Framing Career Technical
Programs within Social Frameworks
AASHE ConferenceTuesday, October 12, 2010
The Hows and the Whys:
Connecting Career Technical Programs to their Social Contexts
Social Frameworks of Sustainability
Structure- How do we organize our institutions?
Infrastructure- How do we frame our physical world?
Culture- What values shape our communities?
Finding the Connections
◦Withdrawals- resources
◦Additions- waste, by-products
◦Limits to the carrying capacity
◦Externalities- unmeasured costs
The Production and Consumption Treadmill (Allan Schnaiberg, 1980)
The Tragedy of the Commons(Garrett Hardin, 1968)
Shared community spaces
Rational Choice Theory (Olson, 1965)
Individuals strive to maximize benefits and minimize costs.
Free Rider Effect
Assumptions
Easter Island (Rapa Nui)
The Triumph of the Commons
The Triple Bottom Line
Sustainable Education
Cultural Paradigm Shifts
Alternatives?
http://www.earthday.net/footprint/flash.html
Eco-Footprints
◦ Curriculum Module: handout
◦ Identify an item to analyze
◦ List all of the resources required and waste created: Production Consumption Disposal
◦ Alternatives? Cradle to Grave or Cradle to Cradle?
Life Cycle Analyses
Sustainability, Biomimicry, and the Forest Economy
Classic Academia: Silos
Architecture Engineering Drafting
Construction Interior Design
Landscape Design Codes andInspections
Physics Horticulture Real Estate
Portland Community College’s Summer Sustainability Institute 2010
Collaboration:
Biology Hydrology Climatology
Art Philosophy History
Sociology Psychology Economics
Geography Politics Anthropology
Imagine theMulti-Disciplinary Opportunities
Village Building Convergence: Creating a Living Lab
www.cityrepair.org
Curricular, Co-Curricular, and Operations
Integrated Design Planning and Mind-Mapping
Curriculum topics: Sustainability Living, Voluntary Simplicity, Health, Food, Children, Work, Deep Ecology, Global Warming, etc.
www.nwei.org
Northwest Earth Institute Discussion Groups
Introduce Self and provide a short answer to the following question:
How does your discipline or job contribute to addressing sustainability?
Northwest Earth InstituteCircle Question
What factors would you like to see in a collaborative multi-disciplinary Living Lab?
What particular issues would need to be addressed?
Beyond your disciplines, who else should be at the table? Why?
Mind-Mapping Questions :
Thank you for building communities! It benefits us all….