The ‘Voices of Sustainability Blog Collection’ forms a cornerstone of our Connect Member Benefit offering for March 2021 and is intended to address the theme title ‘Sustainability for Everyone: Here and Now’.
By definition, sustainability is an issue – and a threat – relevant to the entire human population. It provides an example of a unifying area in which we all, no matter what our background, have a common cause. Every one of us has the same urgent need to understand and address this single complex issue. As a consequence, sustainability is an area that needs to be open to all, and the responsibility of everyone. Suggestions have been made that certain facets of sustainability better represent views and concerns from richer, more developed countries, with less voice given to societies with more urgent survival needs. Nevertheless, more recent sustainability and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) publications, including that, for example, by UNESCO, present a more holistic view, placing greater emphasis on issues such as gender, ethnicity and social inequalities.
In this collection of short blogs, we try to cast some light on how sustainability is open to all. The underlying focus provides an opportunity to generate ideas in relation to sustainability as something for everyone. The blog collection elicits the experiences and ideas of a range of individuals and communities and is intended to provide some deliberately diverse perspectives. Whilst it may not offer definitive answers, we hope that it demonstrates that the sustainability agenda needs to draw on all voices, and that future research, teaching and policy should account for this.
Patrick Baughan, Advance HE.
The ‘Voices of Sustainability Blog Collection’
This collection of blogs, available to Advance HE members, provides diverse perspectives and ideas of sustainability in higher education with contributions from:
- Fiona Goodwin, Director of Operations and Planning for EAUC – the Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education
- Vanique Kruger, Sustainability Officer and second year BA (Hons) Education student, University of the West of England (UWE)
- Mayen Cunden, Lecturer in Information Systems in the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility at De Montfort University, Leicester
- Manveer Gill, Project Officer, CDP (Graduate, BSc Mathematics)
- Professor Nazira Karodia, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Regional Engagement, University of Wolverhampton
- Bitsy Pout, Environmental Science student, University of Southampton
- Professor Joy, Carter Vice-Chancellor of University of Winchester
- Jason Leman, Surveys Officer at Advance HE and postgraduate researcher in politics
- Leah Bromley, Student Sustainability Engagement Coordinator at The Student’s Union, University of the West of England (UWE)
- Jim Nottingham, Chief Information Officer at the University of the Arts London (UAL)
- Eleanor Cooke, BA TESOL and Mandarin student, Manchester Metropolitan University
- Dr Kate Mori, Quality and Standards Specialist, QAA