Conceptions Paradigms Values and Sustainable Development

ARTICLE 2

a. Title :

Conceptions, paradigms, values and sustainable development

b. Topic area :

Education (Epistemology)

c. Keywords:

Conceptions, paradigms, values, sustainable development

d. Name of the author :

F. Pellaud, Science education PhD

e. Department / affiliation :

Laboratoire de didactique et épistémologie des sciences, University of Geneva (Switzerland) http://www.unige.ch/fapse/SSE/teachers/giordan/LDES/index.html

f. Mailing address :

Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education Université de Genève - 9, rte de Drize CH - 1227 Carouge - SUISSE

g. E-mail address :

francine.pellaud@pse.unige.ch

h. Phone number :

+41.22.705.97.58.

i. Fax number :

+41.22.705.98.28.

j. Corresponding author :

Francine Pellaud

Conceptions, paradigms, values and sustainable development Francine Pellaud, LDES, University of Geneva (Switzerland) 2003

Abstract Sustainable development is a complex concept. Understanding the extent of this concept and related ideas requires a systemic approach and complex thought.

In order to become part of this process we must go beyond the liberal idea of individual liberty and grasp the notion of solidarity. This principle requires that we understand the interactions between local and global, between human beings and their political, economic, social and environmental development.

Our research presents the major difficulties for people to understand such a complex concept and overcome Western paradigms and values to participate actively, in their daily life, in this process.

Introduction Just five years ago, more than a quarter of the European population still ignored sustainable development. Nevertheless, the concept has made its way in a great number of official talks and is also heard more and more frequently in the private sector. Even though this growing awareness is a key to making sustainable development all the more popular to larger audiences, it does not guarantee its coming into play. In order to do so, mere limited actions made only by certain sectors are not enough. All forces are concerned by it, as Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland so rightly recalled it in her introduction to Agenda 21, in 1993: ‘if the citizens, the people ready to back difficult decisions and to ask for changes are able to inspire their governments and to bring pressure on them, only then the promises made in Rio will be kept in time to ensure our future’.

The message could not be clearer: sustainable development is every one’s affair and it is one’s duty to do one’s best so that it does not remain a theoretical ideal towards which humanity should aim at.

Goals of the research. Methodology.

The aim of the research offered in this article is to identify the parameters needed to put up an exhibition, which goals are to pass on the message of sustainable development to large audiences1. In order to achieve this, interviews were carried out with 140 people from different backgrounds, none of them concerned by the problematic. Analysing the conceptions2 that were thus collected has allowed to pinpoint the obstacles to personal engagement, vital for this process to work. The identification of these obstacles has been achieved by bringing to the fore the implicit and underlying logic used by the interviewed persons in their argumentation, as well as their links with their social paradigms.

The results show that the obstacles lie at different levels, some are connected to cognitive development and the difficulty by the persons to grasp complexity, and some are more linked with the emotional fields, ethics, or a certain perception of reality.

Such a work is essential to recognise the difficulties that can be encountered by the communication of the public sector, media broadcasting, education, professional training and to a larger extent, the mediation of matters that are both complex and needing a strong implication from the individual.

1

PELLAUD, F. (2000) L’utilisation des conceptions du public lors de la diffusion d’un concept complexe, celui de développement durable, dans le cadre d’un projet en muséologie, Thèse de doctorat, FAPSE - Université de Genève.

2 For more insight on conceptions and their analysis, see the article of Pellaud, F. and Eastes, R-E. The importance of 'presenting' knowledge: The role of the teaching environment in the Allosteric Learning Model

Ethical sustainability

Environmental sustainability

Social sustainability

Economic sustainability

A key notion: responsibility.

Sustainable development is generally seen as interacting with social, economic and environmental development, but there is a fourth pole not to be forgotten, i.e., ethics consideration. Linked to this pole, there is shared responsibility as well as individual responsibility - which Dr. Brundtland alludes to in her speech. However, many obstacles can prevent people from becoming aware of their responsibilities. As regards the individual, three main difficulties can be picked out.

The first one is due to the difficulty of accepting this responsibility. In our western societies, we are, on the one hand, used to being backed by insurance companies, and on the other hand, used to being counselled by legal representatives who will inevitably try to put the blame on others. This makes it all the more difficult for the individual to accept that he has something to do with the present social and environmental turmoils, given that they are linked to his own way of life and consuming. So we blame it on others. The political system is to blame, since the right decisions are not taken. The private sector is to blame, since we are made to consume, thanks to advertising, in a non-sustainable way. And finally cities and local authorities are to blame, since they don’t offer the right infrastructures, think recycling and selective waste, for example. And the list goes on and on.

After Blanchet & November, 1998

Lack of systemic view - Interactions of sustainable development - Links between local actions and global development Manipulated by the political and economical system, by advertising

Lack of infrastructure and information

Assumed efforts to make (careful thinking)

Fear of losing one’s comfort one’s rights

“what can I do about it?”

“It’s not my fault”

“Hands off of my freedom!”

DISEMPOWERMENT Figure 1

Pellaud, 2000

Even if a sense of responsibility is accepted, we find it hard to picture an individual effort having any influence at all on the improvement of our society. This line of reasoning is probably an excuse –be it conscious or not- to a real resolve to commitment and dedication, but many people simply fail to come to terms with the complexity of the process.

Economy-environment-social

Between different forces, from state to individual

local/global The complexity of interactions, even interdependencies

Search for optima, for open and evolving solutions

time (long-term notion) space (household to atmosphere)

relativity

To deal with sustainable development is to deal with:

The individual is just a drop in the bucket…

But an essential one!

The uncertain, the unclear, the paradoxical, even the contradictory Figure 2

regulation Deciding in uncertain times (precaution principle) managing the unknown

Some aspects of the complexity linked to sustainable development F. PELLAUD 2000

The complexity before the Cartesian paradigms taught at school Our current educational system fails to get us used to considering interactions and interdependencies, which are keystone concepts of sustainable development. Interactions exist between environment, economy and social development, but also between the different forces and mostly, between local actions and global development. Polluted air or water know no boundaries. Even the smallest financial investment - choosing which product to buy between two, for instance – is at the beginning of many economic, social and environmental decisions. A striking example of the consumers’ control over a market, the so-called ‘consumer sovereignty’, is the growth of fair trade and environmentally friendly products, at least in Europe.

This characteristic directly recalls the notion of relativity. In academic fields, it is applied to physics, but it can also be applied to social and economical phenomena. As Gandhi so rightly said once: ‘Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it’. And the notion of relativity can be applied to time as well. For an economist, the long-term varies from 3 to 10 years, whereas for an ecologist, if we think nuclear waste, it grows to millions of years.

The speedy development of science and techniques always goes in opposition to what is taught at school, and particularly to the way mathematics are taught. Hence, the individual ends up facing data that he/she cannot always manage. Even in his/her daily life, he/she finds himself/herself in the obligation to make choices, even though he/she doesn’t know all the ins and outs. It’s the case for choices related to health, food, environment, technological equipments, and so on. He/she finds himself facing the uncertain, the unclear, the random, the paradoxical, even the contradictory. None of these notions appear in any lesson nor in any present field of study, and the Cartesian philosophy is largely ineffective before them.

This brings us to reconsider the very foundations of western societies, used to looking for the answer. What is more, in the collective imagination, this answer is to be provided by science and techniques. Yet, the most advanced software and the top climate modeling systems still cannot help us knowing neither the exact causes, nor the consequences of a global warming and the arrival of El Niño. They also fail to inform us on the influence of GMOs, on the evolution of fauna and flora, and subsequently on the evolution of the human race.

Individual freedom ranking as social paradigm To finish off with this phenomenon of disempowerment, it must be added that individual freedom, understood here as free will, meaning doing what one wants, no matter where or when, is a very strong hindrance. The pseudo liberty praised by our consumer society inevitably conveys fears like those of having efforts to make, of losing one’s comfort, one’s rights, thus shaping our choices in life, both individual and collective.

In the same line of reasoning, solidarity is more often than not replaced by charity. Then again, this is based on an egocentric logic. It is much easier to appease one’s conscience by taking part in charitable actions than to really dedicate oneself in one that deals with solidarity.

Changing our ways of reasoning and daring to question values Assistance hence disempowerment, Cartesian approach hence absence of insight of interactions, search for definite solutions hence difficulties to manage the unknown, free will instead of individual freedom. All these obstacles to the setting up of sustainable development are actually social paradigms conveyed at school. So what can be done given these facts?

First and foremost, we must stop teaching academic knowledge out of context and with no links whatsoever to existing problems. As an example, global warming is an interdisicplinary subject, it is concerned by mathematics (emission calculations, absorption calculations, statistics…) but also by geography (countries concerned, changes in the ecosystem, desertification…), history (since when? who takes part in it and why? political and economical conditions…), physics and chemistry (what is the phenomenon? how does it intervene?), technology (what are the other possibilities in terms of transportation, heating…), as well as foreign languages (useful to search all sources of information, but also to study fiction, for instance…). Many subjects are quite familiar to the daily life of a pupil, such as water management, waste management –that can be studied through the cycle of the matter, for example. These subjects have the ability to be approached transversally and to allow a better understanding of the world, thanks to the links they provide and the commitment they can generate.

Subsequently, there is a need to encourage situations where the pupils can have the opportunity to think about values. They must be able to know their place, find their marks, know what they like, what they value, and mostly, why they value it. How can we wish to fight social inequalities if we also crave for top-notch computer gear or clothes from fashionable designers? How can we hope to have a job that would allow us to buy a Ferrari and also want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and put an end to world starvation? Teachers have to think thoroughly about the way they shape individuals… Is the quest for individual advancement and personal profit -still encouraged by the neo-liberal society- compatible with the principle of solidarity and the search for equality implicit in sustainable development? What is the meaning of quality of life? Is it an ever broadening access to goods and to individual comfort or can it be seen differently, for instance in having a real control over one’s choices of life, one’s social relationships and so on?

Here is an issue that school has a hard time tackling. Nevertheless, to shed light on values, without going as far as being zealous, is a necessary step in the profound interrogations our western societies must make.

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