Sustainability & Ethics in

Engineering

ENG 4A03

Joel Hilchey

What have you heard? What do you want to get from the

course?

Creativity in Education

TED Talk: Sir Ken Robinson

Schools Kill Creativity

Joel Hilchey

• McMaster Eng Phys Grad - 2006

• M.Eng – Environmental - University of Toronto

• Self-Employed Leadership Facilitator 8 years

• Founder of The Beanstalk Project

Email through Avenue

www.joelhilchey.com

ENG 4A03 Course Outline • Creativity & Social

Responsibility • Ethics – An Introduction to

the Grey Zone • Sustainability & Resilience • Food for a Sustainable

World • Personal Dynamics for

Professional Practice • Professional Ethics & The

PEO

• Finding a Job that Fits Your Values

• Sustainability from the Global Perspective

• The Problem of Politics • Sustainability Perspectives • Educating for a New Era • Digital Technology and the

Future of Humanity

Expectations

Academic Dishonesty

• Just don’t do it. It’ll scare you, make your grade worse, and make more work for everyone.

• Including:

• Don’t copy someone else’s work - from the past or present.

• Don’t just change a few words. Write your OWN work. When it doubt, cite stuff…

Academic Dishonesty

• Just don’t do it. It’ll scare you, make your grade worse, and make more work for everyone.

• Including:

• Don’t copy someone else’s work - from the past or present.

• Don’t just change a few words. Write your OWN work. When it doubt, cite stuff…

Joel's General Policy

• Show up. Bring an open mind. Participate. Ask questions. Give feedback. Take responsibility for your own learning and achievement. Be honest. Collaboration is strongly encouraged, but do your own final work. Do it well. Hand it in on time. In the case of emergencies or unusual circumstances, do what is reasonable and consistent with the above expectations. Joel will make every effort to be reasonable also.

Text Books Get them NOW. THIS week.

• A Short History of Progress – Ronald Wright – 2004 Massey Lecture Series – http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/massey-

archives/2004/11/07/massey-lectures-2004-a-short-history-of-progress/

• The Truth About Stories – Thomas King

– 2003 Massey Lecture Series – http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/massey-

archives/2003/11/07/massey-lectures-2003-the-truth-about-stories-a-native-narrative/

The ENG 4A03 Challenge Course McMaster’s 12 point GPA system is represented by 12 levels. Start at

Level 0 and work through the challenges to advance your level. • Challenges are designed to encourage learning, not compare students

against each other: • Pass/ “Fail” Grading - No need to dispute minor discrepancies in

evaluator judgement. Need numbers? Think of a “pass” as approximately 75%.

• Relatively Short – There are a bunch of challenges, but the Stepping Stone and Ladder Rung challenges can be completed within ~1 hour. Other challenges give you more involved activities.

• Fail-Proof – “Fail” is in quotes because you only fail if you give up. Don’t pass the first time? No problem! Just redo it and resubmit. Learning is the goal, so multiple attempts are encouraged.

Stepping Stones

• (They don’t increase your level, but are necessary to get to the ladders. Earn up to all 5 steps.):

• Post-dated Letter

• Sustainability Foundations Quiz

• Journal #1 – Ethics & Sustainability

• Ethics Quiz

• Personal Vision Statement

Key Challenges

(Unlock the doors to the first ladder and to Levels 10 and 11. Earn up to all 3 keys, at any time, but do them in this order):

1. A Short History of Progress – Reflection “The lessons we must learn.”

2. Personal TED Talk – “Something about Sustainability”

3. The Truth About Stories - Reflection “A story for Sustainability?”

Ladder Rung Challenges (Climb higher; increase your level from 1 to 9. Earn up to 9

rungs, in any order): • Choice Challenge Package (2) • Journal #2 – Sustainable Food & Prof. Ethics • Journal #3 – Global Sustainability & Politics • Annual Report Debunk • 4 In-Class Quizzes – Various ethical scenarios. Administered

randomly during class - Must be present to win! (No “resubmits” available, but 1 “Make-Up” Quiz Available during the final class.)

• The Omnivore’s Dilemma – Book Reflection (Can be used as a make-up for a missed/failed quiz)

Trampoline Challenge

(Bound up to Level 12!):

• Article - “My Most Significant Change”

Due Date:

• All challenges (including re-submissions) officially due at 12 noon on Wed, Nov 26,

• But.. accepted with MSAF until noon on Wed, Dec 3.

Attendance

Giving an “A”

Discuss: I feel more responsible for…

My Health OR My Education

My Family OR My Friends

What I Say OR What I Write

What I Do OR What I Don’t Do

My Time OR My Money

What IS Social Responsibility?

• Social - adj:

living or disposed to live in companionship with others or in a community, rather than in isolation.

What IS Social Responsibility?

• Responsibility – noun: the state or fact of being responsible. • Responsible – adj.: involving responsibility. answerable or accountable, as for something

within one’s power, control, or management. • Responsible FOR, Responsible TO

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

• Is a form of self-regulation integrated into a business model.

• Ensures compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards, and international norms.

• Goal is to embrace responsibility for company actions on the environment, consumers, employees , communities and stakeholders!

What IS Social Responsibility?

Joel’s definition

• Responsibility is the “sense” – the knowledge and feeling – that one’s actions somehow affect the unfolding of events.

• Feeling responsible means feeling connected to an outcome.

• Social Responsibility is the “sense” that we are connected to the communities in which we live.

Discussion: What is Valuable?

List some things that are valuable to you.

What gives those things value?

TED Talk: Rory Sutherland

Life Lessons from an Ad Man

Discussion: Creating Value

What is the role of engineers in creating value?

What is our “end game”?

The Vision for the Course

Before:

• Lots of Law

• Lots of Ethics

• Lots of PEO

• Lots of Boring… (no offense)

• PS – You have OPTIONS instead of this course.

The Process

• Brainsprout Ideas – we thought of cool stuff

• Sticky Note them..

The Process

• Brainsprout Ideas – we thought of cool stuff

• Sticky note them..

• Collect & group them

• Make a cool diagram

• Brainsprout interesting evaluation ideas

• See how it goes…

The Vision for the Course

Simply put, you’ll leave this course with

a better understanding of how

the world is interconnected, and

a clearer idea of how

you choose to contribute, both personally and professionally.

Post-dated Letter

Write a letter, post-dated for April 30, 2014. “Dear Joel, I got my A because…” • All past tense; no “I hope..”, “I intend to..”, etc. • Accomplishments are okay, but we’re particularly

interested in the PERSON you have become. • What did you learn through the course? • How did you change as a person? • Fall in love with that person you’re writing about.

Questions / Discussion

Bonus TED Talk: Alain de Botton

A Kinder, Gentler View of Success