engaging in sustainable development: the worldview approach · 2017-04-05 · i offer a method in...

22nd International Sustainable Development Research Society Conference (ISDRS)

Lissabon 13-16 july 2016 Section 1a. Sustainable Development Science: Fundamental Concepts

Engaging in sustainable development: the worldview approach

Bert J M de Vries

IMEW / Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development

http://www.uu.nl/en/research/copernicus-institute-of-sustainable-development











My background

Kwaliteit en Toekomst

www.sustainabilityscience.eu

System dynamics methodology Worldview approach http://www.sustainabilityscience.eu/

http://www.sustainabilityscience.eu/

Objective: With rising income, communication and connectedness, pluralism in values and beliefs has intensified and become more visible and manifest. To promote sustainable development as maintaining and improving the quality of life for all human beings (cf. SDGs), it is important to deal with this pluralism (assuming democracy is part oa sustainable devlopment). I offer a method in sustainability science research: the worldview approach. It is a heuristic framework to engage with the values and beliefs about a sustainable world. It has been applied for a couple of years in the M Sc Sustainable Development of Utrecht University. I present some outcomes of the 64 student assignments made in 2014 and 2015. I hope that teachers in sustainability science can cooperate in order to converge to an overarching framework of topics and methods – and this is meant as a contribution.

(R. Inglehart, 1997)

Tra

dit

ional

→ s

ecula

r/ra

tional

Survival → self-expression

Social science on values: World Value Survey

Balanced (28%)

Broad minded (7%)

Socially minded (11%)

Caring faithful (13%)

Conservatives (17%)

Hedonists (8%)

Materialists (7%)

Professionals (9%)

Collective

Other

Individual

Self

Progressive

[Worldly] achievement

Conservative

[non-worldly] ideals

Connecting individual values and collective manifestations…

Duurzaamheidsverkennin

g Milieu- en

Natuurplanbureau

22,35

31,16

11,91

17,46

1,79

7,83

3,59 3,92 SD course 2007-2015 (n=613)

zakelijken

ruimdenkers

geengageerden

evenwichtigen

behoudenden

luxezoekers

genieters

zorgzamen

Business-as-usual

Broad thinking

Engaged

Balanced

Luxury seekers

Caring

Conservatives

Hedonists

0

400

800

0 120 240 360 480 600 Final

Siz

e o

f X

Timestep

a)

Logistic growth of X

Carrying Capacity

Exponential growth of X

0

400

800

0 120 240 360 480 600 Final

Siz

e o

f X

Timestep

b)


Carrying Capacity


Exponential growth Logistic growth

0

400

800

0 120 240 360 480 600 Final

Siz

e o

f X

Timestep

c)



Carrying Capacity

0

400

800

0 120 240 360 480 600 Final

Siz

e o

f X

Timestep

d)



Carrying Capacity

the optimist the pessimist

Bert J M de Vries PERL2 Paris 10-11 mars 2015

Beliefs: personal and public [change in] perceptions

cognitive maps, belief systems, mental maps, metamodels, ‘stylized facts’…

Mental/spiritual Immaterial

small world particular individual

Big World Universal Collective

Bodily Material

birth rate

Blue arrow: positive influence Red arrow: negative influence

moral resistance against birth interventions

+ education of

women

- population ‘control‘

topdown gov’t family planning: • (forced) sterilization

• abortion clinics • provision of contraceptives

+

-

children as future labour force

medical services and technology

poverty

children as security for the future

+

+ +

+

Economic order (Nature, market)

Survival

Socio-political order (Kings, castes)

Laws, Universal knowledge

Moral order (Priests)

Revelation

Inner development (art, mysticism)

Personal experience

Genes, upbringing, fate and fortune...

In the search for identity, the individual reaches out for economic, socio-political and moral order in the collective and for inner development of the individual.

Bert de Vries 2011

I me

myself

food, sex

relationships

skills,

play

health

(my)

sports

-club

neighbourhood

traffic

congestio

n

globalization

climate

change

tropical

forests

recreation

(opportunities)

air/water

quality

job/income

(opportunities)

poverty in

Africa

housing

trade

balance

(un)employ

-ment rate

interest

rate

(my)

company

(my)

church

immigrants

terrorism

world

religions

Source universal ↔ particular

Surveys Big World

The others

Small world

The self

Weber Collective Individual

Sorokin One single truth

Universalism Active

Pluriform truth

Singularism Ascetic

Steiner Objective reality Subjective understanding

PauliJung Non-locality; Wave Locality; Particle

LevinasWilber The Other; We I

Schwartz Group values Individual values

Kant Laws Maximes

Rules for personal behaviour

The collective (society)

universality objectivity

the individual singularity subjectivity

(van Egmond en de Vries 2011)

Ethics is rooted in the desire, and the necessity, to reconcile the entirely individual desire with that which is collectively desirable (Bertrand Russell 1954)

Source immaterial ↔ material

Surveys Giving

Religious

Taking

Worldly

Plato Ideas

Mind

Senses

Body

Hegel Idealistic Materialistic

Sorokin Ideational Sensate

Steiner Spirit Matter

Jung Archetype –spiritual Instinctive-material

Wilber Interior Exterior

Fromm Being Having

mind spirit soul Immaterial

interior

body material exterior

(van Egmond en de Vries 2011)

“Il y a dans tout homme, à toute heure, deux postulations simultanées, l’une vers Dieu, l’autre vers Satan. L’invocation à Dieu, ou spiritualité, est un désir de monter en rade; celle de Satan, ou animalité, est une joie de descendre.” (Baudelaire)

Economic order (Nature, market)

Survival

Socio-political order (Kings, castes)

Laws Universal knowledge

Moral order (Priests)

Revelation

Inner development (art, mysticism)

Personal experience

society universality objectivity

the individual singularity subjectivity

mind immaterial

spirit interior

body material exterior

Bert J M de Vries PERL2 Paris 10-11 mars 2015

Genes, upbringing, fate and fortune...




Bodily Material




Bodily Material

Van Egmond and De Vries 2011




Bodily Material

National govern-ments

UN Institu-

tions

Corporate business

Religions and

churches

Consu-mer

networks

Local citizen groups

Commu-nity

networks/NGOs

Artists and gurus

Procedural rationality

Business rationality: ‘ruthless logic of modernity’

Consumer rationality

Basic rules for the assignment: • To be done in groups of 3-4 students per topic • Choose topic, based on own experiences or from a list of options • Sketch problem perception from different worldviews and actors • Propose solutions from different worldviews and actors

Topics chosen for assignment: • Population (12) • Food and Land (23) • Energy and Climate (14) • Water (7) • Resources and Pollution (8) The reviewconcerns a total of 64 assignments, in the years 2014-2015 and 2015-2016.

The assignment is part of the course Sustainable Development: Integrating Perspectives, which is a compulsary course in the M Sc Sustainable Development at Utrecht University. Its goal is to make students investigate a sustainability issue from different [stakeholder] perspectives, in order to become critical and design robust solution strategies.

Student Assignment Worldviews

List of topics in the Worldview Assignments 2014 and 2015 Worldview assignments: Population (12) Population dynamics in China (1) and ageing in China (1) and Japan (1) Population growth in the Netherlands (1) and Singapore (1) Population control in Nigeria (1) Latino immigration in USA (1) Population growth and biodiversity in Amazonia (1) Tourism in South-East Asia (1) Urban sprawl and megacities (1) Tianjin Ecocity (1) and the London Green Belt and housing (1) Worldview assignments: Food and Land (23) Quinoa’s quandary (1) and Quinoa in Bolivia (1) Palm oil Indonesia (1) and Orang Oetangs and palm oil in Sumatra (1) Horticulture in Kenya (1) Brazilian Beef (1) and Meat in China (2) and in Europe (1) Food and urban sprawl (1) and Food waste in The Netherlands (1) Landgrabbing (1) and Landgrabbing and food in Ethiopia (1) Food (in)security and poverty in Namibia (1), Congo (1), India (1), Upper Egypt (1) and North America (1) GMOs and the EU (1) and GMOs and food poverty (1) Food and ecosystem conservation (1) Ecosystem and biodiversity loss (1) The honeybee in the USA (1) Return of the wolf in The Netherlands (1)

Worldview assignments: Energy and Climate (14) Ethanol production in Brazil (1) and biofuel in Brazil (1) Biofuels in EU (1) The Ilisu Dam in Turkey (2) and Large-scale hydropower in Brazil (1) Nuclear energy in EU (1) and in South Africa (1) Coal-fired electric power plant in the Eemshaven (1) and Coal in South Africa (1) Gas extraction in Groningen (1) and Shale gas in The Netherlands (1) Oil drilling in the Arctic (1) and the XL Keystone pipeline in Canada/USA (1) Worldview assignments: Water (7) Water Security in Ethiopia (1) and Water depletion in Rajasthan (1) Water privatization in Bolivia (1) Addressing water pollution in the Chao Phraya River (Bangkok) (1) Sanitation and water supply in Makoko, Lagos (1) Perspectives on Flood Risk in New York City (1) The Ongoing Drought in California (1) Worldview assignments: Resource&Pollution (8) Baikal Pulp & Paper (1) PET Waste (1) Rare Earth elements (1) Deeep Sea Mining in Papua New Guinea Food and water pollution Kenya (1) Transport pollution in Mexico (1) Mobile Phone upcycling in UK (1) No more Bhopals (1)




Bodily Material

Large variety of NGOs: Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria, Global Ecovillage Network (GEN), Organic Farming Association of India (OFAI), Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation (KEHATI), Forest Peoples Programme (FPP), Federation of the organic food industry (BÖLW) , Fairphone

Large variety of CSOs: Americans for Immigration Control (AIC), Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB), Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP), Shalefree Netherlands, Slowfood.com, Feedingamerica.org, Youth Food Movement (YFM), NoWasteNetwork, Citizens for GM-free food, Amazon Watch, Zero Waste Movement (ZWM),

Individuals: consumers, farmers, fishermen, small businesses, Thai Hotels Association, taxpayers, ivory traders

Multinational companies: Bayer HealthCare, TransCanada Corporation, PetroBras, RWE, Unilever, Nestlé, Monsanto, Syngenta, Cargill, World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC), Deutsche Bank, Apple, Samsung, Vodaphone

UN-organizations: UNFPA, UNWTO, UNDESA, FAO, IAEA,

National gov’t agencies: Japan Immigration Policy, National Population And Talent Division, Brazil, Ministry of Energy and Mines

Religious organizations: Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, Catholic Coalition on Climate Change (CCCC), ,, Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN), Caritas

Science & Technology: Japan Ageing Research Center, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Wageningen University, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), South African Genetic Experimentation Committee

Global NGOs: WWF, Greenpeace, Earthlife Africa, Earth Justice, IUCN, Foodfirst Information and Action Network (FIAN), Transnational Institute (TNI), Global FoodBanking Network, FoodFirst.org, The Rewilding Foundation, Partij voor de Dieren (PvdD), Namibian Alliance for Improved Nutrition (NAFIN), International Forum on Globalisation (IFG)

Lobbying: European Biodiesel Boa (AATF)d (EBB), Foratom, African Agricultural Technology Foundation), European Livestock and Meat Trades Union (UECBV),

(Ruffion, Chadid, Bareman and Van Gessel 2015)

Discourse analysis of issues for divergent worldviews

Ten commandments Tora, Sharia

[national] constitution

market & trade dynamics and rules

Artistic - mystic

Civic community

personal welfare

NOT IN THE MIDDLE:

POLARIZATION OF EXTREMES




Bodily Material

Alliances between business and consumers: Green labels and certificates, appliance standards, CSR...

IN THE MIDDLE: DIALOGUE,

COALITIONS AND ALLIANCES,

ROBUST SOLUTIONS

A1 worldview A2 worldview B1 worldview B2 worldview

Eventually the

threats will solve

itself, because

economic growth

due to the quinoa

export leads to

technological

improvement

which deals with

the problems.

The solution is to

grow the crop in

other regions of

the world, creating

a more regional

market.

Quinoa can be the

solution for the

world’s food

security challenge,

because it’s high

nutritional value

and adaptability to

different ecological

zones as long as it

is produced in a

sustainable way

and more

widespread over

the world.

Small-scale

sustainable

development with

advantages for the

community is

required for a

beneficial quinoa

production.

Quinoa production in Bolivia Is quinoa beneficial for everyone?

(Haanappel et al. 2015)

Dank voor uw aandacht

Merci pour votre attention

Thank you for your attention

Danke für Ihre Aufmerksamkeit

engaging in sustainable development: the worldview approach · 2017-04-05 · i offer a method in...

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