Bridging Gaps in

Education for Sustainable Consumption with

Social Media

Ayman Rizk

Rahman Oloritun

Wan A. Matiin

2005-2014UN’s Decade of

Education in Sustainable Development

Education for Sustainable Consumption Monitor consumption patterns Generate knowledge on sustainable consumption Bottom-up empowerment of individuals &

communities

Emphasis on developing social capacity to fight against economic and environmental impacts of unsustainable development

Consumption

Transport

Food

EnergyWater

Materials

Widespread Education—basis for Widespread Change

Challenges in ESC

1. Complexity/controversy of SD concepts2. Overcoming Internal & External Barriers

Learner’s busyness Learner’s fatalism Learner’s weak belief in self-efficacy Limited opportunities to practice

3. Transforming Awareness & Attitude into Behavior4. Mobilizing community involvement & support5. Maintaining cohesion & connectivity of ESC efforts

Assessment Implementation Evaluation

• Identifying barriers• Characterizing

audience affect, values, identity

• Setting targets & goals

• Analyze impact• Feedback for

improvements• Support for sustainable

result

• Eliminating barriers• Empowering audience

with Knowledge & Efficacy

• Providing/highlighting opportunities

Collaborative Projects

Blogging

Social Networking

Online Gaming

ContentCommunities

Misc.

Social Media

Social Media—an Enormous Online Resource!

Virtually the new ‘third place’ for digital

technology users, offering them:

Community-level interactions, and

Gratifying entertainment and activities

supported by increasingly powerful,

convenient, multi-media, mobile and intuitive

technology

Online ‘ecosystems’ teeming with resources

that can drive ESC forward

The Social Media Phenomenon

1979—Tom Truscott & Jim (Duke University) created Usenet

1998—Bruce & Susan Abelson founded ‘‘Open Diary,’’ bringing together online diary writers into one online community

February 2004

> 500 million active users.

50% log on daily with

average of 130 friends

February 2005,

> 2 billion views in a day

150,000 full length films every week

July 2006

175 million registered users

95 million tweets per day

300,000 registered apps in its ecosystem

Unique structure

User Base

Immersive &

transformative experience

Information is:Reciprocal

DurableTraceableScalable

Experience can counter:BusynessFatalism

Poor belief in self-efficacyLimited opportunity

ContributorsAudienceDiverse

DemocraticDiscovered &

undiscovered talent

Strengths

Crowd

Light

Desire

Get the audience!

Feedback drives improvements in performance

Clear, open visibility of what is being

done

Chris Anderson: How web video powers Global innovation

Efforts Worth Learning From

Focuses on responsible, sustainable food choices

Support for family/community-based farm products

Website, blog, YouTube resources—facts, advice & support

2003-2008—20 mil views for The Meatrix

Focuses on unsustainable life cycle of things, invisible impacts on society & environment

Expands influence via creative YouTube presentations (3.5 mil views) & online community (150,000 activists)

Ingenuity in communicating otherwise complex, intricate concepts

Efforts Worth Learning From

Greenpeace mobilized social action against controversial palm oil

Viral video campaign (1.5mil views) and Facebook protests

Nestle’s pledge to shift to sustainable sources by 2015 (18% in 2010, expected at 50% in 2011)

2007—simulation of first 32 weeks of global oil shortage

Chronicled in 1,500 player-created blog posts, videos, images & voicemails

Contents ranked based on realistic quality of their portrayal

Novel ‘playing with the future’ approach

Conclusion & Recommendations

0The growing online presence of society makes it important for ESC strategies to appreciate the emerging values, cultures, and capacity within social media communities

0Development of future ESC approaches can really benefit from the strengths and greater impact Social Media has to offer

0When ESC strategies optimize engagement with the vast pool of contributors and learners, we start making REAL PROGRESS

They Are Listening.

Are We?