The Sustainability Mindset Principles

A Guide to Developing a Mindset for a Better World

Isabel Rimanoczy

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000204841
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Sustainable Development
• Index: Economics

As we increase our awareness of the planetary challenges and how they intersect with the discipline or profession we choose to focus on, we have put our attention on the external forces and impacts. What remains untouched however is the set of beliefs, values, assumptions, mental processes, and paradigms that we hold and share: our mindset. But how do we change a mindset?

This book is the first to introduce the 12 Principles for a Sustainability Mindset, presenting educators with a framework that makes it easy to include them into teaching plans and lessons of any discipline. Written in a very clear and practical way, the book provides examples, checklists, tips, and tools for professionals and educators. It transforms the development of a much-needed mindset for sustainability into an accessible, fun and intuitive task.

The book is written with educators from a variety of disciplines in mind, including but not limited to management educators, coaches, and trainers. No other book comes close to providing such a well-organized and solid way of starting to shift our mindsets in the direction of sustainability.

Part I

Introduction

Some years ago I had this thought: Why are some leaders able to champion initiatives in their corporations that help reduce their environmental or social impact, or even better, make a positive impact? What is it that they know, what motivated them to step away from “business as usual” and take on “the road less traveled”? And what if it was something we could intentionally develop to influence the shaping of a new generation of leaders?

There are some thoughts that are powerful seeds. We don't know it at the moment, but in hindsight, we can ­recognize them as the starting point of something significant.

In this case, the thought led to my doctoral research, and six years later I had identified a number of elements that played a key role in the mindset shift of pioneering ­leaders—elements that actually could be developed. I called it the Sustainability Mindset. The elements related to the knowing (ecoliteracy), thinking (systemic and ­innovative thinking), and being (values, purpose) (Rimanoczy, 2010).

The next step followed naturally: By invitation of Prof. Aixa Ritz at Fairleigh Dickinson, I designed for the first time a course to develop those aspects. Converting the ­elements into learning objectives, it became clear that they fell into specific content areas: Ecological Worldview, Systems Perspective, Emotional and Spiritual intelligence. And all this anchored in action: Projects to make a difference (Kassel, Rimanoczy, & Mitchell, 2016; Rimanoczy, 2014).

The first teaching experience brought its surprises: After a few weeks into the semester, the transformational insights of the students started to multiply. By the end of the 13 weeks, a clear shift in their mindset had taken place. They had changed the way they saw the world, but more importantly, how they saw themselves in it, their role, and purpose. They ended the course with passionate plans to make a difference through their profession, work, and community. The small project they had worked on gave them the confidence that while challenges were great, they had a role they could play, and it was worth it.

That experience repeated itself with every new group of students, in the same university and others. After five years, I thought that with 25 students at a time change would take long. I invited some colleagues to form a learning community of professors interested in developing a mindset for ­sustainability. The name LEAP! (Leverage resources, Expand awareness, Accelerate change, and Partner) was both a ­declaration of purpose and a vision: That we ­collectively could generate a leap forward, ­influencing the ­shaping of a better world.¹

What happened since 2014 was indeed a leap. Scholars from around the world joined the network, as it resonated with something they were already concerned with, something that they were experimenting with in their own ­institutions, or something they felt was missing in their teaching. The diversity of contexts and geography—the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Asia Pacific—­indicated that the call for a mindset shift was a widespread need. Through hundreds of hours of virtual exchanges and meetings, the members of the LEAP! network found inspiration for papers, articles, academic presentations, ­symposia, chapters, and whole books. They created and shared best practices, new frameworks, and context-­specific developments, such as how to embed a sustainability mindset in the College of Tropical Agriculture in Ghana; in English writing classes in Hawaii; in classes of architecture and tourism management; and across management education courses (Kassel & Rimanoczy, 2018). From Finland to Argentina, from Sri Lanka to Maui, developing a Sustainability Mindset took as many shapes as the diversity of the professors: In mandatory or elective courses; for undergrads or graduates; embedded into a whole course or as a module; in the visionary creation of the Center for Sustainability Mindset and Corporate Responsibility in Jakarta; in the inspiration of the deans of the 160 business schools in Colombia; in TED talks by professors; or in ­corporate leadership programs. With ambassadors in Austria, Scotland, Germany, Russia, China, and the Philippines, the network continues to grow.

No one way

There is no one way to develop a mindset for sustainability. The proof is in the richness and variety these 155-plus professors have shown over the years in how they are experimenting, and in how they are achieving the goals. New research, from within and outside of this network, seeks ways to understand and develop a new mindset, focusing on: Addressing the economic paradigm (Pirson, 2017a; 2017b; Werner & Stoner, 2018), entrepreneurship and innovation (Indrajaya, 2018; Schaltegger, Lüdeke-Freund, & Hansen, 2016), environmental stewardship (Bennett et al., 2018), systems thinking (Capra, 2007), quantum physics (Tsao & Laszlo, 2019), humanistic approaches (Colbert, Nicholson, & Kurucz, 2018; Pirson, 2020), human development stages (Hochachka, 2019; O'Brien & Hochachka, 2010), positive psychology (Cooperrider & Fry, 2012), spirituality and spiritual leadership (Dhiman & Marques, 2016; Fry & Slocum, 2008; Zsolnai, 2015), transformative learning (Brunnquell & Brunstein, 2018; Brunnquell, Brunstein, Jaime, 2015; Sipos, Battisti, & Grimm, et al, 2008; Sterling, 2001, 2008), ­consciousness (Eaton, Hughes, & MacGregor, 2016; Tsao & Laszlo, 2019; Wamsler & Brink, 2018), aboriginal and ancestral wisdom (Burns, 2015; Wall & Masayesva, 2004), and ­religious scriptures (Leary, Minton, & Mittelstaedt, 2016; Minton, Kahle, & Kim, 2015). A few opt for Nature or art as a medium (Antonacopoulou & Taylor, 2018; Purg & Sutherland, 2017; Yang, Ivanova, & Hufnagel, 2019), or an encompassing holistic approach, such as the pedagogy used at the unique Schumacher College in Totnes, UK.

The explosion of the landscape into so many different approaches is just what we need, at a planetary level. In this context, what is the place of the Sustainability Mindset Principles?

As part of the grounded theory that is being ­created, I wanted to formulate some simple principles that would address each of the key elements for developing a Sustainability Mindset. The experience with ­students, amplified through the exchanges and dialogs with ­colleagues from around the world nurtured my thinking, confirming, modifying, and adding to the original research findings. The vision was to have a few principles, clear and easily understandable statements, which could guide educators around the world to find ways to embed sustainable mindset goals into their lesson plans.

The result is the set of 12 Sustainability Mindset Principles (SMP) introduced in this book. They are ­sufficiently general to be applied to any discipline, and sufficiently specific that they be a scaffolding for educators structuring learning goals. They touch transversally many of the existing scholarly approaches to a Sustainability Mindset mentioned above; the goal of the Principles is to be at the service of these approaches rather than replacing or questioning any of them. To the recurring question, “Yes, a mindset shift is urgent, but HOW can we do that?,” the SMP hope to provide help in guiding readers to answer that question.

How is this book organized?

We start with an overview of the Sustainability Mindset, including its definition, and follow with the content areas of the Sustainability Mindset model.

Each Principle is then covered in a dedicated chapter. Each chapter introduces the Principle with its definition, its origin, and its scholarly foundation. The chapter then lists the key components and the teaching goals that represent the Principle. Next, it addresses implementation, ­including tips for educators to prepare themselves. Facilitating the development of a sustainability mindset requires some preparation from the educator. This preparation relates not only to materials and possible exercises, but actually starts with expanding self-awareness, since the internal aspects of the mindset will touch the educator as much as the students.

For this reason each principle will be presented with a section of Key Questions for the educator, inviting readers to pause, reflect, and perhaps use journaling to explore questions that may be new for them.

Each Principle presents an example of a tool or activity that can be inserted into a lesson plan, and a story, and ­concludes with some further resources and references.

The volume wraps up with a brief review of the pedagogical approach required for the development of a ­mindset and provides guides to educators to transition from a ­teaching-focused to a learning-focused ­methodology. Finally, we connect the dots and ponder what does this all mean? What is the impact of developing a new mindset? What is the better world we will be shaping?

Note

1. In 2015, the group became the PRME Working Group on the Sustainability Mindset.

References

Antonacopoulou, E. P. & Taylor, S. S. (Eds.). (2018). Sensuous learning for practical judgment in professional practice: Volume 2: Arts-based interventions (Vol. 2). Berlin, Germany: Springer.

Bennett, N. J., Whitty, T. S., Finkbeiner, E., Pittman, J., Bassett, H., Gelcich, S., & Allison, E. H. (2018). Environmental stewardship: A conceptual review and analytical framework. Environmental Management, 61(4), 597–614.

Brunnquell, C. & Brunstein, J. (2018). Sustainability in ­management education: Contributions from critical reflection and transformative learning. Metropolitan Universities, 29(3), 25–42.

Brunnquell, C., Brunstein, J., & Jaime, P. (2015). Education for sustainability, critical reflection and transformative learning: Professors' experiences in Brazilian administration courses. International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 9(3–4), 321–342.

Burns, H. L. (2015). Transformative sustainability pedagogy: Learning from ecological systems and indigenous wisdom. Journal of Transformative Education, 13(3), 259–276.

Capra, F. (2007). Su...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• About the author
• Acknowledgments
• Part I Introduction
• Part II Ecological Worldview
• Part III Systems Thinking
• Part IV Emotional Intelligence
• Part V Spiritual Intelligence
• Part VI Weaving it all together
• Index