Monday, October 13, 2008
Education for Sustainable Development Case Studies
These are four case studies I wrote while a research assistant at the City of Toronto Environment Office (TEO), working with groups called EASO (Education Alliance for a Sustainable Ontario) and EAST (Education Alliance for a Sustainable Toronto), who subscribed to the UNESCO Decade on Education for Sustainable Development.
These case studies were meant to be on TEO's website but never made it there. I tried to rectify the situation with no luck. While this was a source of frustration for me, I thought they'd better be here than nowhere =)
Rewire
Short-circuiting unsustainable behaviour at the University
Abstract
Rewire is a University of Toronto campus program to encourage environmentally responsible behaviour through applying recent community-based social marketing (CBSM) research. It taps on the potential for peer education to influence energy consumption habits of inhabitants of targeted buildings, by providing a toolkit of visual prompts – posters, pledges, stickers, etc. – with very specific, tailored information directly related to their audience’s lifestyles. Rewire rejects the idea that all that is needed for action to happen is information: in front of the observation that attitude and behaviour are not necessarily correlated, it tries to normalize lower-energy use in its promotion. Through various hand-outs, activities and campaigns, it makes it easy to be green and to make conservation efforts and contribute towards diminishing the ecological footprint of the campus by a minimum of 200 tons of C02 emissions over two years. It goes beyond the current 3Rs of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and into the “Rethink” sphere. The pilot project in 2006-2007 demonstrated the potential for collective action to affect the way the student population and staff relate to the environment; in fact, it saw an energy consumption reduction of 10% in residences and 5% in offices.
Background
Rewire was launched on September 26th, 2006, in the presence of former U of T president David Naylor. Its goal is “to promote a greener, more environmentally friendly campus”, through mobilizing the U of T masses into changing their daily consumption affects. A favourite of the innovative Sustainability Office and very welcomed by the University, Rewire is becoming an intricate part of the undergraduate experience, through offering part-time positions and welcoming students doing practical or research course work. This has been facilitated with excellent working relationships with the Psychology Department, for example. Rewire goes beyond lecturing about environmental studies but engage the school population directly in their immediate living and working environments. It instils it to action. It offers an holistic contribution towards sustainable development and achieving Canada’s Kyoto commitments favouring early and lasting behavioural change in tomorrow’s leaders.
Partnerships
Rewire consist of a project team of 10 staff, supported by faculty and volunteer students, who act as peer educators in a variety of settings at U of T. Under the Rewire coordinator lays a communication liaison, whose role is to be the link with the Lead Coordinator (LC) of each residence, who is in turn supervising Floor Representatives (LC). The LC are responsible for organizing one large event for their entire residence per year, whereas the FC have to organize one smaller event per semester, e.g. movie nights, sleep overs, green pub nights, all focused on energy reduction. The Sustainability Office is responsible of subsidizing payroll for the required human resources, and its work is supported or sponsored by the Toronto Atmospheric Fund, the Better Buildings Partnership, the Ontario Power Authority, EcoAction (Environment Canada), Natural Resources Canada, the Environmental Careers Organization, the Human Resources and Social Development Canada. In conjunction with its success, Rewire also faces a number of challenges, namely: 1) time and resource commitment in preparing new and adapted instructional materials, 2) recruiting dedicated volunteers, 3) maintaining and increasing online interactivity and content on the website and on social networking sites like Facebook (a research opportunity student is currently tackling that one) and 4) keeping up with demand from new residences and offices.
Pedagogical Approach
Rewire is an interesting case answering the difficult question on how to get young adults involved in taking sustainable actions by lowering their energy consumption. It takes advantage of the proximity and concentration of university students living on campus and has developed a range of methods to appeal to them. This includes tool-kits, which are quick fact sheets and action tips distributed through project volunteers. All are geared towards particular young adult lifestyle components, such as laundry and computer use. Capitalizing on the idea of social networks, it is experimenting with online interactive content, such as opinion pools – e.g. how to help the environment this holiday season?, sustainability quote of the day and external links. Non-virtual items such as posters are also use, but face-to-face contact and discussion between project team leaders and volunteers remains the preferred way of passing the message. Rewire attracts to students through its fun and surprising monthly themes and activities. This participatory and accessible strategy not only increases environmental awareness, but it also facilitates the adoption of good conservation practices on and off-campus, triggers critical thinking, offers networking opportunities.
Evaluation
Even though it is still a young project, Rewire has registered high rates of participations by its stakeholders, as well as significant drop in resource consumption measured by electrical monitoring devices, which is all analyzed by the Sustainability Office’s research team. It also put together three years of data and primary research with students, mainly through surveys tracking behavioural change between the beginning and the end of the year. These investigations helped tackle such challenges as the energy consumption in University computer labs, which were left open overnight for software updates purposes, by using new software.
Replicability and Future
The success of the pilot project stimulated the expansion of Rewire from residences into administrative office spaces in 2007, hence not limiting its services and resources to students, but including faculty and staff. Rewire hopes to move from 7 to 14 residences in 2008 (of which 3 are already confirmed), while hoping to cover them all in 2009. In the immediate future, it also wishes to expand into more computer and science labs, while hoping to be present in every space at the university ten years from now. This trend is likely to be pursued beyond the St-George campus by implementing subsidiaries at the Mississauga and Scarborough campuses. In 2008, Rewire will be finishing their pilot project with University offices and organizing workshops to encourage and facilitate its adoption by other universities and institutions, which should be facilitated by resource availability as well the many positive prospects it offers in terms of cost savings and decreased resource dependence. It is also in the process of getting three journal articles published, in addition to the Rewire report, to publicize their success. In the long run, Rewire strives for financial sustainability and for residences to appropriate the project. Its strategy to achieve that is to ensure a Rewire representative (often an LC) is on the board of each residence’s environmental committee, a step already taken for Woodsworth College and on the way for Trinity College.
Contact Information
Rewire Coordinator
Leah Sumnauth McIntosh
416 978 6792
References
http://rewire .utoronto.ca
http ://www.sustainability. utoronto.ca/
(Sumnauth McIntosh, personal communication, 15/02/08)
Sustainable Enterprise Academy (SEA)
Abstract
The Schulich School of Business at York University proved to be an innovative leader in training top-management and decision markers into integrating sustainability into their different professions. It contributes to making Canada a world ESD leader, through its three top-down approaches - Sustainable Entreprise Academy (SEA), Sustainability and Education Academy (SEdA) and Sustainable Finance Academy (SFA) - designed to complement existing bottom-up approaches by influencing the vision of senior administrators, resulting in a systematic change and consistent support to programming rather than just isolate cases. The motto of SEA is “assisting business in the transformation to corporate sustainability by providing senior executives in business, government and civil society with the vision, education, tools and support necessary to champion sustainable development in their organizations”. The Business Leaders Seminars are offered twice annually and take the form of a four-day residential program. They go beyond the reductionist theme of Corporate Social Responsibility to lead actors to Rethink the current system and engage in Corporate Sustainable Development. Participants explore today’s corporate sustainability issues such as the role of business in global sustainability, the business case for sustainable development and the new triple bottom line. SEdA, designed in partnership with the Faculty of Education at York University, is a newer initiative targeting Education Leaders from Public School Boards aimed at integrating ESD into the curriculum. The SEdA vision is to see by the year 2014, at the end of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, all students in grades K to 12 across Canada being educated in the basics of sustainable development and being prepared to take their places as ecologically, socially and economically literate citizens, consumers, employees and leaders in Canadian and global society.
Background
The Sustainable Enterprise Academy was established in 1999 by the Erivan K. Haub Program in Business and Sustainability at the Schulich of Business, York University. It is recognized as the leading executive education program on sustainable development in North America, offering business and government leaders an opportunity to consult with acclaimed international figures in the field, helping participants expand their knowledge and develop a better understanding of the business case for sustainability. The primary goal for the SEA is to help businesses achieve corporate sustainability by providing senior executives in business, government and civil society with the necessary vision, education, tools and support. As much as the attendees will personally benefit from the program, they will also be able to share and apply what they learned to help their own organization champion sustainable development.
In terms of financial support, which is an essential necessity in order to provide leading Executive Education programs, a lot of funding for the initial phase of the Academy (2000-2003) has been contributed by large corporate companies. In addition to providing financial support to establish SEA, these organizations have further invested in the Academy through their participation in each seminar, their constructive suggestions on content and their assistance in recruitment of participants from other companies, government agencies and NGOs.
SEA is an initiative by the Schulich School of Business at York University. It strives with the support of its numerous corporate partners, many of which have an ongoing commitment to sending two new participants at each Seminar. The Seminars provide many deliverables, of which increased profits, competitive repositioning and human capital retention are a few examples.
Pedagogical Approach
SEA offers Business Leader Seminars on Corporate Sustainable Development twice annually, which are led by international business leaders, academics and other leaders in the sustainability field. The leaders will provide strategic insight, academic leadership and business experience and through attending the seminar attendees will acquire new understanding, knowledge and skills. The goal is to become more effective advocates and change agents for sustainable development in business, and learn ways to implement what they learn to transform the futures of their corporation and make sustainable positive change happen. It challenges the current “box thinking” of most businesses and offers solution to resolve the “creative tension” between the current reality of the bottom-line and a vision of sustainability.
During the four-day training, Executives attend seminars, in which time is divided between case studies, simulations, lectures, peer-to-peer learning sessions and personal reflection time. They are brought to simulate stakeholder negotiations, to think about the role of the government and NGO sector in sustainable enterprise and to learn about eco-efficiency strategies. In addition to the seminars, SEA and Jacques Whitford Training Institute collaboratively offer a series of professional training courses on Environmental Management Systems and Auditing. Participants who successfully complete both these courses will have the instruction necessary to meet the formal training requirements to become a Certified Environmental Auditor.
Alumni are involved in an ongoing fashion through the Academy’s Alumni Network, which publishes a bi-monthly e-newsletter, offers other events and training, and support in implementing changes towards sustainability in every participant’s businesses.
Evaluation, Replicability and Future
In the past, with respect to Seminar Evaluations, delegates were asked to provide evaluation and feedback on their experiences through three mechanisms: pre-seminar interviews, daily evaluations, and overall seminar evaluation. The overall response for the seminar evaluation was very positive. The following are some of the highlights from the May 2004 seminar evaluation:
- 100% of the respondents indicated that the seminar was very good to excellent
- 96% of the respondents indicated that the seminar had highly or very highly increased the likelihood that they would take strategic actions in the area of sustainable development
- 89% of respondents felt that the seminar had highly or very highly increased the likelihood that their business unit would take strategic action in the area of sustainable development
- 96% of the respondents indicated that they felt the Business Leader Seminar had highly or very highly enhanced or strengthened their personal commitment to a sustainable business strategy in their organization
- 69% of the respondents felt that the seminar had helped them become a sustainability leader
So far, SEA has welcomed participants from 16 countries and run 11 successful Business Leader Seminars in six cities their five years of existence.
The data collected from the evaluations is very important and beneficial to SEA as it is used for continuous improvement and fine-tuning of the Seminar for future offerings.
Sustainability and Education Academy (SEdA)
Background
The Sustainability and Education Academy (SEdA) was inspired by SEA and was initiated by the Faculty of Education at York University in response to a lack of systematic implementation of ESD within school systems. SEdA is a collaborative between the Schulich School of Business and the Faculty of Education at York University with the assistance of Learning for a Sustainable Future. SEdA launched its program with a Symposium on February 18 -20, 2007 at York University, bringing together best-practice leaders in Education for Sustainable Development from Canada, Ireland, Holland, Great Britain, Australia and Sweden, which contributed their expertise to design a seminar for leaders in education. SEdA wishes to inspire education leaders including, senior levels of Ministries of Education, School Boards, University Faculties of Education across Canada, to create a culture of sustainable development, integrated into all aspects of the K-12 education system. While Environmental Canada provided seed funding for SEdA, the main financial partner is now the Suncor Foundation with other partners being actively sought.
SEdA asks its participants important questions about sustainable development, education and leadership, and showcases best practices in the field of governance, teaching and learning, human capacity, facilities and operations. It aims at training teams of members with different roles – e.g. building, policy, budgeting, curriculum, etc. – within the same education organization to facilitate implementation of a social, environmental and economic sustainability plan, which is the main outcome of the Seminar. This team approach is rendered possible through a sliding scale for tuition fees encouraging many participants from the same organization. SEdA’s return on investment includes providing Seminar participants with the vision and strategies to move forward on the integration of ESD into all aspects of their systems or departments.
Pedagogical Approach
SEdA offers Education Leader Seminars designed to motivate and equip senior educators, specifically from school boards, provincial ministries of education, and university faculties of education, to lead the integration of sustainability as a core value in all aspects of formal education including policy, curriculum, teaching, learning, professional development, and the sustainable management of human, physical and financial resources. The Seminars are designed as a 2 ½ day intensive, residential, informative and motivational event for up to 50 senior education leaders. SEdA offers participants a unique combination of insight, vision, models, tools and strategies, leadership and change management techniques, and alumni services.
Attendees learn ways to:
- reorient existing curricula around engaging economic, environmental, and social themes;
- reframe programs, promoting safe and healthy schools, within the social context of education for sustainable development;
- form partnerships between schools, parents and the community to make a meaningful contribution to mutual environmental and social stewardship that translates into better results for students
- help teachers realize their higher purpose through pre-service and in-service training
SEdA accommodates five different learning styles which are listed in Table 1.1.
SEdA’s first seminar was deemed a success by its participants. The Academy’s Report Card, which summarizes participants’ input from the Seminar Evaluation, indicates that the first Seminar has been rated 4.5/5, which is a significant achievement for a pilot. The highlights were how SEdA contributed to strengthening organization’s vision on ESD and further the participants’ commitment to it. 94% of participants assert that this Seminar increased the likelihood that they will personally take strategic actions in the area of ESD. Participants commented on the quality of the ideas put forward in their training and were satisfied with being able to network with other people committed to ESD.
In the future, SEdA hopes to go beyond the provision of Seminars and develop into an active online network of ESD actors committed to making a difference with a capacity for Seminar leaders to provide ongoing support to alumni. There are plans to take SEdA outside of the University and to use the concept to work with participants across Canada and internationally. As a matter of fact, SEdA will be offering a 1st seminar in Winnipeg in November 2008.
Contact Information
SEA
Nancy Sutherland
nsutherl@schulich.yorku.ca
Business & the Sustainability Program, Schulich School of Business
Associate Director
Seymour Schulich Building, N213
(416)736-5268 (Voicemail)
(416)736-2100 x 40478 (Voicemail)
www.SustainableEnterpriseAcademy.org
SEdA Contact
David Leeder
DLeeder@edu.yorku.ca
Coordinator,
Leadership Programs Research and Field Development
Faculty of Education
York University
(416) 736-2100 ext 33209
References
http://www.sustainableenterpriseacademy.com/
(Leeder, Personal communication, 13/02/08)
http://www.lsf-lst.ca/en/academy/index.php
Planet in Focus
Abstract
Planet in Focus (PIF) took a giant step in integrating “greenness” to the arts and entertainment industries, who have historically been associated with wasteful and senseless resource utilization. In fact, PIF promotes the use of film and video to frame and explore environmental issues and stories and serves as a catalyst and springboard for environmental awareness, discussion and action. It strives to screen the most creative, insightful, and inspirational programming available (PIF, 2008). By rehabilitating the old art of storytelling and adapting to fit the needs of a modern, urban and diverse society, it contributes to making sustainability a part of people’s identities and lifestyles. According to Candida Paltiel, Artistic Director/CEO Director, “film is the most powerful tool to reach the public on a visual and emotional level and influence a large number of people rapidly and efficiently, on issues of climate change for example”. This triggers personal identification with the issues, while not giving way to an extremist, fatalist discourse, but rather encouraging people to take concrete actions to diminish their ecological footprint. PIF is more than an international yearly environmental film festival; it provides year-long programming in the form of ongoing movie screening, as well as youth, school and summer opportunities in the GTA. PIF, with its impressive line-up of films and videos of all forms (documentary, drama, animation, experimental, new media) in their exclusive debut, influential supporters and rich content, is something Torontonians can be proud of. Indeed, it reinforces the voice of the City by not being afraid to sustain an engaged and partisan message for a better care of the Earth’s health.
Background
PIF was founded in 1999 by Mark Haslam. Now an incorporated not-for-profit organizations, it started as a neighbourhood event. While it has, since then, grown into a internationally known event with thousands of attendees, it still sticks to its original mission of promoting environmental change and sustainability with a high level of commitment. In fact, PIF promotes the use of film and video to frame and explore social and ecological focal points, and as a catalyst for awareness, discussion and action.
PIF’s goals are the following :
• to encourage the creation and exhibition of a broad spectrum of films and videos exploring environmental and ecological themes that celebrate, question and establish varied ways of viewing the state of our world
• to present to the public, including children and youth audiences, creative, educational, provocative, and entertaining films and videos on social and ecological themes
• to create a forum on the use of films and videos as catalysts for discussion of social and ecological issues and appropriate action.
• to establish an international marketplace for ecological films and videos
Stakeholders and Partnerships
PIF has a team of 5 hired staff members in addition to its 8 members Board of Directors and 3 festival committees, volunteers and interns. It is affiliated with the Planet in Focus Foundation, a registered chariable organization. During the festival, environmental businesses and NGOs as well as Colleges and Universities with related programs are encouraged to promote themselves at the Eco Fair, hence joining the many collaborators of PIF (City of Toronto Culture Office, CBC, the Trillium Foundation, the Toronto Arts Council, Dr. David Suzuki, Vandana Shiva, etc.). PIF consistently works with reputable cultural institutions and small communities, organizations and groups and audiences of all ages who seek enrichment and expanded awareness of the kinds of films and videos available on environmental themes (PIF, 2008). These partnerships help creating a more sustainable organization. The key value added of the partnerships is in terms of reaching out to new audiences while also fostering environmental artistic expression. The wealth of stakeholders renders possible a very professional marketing and branding strategy, which is one of the key assets in enhancing the organizations’ reputation and credibility. The organization indeed has a very extensive coverage in the media, be it in magazines, on the radio, or online. This allows the Festival to innovate in its outreach strategies, for example through distributing 2 for 1 admission flyers. Inspire an audience outside of the traditional environmentalists circles helps the organization fulfil its mission of raising public awareness.
Pedagogical Approach
The main educational vector in PIF is film and video shown in Toronto during the October Festival and its subsequent monthly screenings, “Mixed Greens”, which take place on the last Friday of each month at the Gardiner Museum. However, the uniqueness of PIF is its “Cinema Forum” character: for the organizers, participants are not passive recipient of information, but they are rather incited to discuss the movies and issues in the settings of panels, round tables, workshops and networking events designed to further engage with the films’ subjects, and to foster dialogue and community amongst audiences, filmmakers and broadcasters (PIF, 2008). As Ms Paltiel reminds us, these active mechanisms are the best way to help people process their thoughts, and most people want to stay after the film to express themselves and learn more about the issue at hand.This encourages different degrees of participation as well as critical thinking around the concept of the “environment”. The main focus remains action: if the film has contributed to changing habits to ameliorate the ecological and social health of the planet, if it challenged current human/nature relations in more sustainable ways by triggering meaningful action and informed choices, then it has been a success.
PIF’s dynamic education approach is corroborated through links with formal institutions, through the offering of positions to University students, the supply of curriculum-linked film for Elementary/Junior and High School Students. PIF is indeed the only film festival of its kind to offer the Youth Canada Action program, a 2 weeks summer environmental video production camp to 25 youth in underserved communities of the GTA. It is also active in schools, as demonstrated by the distribution of a study case on renewable energy and energy conservation for elementary and high school students. Beyond the class room, the PIF team also takes the road each year in a Cross Canada tour, which allows them to reach new audiences around the country as well as internationally. To name a few, PIF has extended its action and provided access to high quality environmental films to people in Montreal, Vancouver, Dawson City, Halifax, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Yellowknife, Sudbury, New York City, Salvador de Bahia (Brazil), Iowa, Washington, Rome (Italy), and Sarajevo A new Education Resource Library (ERL) has recently been open in the Toronto Distillery District and provides access to 2000 environmental films for researchers of a wide range of topic areas, ranging from conservation to social responsibility, passing through globalization and religion. These films span 5 continents and 8 years, and contribute to awareness building through the portrayal of a variety of different views from filmmakers around the world. These films and videos, as well as those screened at the PIF International Film Festival – 70 were screened in 5 days during the 2007 edition, with an audience of 5500 people - contribute directly to education for sustainable development through touching such diverse themes as public health, urbanization and sustainable consumption. PIF is also involved in developing a best practice guide for the film industry, the Green Screen Toronto Initiative, along with PanaVision and Film Ontario. By providing an entertaining, discussion focused outlet and market for environmental filmmakers in an unpredictable industry, it also contributes to the social and economic pillars.
Replicability and Future
PIF has gone a long way from its beginning as a neighbourhood event in 1999. It is revitalized each year by choosing a different lens to make its commentary about the Earth; while the theme in 2007 was Polar Regions, in 2008 it will be Food: the Appetizing and Unappetizing. PIF uses many tools for evaluation, including surveys at the festival and an ongoing feed-back system through the Outreach Program Officer.
PIF is dedicated to increase public awareness and action, and it will strive to become a national and international organization that continue to distinguish itself from competing festivals and organizations through the quality of its content and its approach to environmental problems. In addition to consolidating its strong reputation within the niche market, it also seeks to reinforce its commitment to working in underserved communities, given that currently 59% of the audience is female, 94% attended University or College, 96% is an Internet user, 49% is between the ages of 25-44 years with an average income is $74,083 (PIF, 2008).
PIF’s immediate program objectives include:
- Increasing top tier submissions from Canada, Africa, Latin America, Central Europe, Asia and Middle East
- Expanding the participation of filmmakers and film and television industry professionals in the creation and celebration of environmental works
- Expanding Festival audience participation screening venues to accommodate larger audiences
- Expand Tour opportunities and events in Canada and abroad
- Promoting growth and use of the educational resource library
- Providing programming advice to exhibitors, educators, event organizers
- Growing the Youth, Camera, Action program
- Expanding the Schools Program
- Establishing a permanent presence in Vancouver that includes: Monthly Screenings & an Annual Festival
Contact Info
Candida Paltiel
Artistic Director/CEO Director:
416 531 1769
References
(Paltiel, personal communication, 26/03/08)
PIF Background Document 2008
www.planetinfocus.org
These case studies were meant to be on TEO's website but never made it there. I tried to rectify the situation with no luck. While this was a source of frustration for me, I thought they'd better be here than nowhere =)
Rewire
Short-circuiting unsustainable behaviour at the University
Abstract
Rewire is a University of Toronto campus program to encourage environmentally responsible behaviour through applying recent community-based social marketing (CBSM) research. It taps on the potential for peer education to influence energy consumption habits of inhabitants of targeted buildings, by providing a toolkit of visual prompts – posters, pledges, stickers, etc. – with very specific, tailored information directly related to their audience’s lifestyles. Rewire rejects the idea that all that is needed for action to happen is information: in front of the observation that attitude and behaviour are not necessarily correlated, it tries to normalize lower-energy use in its promotion. Through various hand-outs, activities and campaigns, it makes it easy to be green and to make conservation efforts and contribute towards diminishing the ecological footprint of the campus by a minimum of 200 tons of C02 emissions over two years. It goes beyond the current 3Rs of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and into the “Rethink” sphere. The pilot project in 2006-2007 demonstrated the potential for collective action to affect the way the student population and staff relate to the environment; in fact, it saw an energy consumption reduction of 10% in residences and 5% in offices.
Background
Rewire was launched on September 26th, 2006, in the presence of former U of T president David Naylor. Its goal is “to promote a greener, more environmentally friendly campus”, through mobilizing the U of T masses into changing their daily consumption affects. A favourite of the innovative Sustainability Office and very welcomed by the University, Rewire is becoming an intricate part of the undergraduate experience, through offering part-time positions and welcoming students doing practical or research course work. This has been facilitated with excellent working relationships with the Psychology Department, for example. Rewire goes beyond lecturing about environmental studies but engage the school population directly in their immediate living and working environments. It instils it to action. It offers an holistic contribution towards sustainable development and achieving Canada’s Kyoto commitments favouring early and lasting behavioural change in tomorrow’s leaders.
Partnerships
Rewire consist of a project team of 10 staff, supported by faculty and volunteer students, who act as peer educators in a variety of settings at U of T. Under the Rewire coordinator lays a communication liaison, whose role is to be the link with the Lead Coordinator (LC) of each residence, who is in turn supervising Floor Representatives (LC). The LC are responsible for organizing one large event for their entire residence per year, whereas the FC have to organize one smaller event per semester, e.g. movie nights, sleep overs, green pub nights, all focused on energy reduction. The Sustainability Office is responsible of subsidizing payroll for the required human resources, and its work is supported or sponsored by the Toronto Atmospheric Fund, the Better Buildings Partnership, the Ontario Power Authority, EcoAction (Environment Canada), Natural Resources Canada, the Environmental Careers Organization, the Human Resources and Social Development Canada. In conjunction with its success, Rewire also faces a number of challenges, namely: 1) time and resource commitment in preparing new and adapted instructional materials, 2) recruiting dedicated volunteers, 3) maintaining and increasing online interactivity and content on the website and on social networking sites like Facebook (a research opportunity student is currently tackling that one) and 4) keeping up with demand from new residences and offices.
Pedagogical Approach
Rewire is an interesting case answering the difficult question on how to get young adults involved in taking sustainable actions by lowering their energy consumption. It takes advantage of the proximity and concentration of university students living on campus and has developed a range of methods to appeal to them. This includes tool-kits, which are quick fact sheets and action tips distributed through project volunteers. All are geared towards particular young adult lifestyle components, such as laundry and computer use. Capitalizing on the idea of social networks, it is experimenting with online interactive content, such as opinion pools – e.g. how to help the environment this holiday season?, sustainability quote of the day and external links. Non-virtual items such as posters are also use, but face-to-face contact and discussion between project team leaders and volunteers remains the preferred way of passing the message. Rewire attracts to students through its fun and surprising monthly themes and activities. This participatory and accessible strategy not only increases environmental awareness, but it also facilitates the adoption of good conservation practices on and off-campus, triggers critical thinking, offers networking opportunities.
Evaluation
Even though it is still a young project, Rewire has registered high rates of participations by its stakeholders, as well as significant drop in resource consumption measured by electrical monitoring devices, which is all analyzed by the Sustainability Office’s research team. It also put together three years of data and primary research with students, mainly through surveys tracking behavioural change between the beginning and the end of the year. These investigations helped tackle such challenges as the energy consumption in University computer labs, which were left open overnight for software updates purposes, by using new software.
Replicability and Future
The success of the pilot project stimulated the expansion of Rewire from residences into administrative office spaces in 2007, hence not limiting its services and resources to students, but including faculty and staff. Rewire hopes to move from 7 to 14 residences in 2008 (of which 3 are already confirmed), while hoping to cover them all in 2009. In the immediate future, it also wishes to expand into more computer and science labs, while hoping to be present in every space at the university ten years from now. This trend is likely to be pursued beyond the St-George campus by implementing subsidiaries at the Mississauga and Scarborough campuses. In 2008, Rewire will be finishing their pilot project with University offices and organizing workshops to encourage and facilitate its adoption by other universities and institutions, which should be facilitated by resource availability as well the many positive prospects it offers in terms of cost savings and decreased resource dependence. It is also in the process of getting three journal articles published, in addition to the Rewire report, to publicize their success. In the long run, Rewire strives for financial sustainability and for residences to appropriate the project. Its strategy to achieve that is to ensure a Rewire representative (often an LC) is on the board of each residence’s environmental committee, a step already taken for Woodsworth College and on the way for Trinity College.
Contact Information
Rewire Coordinator
Leah Sumnauth McIntosh
416 978 6792
References
http://rewire .utoronto.ca
http ://www.sustainability. utoronto.ca/
(Sumnauth McIntosh, personal communication, 15/02/08)
Sustainable Enterprise Academy (SEA)
Abstract
The Schulich School of Business at York University proved to be an innovative leader in training top-management and decision markers into integrating sustainability into their different professions. It contributes to making Canada a world ESD leader, through its three top-down approaches - Sustainable Entreprise Academy (SEA), Sustainability and Education Academy (SEdA) and Sustainable Finance Academy (SFA) - designed to complement existing bottom-up approaches by influencing the vision of senior administrators, resulting in a systematic change and consistent support to programming rather than just isolate cases. The motto of SEA is “assisting business in the transformation to corporate sustainability by providing senior executives in business, government and civil society with the vision, education, tools and support necessary to champion sustainable development in their organizations”. The Business Leaders Seminars are offered twice annually and take the form of a four-day residential program. They go beyond the reductionist theme of Corporate Social Responsibility to lead actors to Rethink the current system and engage in Corporate Sustainable Development. Participants explore today’s corporate sustainability issues such as the role of business in global sustainability, the business case for sustainable development and the new triple bottom line. SEdA, designed in partnership with the Faculty of Education at York University, is a newer initiative targeting Education Leaders from Public School Boards aimed at integrating ESD into the curriculum. The SEdA vision is to see by the year 2014, at the end of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, all students in grades K to 12 across Canada being educated in the basics of sustainable development and being prepared to take their places as ecologically, socially and economically literate citizens, consumers, employees and leaders in Canadian and global society.
Background
The Sustainable Enterprise Academy was established in 1999 by the Erivan K. Haub Program in Business and Sustainability at the Schulich of Business, York University. It is recognized as the leading executive education program on sustainable development in North America, offering business and government leaders an opportunity to consult with acclaimed international figures in the field, helping participants expand their knowledge and develop a better understanding of the business case for sustainability. The primary goal for the SEA is to help businesses achieve corporate sustainability by providing senior executives in business, government and civil society with the necessary vision, education, tools and support. As much as the attendees will personally benefit from the program, they will also be able to share and apply what they learned to help their own organization champion sustainable development.
In terms of financial support, which is an essential necessity in order to provide leading Executive Education programs, a lot of funding for the initial phase of the Academy (2000-2003) has been contributed by large corporate companies. In addition to providing financial support to establish SEA, these organizations have further invested in the Academy through their participation in each seminar, their constructive suggestions on content and their assistance in recruitment of participants from other companies, government agencies and NGOs.
SEA is an initiative by the Schulich School of Business at York University. It strives with the support of its numerous corporate partners, many of which have an ongoing commitment to sending two new participants at each Seminar. The Seminars provide many deliverables, of which increased profits, competitive repositioning and human capital retention are a few examples.
Pedagogical Approach
SEA offers Business Leader Seminars on Corporate Sustainable Development twice annually, which are led by international business leaders, academics and other leaders in the sustainability field. The leaders will provide strategic insight, academic leadership and business experience and through attending the seminar attendees will acquire new understanding, knowledge and skills. The goal is to become more effective advocates and change agents for sustainable development in business, and learn ways to implement what they learn to transform the futures of their corporation and make sustainable positive change happen. It challenges the current “box thinking” of most businesses and offers solution to resolve the “creative tension” between the current reality of the bottom-line and a vision of sustainability.
During the four-day training, Executives attend seminars, in which time is divided between case studies, simulations, lectures, peer-to-peer learning sessions and personal reflection time. They are brought to simulate stakeholder negotiations, to think about the role of the government and NGO sector in sustainable enterprise and to learn about eco-efficiency strategies. In addition to the seminars, SEA and Jacques Whitford Training Institute collaboratively offer a series of professional training courses on Environmental Management Systems and Auditing. Participants who successfully complete both these courses will have the instruction necessary to meet the formal training requirements to become a Certified Environmental Auditor.
Alumni are involved in an ongoing fashion through the Academy’s Alumni Network, which publishes a bi-monthly e-newsletter, offers other events and training, and support in implementing changes towards sustainability in every participant’s businesses.
Evaluation, Replicability and Future
In the past, with respect to Seminar Evaluations, delegates were asked to provide evaluation and feedback on their experiences through three mechanisms: pre-seminar interviews, daily evaluations, and overall seminar evaluation. The overall response for the seminar evaluation was very positive. The following are some of the highlights from the May 2004 seminar evaluation:
- 100% of the respondents indicated that the seminar was very good to excellent
- 96% of the respondents indicated that the seminar had highly or very highly increased the likelihood that they would take strategic actions in the area of sustainable development
- 89% of respondents felt that the seminar had highly or very highly increased the likelihood that their business unit would take strategic action in the area of sustainable development
- 96% of the respondents indicated that they felt the Business Leader Seminar had highly or very highly enhanced or strengthened their personal commitment to a sustainable business strategy in their organization
- 69% of the respondents felt that the seminar had helped them become a sustainability leader
So far, SEA has welcomed participants from 16 countries and run 11 successful Business Leader Seminars in six cities their five years of existence.
The data collected from the evaluations is very important and beneficial to SEA as it is used for continuous improvement and fine-tuning of the Seminar for future offerings.
Sustainability and Education Academy (SEdA)
Background
The Sustainability and Education Academy (SEdA) was inspired by SEA and was initiated by the Faculty of Education at York University in response to a lack of systematic implementation of ESD within school systems. SEdA is a collaborative between the Schulich School of Business and the Faculty of Education at York University with the assistance of Learning for a Sustainable Future. SEdA launched its program with a Symposium on February 18 -20, 2007 at York University, bringing together best-practice leaders in Education for Sustainable Development from Canada, Ireland, Holland, Great Britain, Australia and Sweden, which contributed their expertise to design a seminar for leaders in education. SEdA wishes to inspire education leaders including, senior levels of Ministries of Education, School Boards, University Faculties of Education across Canada, to create a culture of sustainable development, integrated into all aspects of the K-12 education system. While Environmental Canada provided seed funding for SEdA, the main financial partner is now the Suncor Foundation with other partners being actively sought.
SEdA asks its participants important questions about sustainable development, education and leadership, and showcases best practices in the field of governance, teaching and learning, human capacity, facilities and operations. It aims at training teams of members with different roles – e.g. building, policy, budgeting, curriculum, etc. – within the same education organization to facilitate implementation of a social, environmental and economic sustainability plan, which is the main outcome of the Seminar. This team approach is rendered possible through a sliding scale for tuition fees encouraging many participants from the same organization. SEdA’s return on investment includes providing Seminar participants with the vision and strategies to move forward on the integration of ESD into all aspects of their systems or departments.
Pedagogical Approach
SEdA offers Education Leader Seminars designed to motivate and equip senior educators, specifically from school boards, provincial ministries of education, and university faculties of education, to lead the integration of sustainability as a core value in all aspects of formal education including policy, curriculum, teaching, learning, professional development, and the sustainable management of human, physical and financial resources. The Seminars are designed as a 2 ½ day intensive, residential, informative and motivational event for up to 50 senior education leaders. SEdA offers participants a unique combination of insight, vision, models, tools and strategies, leadership and change management techniques, and alumni services.
Attendees learn ways to:
- reorient existing curricula around engaging economic, environmental, and social themes;
- reframe programs, promoting safe and healthy schools, within the social context of education for sustainable development;
- form partnerships between schools, parents and the community to make a meaningful contribution to mutual environmental and social stewardship that translates into better results for students
- help teachers realize their higher purpose through pre-service and in-service training
SEdA accommodates five different learning styles which are listed in Table 1.1.
Table 1.1
| Learning Style | Description |
| Plenary sessions | § presentations by Faculty members, top international Guest Presenters and Sustainability Leaders will be offered and will address the themes of each day and provide the backbone content of the Seminar § participants will gain new insights, share in advanced thinking and be challenged by compelling information |
| Leadership development strategies | § offer strategies on culture change for sustainability § concepts and techniques focus on organizational learning and leadership capacity development, preparing delegates for successful leadership roles in their organizations |
| Concurrent Workshops | § offer interactive sessions with expert presenters which focus on the tools, techniques and practices of Education for Sustainable Development that you can take back to your organization |
| Learning Team Sessions | § consist of small-group Learning Teams, each coached by a member of the Faculty, working together to apply concepts from other sessions to their organization, to practice leadership strategies, to address particular issues or cases and to share experiences or thoughts on Education for Sustainable Development |
| Reconnect Time | § allows the members to participate in an exercise program, meet informally with speakers and other delegates to discuss issues of the day, or simply take a walk and reflect on their experience sessions |
SEdA’s first seminar was deemed a success by its participants. The Academy’s Report Card, which summarizes participants’ input from the Seminar Evaluation, indicates that the first Seminar has been rated 4.5/5, which is a significant achievement for a pilot. The highlights were how SEdA contributed to strengthening organization’s vision on ESD and further the participants’ commitment to it. 94% of participants assert that this Seminar increased the likelihood that they will personally take strategic actions in the area of ESD. Participants commented on the quality of the ideas put forward in their training and were satisfied with being able to network with other people committed to ESD.
In the future, SEdA hopes to go beyond the provision of Seminars and develop into an active online network of ESD actors committed to making a difference with a capacity for Seminar leaders to provide ongoing support to alumni. There are plans to take SEdA outside of the University and to use the concept to work with participants across Canada and internationally. As a matter of fact, SEdA will be offering a 1st seminar in Winnipeg in November 2008.
Contact Information
SEA
Nancy Sutherland
nsutherl@schulich.yorku.ca
Business & the Sustainability Program, Schulich School of Business
Associate Director
Seymour Schulich Building, N213
(416)736-5268 (Voicemail)
(416)736-2100 x 40478 (Voicemail)
www.SustainableEnterpriseAcademy.org
SEdA Contact
David Leeder
DLeeder@edu.yorku.ca
Coordinator,
Leadership Programs Research and Field Development
Faculty of Education
York University
(416) 736-2100 ext 33209
References
http://www.sustainableenterpriseacademy.com/
(Leeder, Personal communication, 13/02/08)
http://www.lsf-lst.ca/en/academy/index.php
Planet in Focus
Abstract
Planet in Focus (PIF) took a giant step in integrating “greenness” to the arts and entertainment industries, who have historically been associated with wasteful and senseless resource utilization. In fact, PIF promotes the use of film and video to frame and explore environmental issues and stories and serves as a catalyst and springboard for environmental awareness, discussion and action. It strives to screen the most creative, insightful, and inspirational programming available (PIF, 2008). By rehabilitating the old art of storytelling and adapting to fit the needs of a modern, urban and diverse society, it contributes to making sustainability a part of people’s identities and lifestyles. According to Candida Paltiel, Artistic Director/CEO Director, “film is the most powerful tool to reach the public on a visual and emotional level and influence a large number of people rapidly and efficiently, on issues of climate change for example”. This triggers personal identification with the issues, while not giving way to an extremist, fatalist discourse, but rather encouraging people to take concrete actions to diminish their ecological footprint. PIF is more than an international yearly environmental film festival; it provides year-long programming in the form of ongoing movie screening, as well as youth, school and summer opportunities in the GTA. PIF, with its impressive line-up of films and videos of all forms (documentary, drama, animation, experimental, new media) in their exclusive debut, influential supporters and rich content, is something Torontonians can be proud of. Indeed, it reinforces the voice of the City by not being afraid to sustain an engaged and partisan message for a better care of the Earth’s health.
Background
PIF was founded in 1999 by Mark Haslam. Now an incorporated not-for-profit organizations, it started as a neighbourhood event. While it has, since then, grown into a internationally known event with thousands of attendees, it still sticks to its original mission of promoting environmental change and sustainability with a high level of commitment. In fact, PIF promotes the use of film and video to frame and explore social and ecological focal points, and as a catalyst for awareness, discussion and action.
PIF’s goals are the following :
• to encourage the creation and exhibition of a broad spectrum of films and videos exploring environmental and ecological themes that celebrate, question and establish varied ways of viewing the state of our world
• to present to the public, including children and youth audiences, creative, educational, provocative, and entertaining films and videos on social and ecological themes
• to create a forum on the use of films and videos as catalysts for discussion of social and ecological issues and appropriate action.
• to establish an international marketplace for ecological films and videos
Stakeholders and Partnerships
PIF has a team of 5 hired staff members in addition to its 8 members Board of Directors and 3 festival committees, volunteers and interns. It is affiliated with the Planet in Focus Foundation, a registered chariable organization. During the festival, environmental businesses and NGOs as well as Colleges and Universities with related programs are encouraged to promote themselves at the Eco Fair, hence joining the many collaborators of PIF (City of Toronto Culture Office, CBC, the Trillium Foundation, the Toronto Arts Council, Dr. David Suzuki, Vandana Shiva, etc.). PIF consistently works with reputable cultural institutions and small communities, organizations and groups and audiences of all ages who seek enrichment and expanded awareness of the kinds of films and videos available on environmental themes (PIF, 2008). These partnerships help creating a more sustainable organization. The key value added of the partnerships is in terms of reaching out to new audiences while also fostering environmental artistic expression. The wealth of stakeholders renders possible a very professional marketing and branding strategy, which is one of the key assets in enhancing the organizations’ reputation and credibility. The organization indeed has a very extensive coverage in the media, be it in magazines, on the radio, or online. This allows the Festival to innovate in its outreach strategies, for example through distributing 2 for 1 admission flyers. Inspire an audience outside of the traditional environmentalists circles helps the organization fulfil its mission of raising public awareness.
Pedagogical Approach
The main educational vector in PIF is film and video shown in Toronto during the October Festival and its subsequent monthly screenings, “Mixed Greens”, which take place on the last Friday of each month at the Gardiner Museum. However, the uniqueness of PIF is its “Cinema Forum” character: for the organizers, participants are not passive recipient of information, but they are rather incited to discuss the movies and issues in the settings of panels, round tables, workshops and networking events designed to further engage with the films’ subjects, and to foster dialogue and community amongst audiences, filmmakers and broadcasters (PIF, 2008). As Ms Paltiel reminds us, these active mechanisms are the best way to help people process their thoughts, and most people want to stay after the film to express themselves and learn more about the issue at hand.This encourages different degrees of participation as well as critical thinking around the concept of the “environment”. The main focus remains action: if the film has contributed to changing habits to ameliorate the ecological and social health of the planet, if it challenged current human/nature relations in more sustainable ways by triggering meaningful action and informed choices, then it has been a success.
PIF’s dynamic education approach is corroborated through links with formal institutions, through the offering of positions to University students, the supply of curriculum-linked film for Elementary/Junior and High School Students. PIF is indeed the only film festival of its kind to offer the Youth Canada Action program, a 2 weeks summer environmental video production camp to 25 youth in underserved communities of the GTA. It is also active in schools, as demonstrated by the distribution of a study case on renewable energy and energy conservation for elementary and high school students. Beyond the class room, the PIF team also takes the road each year in a Cross Canada tour, which allows them to reach new audiences around the country as well as internationally. To name a few, PIF has extended its action and provided access to high quality environmental films to people in Montreal, Vancouver, Dawson City, Halifax, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Yellowknife, Sudbury, New York City, Salvador de Bahia (Brazil), Iowa, Washington, Rome (Italy), and Sarajevo A new Education Resource Library (ERL) has recently been open in the Toronto Distillery District and provides access to 2000 environmental films for researchers of a wide range of topic areas, ranging from conservation to social responsibility, passing through globalization and religion. These films span 5 continents and 8 years, and contribute to awareness building through the portrayal of a variety of different views from filmmakers around the world. These films and videos, as well as those screened at the PIF International Film Festival – 70 were screened in 5 days during the 2007 edition, with an audience of 5500 people - contribute directly to education for sustainable development through touching such diverse themes as public health, urbanization and sustainable consumption. PIF is also involved in developing a best practice guide for the film industry, the Green Screen Toronto Initiative, along with PanaVision and Film Ontario. By providing an entertaining, discussion focused outlet and market for environmental filmmakers in an unpredictable industry, it also contributes to the social and economic pillars.
Replicability and Future
PIF has gone a long way from its beginning as a neighbourhood event in 1999. It is revitalized each year by choosing a different lens to make its commentary about the Earth; while the theme in 2007 was Polar Regions, in 2008 it will be Food: the Appetizing and Unappetizing. PIF uses many tools for evaluation, including surveys at the festival and an ongoing feed-back system through the Outreach Program Officer.
PIF is dedicated to increase public awareness and action, and it will strive to become a national and international organization that continue to distinguish itself from competing festivals and organizations through the quality of its content and its approach to environmental problems. In addition to consolidating its strong reputation within the niche market, it also seeks to reinforce its commitment to working in underserved communities, given that currently 59% of the audience is female, 94% attended University or College, 96% is an Internet user, 49% is between the ages of 25-44 years with an average income is $74,083 (PIF, 2008).
PIF’s immediate program objectives include:
- Increasing top tier submissions from Canada, Africa, Latin America, Central Europe, Asia and Middle East
- Expanding the participation of filmmakers and film and television industry professionals in the creation and celebration of environmental works
- Expanding Festival audience participation screening venues to accommodate larger audiences
- Expand Tour opportunities and events in Canada and abroad
- Promoting growth and use of the educational resource library
- Providing programming advice to exhibitors, educators, event organizers
- Growing the Youth, Camera, Action program
- Expanding the Schools Program
- Establishing a permanent presence in Vancouver that includes: Monthly Screenings & an Annual Festival
Contact Info
Candida Paltiel
Artistic Director/CEO Director:
416 531 1769
References
(Paltiel, personal communication, 26/03/08)
PIF Background Document 2008
www.planetinfocus.org
