Category: Leadership

Updated Human Sustainability Curriculum – Feedback Invited

6/5/2019

**DRAFT**
THIS DOCUMENT IS A WORK IN PROGRESS

Change Management in the Context of “Human Sustainability”
A Curriculum Designed for Emerging Adults (college)

Who is this for?
Students who want to have a clearer sense of personal mission and purpose related to repairing homo sapiens’ mark on Planet Earth, and who want to actively and effectively engage in that repair.

Part 1: Reframing the Issues: Wrestling with Worldviews
Part 2: Personal Effectiveness: Values, Commitment and Motivation
Part 3: Community Cohesion: Solutions and Action

My Role
EcoActivator-in-Residence

Worldview Instigator (Part 1)
Personal Coach (Part 2)
Project Architect and Community Catalyst (Part 3)

Each part is outlined below with

Why Bother?
Content
Process
Reflection

Each session will include a brief meditation practice.
There will be at least one extended “nature in the wild” experience in each Part.
There will be Intake and Exit surveys to gauge course impact.

PART ONE Reframing the Issues: Wrestling with Worldviews

Why Bother?
So much confusion around terms and topics can lead to ineffective action or inaction.
Transdisciplinary perspectives* promote advanced critical thinking.
Fine-tuning a personal worldview supports intrinsic motivation at act.*

Facilitator Role
Worldview-Shifting Instigator

Content
Core framing paradigms and worldviews, including

regenerative systems and deep ecology
behavioral economics and change management
human development and spirituality

Examples: Mycelial network as a model for resource usage, community building and resilience; Polyface Farm as an applied model of regenerative farming.

Process
Students will be challenged to fine-tune their own worldview by engaging with the paradigms above. Example: assignments will include questions such as What do you (strongly) agree with? What do you (strongly) disagree with? What piques your curiosity? What makes you uncomfortable? Assignment also includes a personal waste mitigation practice challenge.

Reflection
Exploring our relationship with...

consumption
convenience
separateness
nostalgia

Exploring our relationship with...

time
space
species
values

PART TWO Personal Effectiveness: Values, Commitment and Motivation

Why Bother?
Unused personal resources are wasted energy.
Knee-jerk reactions often get us into trouble.
Heightened awareness about how what inspires, attracts, distracts and repels us allows us to more intentionally set our course and make better decisions about how we spend our time,** leading to a richer and more meaningful, engaged, fulfilled life.

Facilitator Role
Personal (adulting-oriented) Coach

Content

Integral Theory (Wilber) Model of Human Development (modified)
Choices and Decision Making
Change Management*

Process
Framed in a 6-worlds*** model (physical, emotional, social, intellectual, sensual, spiritual worlds), students will respond to personal assessment questions related to strengths, challenges, triggers and preferences.

Cultivate creativity by identifying the sweet spot of “flow”
Anticipate and mitigate obstacles to forward movement
Develop a resilience strategy
Implement a personal growth plan

Reflection
How and when do you manifest your best self?
How will you best manifest your best self in your repair work?

PART THREE Community Cohesion: Solutions and Action

Why Bother?
Good intentions without adequate resources will not move us forward
Good intentions without effective community support will not move us forward.
Communities are large ecosystems with energy constantly flowing between members
Taking advantage of and contributing to this flow increases the probability of success*

Facilitator Role
Project Shepherd and Community Catalyst

Content

Community Resources Panel
Strategic Thinking - nurturing strategic alliances
Change Management - shifting culture
Project Management - getting it done

Process

Map community ecosystem with flow of nourishment*
Evaluate project options
Select for alignment of values and style
Describe what success looks like
Identify general and specific steps
Devise accountability plan*

Reflection
Invite active feedback
Stay open to passive/observational feedback

TEXTS

Written Word

The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan, Chapter 8, “All Flesh is Grass”
“The Great Nutrient Collapse,” Evich, Politico
Sapiens, Harari, Part Three, “The Unification of Mankind”
Experiential Flashes on the Sephirot, Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
The Hidden Life of Trees
The New Wild, Fred Pearce
Sensory Processing, Winnie Dunn

Visual Representation

Behavioral Economics “Deck”
12 Principles of Permaculture
Integral Theory, Ken Wilber (modified)

Video

“New Insights on Poverty,” Hans Rosling, TED

Podcast

Masters of Regeneration, Episode 17, Alex Morton

Still Needed

Decision Making

Footnotes
*The 3 ½ Critical Factors for Successful Action

Intrinsic Motivation (including factors of locus of control, quality of “flow,” and sense of meaning and purpose)
Access to Resources (including reliable information, time, geographical convenience, and all flavors of “capital”)
Social Support (including companionship, witnessing, and all flavors of outside accountability)
(Half… If there is a provider…) A good Relationship with the Provider

**”How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” (Annie Dillard)

***Modified from Lurianic Kabbalah 4-Worlds model of Physical, Emotional, Intellectual and Spiritual worlds

Possible academic ecosystems for this curriculum

Warren Wilson (NC)
Prescott College (AZ)
Evergreen College (WA)
Ryerson (ONT)
Sewanee (TN)
Chatham University (PA)
Colorado College (CO)
Catawba College (NC)
David & Elkins College (WV)
Alaska Pacific University (AK)
Northland College (WI)
Daemen College (NY)

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Human Sustainability Leadership Curriculum – Feeback Invited

5/2/2019

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In Brief:
This curriculum is designed to take people through a process of understanding the issues, clarifying their values and their most effective personal style, and ultimately joining with others to spring their good intentions into powerful, meaningful action. Highlights include “Exploring our Relationship with Convenience, Consumption, Separateness and Resilience” and lots of out-in-nature time in order to experience universal sensuality and tune-in to natural rhythms.

Vision
A strong/healthy community ecosystem where personal and institutional regenerativity and resilience are continuously nourished and cultivated.

Mission
To bring power to a new wave of community engagement in projects related to human sustainability.

Community
All efforts related to human sustainability are placed into a comprehensive diagram, a constellation of a strong and healthy community ecosystem.

The Curriculum
Rich with content and process, structure and intention, including models such as behavioral economics (human motivation) and deep ecology (e.g. understanding the mycelial/life connections in the forest).

To prepare, we define Human Sustainability and “Why Bother?“
We identify our best modes of personal and organizational effectiveness.

The deeper level of sustainable and regenerative content will be guided and informed by the projects selected (see “Project Examples“ below).

The Curriculum

Why Bother?
Understanding the Issues
Commitment and Motivation
Solutions and Action

What is Human Sustainability and Why Bother?
- Use of Resources
- Physical and Mental Health

Understanding the Issues - Exploring our Relationship with Convenience, Consumption, Separateness and Resilience
- Narrow Worldview
  - Egocentric, human-centered, result of industrialized separation
    - Consequence example: shampoo foam effect on water life; feedlots separate manure (nutrition) from fields and create toxic environment
    - Solution example: Apple cider vinegar and rye flour; Polyface Farm
- Short Time Horizon
  - Limited resilience, hidden long term costs, seduced by convenience and immediate gratification
    - Consequence examples: Stormwater management; cars/roads; Norman Borlaug dwarf wheat
    - Solution examples: Philadelphia “Green City, Clean Waters” plan; walkable cities; Alan Watson Featherstone reforestation
- Limited Knowledge of Place
  - No one-size-fits all
    - Consequence examples: Confusion (cloth or paper napkins?); monocultures of corn, wheat, soybeans
    - Solution example: Place-based attunement (landfill or water usage?); Permaculture Design
- “Waste”
  - Throw it away? There is no “away.” The Only Universal Sustainable Principle
    - There is no waste in nature. If there is something identified as waste, it just means that we have not yet identified for what it is a resource.
      - “We don’t have a insect problem, we have a chicken deficiency“

Commitment and Motivation - Why What We Believe Matters and How to Manifest Our Best Self
- Values
  - What is most important for you?
    - You may believe carbon footprint is most critical. I may believe (which I do) that having good relationships with my neighbors (i.e. those who are in close proximity to me at any place and time) is most important. Neither of us is right or wrong.
- Personal Effectiveness
  - In what situation does your best self manifest?
    - Special projects or ongoing activities?
    - Member of a team (large or small?) or solo?
    - Data, physical objects, or people?
    - Rank perceived competence in the Five Worlds
      - Physical
      - Emotional
      - Social
      - Intellectual
      - Spiritual
- Behavioral Economics
  - Human are motivated by mitigation of pain and increase of pleasure
    - What are your (or your audience) pain and pleasure points?
    - How does this connect with your values?
  - Identify your motivation

Solutions and Action
- Change Management - 3 ½ Significant factors
  - Intrinsic Motivation
  - Access to Resources
  - Social Support
  - ½ Good Relations with Providers
- Commitment to one “waste” (reuse/reduce) lifestyle change
  - Identify your own 3 ½ significant factors
- Choose one project based on your values
  - Research and Fine-tune Project
    - Brainstorm project possibilities
    - Find credible sources local and internet
    - Iterate and Reflect
    - Select and describe Vision and Mission
  - Strategic Alliances (Deep Ecology)
    - What is the community ecosystem related to this issue?
      - Stakeholders
      - Other resources
    - How to establish, strengthen, nurture, nourish those relationships
      - Nature models of forest mycelial (fungal) network
  - Project Management (Natural Rhythms)
    - Steps from start to finish
    - Critical path of steps
    - Accountability
    - Iteration, Evaluation and Reflection

“In-Residence” Delivery Platform
My personal lifestyle goal (“how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives") is to be a visiting Activator/Catalyst/Shepherd-in-Residence in communities around the country, working across ages and institutions.

My intention is to set-up an effective place-based mechanism to activate individuals, catalyze the community and shepherd projects. I will immerse in the local culture and offer my approach to regenerative practice to the mix, including lots of time “out in nature”in order to learn and experience universal sensuality and deep ecology. I will also offer follow-up tracking/check-in to support ongoing success of projects and activities initiated during my residency.

For example, while in residence, I may be connected with a combination of the following: a fourth grade class, an eighth grade class, a high school club, a university course, a municipal department, a local civic organization, a nonprofit, and a corporate organization. With each of these groups, I would activate/catalyze/shepherd community engagement in human sustainability projects and activities of their choosing.

Project Examples
In working with a class or club, after they learn about issues that challenge human sustainability, I will lead them to clarify their own values and priorities, and guide them them to understand what motivates them personally and in what settings they are most effective. After brainstorming possible projects, my focus shifts to 100% support of chosen projects. Let’s say that they (or a sub-group) choose a project such as composting food waste from their cafeteria. We would target critical research topics, incorporate skills of project management and strengthen strategic alliances with community partners in order to plan and implement the composting project.

Another example for older students or adult community members might be getting involved in local or regional policy, possibly related to stormwater management or nighttime lighting regulations. In this case deep skills would be more oriented to credible research and building a persuasive case while identifying and cultivating allies throughout the community.

How to anchor this project?
This is my current challenge.
Will it work best anchoring in a school system?
IB programs?
Community foundations?
Civic organization?
National or international sustainability organization?
Aspen Institute?

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Updated Human Sustainability Curriculum – Feedback Invited

Human Sustainability Leadership Curriculum – Feeback Invited

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