The debate showed that sustainability issues will not be solved by science alone, but must also be linked to social change and education. While pressures on ecosystems demand that societies seek to understand immediate issues such as biodiversity and land use, solving the problems of today will be futile without appropriate methods for teaching the children of tomorrow. Rik Leemans usually models land-use and biodiversity. However, he spent much of his IAS Fellowship reflecting on the pedagogical issues that underlie his research. He considered how to improve interdisciplinarity in environmental science education, and engaged with the scientific literature on the history of denial in science, not only relating to climate change but also in relation to evolution and medicine. The world’s leading scientists need to consider how best to impart their knowledge to a new generation. Leemans’ Fellowship enabled him to reflect on methods of teaching.
Much of the IAS’s work therefore moved beyond the development of the sciences of sustainability, to consider the wider public dissemination of ideas. As co-founder of Forum for the Future, Jonathon Porritt has been a pioneer in green issues. He continued in this spirit at Durham, engaging with staff and students across the Business School, Law, and the Durham Energy Institute – and also promoting Durham’s carbon management plan. However, like Rik Leemans, Porritt also reflected on the underlying issues of environmental education. Porritt tapped into the theme of Utopia that was prominent in the Futures year to consider why there is a dearth of positive Utopian thinking within the green movement. A paper for the IAS’s Insightsjournal prepared the ground for a book that will reinvigorate environmentalism so that it conveys not just current anxieties and pessimism, but also the promise of a better future.
Jonathon Porritt’s paper for Insights invokes the spirit of utopianism in order to encourage business, governments and people to achieve positive environmental change:
www.durham.ac.uk/ias/insights/volume4/article4/
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