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Sustainability, cleaner production and an international learning resource

M.C.E. van Dam-Mieras, M.A.M. Meester and P.B. Sloep

Open University of The Netherlands, PO Box 2960, 6401 DL Heerlen, The Netherlands

Sustainable development is a central theme in environmental science education and this implies that the only appropriate dimension for such education programmes is global. We therefore feel that a world-wide sharing of knowledge is a most needed instrument in educating the peoples of the world in how to behave responsibly towards the environment and each other. Of course there will always be some tension between this global dimension and the good educational practice of taking examples from the daily life experience of students, but it would be an attractive idea to create a flexible international learning resource from which people could draw materials for implementation in different learning environments. During the process of adaptation to national/regional use or specific target groups, aspects concerning national legislation and daily life examples can be added to the building blocks obtained from the learning resource. The course on cleaner production strategies developed at the Open University of The Netherlands will be used to illustrate the idea.

Keywords: education; sustainable development; cleaner production

Introduction: Sustainable Development

In the 1987 report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by Gro Har- lem Brundtland 1, sustainable development was described as follows: Sustainable development is a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development, and institutional change are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations . . . . (It is) meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

It follows that the only appropriate dimension when choosing sustainable development as one's ultimate objective, is a global one. After all, the well-being of planet Earth ought to be the concern of the whole human population. Such a common responsibility implies that the different societies on Earth should behave responsibly towards each other, because one can not expect a society whose minimal existence requirements are not fulfilled to give the environment first priority. This indeed was an important theme during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) or 'Earth Summit', held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. It was the UNCED's key conclusion that the environment can no longer be disconnected from development 2,3. This inevitably implies that environmental science and education cannot be isolated from development either, and we

feel that modern teaching methods will have to play an important role in educating the peoples of the world on how to behave responsibly towards the environment and each other. The world-wide sharing of knowledge is a most needed instrument in this effort.

In recent years, the European Union policy and action on the environment has shifted its emphasis from acute problems within the Union towards global environmental issues such as climate change, ozone depletion, loss of biodiversity, etc. In the declaration on the environment made in Dublin in June 1990, the European Council stressed the special responsibility of the Union and its constituent Member States in the wider international arena when it stated that:

' the Community must use more effectively its position of moral, economic and political authority to advance international efforts to solve global problems and to promote sustainable development and respect for the global commons'.

The four EU action programmes on the environment, which ran until the end of 1992, relied almost exclusively on legislative measures; they gave rise to about 22 pieces of legislation covering pollution of the atmosphere, water and soil, waste management, safeguards in relation to chemicals and biotechnology, product standards, environmental impact assessments and protection of nature. In spite of all these legislative actions, the Report on the State of the Environment,

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published in March 1992, describes a slow but relentless deterioration of the general state of the environment. According to the report, the actual situation we have to face is one of growth in international competition and upward trends in EU activity and development. All of these imply an increasing environmental burden within the context of global concerns about climate change, deforestation, energy crisis, serious and persist- ent problems of underdevelopment in large parts of the world and the progress of political and economic change in central and eastern Europe. Thus the Maastricht Treaty on Economic and Political Union, which included in its principal objective the promotion of sustainable growth, has attempted to reconcile this important objective with the trends described above. According to the treaty, the sustainable development objective can only be achieved by concerted action of all actors working in partnership at different levels at the same time. Therefore, it says, the principle of subsidiarity will have to play an important part in ensuring that objectives, targets and actions are given full effect by appropriate national, regional and local efforts and initiatives.

Against this background the European Commission has developed the fifth EU action programme Towards Sustainability which was adopted by the European Parliament and by the EU Council of Ministers in 1992 (ref. 4). The programme addresses a number of environmental issues such as climate change, acidifi- cation and air pollution, depletion of nature and biodiversity, depletion and pollution of water resources, deterioration of the urban environment, deterioration of coastal zones, and waste (see Figure 1). These issues are addressed as symptoms of mismanage- ment and abuse due to th.e current patterns of human consumption and behaviour. The programme endeavours to initiate changes in current trends and practices which are detrimental to the environment, so as to provide optimal conditions for socio-economic well-being and growth for present and future gener- ations. It describes five target sectors that have been selected for special attention: industry, energy, transport, agriculture and tourism. The programme aims to achieve social changes through the involvement of all sectors of society in a spirit of shared responsi- bility, including public administration, public and private enterprise, and the general public (as both individual citizens and consumers). For such a sharing of responsibility a broad range o f instruments is needed. The mix proposed by the EU programme can be categorized under four headings:

1. Legislative instruments: protection of public health and the environment; rules and standards to pre- serve the integrity of the Internal Market.

2. Market based instruments: internalizing external environmental costs through application of econ- omic and fiscal incentives and discentives, civil liability, no market disadvantage for environment- friendly goods and services.

3. Horizontal, supporting instrumgnts: improved base- line and statistical data, scientific research and technological development, improved sectorial and spatial planning, public/consumer information and education, professional and vocational education and training.

4. Financial support mechanisms: development pro- gammes and projects supported by financial assist- ance from the EU.

Figure 1 summarizes the targets and tools of the EU action plan Towards Sustainabifity.

In conclusion, reaching the sustainable development objective will depend on actions of governments, industry, individuals and the general public, which means that environmental concern should be an integral part of all areas of social activity and therefore environmental education should be an integral part of all curricula from primary level upwards. Environmen- tal learning must be life-long and world-wide, which calls for the creation of partnerships which involve all sectors of society. In addition to this, adequately designed higher education programmes in the environ- mental field are needed.

It is clear that the route to a (more) sustainable future will be long and winding, and that the approach of this long-term objective must be multidisciplinary, integrating science, technology and social science. It is reasonable to expect that there will be a steadily growing demand for people able to function in multidisciplinary teams, people able to 'cross the borders' of their own original discipline. Higher education programmes in environmental sciences should foster such a multidisciplinary approach and should cover (to the extent that is feasible) the complete range of relevant topics, going from natural sciences via technology towards social sciences. At the same time, they must be very flexible, allowing individuals with different specialized backgrounds to choose a route through the programme matching their respective professional needs and giving remedial help in case of deficiencies. Thus, designing adequate education programmes in environmental sciences is a highly ambitious undertaking constituting a challenge for international cooperation in the higher education field.

Recognizing that individually fine-tuned routes may be required, three different 'streams' can be defined; a 'natural sciences stream' focusing on ecology, agricul- ture and (eco)toxicology; a 'technology stream' focus- ing on cleaner industrial production; and a 'social stream' focusing on legislative and market-based instru- ments (see Figure 2). Given the essentially multidisci- plinary nature of environmental science, such streams should not be looked upon as completely separated, but rather as a river branching out in a delta; although the water ultimately reaches different locations (specializations), it shares a common source (environmental science).

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• air qual i~ management • w a ~ resources management • soll quality rnelnm~nce • nature, land~ape conservation • e r .¢ w __-~__dty and effidency • waste management • demographic management ( i ,¢luding urban environment, public health a ~ safety)

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m a n a g e m e n t o f

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sustainable deve lopment

p r o d u c t i o n a n d s e r v i c e s ~

sectors

• location (incl. EIA) • operating licenses (BAT) • p o ~ i o n controls (IPC, info audit) • environmanlal aocoun~ng • technological development • product ~ i c y • industrial waste managem(:~t

v

valuat ion and

pricing

mob i l i t y m a n a g e m e n t

• physical planning • infrastructural planning (including model choice) • traffic management • vehide pollution control

Figure 1 Towards sustainability (source: ref. 6)

Figure 2 Possible outline for environmental sciences education

A m o d e l for an in ternat iona l l e a r n i n g r e s o u r c e

In our view, the creation of a learning resource that could be implemented in a variety of learning environments is the most attractive model for inter- national cooperation in the field of higher education. The idea is that, starting from such a learning resource, adaptation to national/regional use for different target groups must be possible 5. The learning resource would constitute a means for actively sharing knowledge in the international arena. Also, the possibility to use mass media such as radio and TV should be considered

seriously in this context, as cooperation and the concomitant sharing of costs make their production financially feasible.

An international learning resource should allow for a high degree of flexibility in teaching, because educational system and settings differ among parti- cipants, and cultural backgrounds vary. The course material should be able to confront this variety with a minimal need for adjustments. The easiest example one could think of is a course consisting of a textbook and a workbook, the textbook being the stable element and the accompanying workbook catering for the required flexibility of the material. A workbook could be translated into a language that suits the target population best; it could be more or less extensive depending on whether it is used for distance or face- to-face teaching; it could be supplemented with locally relevant material; its examples could be replaced with ones familiar to the student, etc. The same rationale should be applied to all other elements of the course.

It will be clear that not every existing course will lend itself to incorporation in such a resource of teaching material. To be precise only material developed with the express objective of being flexible lends itself to being shared. So ideally, a network of institutions should be set up and various forms of cooperation between the network participants estab- lished. Forms of cooperation could range from merely

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profiting from development work done by others, to contributing entire courses to the resource; in between are options such as aiding in the adaptation of a workbook, contributing to a textbook or a computer program, being instrumental in field-testing the course, etc. The relational structure of such a network rapidly becomes very complicated and therefore it seems imperative that some form of central clearing house is installed, which could see to quality assessment and quality control within the network and could prevent duplication of efforts from occurring by keeping participants informed about one another's doings. Figure 3 summarizes a possible model for cooperation.

A course on cleaner production as an example

At the Open University of The Netherlands, a number of courses are being developed along the lines described above. A pertinent example is a course on cleaner production. This course focuses on integrated cycle management. The various stages in the life cycle of a product are discussed. The aim of integrated cycle management is to integrate technological improvements into the production chain in such a way that discharge of a substantial (emissions or waste products) or non- substantial (sound or radiation) nature with adverse effects on the environment and human health will eventually be eliminated. This approach is known as preventive technology.

The processing of discharges (emissions and waste products) will remain a necessary supplement to the production process for a long time to come. The course discusses the techniques involved (end-of-pipe techniques), which can also often be applied as an integral part of the production process (in-process techniques).

Products are disposed of when they are no longer of use. The treatment of this waste and the ecological requirements that products have to meet in order to be as small a hazard as possible (product design) are some of the topics of the course.

Finally, remedial action has to be taken to deal with problems inherited from the past such as soil pollution. Remedial techniques, therefore, also form part of the course.

Generally the course aims to:

• assess systematically the life cycle of a product related to the environmental output

• deal with various concepts related to environmental and clean technology

• introduce and gain insight into a number of environ- mental technologies (in-process and end-of-pipe) and some of their applications

• indicate the possible points in the life cycle of a product where clean technology can be integrated in order to reduce pollution of the environment

• choose the most appropriate technique for a specific

8

profiting from the collaboration

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clearing house: emaintains quality *fitness material

eavoids duplication of efforts

board of editor¢ econtrols quality of materials

conferencing system: allows students to interact • with each other /

Figure 3 Model for cooperative exploitation of a learning resource

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production process based on considerations such as costs, environmental aspect and/or social aspects

• convey an attitude to thinking about life cycles of products from the research and design phase to the disposal phase (including recycling)

• develop a critical attitude to technology: technology not only solves problems but also creates them.

The course is divided into four blocks; a task booklet and a computer program about integrated cycle management accompany it.

Block 1 deals with environmental and technological policy using sustainability as the key concept. The block starts with a general introduction to environmental and technological policy-making. First concepts, such as cleaner technologies, end-of-pipe technologies, life cycle analysis and integrated cycle management, are introduced and subsequently the relation between environmental policy, economics and technology is described. The development team has tried to deal with cleaner production strategies at the global, the European and national level by describing, respect- ively, the cleaner production strategies of international institutes (World Bank, IMF, International Association for Clean Technologies (IACT), United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), Working Party for Low Waste Technology), the action programme Towards Sustainability of the European Union and examples of national policy.

Block 2 focuses on technology as a means, and examples are chosen in such a manner that the environmental consequences of the technique used are made clear. In this way one tries to broaden the traditional pattern of thinking about technology as just a means to bring forth products. Technology is a means which can serve several goals at once. It can satisfy various needs, both tangible and intangible, in harmony. One of the latter is the need for a clean environment.

Block 3 deals with process technology and describes how manufacturing processes are based on the appli- cation of basic sciences (chemistry, physics, mathemat- ics and mechanics). The study of process technology involves understanding principles of the behaviour of gases, liquids and solids. The so-called unit operations have been divided into four categories: transfer of heat, mass and momentum, and mechanical principles. The relevance of each category and of the fundamental principles to technological processes is explained.

Block 4, environmental technologies, centres on the question of how to deal with pollution and uneconomic use of materials. Also, the factors that play a role in selecting a technique in a specific case of reducing the negative environmental effects are discussed. This block also attempts to make clear the direction in which cleaner technology has to be implemented in order to fulfil material needs in a more environmentally friendly way. We emphasize an integral approach to the problem. The solution of one problem often leads unexpectedly to a new problem in another

compartment. An attempt is made to encourage students to be aware of the consequences of the solution. The block also describes, in a systematic manner, the technologies that belong to the field of environmental technology. The ~, "stematic division runs from intrinsic (prevention) to extrinsic (restoration) use of environmental technologies. Although energy is involved in all technologies, a separate chapter is devoted to energy technology.

The task booklet gives instructions for studying the course and for examination of the course. Part of the booklet is devoted to exercises about the contents of blocks, 1, 2, 3 and 4. Detailed answers to the exercises are also given. In this way students can themselves assess whether they understand the theoretical content. The next part of the booklet describes two case studies on integrated cycle management. All steps of the cycle are discussed in detail, with the pros and cons of changing techniques in part of the production chain in order to prevent or reduce pollution. The case studies used are fertilizer and leather production. The final part of the booklet describes how to use the computer program on integrated cycle management. The case studies can be tackled with the program. In the first case study, students are led through the program. In effect, they are told what to do. In the second case study there are merely questions in the booklet and students are on their own. The computer program Integrated cycle management enables the student to intervene in one of the steps of the production chain by choosing another technique in order to reduce emissions or waste caused by this step. The consequences of that change for air, soil, water and waste are calculated by the program.

We feel that the design of the course is such that it can easily be adopted in different learning environments. Blocks 2, 3 and 4 and the computer program most probably can be used as such; however, in block 1 an international context is chosen and it may need adaptation to the national context.

In conclusion, there is a broad consensus that the world at large needs to move into the direction of sustainable development. Doing so requires inter- national cooperation in many fields, not least in the field of higher education. In order to foster the spirit of cooperation, development of educational materials at an international level is a sensible strategy. Not only will it be cost-effective, but it will broaden the views of students and teachers alike. At the Open University of The Netherlands, we try to contribute our share to the setting-up of an internationally accessible learning resource. We have discussed how this can be done in terms of the concrete example of a course on cleaner production.

References

1 World Commission on Environment and Development. 'Our Common Future'. 'Oxford University Press' 1987

2 Troost, D.G. and Glaser, G. in 'Proceedings of the Workshop

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on International Issues in Environmental Sciences' (Ed. P.B. 5 Sloep), Open University, Heerlen, The Netherlands, 1992

3 Agenda 21, Vols. I, lI, III of the report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 1992, Document A/CONF. 151/26, preliminary version 6 of 13 August 1992, United Nations, Geneva

4 Fifth Community Action Programme, 'Towards Sustainability', 1992

Sloep, P.B. and van Dam-Mieras, M.C.E. in 'Proceedings of the Workshop on International Issues in Environmental Sciences' (Ed. P.B. Sloep), Open University, Heerlen, The Netherlands, 1992 Donkers, R. in 'Proceedings of the Workshop on International Issues in Environmental Sciences' (Ed. P.B. Sloep), Open University, Heerlen, The Netherlands, 1992

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