Individuals and Organizations in the Multi-Level Sustainability Transition

Running Head: INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS IN THE MULTI-LEVEL SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITION

Individuals and Organizations in the Multi-Level Sustainability Transition Emily T. C. Fitzsimmons University of Oklahoma, GEOG 3233 001

INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS IN THE MULTI-LEVEL SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITION 1 Illogically, much of the world is grounded in unsustainable regimes, necessitating an urgent multi-level transition to strong sustainability. In order to be considered sustainable, a system “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs” (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch.1, p. 3). Strong sustainability further considers not only environmental well-being but also social and economic health in this approach (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 11). The transition to strong sustainability can be achieved via niche experiments that disrupt regime stability through changing social norms, such as reducing energy use through smart meters, workshops, and community programs (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 2, 3, 4). Strong sustainability can also occur from changes directly in the regime as opposed to progressing through niche experimentation first, like legislation that promotes alternative energy over fossil fuel use (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 5). The most effective path to strong sustainability, however, includes instruments and strategies that integrate changes on both the niche and regime level (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 7, 8). This is done by individuals and organizations competing, collaborating, and coordinating to link those on the niche level to those in the regime level (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 6).

Such strategies and instruments performed by sustainability professionals add sustainability value to major systems and sub-systems – like food, water, infrastructure, and energy – all of which construct the multi-level socio-technical system (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 10). This added sustainability value by individuals and organizations to niches and regimes stimulate a multi-level transition (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 11). Specific examples of strategies and instruments include “education and engagement campaigns, sustainable behavior change programs, organizational strategic sustainability initiatives, green innovation partnerships, green city planning, appliance and building labelling and certification systems, infrastructure

INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS IN THE MULTI-LEVEL SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITION 2 investment, circular economy and industrial ecology systems, feed-in tariffs and other innovation-focused energy policies, environmental movements, and triple-bottom-line economic development strategies� (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 11, p. 278).

Achieving strong sustainability relies on both individuals and organizations throughout the multi-level system to act as agents of change, competing, collaborating, and coordinating within and between the niche and regime levels. One example includes the environmental champion, an individual who utilizes strategic, anticipatory, and interpersonal relations competencies to scale individual sustainability values to the organizational level (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 6). By contrast, policy entrepreneurs follow a top-down strategy by changing the policy mix on the regime level so that niche experiments can thrive, which “amplify green innovation systems� (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 6, p. 143). Examples of organizations in the multi-level sustainability transition include institutional gatekeepers and innovation intermediaries, who succeed most by using interpersonal relations, normative, strategic, and systems thinking competencies (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 1). Institutional gatekeepers consist of government, university, or association actors who facilitate communication between clusters of individuals and organizations; innovation intermediaries support other, smaller organizations or individuals who act as entrepreneurs (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 4). Notably, several agents of change can be either an individual or an organization on the niche or regime level in the transition, including cluster champions and boundary spanners (Gliedt & Larson, 2018). As a brief illustration of these concepts, a real-world example of an individual in the multi-level sustainability transition would be an urban planner, acting as a policy entrepreneur; his or her organization would consist of the city government, an institutional gatekeeper. The pair would be attempting to shape the societal landscape to normalize low-impact development and planning.

INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS IN THE MULTI-LEVEL SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITION 3 Interconnections and interactions between the individuals and organizations on the niche and regime levels “drive sustainability transitions in the socio-technical system” (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 11, p. 278). First, individuals compete at the niche level, “continually creating change” (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 1, p. 19). These individuals are constantly inventing and experimenting under the goal of creating new solutions to sustainability issues while earning a profit (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 7). This competition ensures the most promising sustainability technologies and ideas are developed. Meanwhile, organizations on the regime level collaborate in order to establish long-term changes in regime subsystems, so niche experiments can proliferate (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 3). Organizations can include businesses, government agencies, non-profits, or similar institutions that promote entrepreneurs, regulate actions, deliver services, or network, all of which create a seedbed for niche creation and protection (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 3, 9). Radical actions by individuals and organizations on the niche and regime levels are essential to major changes in the landscape because actors benefitting from the current regime stability often use instrumental, discursive, material, and institutional forms of power to thwart the multi-level transition. For instance, oil barons like the Koch family actively lobby against climate change legislation because they gain from the current fossil-fuel-centered regime (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 9). In the face of such detrimental agents, individuals and organizations called intermediaries positively connect the niche and the regime to combat this resistance.

Sustainability intermediaries carry the most important role in the multi-level sustainability transition because they coordinate sustainability professionals across the system.

Intermediaries include individuals who “influence, facilitate, support, or drive the creation and diffusion of new technologies, products, or services that have the potential to shift or accelerate

INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS IN THE MULTI-LEVEL SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITION 4 changes to socio-technical systems” (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 6, p. 145). They can work within or between organizations by “analyzing, filtering, and transferring knowledge between actors,” “building collaborations between organizations via networks and partnerships,” and connecting “individual entrepreneurs and organizational decisions to broader green innovation and economic development processes” (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 6, p. 143; ch. 3). Above all, these sustainability professionals use the interpersonal relations competency to coordinate other individuals and organizations so that niche experiments can be scaled to the regime level (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 6). By forming “coalitions of individuals and organizations that have complimentary expertise,” intermediaries aid in the triple-bottom-line development necessary for strong sustainability in the transition (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 1, p. 16; ch. 5, 6). Specific examples of intermediaries include accelerator and incubator centers that help with niche creation, experimentation, and protection (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 6).

As an illustration, Singletary and Sterle’s case study of the Truckee-Carson River system in Nevada in chapter 3 of Dr. Gliedt’s textbook clarifies the roles necessary to a multi-level sustainability transition. In this case, the researchers assumed the role of the intermediaries between the individuals in the niche – the scientists, the individuals in the regime – the water managers, and the organizations throughout the niche and regime levels – “city departments, tribes, environmental non-profit organizations, state water agencies, and federal environmental agencies” (Gliedt & Larson, 2018, ch. 3, p. 65). Utilizing interpersonal, anticipatory, strategic, and systems thinking competencies, the intermediaries, or the researchers, coordinated the various individuals and organizations in the multi-level system in order to achieve better water management and resiliency in the area.

In short, individuals and organizations take the roles of competitors, collaborators, and

INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS IN THE MULTI-LEVEL SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITION 5 coordinators to stimulate multi-level sustainability transitions. Through a wide variety of strategies and instruments, these agents of change add sustainability value to systems under the goal of triple-bottom-line development; without this strong sustainability, the multi-level sustainability transition cannot occur. Both individuals and organizations each possess roles in the niche and regime level as environmental champions, policy entrepreneurs, institutional gatekeepers, innovation intermediaries, and other sustainability professionals. Through their coordination of the niche and the regime, the multi-level transition to strong sustainability is made possible.

INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS IN THE MULTI-LEVEL SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITION 6 References Gliedt, T., & Larson, Kelli. (2018). Sustainability in transition: Principles for developing solutions. New York, NY: Routledge.