this process). Although epistemological error and the other identified problems with modernity (The Six Ds) are deeply entrenched in contemporary thought, these are ways of knowing that have been learned and as such they can be revised. More responsive and appropriate ways of knowing can also be learned (see Chapter Seven). Education has facilitated social change in the past and it can again help individuals and society as a whole move beyond our accustomed way of knowing. Communicators and educators can build an understanding of ecological embeddedness into our teaching and communication practices. New cognitive and social capacities can be learned. Sterling proposes a three aspects model that describes domains of learning for sustainable education (see Figure 1.4). 43

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy - J.Boehnert - PhD 2012

Figure 1.12 - Triangle No.3 - Systems as Interdependent - Problems with Consequences across Systems. Praxis No.3. Visualisation of problems within the ecological, social and economic systems as have consequences that impact other systems. Source: J.Boehnert 2009

Sterling’s Three Domains: ‘Fundamental Shifts Towards an Ecological Paradigm’ 1- SEEING - the ethical need to widen and deepen our boundaries of concern, and recognise the broader context in time and space...the concern here is with context, meaning, and value. 2- KNOWING - the disposition and ability to recognize and understand links and patterns of behaviour and influence between often-disparate forces in all areas of life, to recognize systemic consequences of actions... the concern here is with dynamics and interrelationships, recognising and thinking in terms of flows and patterns rather than distinct entities. 3- DOING - a purposeful disposition and capacity to seek healthy relationships between parts and wholes, recognising that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts; to seek synergies and anticipate systemic consequences of action. (Sterling 2003:172). Table of Sterling’s Three Domains of Knowing (Sterling 2003: 172) 1st

seeing

extension

context

empathy

re-perception

2nd

knowing

connection

dynamics

understanding

re-cognition

3rd

doing

integration

emergence

wisdom

quality

Concepts move from being beliefs held in the mind to ideas that inform (and influence) the very act of perception. The Domains of Knowing Theory proposes that it is possible to intellectually abandon a dysfunctional belief system but still see the world in these terms. Intellectually supporting ecological whole systems thinking is not the same as developing the cognitive, social and perceptual capacities to put this awareness into practice. As facilitators of praxis, designers can help this process. This thesis will examine approaches to bridge the value/action gap by moving between seeing to thinking to doing (see Figure 1.5).

Part One: Ecological Theory

1.8 Conclusion This chapter proposes that philosophy in the western tradition of modernity legitimizes apathy and inaction in the face of environmental devastation. Thomas Jefferson invented the idea of ‘remote tyranny’ (Orr 2002:149) when civilization was already sufficiently sophisticated to enable the actions of one group to oppress other groups at a spatial distance. As explored in this chapter, remoteness creates the ground for ecological destruction, making what David Orr describes as ‘intergenerational remote tyranny’ a reality (Ibid:149). Orr’s attempts to shake the ‘bullet proof complacency’ (Ibid:153) of academia addresses the fact that ‘no generation has ever done, or could have done such systemic violence to its progeny and their long term prospects’ (Ibid:204). While Orr established ecological literacy as a radical intervention in education (see Chapter Two) environmental educators have not yet made changes significant enough to stop the tide of ecological destruction. Although progress has been made in environmental studies, these are minuscule in comparison to the various ecological crises that are significantly more severe than when Orr first coined the phrase ‘ecological literacy’. The overview of ecological philosophy in this chapter provides a starting point to understand how visual communication design can address ecological literacy. I have compiled a preliminary list of philosophical concepts that can be addressed by visual communicators. Problems: Issues to Address in Communication Design for Ecological Literacy 1) Address perceptual failure to locate ourselves as part of an ecosystem (i.e. reflect embeddedness). 2) Address illusions of independence from nature (i.e. reflect interdependence). 3) Address blind spots of rationalist hubris ( i.e. representations sensitive to ecological limits). 4) Create representations and communicative links addressing remoteness of various types. 5) Represent nature’s complexity in detail; resist temptation to over-simply (to counter reductionism). 6) Represent the likelihood of unintended consequences in regards to human intervention. 7) Creating dialogical communicative processes to engage participants environmental issues. There are an endless number of possible ways designers can help facilitate ecological thought with visual material. Designers working directly with perception and cognition can address problematic assumptions and help nurture ecological perception (see Chapter Ten). The misrepresentation of limits and of consequences perpetuate an ‘epistemology of blindness’ (Santos 2008:408). Gregory Bateson and his daughter Mary Catherine Bateson called for a ‘shift in our way of seeing…to affirm the complexities and mutual integration’ (1988:176). Communication designers can help with this shift. The manner in which visuals can help this shift in ‘our way of seeing’ is developed in this thesis. This chapter described a reductive tradition and denial of ecological embeddedness as a dysfunctional legacy of modernity. The Six Ds (disembodied, dis-embedded, de-contextualized, disengaged, disconnected & in denial) characterize the philosophical tradition in the West. Deep-seated ecological error is such that dominant ways of knowing are incapable of understanding complex systems. These problems are rationalized through relativism which enables each of us to avoid ethical decisions in regards to the great tragedies unfolding in the natural world. The idea that we must leave ecosystems healthy for the next generation is a biological imperative for survival and a position that must become normative within academia and design. This value must be made explicit at every level and become the basic principle for prioritizing thought and action for an intellectually coherent ethic to become possible. Ecological ontology, epistemology, ethics and methodologies will be explored throughout the rest of this thesis as a basis for the communication of ecological literacy.

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy - J.Boehnert - PhD 2012

Part One: Ecological Theory

Chapter 2 Ecological Literacy 2.0 Introduction Ecological literacy describes ecology as the dominant root metaphor for a culture that is capable of thinking in terms of whole systems. The ambitious aim of ecological literacy is to create the frame of mind that recognizes embeddedness within the ecological systems and thereby organizes cultural, political, legal and economic systems accordingly. As examined in the previous chapter, we have inherited a highly reductive intellectual tradition and worldview characterized by atomism, mechanism, anthropocentrism, rationalism, individualism and a dualistic tradition between humanity vs nature. This radical discontinuity with nature constitutes an error in understanding that is reproduced in education, media, communication, politics and law resulting in industrial systems that are quietly destroying the ecological systems on which humankind depends. Acknowledgement of geophysical relationships is a foundational step toward transforming learning and cultural priorities and making sustainability possible. This chapter will examine how ecological literacy envelops the tradition of modernity into a more inclusive and ultimately a more functional worldview. This chapter provides a brief overview of the historical development of ecological literacy and offers a new typology of ecological literacy. It will end with an examination of the relationship between ecological literacy and the overused, abused and ambiguous term ‘sustainability’. David Orr coined the concept of ‘ecological literacy’ in 1992 in his seminal book Ecological Literacy. Orr described the need for education to impart an understanding of the interdependence between natural processes and human ways of living. With his work a new value entered education; that of the ‘well-being of the earth’. Ecological literacy (EL) addresses fragmented consciousness and challenges intellectual constructs that justify the exploitation of nature. It represents a profound break with the enlightenment tradition of positivist science (characterized by reductionism, mechanism, duality and objectivity. See Chapter One). The scientific method established by Francis Bacon (1561-1626) and Rene Descartes (1596-1650)1 are based on the reduction of complexity; a stark split between subject and object, sensing and thinking, mind and body, humankind and nature; a vision of the universe as mechanical and an excessive reliance on mathematics and quantitative knowledge amongst other problematic assumptions. Nature is to be mastered, controlled, made to submit and to ‘take orders from Man and work under his authority’ (Bacon quoted in Harding 2006:26). Descartes described the natural world as ‘a giant machine’ which functioned according to mechanical principles and ‘was devoid of soul’ (Harding 2006:26-27). Einstein, Heisenberg and other physicists broke this tradition with multiple findings in the early 20th century and it has become increasingly obvious over the past century that ‘knowledge gained from observation of the parts is necessarily distorted’ (Santos 2007:28). Systems and ecological thinkers posit that an ecological whole systems paradigm is emergent.2 Ecological thought has been historically fraught with difficulties partially due to the totalising tendencies of some early ecological theory. Indeed, ecology within the framework of positivist scientific rationality is perhaps intrinsically problematic when linked to philosophical and political Figure 2.1 (opposite) - Acanthophracta, Prosobranchia, Stephoidea and Phaeodaria in Kunstformen der Natur (1904). Source: Ernst Haeckel - public domain.

1 Amongst others including Isaac Newton (1643-1727) and Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). 2 A belief in an emergent ecological paradigm is held by most of the theorists quoted in this chapter. 47

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy - J.Boehnert - PhD 2012

Figure 2.2 - Haeckel’s artwork from Die Radiolarien (1862). Source: Ernst Haeckel - public domain.

ideas. This problem arises because scientific rationality itself is a totalitarian model ‘in as much as it denied rationality to all forms of knowledge that did not abide by its own epistemological principles and its own methodological rules’ (Santos 2007:16). References to nature can easily be used for imperialist and oppressive political purposes. Critical thinkers distinguish overly simplistic use of nature to justify elitist political agendas; ecological thinking and social justice are complementary in theory and in many instances in practice, i.e. as in traditional indigenous cultures3. Yet within the nearly hegemonic western tradition of modernity4 this is an enormously difficult political project. Where media, education and even language reproduce ecological illiteracy, developing ecological literacy demands both experiential learning in nature5 and critical approaches to education and communication. This thesis emphasizes critical ecopedagogy as an approach to ecological literacy that both acknowledges the inherent political tensions in ecological projects and places emphasis on developing agency to put new ideas into practice. This chapter will describe how critical approaches to ecological literacy create a more robust critique of industrial practice and potential for transformation.

3 Research has uncovered common theme shared between indigenous cultures (Harris & Wasilewski 2004). 4 Modernity is defined as the tradition of positivist science, the legacy of patriarchy and imperialism (see Chapter One). 5 Experiential learning in nature is emphasized by institutions teaching ecological literacy such as the Center for Ecological Literacy and Schumacher College, but is not covered in this thesis. Going on a hike, gardening, growing your own food or even visiting the park is a good starting point. The fact that I have not explicitly covered experiential learning in this thesis should not be read as a dismissal of this practice. Experiences in nature are important, but also I consider the education for ecological literacy currently available as weighted too heavily in this approach. The focus of my work is using communication and education to developing agency through transformative learning. I aim to facilitate the development of critical capacities through engagement with social theory, analysis of power relations and political context which will help individuals become capable of critical intervention. 48

Part One: Ecological Theory

2.1 Ecology, Holistic Science and Systems Theory The term ‘ecology’ derives ‘eco’ from the Greek οἶκος (meaning ‘house’) and ‘logo’ λογία (meaning a ‘body of knowledge’). Together, ecology means ‘the science of habitat’. The word was coined by Ernest Haeckel in 1866 in Generelle Morphologie. Haeckel described ecology as ‘the science of relations between an organism and the surrounding outer world’ (Haeckel quoted in Goodbun 2011:46).6 Haeckel succeeded in giving ecology a fascinating but deeply problematic birth and also linked the study of ecology with images from its very conception. As well as a being a prominent German biologist and philosopher, Haeckel was a talented artist (see Figures 2.1 & 2.2) who created intricately detailed drawings of embryos and aquatic life forms. It was Haeckel’s ideological inclinations associated to his findings in the natural world that started a problematic legacy between ecological thought and socially deterministic philosophies and politics. Jon Goodburn describes Haeckel’s adoption of social Darwinian positions with a nationalist, volkisch philosophy combining right-winged, vernacular holistic beliefs with distorted science… Needless to say, Haeckel’s version of organicism proved all too useful to fascist ideologues, and this particular political legacy explains the uncomfortable reaction of many contemporary academics to the use of the word (Ibid:46)7. Sixty years later Jan Smuts coined the term ‘holism’ in the 1926 book Holism and Evolution. Smuts was accused of white supremacy and using ecological ideas to justify oppressive political agendas8. 6 Additionally Haeckel and Jakob von Uexkull developed the concept of an ‘environment’ (Goodburn 2011:46). 7 In this quote, Goodburn is referring to the word ‘organicism’, another concept developed by Haeckel. 8 Smut’s legacy on the history of ecological thought was recently used by Adam Curtis in Part Two The Use and Abuse of Vegetational Concepts of the documentaries series All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace on BBC Two. This documentary exposes how ‘holism became a tool to make the British Empire more stable’ and ‘theories of nature are highly politically charged’ (Peder Anker, Historian of Ecology interviewed in the film). Curtis explains ‘what Smuts was doing showed how easily scientific ideas about nature, and natural equilibrium, can be used by those in power to maintain the status quo.’ Nevertheless, the documentary reviews instrumental approaches to ecological thinking (pioneered by Jay Forrester, Howard Odum and Buckminster Fuller) and fails to capture the self-reflective insights from Gregory Bateson and others in the ‘soft’ systems approach. This partial coverage has the unfortunate effect of reflecting badly on ecosystems theory. 49

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This episode illustrates how ecology as a discipline can be used as a means of claiming a privileged perspective on the ‘natural’ for dubious political agendas.9 After the horrors of the Second World War demonstrated the ethical bankruptcy of imperialist and racist nature-based philosophies of the era10, ecology as a field of study became restricted to positivist, empirically testable methodologies (Sachs 2010:30). These methods led to the development of ecological systems theory as a science of feedback mechanisms, with the intention of understanding and ultimately controlling natural processes. This positivist approach to ecology remains strong to this day. In this mode, ecology is instrumentalised as a science and functions to monitor nature’s overload capacity and adjust the feedback mechanisms to enable continued development. Wolfgang Sachs describes the tension between ecology as management of ‘resources’ versus ecology as science to preserve the commons. He states: ‘Ecosystem technology turns against ecology as worldview’ (Ibid:32). In contrast to this approach, ecological literacy follows a lineage of thinkers who align themselves with deep ecological thought and who see the intrinsic worth of nature. The reductionist approach to ecology belongs in the positivist paradigm, functional for making watches and cars – but not for designing sustainable ways of living and flourishing within carrying capacity of the planet (Harding 206:32). Nevertheless, many of the concepts from instrumental approaches to ecology are useful tools for environmental assessment11. The development of system sciences similarly reflects a tradition with tension between instrumentalising tendencies and self-reflexive approaches. The concept of an ecosystem, first used in 1935 by Arthur Tansley (Hughes 2001:6) includes living and non-living elements including minerals, gases, earth and water. The idea of a general theory of all systems (mechanical, biological and social) was introduced by biologist Ludwig von Bertalanfry’s General Systems Theory (1968). Systems theory holds that there are principles that apply to all systems (Bertalanfry 1968:32). Systems thinking (see 4.2) is a mode of analysis that focuses on patterns of relationships, connectedness and context. Donella Meadows explains that ‘a system is an interconnected set of elements that is coherently organized in a way that achieves something… a system must consist of three kinds of things: elements, interconnectedness, and a function or purpose’ (2008:11). Meadows claims that images are important for working with systems. Images facilitate systems thinking through illustrating dynamics. Meadows explains that there is, a problem in discussing systems only with words. Words and sentences must, by necessity, come only one at a time in a linear, logical order… Pictures work for this language [systems thinking] better than words, because you can see all the parts of a picture at once (Meadows 2008:5). Systems thinking has developed in the direction of hard or soft approaches (systematic or systemic). Hard or systematic refers to quantitative processes, engineered for efficiency, optimization and highly goal oriented. The soft, systemic approach acknowledges the role of the observer; connections as both qualitative and quantitative and connecting processes and dynamics as unpredictable. Systems thinking emphasizes awareness of unintended consequences, counterintuitive effects, cycles, dynamics and patterns in an attempt to put knowledge in context.

9 My own work aims to avoid this problem by strong engagement with anti-oppressive theory and social movements, although these tensions will remain a site of contention within environmentalism. This problem leads to charges of ‘eco-fascism’: a loaded term reflective of assumptions of what constitutes ‘freedom’. Which people and other living beings and what natural processes have the ‘right’ to ‘freedom’? Who and which ecosystems will be protected against destructive industrial processes? 10 Zimmerman even claims that ‘National Socialism was in part a neo-pagan revival and a radical “green” movement’ (2001:4). 11 Ecosystem, carrying capacity, foot-printing, etc. function as management tools. 50

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Systems thinking is central to both ecological literacy and design for sustainability. This work requires epistemic flexibility and critical skills. Systems thinking offers the ability to use visual tools as part of the systems analysis (see Figure 4.3). Jon Goodbun describes some work with systems as problematic: ‘These approaches can all too easily become new attempts to achieve control and domination over nature, and/or equally, over humans, when they are unfolded within a capitalist framework’ (2011:230). Goodbun questions if ‘systems’ as a concept is now ‘too contaminated with instrumental associations?’ (Ibid:222). This thesis argues that the instrumental capacities of systems thinking are still useful in certain circumstances as long as systems work is accompanied with the development of epistemological awareness, i.e. the ability for ‘conscious movement between different levels of abstraction’ (Irson, 2008:147) to realize when this approach is no longer useful. Unfortunately this reflexivity and critical approach is not often present, as described by Goodbun. Systems thinking needs to be understood as a mode of analysis requiring a degree of epistemological flexibility to switch between epistemologies appropriate for different types of problems (Ison 2008; Capra 2003; Sterling 2003; Reason 2006). The tradition of radical, second order cybernetics and self-reflexive systems thinkers (especially Gregory Bateson and Francisco Varela) has resisted the technocratic approach to systems thinking for half a century. Nevertheless, the dynamics of capitalism determine that systems work can only have limited impact in creating the possibility for ecological sustainability (until we redesign the economic system itself). One of the key insights of this more radical systems work is that systems, ideas and communications come in levels or layers reflecting different levels of abstraction (Bateson 1972). This concept of levels of systemic analysis led to Donella Meadows’ famous Places to Intervene in a System (Meadows 2008 [1997] – see Figure 2.3). There is a hierarchy of modes of change making. The problems associated with sustainability are often located, Meadows argues, at the higher levels of the framework (i.e. paradigms or norms of behaviour); ‘People who have managed to intervene in systems at the level of the paradigm have hit a leverage point that totally transforms the system’ (Meadows 1999:18). This tiering is seen in Sterling’s work on staged learning levels that aimed to clarify the nature of change and learning in sustainable design education (Sterling 2003:116). Each layer has an informational effect on the others, so layers can be understood as nested and enveloping as they increase in complexity (illustrated in Figure 2.3). Ecological literacy requires the integration of various traditions of systems thinking. Sterling describes ‘whole systems thinking’ as a union of the ‘tools and methodologies of system thinking with the vision, values and philosophy of ecological thought’ (2003:9). This is necessary because ecological thought is often unaware of systems practices and systems thinking often ignores ecological context and limits. Adding to this complexity is the fact that systems thinking must engage with critical strategies with an analysis of the power dynamics, conflict and ethical positions within systems (Jackson 1990; Ulrich 1998). Critical systems thinking emerged in the 1990s as a response to embed a more reflexive and critically aware method in systems thinking with an awareness of power dynamics. Thus ‘critical whole system thinking’ is necessary to address the political naivety of some systems practice (especially within a corporate context when the boundaries are drawn very narrowly to facilitate appearing to achieve corporate social responsibility goals). Sterling describes a shift from a ‘focus and attention from things to process, from static states to dynamics, from “parts” to “wholes”’ (2003:41). Skills in abduction, the ability to perceive patterns, are developed by this focus on dynamics within systems. These skills help learners distinguish the ‘the pattern that connects’ as described by Gregory Bateson (1980:8). This thesis merges critical, ecological and

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Places to Intervene in a System (Meadows 1997)

parameters

Numbers (subsidies, taxes, standards)

buffers

Material stocks and flows

delays in feedback

Regulating negative feedback loops

negative feedback

Driving positive feedback loops

information flows

Information flows

rules

The rules of the system (incentives, constraints, etc.)

self-organise

The power of self-organization

goals

The goals of the system

mindset

The paradigm out of which the goals arise

Figure 2.3 - Places to Intervene in a System (based on Meadows 1997). Source: J.Boehnert 2011

Part One: Ecological Theory

systems traditions – ‘critical whole systems thought’ in its analysis and practice with environmental communication and education. While the study of ecology itself remains somewhat stuck in a positivist framework, the rise of holistic science dramatically challenges assumptions and methodological approaches of positivist science. Holistic science unites quantities and qualities. Physicist Fritjof Capra explains that the findings of holistic science suggest a new scientific understanding of life (Capra 1996:3) a paradigm shift ‘from physics to the life sciences’ (Ibid:13) where ecology overtakes physics as the most fundamental science in a shift ‘as radical as the Copernican Revolution’ (Ibid:4). Studies of emergence, chaos theory, complexity science and networks have all contributed. Observation of self-organising processes of life led to the concept of autopoiesis; ‘the organization common to all living systems’ (Capra 1996:98). Perhaps the more famous theory of holistic sciences is James Lovelock’s ‘Gaia hypothesis’ wherein the earth is attributed with the capacity for self-regulation and homeostasis (Lovelock 1979). Central to holistic science is the awareness that there are limits to what we can know through scientific methods. Physicist Max Planck explained that ‘science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery that we are trying to solve’ (Planck quoted in McGilchrist 2009:460). McGilchrist warns that ‘certainty is the greatest illusion’ (Ibid:460). Whole systems analysis is key – but even this cannot provide absolute answers. Self-organization is central to systems dynamics but a critical factor in this analysis is the self-reflective or feedback capacity of the systems itself, of which we are a part. So in the act of observing a system, we necessarily change the object under observation – ourselves. As a consequence of the epistemological and methodological challenges faced by positivist sciences throughout the twentieth century ‘post-normal science’ has developed as an approach to science that is both more democratic and socio-ecologically aware. Post-normal science refers to a methodology of science that acknowledges its social context and the limitations of science. As a consequence of scientific work with increasingly destructive capacities, scientific decision-making must be incorporated into democratic decision-making processes. Post-normal science is science that understands itself functioning within a space where ‘facts are uncertain, values in dispute, stakes high and decisions urgent’ (Funtowicz & Ravetz 2003:1). Wendell Berry explains that ‘science can only be deployed wisely when we recognize the limits to our knowledge’ (Berry 2010). This new modality (also called Mode Two science) recognizes that science must enter into a dialogue with other forms of knowledge and work towards practical, democratic and precautious solutions in collaboration with others, as an ‘extended peer community’ (Ravetz 2005). Post-normal science accepts the legitimacy of plurality of perspectives and collaborates with other types of knowledge such as local and tacit knowledge. This participatory approach counters the technocratic shortcomings of traditional scientific method. Mode Two science makes a definitive break with positivist science’s tendency to present its own conclusions as value-free and universal.

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2.2 Ecological Epistemologies Ecological literacy is a bridge that links the new ontological understanding generated by ecological and holistic sciences with other domains of knowledge and epistemological traditions. One of the most profound epistemological critiques of modernity was developed by Gregory Bateson (see 1.5). Bateson lay the foundations for contemporary ecological thought with insights in communication theory, aesthetics, mental health and perception. His prolific work in the intersection of psychology, cybernetics, philosophy, anthropology and natural science focused on communication and philosophies of mind. Bateson’s theory of epistemological error12 posits that the western premises of reductionism, dualism and radical disconnection from nature means our entire epistemological premises are ill-conceived: I suggest that the last 100 years or so have demonstrated empirically that if an organism or aggregate of organisms sets to work with a focus on its own survival and thinks that is the way to select its adaptive moves, its ‘progress’ end up with a destroyed environment. If an organism ends up destroying its environment, it has in fact destroyed itself. (Bateson 1972:457) As ecological beings, we are embedded and mutually dependent on the rest of the natural world but our understanding of reality does not reflect this basic geophysical reality. Humankind has conceived of itself as the sole proprietors of sentience and the rest of the world ‘as mindless and therefore as not entitled to moral or ethical consideration’ (Ibid:462) – and therefore available for exploitation. The narrowing down of our epistemology to reflect only our own interests (or even the interests of our own species) and the instrumental processes we use to do this are at the root of current problems: When you separate mind from the structure in which it is immanent, such as human relationship, the human society, or the ecosystem, you thereby embark, I believe, on fundamental error, which in the end will surely hurt you. (Ibid:493) Our basic premises are encoded in the language we use, the objects we create and the cities we build. Bateson warns of the ‘self-validating power of ideas: that the world “partly becomes – comes to be – how it is imagined”’ (1980:223). Epistemological error is thereby encoded into cultural artefacts and language making it exceedingly difficult to fix. Bateson’s work on communication levels offers foundational models for addressing epistemic error. Ecofeminist scholarship contributed to the critique of modernity and its supposed value neutrality by demonstrating how conceptual frameworks are used to justify exploitation of both people and the natural world (see 1.3). Val Plumwood states: ‘Injustice does not take place in a conceptual vacuum, but is closely linked to desensitizing and othering frameworks’ (1999:197). Vandana Shiva’s essay Reductionist Science as Epistemological Violence describes the nexus between modern science and violence. As a result of feminist social and political struggles, theologian Thomas Berry claims that feminism has resulted in the ‘most profound contribution to historical understanding in recent centuries’ (1999:182). Feminism has demonstrated how history has been dominated by patriarchal establishment; ‘women are revealing the disaster of androcentrism to our society’ (Ibid:193). In this regard, feminism is a fundamental building block to the next social transformation – that of enlarging the community of concern to include the wider ecological community. Feminist scholars describe experiential, situated knowledge and emotional intelligence13 as core to resolving the false dichotomy between intellect and body, humanity and nature. These insights are central to the development of ecological thought (see 1.3). 12 Stephen Sterling prefers the term ‘epistemological inadequacy’ (2003:84) to reflect the partial truth of the reductive position. While I agree with the model of evolutionary paradigms I use ‘epistemological error’ as in Bateson (1972). 13 Karen Warren cites Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence as significant in its recognition that emotions matter for rationality. Goleman states that ‘the intellect (rational mind) simply cannot work effectively without emotional intelligence’ (Goleman:28 in Warren 1999:135). Warren builds on this argument explaining that without emotional intelligence we have no moral reasoning (1999:136). Values advocated by feminists (and traditionally associated with women) such as care and empathy are central to ethical empathic ecological consciousness. 54

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In sharp contrast to western industrial culture’s epistemological error the core values of indigeneity offers ecological epistemologies, practices and beliefs that supported thousands of indigenous societies. Indigeneity or Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is a type of knowledge of sustainable existence with common principles shared by thousands of diverse indigenous communities. These ecological epistemologies are valuable sources of learning how to conceive of both human wellbeing and functional relationships with larger ecological systems for western culture stuck in epistemological error. Research has shown core values shared by indigenous peoples (Harris & Wasilewski 2004). Harris and Wasilewski describe the core concepts of indigeneity as defined by the ‘Four Rs of relationship, responsibility, reciprocity, and redistribution’ (Ibid:492-492). Indigeneity is rooted in core values based on communal life; ‘indigenous people see everything through the filter of community’ (Ibi4:494). This worldview is based on inclusive and relational practices, creating dialogic space where ‘there is no coercion in government, only the compelling force of conscience’ (Ibid:497). Deborah Bird Rose describes TEK as a ‘system of mutually embedded relationship of care’ (1999:185) which conceives of ‘terrains as sentient and nourishing’ (Ibid:178). Indigeneity offers pathways for ecological sustainability that also address psychological well-being. It defines mental health as a balanced, reciprocal relationship with one’s habitat: ‘You tend to the natural world, and in turn it empowers you and gives you energy and health’ (Grey 1995:181). TEK is the legacy of societies who have achieved sustainable ways of living and knowledge base over forty thousand years. As such, TEK is a rich archive of ecologically positive epistemological traditions.

2.3 The Development of the Concept of Ecological Literacy David Orr’s seminal work Ecological Literacy (1992) introduced the concept of ecological literacy and eloquently describes why ecological understanding must become a pedagogic priority across all disciplinary traditions. Ecology demands a type of education that nurtures the capacity to think broadly, ‘lost in an era of specialization’ (Orr 1992:87). Ecological literacy (EL) must explore the ‘roots of our problems, not just the symptoms’ (Ibid:88) and help learners move from an attitude of ‘conqueror of the land community to plain member and citizen of it’ (Aldo Leopold quoted in Orr, 1992:90). Ecological concepts are cognitive ancedents that help organize and prioritize ecological understanding as a fundamental type of literacy. Orr elaborates on the depth and scope of the ecological problem: The disordering of ecological systems and of the great biogeochemical cycles of the earth reflects a prior disorder in the thought, perception, imagination, intellectual priorities, and loyalties inherent in the industrial mind. Ultimately, then, the ecological crisis concerns how we think and the institutions that purport to shape and refine the capacity to think (Orr 2004:2). In a technologically advanced society, understanding the ecological impacts of our actions is an ethical imperative for informed citizenship and basic ethical coherence. In its strongest manifestation, ecological literacy is ‘driven by a sense of wonder… rooted in the emotions of what E.O.Wilson has called “biophilia” which is simply the affinity with the living world’ (Orr 1992:88). Instead, modernity has instead created conditions of reductionism and instrumentalisation of the natural world leading to profound ecological illiteracy. Orr describes four prerequisites to ecological literacy. Firstly, ecological literacy is ‘to know that our health, well-being and ultimately survival depends on working with, not against, natural forces’ (1992:93). Secondly, EL requires an understanding of the scope and speed of the current crisis through a familiarity with ‘the vital signs of the planet and its ecosystems’ (Ibid:93). Thirdly, EL requires an understanding of how we have become so destructive; Orr recommends starting with a 55

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historical analysis of the legacy of Enlightenment science (Ibid:93). Finally, EL requires a pragmatic participatory approach; ‘the study of environmental problems is an exercise in despair unless it is regarded as only a preface to the study, design and implementation of solutions’ (Ibid:94). These four building blocks of ecological literacy are relevant across disciplines and are touchstones for the learning processes engaged in this thesis. The concept of ecological literacy implies a radical rethink of the purpose of education and even the definition of knowledge. The struggle to mainstream ecological literacy and embed ecological thinking into professional practice is situated in the university. Orr stresses the role of university: ‘No institutions in modern society are better situated and none more obliged to facilitate the transition to a sustainable future than colleges and universities’ (2002:96). The university must broaden the scope of its enquiry to include social and ecological impacts of its research to address ecological imperatives. Chet Bower describes the first challenge for universities as, ’to get the entrenched teachers and professors who control the forms of knowledge (including the legitimizing ideology and epistemology)… to recognize the scale and accelerating nature of the ecological crisis’ (2005:203). Embedding ecological literacy in higher education and especially design education is a goal of this thesis. The 2009 Teach-in (produced as the as the first cycle of action research) was directed towards this end and will be discussed in detail in Part Four (see Praxis Nos.1 - 14 including a case study).

2.4 Critical Ecopedagogy Critical ecopedagogy unites critical and ecological thought. It merges education for social emancipation with environmental education. Ecopedagogy emerged at the Rio Earth Summit 1992 from the tradition of critical pedagogy with its strong focus on social justice (Kahn 2010:19). Ecopedagogy links environmental education with critical theory, political action and social change. Educator Richard Kahn explains that its transformative socioeconomic critique aims to help ‘environmental education move beyond its discursive marginality by joining in solidarity with critical educators’ (Ibid:17). Social theory could potentially help ecological literacy move from its ghettoized current status to a more robust understanding of the cultural and political forces that keep ecological thought from having significant impact. Ecopedagogy unites activists and academics, providing activist tactics and skills to facilitating change in academia and critical skills for analysis and strategy development within social movements. Liberatory education expands the areas over which learners recognize their own agency to challenge hegemonic cultural conventions and institutions. Central to empowerment processes is the realization that ‘hegemonic’ cultural codes are not ‘natural’ but due to historical and cultural circumstances (Ibid:66). Literacy of various types is a foundation for emancipation. Kahn explains that although we are ‘educated and constructed by media culture, its pedagogy is frequently invisible and subliminal’ (Ibid:73). Therefore, multiple literacies are necessary to decipher how media imposes messages, stereotypes, values and ideologies. Cultural literacy creates a basis for critiquing the cultural stories for ‘enhancing people’s capacity to engage in the production of social discourse, cultural artefacts and political actions’ (Ibid:78). Critical thinking is essential to distinguish misinformation. Agency is necessary to become able to act on the basis of new analysis (see Chapters Five and Six). Design as a practice and a discipline could be a leverage point in the transformation of society according to an ecologically literate perspective. While both Orr and Capra emphasize the importance of design, the design profession itself has been slow to respond and ecological literacy is still marginal as a research agenda and teaching practice. EL advocate and educator Emma Dewberry 56

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has championed ecological literacy in design education in the UK. At the Design Research Society’s 2010 AGM Symposium, Dewberry described how designers are not dealing with political reality but tinkering around in sustainability bubbles. She asked: ‘How do we address the big systems higher up on Meadows framework?’ [approximate quotation from notes] (see Meadows’ Places to Intervene in a System, Figure 2.3). Ecological boundaries are the true boundaries in design problems and while this is the only way to address ecological problems in a comprehensive method, it also politicizes design processes as boundaries of concern are adjusted to reflect interdependence. Recognizing the inevitable political implications of transforming ecologically destructive industrial systems is an unavoidable part of confronting ecological problems. The 2009 Teach-in created as part of the first phase of this thesis project contributed to raising the profile of ecological literacy in design education in the UK.

2.5 Typologies of Ecological Literacy The daunting task faced by those familiar with the scope of the ecological crisis and the potential for ecological literacy to illuminate problems and solutions is developing a means of scaling up EL to a degree that our educational establishments are graduating students with the cognitive capacities and systemic understanding to address current challenges. The concept of ecological literacy implies a radical rethink of the purpose of education and even the definition of knowledge from children’s education to universities and across disciplines. In an effort to analyse how EL is presently taught and to improve pedagogy in design education (and beyond) this section will propose that ecological literacy can be understood as characterized by two complementary modes. The first is based in philosophy and holistic science, often accomplished with experiential learning methods in non-formal education. A second is more critically engaged and taught through critical ecopedagogy and transformative learning processes. This second mode is more apt to become institutionalised in formal higher education due to its links with projects previously established in universities and its critical focus. The proposed typology serves to differentiate orientations as a means of examining paths for future development. Both modalities are essential. Mode One provides a conceptual foundation for the second mode, which in turn has greater capacities to critique unsustainable systems and the potential to be disseminated more widely. The implementation of ecologically sustainable systems requires questioning underlying premises of traditional theories and methods. Mode Two is concerned with putting EL into effect through grounding the work in various disciplinary practices. It involves bringing the philosophical assumptions of EL into professions; critical analysis of what is not ecologically literate; and redesign of structurally unsustainable systems and ways of living.

2.5.1 Mode One Ecological literacy over the past twenty years has largely has been nurtured outside mainstream education in institutions such as Schumacher College (Totnes, UK) and the Center for Ecological Literacy (CEL) (San Francisco, USA). The EL taught in these non-formal institutions is characterized by a mix of holistic sciences, related philosophical insights, bioregional place-based learning, experiential learning in nature and social learning through dialogical practices14. This pedagogy combines developing relationships with place; direct engagement with nature; self-reflexive practice; insights from holistic science; and the historical context of our collective worldviews. Other themes are permaculture, transition initiatives, art and creativity. For both children and adults this EL emphasizes 14 I have not visited the Center for Ecological Literacy in San Francisco and so this statement is only based on following their activities from afar. I have attended a two-week ‘Ecological Literacy’ course at Schumacher College. 57

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experiential learning in nature. Dahl Wahl describes ‘a dimension of ecological understanding that has to be subjectively embodied and adapted to the particular local conditions of natural processes in which we participate’ (Wahl 2005:87). Fritjof Capra, co-founder of the Center for Ecological Literacy, has led the development of this ecological literacy through his writing and teaching at both CEL and Schumacher. The CEL has developed ‘Nature’s Processes and Patterns’ that inform an understanding of ecological systems dynamics (introduced in Chapter Three). A criticism of this mode is that there is a danger that enthusiasm for consciousness change alone ignores the serious work that must be done in transforming industrial and political systems. David Orr warned in his initial book against the naivity of ‘wishful thinking about how mass change will come about’ (1992:64). There tends to be a gap between good intentions and critical strategies for intervention within the EL community that I am attempting to highlight by defining two modalities. Reflexive, self-aware and ecological embedded consciousness is a necessary first step, but it must proceed to critical intervention in the systems that perpetuate ecological destruction.

2.5.2 Mode Two Ecological literacy faces multiple challenges in developing beyond the marginalized contexts where it remains after almost twenty years. Facilitating the transition from theory to practice while maintaining a strong voice in defence of the Earth in the face of multiple challenges presented by industrial capitalism and the educational institutions that reproduce legitimizing theoretical frameworks, is beyond the scope of the relatively apolitical and uncritical Mode One EL. The work of scaling up and embedding ecological literacy into wider cultural systems requires stronger critical skills and political engagement. Mode Two focuses on developing both critical whole systems thinking and the agency to intervene and transform ecologically illiterate systems, power structures and political dynamics. It draws on ecopedagogy and its strong tradition of supporting the development of critical consciousness, politicization and the agencies to do the work that needs to be done to make social change happen. These practices give environmental education and communication stronger tools and strategies. Richard Kahn defines critical ecopedagogy as a practice which: ...promotes a dynamic and complex definition of ecoliteracy that seeks to promote the idea that while we are hemmed in by the limits of and interpolated by destructive institutional forms, we can recognize and transcend these thresholds through measures of individual transformational and collective action. (2010:152) While environmental education is widespread, the impact on the systems of production remains limited and ecological crisis continues to accelerate. Meanwhile, environmental education is often confined to relatively business friendly modes of analysis. Chet Bower explains: Most people consider themselves environmentalists – but commitment is shallow. While environmental education is widespread – it does not challenge entrenched industrial worldview, and imparts only a very thin conception of ecology. (Bower quoted in Dryzek 2005:200) This assessment is validated by the responses to the Teach-in questionnaire (see Praxis No.13). Answers to questions indicate that there remains a greater interest in the idea of sustainability than familiarity with ecological concepts that would enable analysis of environmental problems. Thus the basic knowledge necessary to inform the design of sustainable systems is marginal despite the interest in sustainability as a vague ideal.

Part One: Ecological Theory

2.6 Sustainability vs. Ecological Literacy Ecological literacy offers a manner of thinking that addresses problems with the concept of ‘sustainability’. Sustainability is a concept that has been rendered almost meaningless through its appropriation by businesses keen to appear to be doing the right thing in meeting CSR objectives and not implicated in the escalating ecological crisis. Although sustainability can be measured using various environmental assessment processes, the lack of rigorous standards combined with the failure to adjust boundaries of concern wide enough to include the full impact of processes, results in rampant misuse of the term. Frameworks for making ecological assessment legally binding or holding industrialists morally and legally accountable are either extraordinarily weak or non-existent. Thus sustainability continues to be an elusive goal. Whilst individual products proudly proclaim their green credentials, the overall impact of consumer lifestyles continues to accelerate the degradation of natural systems. To those who notice the larger context and dynamics of escalating crises, the term is generally associated with ‘greenwash’. Marketing a product or process as sustainable is much easier than actually creating sustainable ways of living. Brands have an interest in portraying a green image and so ‘sustainability’ is generally used to reassure consumers that unsustainable consumption is morally acceptable, contrary to the consensus in the scientific community that current ways of living are causing climate change (IPCC 2007) and degrading other Earth systems (Rockström et al 2009). Sustainability has been associated with ‘development’ since the 1983 Brundtland Commission. Wolfgang Sachs describes sustainable development as ‘conservation of development, not for the conservation of nature’ (1999:34). Similarly David Orton claims: With sustainable development there are no limits to growth. Greens and environmentalists who today still use this concept display ecological illiteracy. There is a basic contradiction between the finiteness of the Earth, with natural self-regulating systems operating within limits, and the expansionary nature of industrial capitalist society. The language of sustainable development helps mask this fundamental contradiction, so that industrial expansion on a global scale can temporarily continue. (Orton 1989:unpaginated) Sustaining or increasing levels of consumption on the diminishing resource base with more people wanting ‘better’ lifestyles (i.e. more consumption) is not possible in the current context. Researchers have proposed terms that reflect critical awareness of inherent shortcomings in the concept of sustainability. Just sustainability, sustainment and scarcity – three new concepts that challenge the hegemony of ‘sustainability’. ‘Just sustainability’ was coined by Julian Agyeman to prioritize justice and ‘ensure a better quality of life for all, now and into the future, in a just and equitable manner, whilst living within the limits of supporting ecosystems’ (Agyeman et al. 2003:5). Sustainment is a concept proposed by Tony Fry as an alternative to the ‘defuturing condition of unsustainability’ (Fry 2009:1). Fry writes, ‘myopically, the guiding forces of the status quo continue to sacrifice the future to sustain the excesses of the present’ (Ibid:2)(see 4.3). A discourse on ‘scarcity’ has emerged reflecting ‘a condition defined by insufficiency of resources’ (Till 2010:1) and the contradiction between unlimited human ‘needs’ and the limits of natural resources. The concept of ‘scarcity’ has its own set of problems as constructed scarcities15 can be made to seem ‘natural’ thereby justifying austerity measures and punishing the poor for the rampant consumption of the rich.

15 Constructed scarcities refers to scarcities that are created because of inequitable resource distribution, as when resources are reserved for use by powerful elites. For example, a constructed scarcity could be a famine in an African country whose land is used to grow salads for Europeans. Land grabs and resource wars create constructed scarcities and the politics of austerity that punish the poor for the extravagant consumption of the rich. 59

The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy - J.Boehnert - PhD 2012

Despite the justified cynicism caused by this abuse of the word ‘sustainability’ it remains the dominant term to describe meeting ‘the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (Brundland:1987) and it is used in the thesis. Ultimately sustainability is not a feature of a particular product but the condition of a culture relative to its impact on ecological systems. Nothing in our culture is sustainable since the cumulative impact of consumer lifestyles, or the ecological footprint of consumption in the UK is 4.8 gha16 (and 8gha in the United States) (Global Footprint Network 2010:31). While the behaviour of certain individuals is below the threshold (i.e. they personally use fewer resources and create less population) the gross impact of the collective system is the indicator that matters. Ecological literacy emphasises the contextual and relational characteristics of ecological well-being and learning as central to this pursuit. Ecological literacy addresses the gap between intention and practice in the pursuit of sustainability through observation of nature’s patterns and processes and the design of compatible ways of living.

2.7 Conclusion This chapter has explored the manner in which ecological literacy emerged in the early 1990s and how it has evolved since this time. Ecological literacy has been taught through both experiential leanrning and critical ecopedagogic processes. Critical ecopedagogy links theory to practice and recognizes the political implications of ecological thought. This thesis describes Mode Two ecological literacy as a means of addressing problems with the concept of sustainability. The next chapter will examine some principles of ecology as described by the Center for Ecological Literacy as nature’s patterns and processes.

16 Global hectare (gha): A productivity-weighted area used to report both the biocapacity of the Earth, and the demand on biocapacity (the Ecological Footprint) (Global Footprint Network 2010:105). 60