Transformative Learning and Sustainable Education. An introduction to transformative learning and a short case study of the 2009 Teach-in for ecological literacy in design education. Presentation at SkinDEEP 2011 - experiential knowledge and multi-sensory communication. International Conference 2011 of the Design Research Society's Special Interest Group on Experiential Knowledge. June 2011. Farnham, UK. http://www.experientialknowledge.org/ Also see: http://teach-in.ning.com/ and the full paper at http://eco-labs.org/

1. SkinDeep 2011
experiential knowledge and multi sensory communication
Transformative Learning &
Sustainable Education
Jody Joanna Boehnert
University of Brighton
AHRC supported PhD Candidate
EcoLabs - www.eco-labs.org

2. The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy
Jody Joanna Boehnert - MPhil - School of Architecture and Design
Why? Context Levels of Learning & Engagement
Presently humanity’s ecological footprint exceeds its regenerative
capacity by 30%. This global overshoot is growing and ecosystems are 1st: Education ABOUT Sustainability
being run down as wastes (including greenhouse gases) accumulate in Content and/or skills emphasis. Easily accommodated
the air, land, and water. Climate change, resource depletion, pollution, into existing system. Learning ABOUT change.
loss of biodiversity, and other systemic environmental problems ACCOMMODATIVE RESPONSE - maintenance.
threaten to destroy the natural support systems on which we depend.
2nd: Education FOR Sustainability
What? Systems, Networks, Values
Additional values emphasis. Greening of institutions.
Problems cannot be understood in isolation but must be seen as
Deeper questioning and reform of purpose, policy and practice.
interconnected and interdependent. We must learn to engage with
Learning FOR change. REFORMATIVE RESPONSE - adaptive.
complexity and think in terms of systems to address current
ecological, social and economic problems. Images can be useful
tools to help with this learning process. 3rd: SUSTAINABLE Education
Capacity building and action emphasis.
How? Transformational Learning Experiential curriculum. Institutions as learning communities.
Learning AS change. TRANSFORMATIVE RESPONSE - enactment.
The value / action gap permeates education for sustainability and is
obvious in environmental coverage in the media. The gap between
Stephen Sterling, 2009
our ideas about what we value and what we are actually doing to
address the problem is the notorious value / action gap. This project
uses transformational learning to move from values to action. This
approach is integrated into cycles of action research and practice
based design work.
ECOLOGICAL
Actions
GOOD
DESIGN Ideas / Theories
ECONOMIC SOCIAL
Norms / Assumptions
Beliefs / Values
Paradigm / Worldview
Metaphysics / Cosmology
Transformational Learning
Values, Knowledge, Skills
A: SEEING (Perception )
An expanded ethical sensibility or consciousness
The world is a complex, interconnected, finite, ecological-social-
B: KNOWING (Conception) psychological-economic system. We treat it as if it were not, as
Ecological literacy - the understanding of the principles of organization A critical understanding of pattern, if it were divisible, separable, simple, and infinite. Our persistent,
that ecosystems have evolved to sustain the web of life - is the first consequence and connectivity intractable, global problems arise directly from this mismatch.
step on the road to sustainability. The second step is the move Donella Meadows, 1982
towards ecodesign. We need to apply our ecological knowledge to C: DOING (Action)
the fundamental redesign of our technologies and social institutions, The ability to design and act relationally,
so as to bridge the current gap between human design and the integratively and wisely. References
Fritjof Capra. The Hidden Connections. London: Flamingo. 2003
Stephen Sterling. Whole Systems Thinking as a Basis for Paradigm Change in Education. University of Bath. 2003
ecological sustainable systems of nature. Stephen Sterling. Transformational Learning. Researching Transformational Learning. University of Gloucestershire. 2009
Fritjof Capra, 2003 Stephen Sterling, 2009
j.j.boehnert@brighton.ac.uk | jody@eco-labs.org
This poster can be downloaded on this website: www.eco-labs.org

3. Contents
1. Ecological Literacy and Epistemological Error
a. Ecological literacy: theory and history
b. Epistemological error and epistemic learning
c. Bateson and Sterling’s ‘communication and learning levels’
2. Experiential and Transformative Learning
a. Transformation learning: theory and history
b. Mezirow’s ten phases of transformational learning
c. Value / action gap
3. A Case Study: The Teach-in
a. The event: The 2012 Imperative Teach-in
b. Ten phases of TL for sustainable design education
c. Conclusions - four princples

4. 1a: Ecological literacy: theory and history
e Eco-Literacy Map A tube map based on the literature review of my AHRC funded PhD research,
‘The Visual Communication of Ecological Literacy’ at the University of Brighton.
Humanti c Tufte Horn
Macy
Crompton
Roszak Sewall Kasser
Reason
Holmgren Plumwood
Bohm
Goethe Leopold Kuhl Friere Sterling Mezirow
Naess Shiva Kahn
Bateson Spratnek
Capra Lakoff
Orr
Luke Cohen
Carson
Fuller
Hopkins Birkeland
Diamond Cox Bourdieu
Fry / Willis Manzini Ehrenfeld Buchanan Key to Stations: In uential Thinkers
Meadows
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832) writer, polymath David Orr (n/a) environmental and political scientist
Aldo Leopold (1887 - 1948) ecologist, conservationist Herman Daly (b.1938) ecological economist
Thomas Samuel Kuhn (1922 - 1996) physicist, philosopher Val Plumwood (1939 - 2008), ecofeminist activist, philosopher
Donella "Dana" Meadows (1941 - 2001) environmental scientist Charlene Spretnak (b.1946) ecofeminist activist, philosopher
Humanti c: Elizabeth Pastor (n/a) designer Tom Crompton (n/a) change strategist, communications scholar
Key to Lines Daly Jackson Sachs Humanti c: GK VanPatter (n/a) designer Tim Kasser (b.1966) psychologist, communications scholar
Gregory Bateson (1904 - 1980) anthropologist, social scientist, cyberneticist John Ehrenfeld, John (n/a) industrial ecologist
Rachel Carson (1907 - 1964) biologist, ecologist Buckminster Fuller (1895 - 1983) engineer, designer, inventor, futurist
ecological literacy philosophy
David Bohm (1917 - 1992) quantum physicist, philosopher Janis Birkeland (n/a) architect, writer, scholar
Arne Næss (1912 - 2009) philosopher, activist Manzini, Ezio (n/a) design theorist
sustainable development critical ecopedogogy
Rob Hopkins (b.1970) ecologist, permaculture designer, author Buchanan, Richard (n/a) design theorist
David Holmgren (b. 1955) ecologist, permaculture designer Pierre Bourdieu (1930 - 2002) sociologist, anthropologist, philosopher
communications critical social theory
Edward Tufte (b.1942) political scientist, statistician, information design writer Reason, Peter (n/a) action researcher, social theorist, sustainability scholar
Robert E. Horn (n/a) political scientist, information designer Lukes, Steven (b.1941) political and critical social theorist
communication / perception transition movement Robert Cox (n/a) professor of rhetorical studies, communications scholar Cohen, Stanley (n/a) sociologist
Jared Mason Diamond (b.1937) scientist, author Kahn, Richard (n/a) critical theorist, education scholar
visual communication ecological economics Anne-Marie Willis (n/a) design theorist, philosopher Freire, Paulo (1921 –1997) radical educator, critical social theorist
Tony Fry (n/a) design theorist, philosopher Sterling, Stephen (n/a) educator scholar, sustainability scholar
design ecopsychology Tim Jackson (n/a) professor of sustainable development, eco-economist Jack Mezirow (n/a) educator scholar, social theorist
Wolfgang Sachs (b.1946) , sociologist, social scientist Theodore Roszak (b.1933) professor of history
graphic design science † Failure to become familiar with the major lines during your journey will increase the likelihood of serious environmental damage. Fritjof Capra (b.1939) physicist, systems theorist Laura Sewall (n/a) visual psychologist
The information gathered on this map has been gathered from different sources and cannot be guaranteed to be fully correct. January 2010 Vandana Shiva (b.1952) physicist, ecologist, philosopher, activist, eco feminist Joanna Macy (b.1929) author, Buddhist scholar, activist
Introduction Ecological Literacy and Design Key to Lines: Summary of Disciplinary Lines Selected Bibliography
This poster presents an overview of the literature review in my AHRC funded At its best, design is an integrative applied transdisciplinary eld that bridges Eco-literacy Eco-literacy (EL) is an understanding of the principles of organiza- Design Design is uniquely positioned to engage in a process of moving from Critical Social Theory Critical social theor y offers powerful tools of Bateson, G., Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1972
doctoral research project on the visual communication of ecological literacy theory and action in pursuit of practical outcomes. Pioneers have widened the tion of ecological systems (Capra 201). David Orr coined the term ‘ecological theory to practice and moving between sectors to facilitate trans-disciplinary analysis that expose how and why ecological literacy remains marginal. Social Bourdieu. P., Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture. Cambridge: Polity Press. 2000
(eco-literacy). This practice-based project will create an original body of work scope of design problems over recent decades such that design processes and literacy’ in 1992 in a book where he explained that all education is environmental actions. (Buchanan 20). Design offers approaches to address complex problems theory demonstrates how power functions in our culture. Steven Lukes and Pierre Capra, F., The Web of Life. London: Harper Collins. 1997
that visually communicates eco-literacy while also designing learning processes design thinking address social and environmental problems as well as design’s education (Orr 90). Ecological literacy implies that each discipline must recognize including the potential to create powerful social learning processes (Manzini 78). Bourdieu describes how dominant discourses re ect the interests of powerful Capra, F. and Henderson, H., Qualitative Growth. London: ICAEW. 2009
in which these visuals will be used. The research will demonstrate how visual more traditional economic function. These attempts often involve a shift from human embeddedness in the wider ecological system and transform its theory and political interests. Stanley Cohen’s explains that a proclivity towards denying Cohen, S., States of Denial. Cambridge: Polity. 2001
communication can contribute to the development of new understanding, designing artifacts, graphics and buildings to designing processes, systems and practice to make sustainability a reality. The interconnections and interdependence Graphic Design Using visual language (Horn 5), graphic design aims to disturbing facts is the normal in an information-saturated society and describes Cox, R., ‘Nature’s Crisis Disciplines: Does Environmental Communication Have an Ethical
cognitive skills and social capacities. sustainable ways of living. This movement has become more pronounced as it between social, economic and ecological systems must become an educational strategically change human understanding and/or behavior through the use of strategies that can work to circumvent this denial. Duty?’, Environmental Communication. Vol. 1, No. 1, May 2007
becomes increasingly obvious that the material expansion of the economic staple. Critical eco-literacy builds on cultural literacy for a more robust analysis of visual devices, which can powerfully communicate complex concepts and Crompton, T., Common Cause. London: WWF, 2010
One of the major premises of this project is that fragmentary thinking is an system is fundamentally unsustainable (Daly, Meadows, Simms, Jackson) and the connections between social and ecological systems (Kahn 11, 66). information. Graphic design can address the crisis in environmental communi- Transition Transition is a social movement based on local responses to climate Daly, H., ‘A Steady-State Economy.’ London: Sustainable Development Commission, 2008
obstacle to sustainability and that reductive attitudes towards knowledge radically new models of development must be created for sustainability to cations by visualizing complex webs of interdependence. change and peak oil. Transition has is origins in permaculture which developed Diamond, J., Collapse. New York: Penguin, 2005
cannot adequately address problems associated with ecological systems (or become possible. Design is uniquely positioned in academic and professional Sustainable Development Current models of development based on strategies for the design of systems for local resilience and energy descent. It is Freire, P., Pedagogy of the Oppressed. London: Penguin, 1970
other complex systems). Responding to this dilemma, this project uses a whole culture to engage in a process of moving from theory to practice and between endless quantitative economic growth are unsustainable (Capra and Henderson 8). Science Several pioneers of ecological thought (Capra, Shiva, Bohm) started relevant to ecological literacy because unlike mainstream discourses, it is informed Fry, T., Design Futuring. Oxford: Berg, 2009
systems approach based on the powerful concept of eco-literacy. This research disciplines and sectors to facilitate a transition to sustainability. Instead, development must re ect growth in nature (Sachs 3) where physical their careers as physicist. Using Kuhn’s theory of paradigm shifts in science, by the ecological reality of the depletion of fossil fuel reserves (ITPOES 4). Horn, R., Visual Language. Brainbridge Island: Macro VU Press, 1998
posits that visual communications offer a means of helping audiences under- growth occurs to maturity then levels off to maintain a steady state of dynamic ecological thinkers advocate the notion of the emergence of a new ecological Jackson, T., ‘Prosperity without Growth?’ London: Sustainable Development Commission, 2009
stand context, interrelationships, dynamics and other features of whole systems As design expands the scope of its enquiry a new type of understanding is equilibrium. Most fundamentally the economy must function within the carrying paradigm as a central theme to support a transition to sustainability. Develop- Ecological economics is economic theory based on the recognition of the Kuhn, T., The Structure of Scienti c Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1962
thinking necessary for eco-literacy. required to inform this process of transition. Designers must learn a whole capacity of the ecological system (Daly 1). ments such as post-normal and holistic science suppor t ecological literacy. geo-physical fact that the economic system is embedded within, and is a sub- Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M., Philosophy in the Flesh. New York: Basic Books. 1999
systems perspective. Ecological literacy is a foundation for sustainability system of the ecological system. The economic system must function within the Meadows, D., Wright, D. ed., Thinking in Systems. London: Earthscan. 2008
David Orr coined the term ‘ecological literacy’ in the early 1990s and since this necessary to allow us to break out of destructive patterns of unsustainable Communications Communications mediate the human-nature relationship Philosophy Insights from cybernetics, cognitive science, deep ecology and carrying capacity of the earth. This imperative must be supported by ecologically Orr, D., Ecological Literacy. Albany: State of New York Press. 1992
time it has developed into a core concept within sustainable education, creating practice. Ecological literacy is a basis for the design new ways of living within and thus have a vital role to pay in responding to current conditions. Robert Cox eco-feminism create the philosophical grounds of ecological literacy. Key concepts literate economics theory and practice. Prosperity must be delivered through ITPOES, The Oil Crunch. London: UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security. 2008
a conceptual basis for integrated thinking about sustainability. Eco-literacy must the ecological carrying capacity of the planet. Without a basic understanding describes environmental communications is a ‘crisis discipline’(5). Response to include the ‘epistemological error’ of the current paradigm (Bateson 493), ‘embed- other means than quantitative growth (Jackson 5). Plumwood, Val., Environmental Culture. Oxon: Routledge. 2002
now be embedded in theor y and practice across individual disciplines. My provided by ecological literacy, design solutions are likely to reproduce and signals of environmental danger is the key to avoid social collapse (Diamond 10). dedness’ of human society within ecological systems (Spretnak 72) and a critique Roszak, T., Gomes, M., and Kanner, A. ed., Ecopsychology. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. 1995
research develops visual displays of information making ecological literacy both exacerbate problems. Issues of power are at the crux of environmental communications resulting in what on dominant western models of rationality (Plumwood 4). Ecopsychology Eco-psychology analysis, tools and therapies address our Sachs, W., Planet Dialectics. London: Zed Books,1999
tangible and accessible. This work places itself in the middle of a fast moving Bourdieu calls ‘symbolic violence’. Crompton describes the need for values based psychological relationship with Nature. Gregory Bateson explored the ecological Shiva, V., ‘Reductionist science as epistemological violence’, In Science, Hegemony and Violence.
discourse on transition and sustainability. The project demonstrates how design environmental communications, with an explicit focus on strengthening intrinsic Critical Ecopedagogy Critical pedagogy is an educational movement that roots of mental illness in the pivotal book Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Eco- Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988
skills can facilitate a wide reaching social learning process for ecological literacy Joanna Jody Boehner t - January 2011 relative to extrinsic values. Research indicates that facts are of limited value in originated from Paulo Freire's educational practices in South America focused on psychology is informed by TEK (traditional ecological knowledge) of indigenous Sterling, S., ‘Whole Systems Thinking as a Basis for Paradigm Change in Education’. PhD:
in design education. j.j.boehner t@brighton.ac.uk | jody@eco-labs.org in uencing behaviour in regards to the environment, instead George Lakoff advices conscientization. These methods have been integral to the profound change peoples who almost universally holds that psychological health is dependent University of Bath. 2003
This poster can be downloaded at: www.eco-labs.org communicators to, “Know your values, and frame the debate.” witnessed in social movements globally including women’s liberation (Meizrow 19). on a balanced relationship with your habitat / ecological system. References not found on this list can be found on the website below.
www.eco-labs.org

5. Ecological Literacy
All education is environmental education. By what is included or excluded,
emphasized or ignored, students learn that they are part of or apart from the
natural world. Through education we inculcate the ideas of careful stewardship
or carelessness (Orr 1992, p.90).
...to understand the principles of organization, common to all living systems,
that ecosystems have evolved to sustain the web of life. (Capra 2003, p.201).
Critical eco-literacy is linked to cultural literacy for a more robust analysis of
the connections between social and ecological systems (Kahn 2010, p.66).

8. 1b: -Epistemological error and epistemic learning
Epistemological Error
In the seminal book Steps to an Ecology of Mind Gregory Bateson explained
that the dominant map of reality is a poor reflection of reality itself;
“most of us are governed by epistemologies we know to be wrong”.
Reductive modes of understanding are incapable of understanding complex
ecological, social or economic systems.
Problems arise as our perceptual and cognitive modes of understanding
perpetuate epistemological error, error that is deeply entrenched in
contemporary thought.
Communication designers and educators have the potential to address
these collective misunderstandings through experiential, multi-sensory
communication, informed by critical pedagogy.

9. Epistemic learning
Epistemic learning refers learning that challenges epistemological
assumptions. Beyond the mere dissemination of information, this
work aims to engage participants in dialogic and experiential learning
processes toward deep learning experiences.
Because the problems concerned with sustainability are both very
complex and deeply entrenched into our culture, these deep learning
processes are essential for the learning associated with ecological literacy.
Epistemic learning is also known as transformative learning, a pedagogic
practice developed in consciousness-raising and women’s education.

10. 1c: Bateson and Sterling’s ‘communication and learning levels’
Levels of Communication and Learning
Communications theorist Gregory Bateson first described learning levels in
‘The Logical Categories of Learning and Communication’ (1964). Drawing on
Bateson’s theory, Stephen Sterling describes a four stage process:
Levels of Learning in Education for Sustainability
No change - no learning: ignorance, denial, tokenism
Accommodation - 1st order - adaptation and maintenance
Reformation - 2nd order learning - critically reflective adaptation
Transformation - 3rd order learning - creative re-visioning

11. Learning for sustainability must work with experiential proceses
because information alone does not necessarily lead to change:
‘not only does it not work, but too much
environmental information (particularly
relating to the various global crises) can
be disempowering, without a deeper and
broader learning processes taking place’.
Stephen Sterling

12. 2a: Transformation learning: theory and history
Transformative Learning
Tranformative learning describes a process of increasing an
individual learner’s capacity for change by exploring and revealing
assumptions behind our behaviours, beliefs and values. Through
encounters with values learners become emotionally capable of
change and thus develop greater agency. The results are evidenced
in reflective discourse and in ultimately in action.

13. Transformative Learning
Jack Mezirow first introduced the concept of transformative
learning (TL) in a 1978 paper titled ‘Perspective Transformation’.
Mezirow describes transformative learning as a process of
‘becoming critically aware of one’s own tacit assumptions’.
This process is informed by a critical awareness of contextual,
biographical, historical and cultural aspects of our collective
beliefs and feelings in regard the problems under examination.
Through transformative learning we learn to act on our own
purposes, values, feelings, and meaning rather than those we
uncritically assimilated from others.

14. 2b: Mezirow’s 10 Phases of Transformative Learning
Ten Phases of Transformative Learning
Jack Mezirow’s Ten Phases of Transformational Learning (1978) was based
on extensive research in a 1975 American nation wide study of women education.
An eleventh phase was added in 1991.
1. A disorienting dilemma
2. Self-examination with feelings of fear, anger, guilt or shame
3. A critical assessment of assumptions
4. Recognition that one’s discontent and process of transformation are shared
5. Exploration of options for new roles, relationships and actions
6. Planning a course of action
7. Acquiring knowledge and skills for implementing one’s plans
8. Provisional trying of new roles
9. Building competence and self-confidence in new roles and relationships
10. A reintegration into one’s life on the basis of conditions dictated by one’s new perspectives
&
11. Altering present relationships and forging new relationships

15. How? Transformational Learning
The value / action gap permeates education for sustainability and is
obvious in environmental coverage in the media. The gap between
our ideas about what we value and what we are actually doing to
address the problem is the notorious value / action gap. This project
uses transformational learning to move from values to action. This
approach is integrated into cycles of action research and practice
based design work.

16. 2c: Value - Action Gap
value / action gap
Even when we understand the problems and possible solutions,
it does not mean we put this knowledge into practice

17. Levels of Learning & Engagement
1st: Education ABOUT Sustainability
Content and/or skills emphasis. Easily accommodated
into existing system. Learning ABOUT change.
ACCOMMODATIVE RESPONSE - maintenance.
2nd: Education FOR Sustainability
Additional values emphasis. Greening of institutions.
Deeper questioning and reform of purpose, policy and practice.
Learning FOR change. REFORMATIVE RESPONSE - adaptive.
3rd: SUSTAINABLE Education
Capacity building and action emphasis.
Experiential curriculum. Institutions as learning communities.
Learning AS change. TRANSFORMATIVE RESPONSE - enactment.
Stephen Sterling, 2009

18. Actions
Ideas / Theories
Norms / Assumptions
Beliefs / Values
Paradigm / Worldview
Metaphysics / Cosmology
Transformational Learning
Values, Knowledge, Skills
A: SEEING (Perc eption )
An expanded ethical sensibility or consciousness
B: KNOWING (Conception)
A critical understanding of pattern,
consequence and connectivity
C: DOING (Action)
The ability to design and act relationally,
integratively and wisely.
Stephen Sterling, 2009

19. Actions
Theories
Assumptions
Values
Paradigm
Metaphysics
Stephen Sterling on transition from belief to actions: ‘Levels of Knowing’, 2009

20. 3a: A Case Study: The Teach-in
300 students from over 15 different
universities attended the 2012
Imperative Teach-in at the Victoria and
Albert Museum 12 October 2009.
The project has an ambitious goal: to
embed with ecological and sustainability
literacy in design education by 2012.
Several hundred more watched a live
Internet broadcast and over 300+ have
signed up to a collaborative site to
continue working towards project goals.
Stats:
300 in the audience at the V&A
500+ in the remote audience
300+ people signed on to the Teach-in Ning
5,000+ Teach-in documents downloaded

21. The Teach-in attempted to create
conditions for transformational
3rd order learning by creating a
participatory, experiential and
social learning process.
This orientation is needed to allow
learners to re-access basic assumptions
in regards to the systemic roots of
environmental problems. Creating
space for reflecting on ideas in relation
to the environment creates basis for
action.

22. The Teach-in challenge participants to work
towards embedding ecological literacy in the
curriculum and transform university facilities
to reflect good environmental practice.
• Participatory planning processes
• Participatory activities at event
• Ning social network: http://teach-in.ning.com
• Speakers videos and other resources on-line
• Feedback, reflection and review of processes
ACTION PROPOSALS:
• 2012 Imperative action document
• 10 step check list for carbon reduction at
universities

23. 2012 Imperative
To meet the challenges associated with climate change and world resource
depletion, it is imperative that ecological literacy becomes a central tenet of design
education. Presently the interdependent relationships between ecology and design
are virtually absent in many professional curricula. A major transformation of
the academic design community must begin today. To accomplish this, the 2012
Imperative calls upon this community to adopt the following:
PATH A: 2012 Imperative Curriculum
Adopters of Path A commit to:
Adding to design curriculum the requirement that: ‘We will make it a requirement of our
curriculum and design projects that they will be based on an unconditional respect for life, and
for the conditions that support life. We will only undertake projects that tend to preserve the
integrity, stability, and beauty of the biosphere.’ In practice we will work towards dramatically
reducing the need for fossil fuel and the environmental footprint of the materials, products,
processes and spaces that we design. To achieve these goals we will work towards complete
ecological literacy in design education by 2012.
PATH B: 2012 Imperative Curriculum AND Facilities
Adopters of Path B commit to:
PATH A: 2010 Imperative Curriculum AND:
• Joining the 10:10 project (pledging to reduce carbon emission by 10% in 2010). See the 10 Point
Checklist for guidance with this process.
• Monitoring energy use and implementing sustainable design strategies across the university.?
• Reducing emissions in 4 categories: grid electricity, on-site fossil fuel, vehicle fuel, and air travel.
• Creating a carbon reduction strategy and a Energy Descent Action Plan at your university.
• Appointing a senior member of staff to take responsibility for implementing the plans.
• Generating on-site renewable power OR purchasing renewable energy from an additional source.
This project is inspired directly by the 2010 Imperative run by Architecture 2030 in 2007. The 2012 Imperative
will expand the scope of the project by bringing this agenda to all design disciplines, by incorporating action
research processes and by creating an on-line forum (http://teach-in.ning.com) for dialogue and for organizing
actions according to the goals of the project. The 2012 Imperative has been initiated by EcoLabs (www.eco-labs.org)
and launched at the 2012 Imperative Teach-in, 12 October 2009 (www.teach-in.co.uk).
EcoLabs

24. 10:10 for Universities
10 % carbon reduction in 2010
10 Point Checklist
1. Create your carbon reduction team. Identify and connect with a committed, passionate,
and multifaceted team who will make it happen. Include academics, lecturers, staff, management,
estates and students alike. There should be no rank, or distinction between these parties, but
rather, each individual should be a stakeholder on a collective mission to succeed.
2. Set your first meeting. Agree at the meeting how you will establish the appropriate
permissions, and carry out the carbon monitoring. Agree also on how often you will meet to feed
back how you are getting on. Remember to aim for at least 10% reductions in carbon emission
across each of the four categories: grid electric, on-site fossil fuel use, vehicle fuel use, and air
travel. Create working groups for each of the energy categories.
3. Research methods for monitoring energy use at the university. Do not wait until
you have the perfect method but start the process and work towards creating a more rigorous
methodology as the project evolves. How will you establish systems to monitor all energy use?
Electricity is the easiest area to monitor as it should be straightforward to check the meters.
4. Undertake an energy and carbon audit. Appoint an accredited energy auditor to analyse
your energy use, calculate your carbon emissions, visit the site to undertake an energy audit, and to
make recommendations. Actions points should include ideas to reduce energy consumption, and
for on-site energy generation. The Carbon Trust does free audits for institutions like universities.
5. Agree with other stakeholders what you can do to reduce consumption and
communicate your plan. If your Vice Chancellor and/or Dean is not involved in this project, agree
with them when and where you can share your findings and the specific action you want the
institution to take to reduce energy.
6. Apply for funding. Once you know what you would like to do or install to improve your
institution’s efficiency, apply for funding from organisations such as utilities companies, the Low
Carbon Building Programme or local businesses. Your institution will need to support this process.
7. Keep setting carbon challenges for your university community. Ask everyone to do
a personal carbon calculator. Ask departments to keep track of air travel and make plans to reduce
airline travel by at least 10% during 2010. Introduce no cost video conferencing, and also awards
for departments that take the challenge on board.
8. Incentivise the process and make it fun! Ask your community for ideas, and look for
opportunities to directly involve local communities in such events and activities. If you are saving
energy, reducing your carbon emissions and making a difference, what can you do to celebrate,
promote and maximize your success?
9. Research alternatives to what you currently use or do in the institution. Look
into lower energy appliances or renewable energy technologies that you could introduce into your
university and then present your findings to the right people. This may also be an opportunity for
knowledge exchange; to share and discuss findings with other groups in other institutions.
10. Sustain your practice. You need to keep energy monitoring high profile so that it starts to
become second nature for people to save energy. Put up posters, keep sharing energy data, and
start engaging your wider community in the challenge.
EcoLabs

25. 3b: Ten Phases of TL for Sustainable Design Education
The Teach-in was informed by Mezirow’s ‘Ten Phases of Transformative Learning’,
which were adapted for the purposes of sustainable design education.
Transformative Learning for Sustainable Design Education
1. Confrontation with data regarding the environmental crises.
2. Self-examination of personal attitudes in regards to environmental crisis.
3. A critical assessment of assumptions and basic premises.
4. Recognition of discontent and possibilities for transformation.
5. Exploration of sustainability in a social learning context.
6. Planning a learning process for sustainability literacy.
7. Acquiring new knowledge and skills needed in new sustainable industries.
8. Developing new sustainable methods of working and living.
9. Building confidence to actively promote sustainability.
10. Reintegration into one’s life based on ecologically literate perspective

26. www.teach-in.eco-labs.org.uk
http://teach-in.ning.com

27. 3c: Conclusions
Transformative Learning for
Sustainable Education
Trans-disciplinarity
Participation
Values
Action

28. 1. Trans-disciplinarity
The world is a complex, interconnected, finite,
ecological-social-psychological-economic system…
We treat it as if it were not, as if it were divisible,
separable, simple, and infinite. Our persistent,
intractable, global problems arise directly from this
mismatch.
Meadows, 1982, p.101

29. 2. Participation
Environmental values are not fixed, but emerge out of:
debate, discussion and challenge, as people encounter
new facts, insights and judgments contributed by others.
Owens, p.1145
Environmental values, like other cultural priorities, are learned attitudes.
New values and behaviours cannot be disseminated if imposed from
above but sustainability and ecological literacy could be realized through
a substantial process of engagement using participatory processes.

30. 3. Values
A study of ecology demonstrates that our actions have implications well
beyond our immediate sphere of interactions.
Widening our sphere of concern to include the natural world is a
geophysical imperative for human survival over the long term.
We have a responsibility to confront value systems that fail to prioritize
the maintenance of ecological stability and planetary health.

31. 4. Action
Transformative learning is complete when an individual is able to act according
to beliefs she has validated through critical reflection. While solving a problem
might well be beyond the capacity of any one individual, the goal of transformative
learning is help learners become capable of participating in a process of change.
an inauthentic word... results when a word is deprived
of its dimension of action, reflection automatically
suffers as well; as the world is changed into idle
chatter, into verbalism, into an alienated and
alienating ‘blah’. It becomes an empty word, which
cannot denounce the world, for denunciation is
impossible without a commitment to transform,
and there is no transformation without action.
Paulo Freire, 1970, p68

32. The study of environmental problems is an exercise in despair
unless regarded as only the preface to the study, design and
implementation of solutions.
David Orr, 1992, p.94

33. EcoLabs
www.eco-labs.org
http://teach-in.ning.com
Jody Joanna Boehnert
University of Brighton
jjboehnert@gmail.com