The Blessed Moment: Promise for Preparing
Integrative Learners and Leaders
The symbolic act of learning and living sustainability in the future should intermingle
the fabric of natural systems and human made social systems
by Pramod Parajuli, Ph.D.
“climate of change.” This is the focus of my paper here, a unique
Doctoral Program in Sustainability Education
opportunitythat accompanies climate change.
Prescott College
The “climate of change” is evident in the way hundreds of
thousands of people and groups who are already involved in
changing the way we have been doing things, living our lives or
using our tools. In his new book, Blessed Unrest, Paul Hawken es-
Introduction
timates that worldwide there are at least 2 million such initiatives.
he hundreds of thousands of initiatives of this blessed Maybe there are more, certainly not less.
T
moment are not about the bread and butter, or just about
the soil and water alone. Art and the things of beauty Second, learning sustainability should help us live lives
are emerging from the most ordinary—a permaculture and be well in the World.
household in El Salvador, a thread of garlic organically grown in
Let me offer a working definition of learning sustainabil-
the Chino Valley, Arizona, a solar cooker in the remote Nepalese
ity. Learning sustainability is “an art and a process that could
Himalayas, a Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, a sustainable fishing
reorient human beings to become a beneficial member of an
regulation in British Columbia, or a bag of coffee produced under
abundant biosphere.” First, it is an art and a process. Second,
the canopy of agro-forestry in Chiapas, Mexico. One solar cooker
the intent of this art and process is to reorient humans from one
at a time, one biogas at a time, there are millions of solutions,
mindset/worldview to another that will then lead to new visions,
sprouting amidst crisis and seeming chaos. The time has come as
dreams and designs. Third, humans can be beneficial members of
William Blake wrote:
the biosphere and that the human needs and that of the biosphere
do not have to be in conflict but can be mutually enhancing.
To see a world in the grain of sand
Fourth, the biosphere is abundant and based on that we can create
And a heaven in a wild flower
foundations for an abundant and equitable human life. Fifth, that
we can prepare the next generation who can be beneficial mem-
What might all these imply as we prepare the future genera-
bers and who can make the biosphere abundant.
tions of learners, educators and leaders? The eight transitional
As sustainability educators, at the core of our concern is
insights I offer below testify that the symbolic act of learning and
nothing less than “life” itself. For me the message is loud and
living sustainability in the future should intermingle the fabric of
clear: We can be resilient and bounce back towards a sound and
natural systems and human made social systems—two most com-
satisfying life systems for humans and other-than-humans. But
plex systems on earth. A new sustainable human trajectory will
as the author of Biomimicry, Janine Benyus, advises, we have to
not be of humans alone shooting to Mars; it will require re-rooting
learn from our own evolutionary trajectory and the memory line
ourselves with all our multiple senses, and working along with all
of DNA. She reminds us to be humble of our techno-industrial
more than human species.
accomplishments because other organisms have done everything
we humans want to do without guzzling fossil fuels, polluting
First, there is an Inviting Context: Climate of Change
the planet, over harvesting water, depleting soil or mortgaging
amidst Climate Change
their future. For example, how do other species clean themselves
By now, almost all have accepted that the climate change is and why do humans need soap, shampoo and hot water to clean?
real, undeniable, and is accelerating very fast. Most among us also Rather than asking “What is the least toxic detergent to use?”, a
admit that climate change is caused largely due to the way we more hopeful question, Janine Benyus, suggests, might be: “How
live our lives, the ways we extract, use and waste our resources. does nature stay clean?” How does nature thermo-regulate?
Many also agree that it is urgent to address it from all dimensions.
Fortunately, ferocity of these very real crises are accompanied by a
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Clearing - 2009 Compendium Edition http://www.clearingmagazine.org Page 39
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