Common Theme Teaching Module
Cultures of Waste and Wealth: Toward Global Sustainability
Developed by: Deborah Biss Keller, Indiana University School of Education/University College, IUPUI
Intended Audience: Courses in anthropology, social work, international studies, and education
Learning Materials
- Bill McKibben, "Reversal of Fortune," Mother Jones, March 1, 2007
- "From Environmental Waste to Artistic Wealth” http://www.gngwane.com/files/Environment_Artistic_Wealth.pdf
- Hopkins and McKeown, “Education for Sustainable Development: An International Perspective” http://books.google.com/books pp. 13-18
Additional, optional sources:
http://www.learndev.org/dl/SustainableGlobalSociety-Avery.pdf
www.naturaledgeproject.net/NAON_Section1.aspx
Learning Objectives
- Students will relate Bill McKibben’s article “Reversal of Fortune” (or Deep Economy) to their own lives, considering and assessing their priorities.
- Students will consider the place of literacy, human rights, and peace education in global sustainability.
- Students will research and compare sustainability efforts in other cultures, or
- Students will develop a lesson plan for a grade level in pre-kindergarten through 12 on identifying waste and ways in which it can be used as wealth.
Motivation and Rationale
In order for humankind to counter the ecological footprint that is being left behind globally, a shared effort among cultures is necessary. An understanding of the economic and social effects of one culture on another is crucial in this endeavor. An optimal effort must include literacy, human rights, and peace education as well as education for sustainability. This education must span elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education.
Note: You might encourage students to attend the Sept. 25 Lehman Lecture at Herron featuring Evelyn Njoki, manager of Imani craft workshop in Eldoret, Kenya. This workshop uses recycled paper from IUPUI to create original artworks. For more information, see the Common Theme calendar: http://events.iupui.edu/calendar/?cal_id=126
First Class
Preparation
Assign students to read before class: McKibben’s “Reversal of Fortune” (or the introduction and chapter 5 of Deep Economy) and the Hopkins and McKeown piece, pp. 13-18.
Structure
1. Opening 20 minutes: Have students go to the board and each write one or two things learned in the readings. Instructor addresses each of these items and interacts with students in placing the items in context and elaborating to cover McKibben’s key points.
2. Middle 35 minutes: Have students individually jot down their own priorities as they relate to McKibben’s article, then form groups of three or four and share out and address the following:
a) How do your priorities align or not with what McKibben proposes?
b) Do you see yourself playing a role with respect to literacy, human rights, and/or peace education in efforts for global sustainability? In what way(s)?
3. Closing 20 minutes: Groups share in large group discussion. Instructor ensures that students address the role of literacy, human rights, and peace education in global sustainability. Instructor asks students why knowledge of other cultures’ “waste and wealth” is important to investigate.
Second Class
Preparation
Assign students to read before class: the gngwane article. Instructor assigns students one of the following:
a) Sign up (to avoid duplication) for two other cultures to research online with regard to what they are doing (or not doing) toward sustainability. Prepare a poster to present your findings. Include a reference list.
b) Develop a lesson plan for a grade level in pre-kindergarten through 12 on identifying waste and ways in which it can be used as wealth. You might wish to address human rights and/or employ peace education in your lesson. Include materials for activities and a reference list.
Structure
1. Opening 15 minutes: Have students discuss in small groups of three or four the gngwane article and if they see themselves turning waste into “artistic wealth” as did Ngwane, and ways in which they could do so and/or use this idea in pre-K-12.
2. Next 35 minutes: Students exhibit their posters or lesson plans for their classmates to see. For poster projects, the instructor asks students to jot down notes to compare and contrast the various cultures’ ideas of wealth and waste/efforts toward sustainability as they look at the projects. For the lesson plans, instructor can ask students if they wish to post their projects to Oncourse so their classmates can access them.
3. Next 15 minutes: Large group discussion on the different efforts at sustainability and how they align or not with McKibben’s article, or a discussion on how the students as preservice teachers can become actively involved in sustainability efforts with their own students. Included in the latter could be consideration of various service-learning projects.
4. Closing 10 minutes: Students individually have a free-write, reflecting on their own place in and connection to the greater global context of waste and wealth, and what, if anything, they might do to become more civically engaged in sustainability efforts.
