Sustainable Thinking Research Articles

Time for Science-Based National Targets for Environmental Sustainability: An Assessment of Existing Metrics and the ESGAP Framework

Despite the overwhelming scientific evidence on the ongoing degradation of the environment, there is a clear gap between the urgency of the environmental crisis and the policy measures put in place to tackle it. Because of the role of metrics in environmental governance, the way environmental information is translated into metrics is of utmost relevance. In this context, we propose criteria to assesses the suitability of environmental metrics to monitor environmental sustainability at the national level. After assessing well-known environmental metrics such as the Sustainable Development Goals indicators and the Environmental Performance Index, we conclude that countries still lack robust and resonant metrics to monitor environmental sustainability. In order to bridge this metric gap, we present the Environmental Sustainability Gap (ESGAP) framework, which builds on the concepts of strong sustainability, critical natural capital, environmental functions and science-based targets. Different composite indicators are proposed as part of the ESGAP framework. Through these metrics, the framework has the potential to embed strong sustainability thinking and science-based targets in nations in which these concepts are not currently sufficiently reflected in policies.

Strategic sustainable service design for creative-cultural hotels: a multi-level and multi-domain view

ABSTRACT This paper combines sustainable development, service design, and strategic thinking to develop a holistic framework for sustainable service design within the context of creative-cultural hotels. We examined this framework through a qualitative exploratory multi-case study. The framework comprises strategic, organizational, and interface levels. It is based on a strategic perspective which integrates the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainable development to describe the design and implementation of service offerings that co-create value within a multifaceted network of actors. The findings of this study show that incorporating local arts and culture into sustainable service design can generate unique value and experiences for customers. This study contributes to the topic of sustainable service development for hotels by creating a hierarchical approach to service design that emphasizes the opportunities represented by local culture. It is imperative that hotels adopt sustainable service design and provide innovative service not only to increase their competitive advantage but to reduce society’s overall environmental impact.

Evaluating the integration of research-based internship with sustainable environmental thinking

The integration of theory and practice in the learning process has become the foundation of architectural education. In learning a sustainable environment, direct involvement of students in the environment to increase awareness of sustainable development is fundamental. Internship is a learning process where students can develop themselves outside of lecture hours. The impact of the COVID-19 storm demanded new education methods in the learning process. The architecture study program of the Sumatra Institute of Technology (ITERA) has started an internship on a research project for the past 1 year. This paper aims to investigate the extent of students’ awareness in terms of environment sustainability while they undertake the research-based internship. While the research objectives are: to examine the attitude of students in delivering sustainable thinking; to investigate the sustainability knowledge that obtained by the students during the internship, and to acknowledge the student skills regarding environment sustainability thinking This exploratory research uses content analysis method and conduct an online survey from students involved in the internship. It is concluded that the internship through research project improve social skills, context analysis and environmental awareness, but there is a need for improvement in the delivery of lectures related to real strategies and implementation in realizing environmental sustainability.

Mapping Sustainable Diets: A Comparison of Sustainability References in Dietary Guidelines of Swiss Food Governance Actors

With the growing recognition of the food system for a transformation toward sustainability, there is a need for future guidance on food consumption and policy. In particular, dietary guidelines (DGs) have received increasing attention as potential tools for enabling transformative change. This paper analyzes how and to what extent different state and non-state actors in Switzerland incorporate sustainability aspects in their dietary guidelines. It examines how these DGs account for different dimensions at the basis of sustainability thinking, including the classic environmental, economic, and social dimensions as well as issues of health and governance. Our analysis shows the explicit inclusion of sustainability aspects in all DGs of the chosen actors in Switzerland, addressing at least one sustainability category predominantly. Through the analysis of the different stakeholders, different areas of focus become apparent, with each stakeholder covering specific niches of sustainability. On this basis, the transformative role of non-state actors in developing the concept of sustainable diets is discussed.

Sustainable construction Practices: A perspective view of Indian construction industry professionals

The building and construction industry is the crucial responsible element for destroying the environment by excessive resource consumption and producing waste. The extensive development has knocked on the door of experts and industry professionals to compete with the consequences by adopting sustainable practices in building construction projects. As a result, this study aimed to address the awareness and factors that resist the adoption of sustainable construction practices in India. Through a questionnaire survey, practicing professionals filled the data from pan India construction projects. The analysis conducted on the data received from 62 projects, among 120 selected, where 56% respondents were site engineer and 16% respondent were Project managers. The selected projects had 12% residential whereas remaining were non-residential and infrastructural projects. The results revealed three significant findings that influence the adoption of sustainable construction practices: first, the lack of skilled human resources availability. Second, the reluctant client. Third, limited and lack of knowledge of sustainable technology and operation to the professionals as these three major factors had the mean item score (MIS) as 3.28, 3.14 and 3.12 respectively. Hence, the study contributes towards the sustainability thinking of the various stakeholders of the Indian construction industry. The finding suggested that simplified strategies and participative efforts need to be conveyed to all the stakeholders of the particular project and industry practitioner to boost the process of creating sustainable environments for the building construction industry, which can essentially help in creating a sustainable future.

ECO-DESIGN. FURNITURE MADE OF RECYCLING MATERIALS – A NEW CONCEPT FOR THE CONTEMPORAN DESIGN

The concept of ecodesign appeared in the late XX century, as a trend to return to the organic origins of architecture and design. The ecological house is a modern and economical housing solution that combines recycled, biodegradable and non-polluting materials with new systems and technologies to reduce the costs of heating, air conditioning and lighting. Eco-design is a whole philosophy against the depletion of natural resources and in support of ecological cleanliness and safety. The article tries to convey the message of the ecological problem in the process of training future architects and designers by applying sustainable thinking and design in professional activity, starting from the green stereotype to a practical application through technology.

ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS THROUGH ENVIRONMENTAL FILMS: AN OVERVIEW

Environmental Films can be used to develop people’s sustainable thinking. There have been many environmental films from 1964 to 2019 focusing on environmental issues. Although these films seem to be the logistics of the environment and the digital world, they are a suitable way to educate mass people about the environment in an informal way. These environmental films are the path to environmental gates. The environmental film is actually a real-world reel experience on environmental issues. Through environmental film, people are learning sustainable environmental thinking and growing their environmental knowledge too. At present, many scientific methods are being considered to save nature, but if these environmental films are included with the course curriculum, they will be beneficial to sustainable development. Environmental issues-oriented Films are helpful for making awareness, consciousness, and decision-making process to cope the contemporary environmental issues. The Reel of environmental films can present real environmental facts on contemporary issues of the environment that are important for academicians to politicians for environmental education. This article highlights the importance of environmental films to make environmental awareness of mass people.

Entrepreneurial Competencies in Research Based on EntreComp Among Student Youth in Poland

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to assess the level of creativity and the ability of student youth to spot business generate, assess and develop business with ethical and sustainable thinking approach - as important part of entrepreneurial competencies crucial in the process of innovative business venture creation. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research was conducted in 2020 on students’ groups studying at three different universities in Poland in South-Eastern Poland. The survey with use of questionnaire was conducted according to EntreComp Framework in the area of “ideas and opportunities”. Findings: The overall results are optimistic as the youth surveyed feel innovative, curious, open and able to recognize the value of that are promising traits for their future business creation. The results show that the surveyed youth was differentiated in the competency's assessment regarding the field of study and university, study degree, gender, professional situation and place of residence. Practical Implications: Research enabled to examine entrepreneurial competencies among student youth and form recommendations for focusing in educating student youth in the area of developing that create value for others, sharing and protecting ideas, and uncovering needs and strengthening efforts in order to drive sustainable thinking. Originality/value: The originality of the research is based on the use of the EntreComp methodology, which allows to diagnose and then develop key competencies for the development of entrepreneurship according to the framework promoted by European Commission. The added value of the research is elaboration of the synthetic index ideas and opportunities, which allows a joint assessment of the individual competences included in this area.

From sustainable development to social-ecological justice: Addressing taboos and naturalizations in order to shift perspective

While sustainability was introduced as a game-changing idea, it has often been criticized for its vagueness and its over-accommodating bent toward powerful, vested interests, economic growth, and profit seeking—or, on the contrary, for not being able to enter mainstream politics. As a result, in the current political climate, sustainability policies seem to be everywhere, but so does the social and ecological critique of these policies.In this article, we articulate the seeds of an emerging cross-sectoral shift away from sustainability and toward social-ecological justice. Coming from a multidisciplinary background, we explore commonalities in the shortcomings of sustainability agendas and identify discursive barriers to change across three critical fields: transport, energy, and urban greening. Within each of these fields, we observe an upswing of scholarly work addressing the pitfalls and trade-offs of sustainability, but we also show how taboos and naturalizations embedded in these fields hinder adequately questioning the economy’s role in sustainability thinking and action.To develop our argument that there is an emerging cross-sectoral push away from sustainability agendas and toward social-ecological justice goals, we briefly examine the current state of the wider sustainability discourse together with its critique from a social and ecological justice angle. We then review relevant academic work across the applied fields of transport, energy, and urban greening, focusing on the normative and analytical aspects dealt with, and how they address and conceptualize tensions between the different dimensions of sustainability. In the concluding section, we highlight how a focus on sectoral and local tensions between ecological, economic, and social policy goals uncovers the ways in which injustices or environmental degradation are continually reproduced, despite the sustainability framework. We conclude with suggestions for thinking and acting under the umbrella of social-ecological justice.

Sustainable thinking of rural housing in eastern Henan under the context of new countryside

Rural housing occupies an absolutely dominant position in rural construction. Due to the lack of effective supervision, guidance and training mechanism, the construction team’s professional quality is low in the context of new countryside. The owner’s cognitive level is not high. As a result, the rural housing in the east of Henan Province has many problems. This paper studies the existing problems of rural housing in eastern Henan province and puts forward the solutions. Such as formulating the supervision system of rural construction, perfecting the guiding mechanism of rural housing, training professional construction team, and improving the cognitive level of owners.

Chemistry teaching as environmental education instrument in a High School

Chemistry Education as an instrument of environmental awareness aims to work on the importance of caring for the environment, seeking a better understanding and development of critical citizen thinking about the environmental problems that are getting worse every day. In this sense, it is necessary to approach environmental education at school, aiming to raise students' awareness. The study of environmental education in schools makes future generations develop more conscious, critical and sustainable thinking in relation to the paths taken that involve the environment and society in general. Thus, this work aims to present the importance of environmental education in the student's daily life and in the school environment, seeking to transmit how it can be an instrument for environmental awareness. In order to achieve the objective presented, it was necessary to develop some activities carried out in the classroom and outside of it, with a second-grade class from the State Elementary and High School located in the Nova Floresta city, Brazil. These activities were divided into five moments, which aimed to analyze knowledge about the generator theme: construction of concept maps in the classroom; preparation of pamphlets, addressing the correct way to dispose of garbage; field class at the city dump and requested a textual production activity; production of parodies, cartoons, comics and cordel; workshop for the production of objects with recyclable materials. According to the results obtained, it was observed the interest and commitment of the students to develop the activities and dedication on the theme, considering that, there was enthusiasm on the part of the students to carry out a certain deepening about the damages to the environment, as well as, the reuse of materials that alleviate the excess of accumulated garbage.

Sustainability in Nutrition: Potential Guiding Statements for Education and Practice

ObjectiveTo explore and synthesize local and practice-based perspectives of sustainability to develop a set of proposed guiding thematic statements that will assist academics to contextualize, prioritize, and integrate sustainability-focused activities or a sustainability lens in a nutrition and dietetic (N&D) program. DesignParticipatory action research process using an online survey, workshop, and interviews. SettingAustralian Regional University. ParticipantsA total of 95 N&D undergraduate students, 7 N&D academics, and 10 Australian nutrition practitioners. Phenomenon of InterestSustainability in N&D learning, teaching, and practice. AnalysisQualitative inductive content analysis of responses from each participant group and combined themes. ResultsThere were 4 key themes, each comprising 4–8 subthemes, identified as follows: sustainability thinking, future-focused views, stewardship, and sustaining the nutrition profession. Conclusions and ImplicationsThere may be opportunities for N&D competencies in Australia to better reflect the ways of being that sustainability in nutrition practice means. Confirmation of these findings among other N&D professionals (academics and practitioners) and students, both in Australia and elsewhere, is warranted to further develop these proposed statements. Future research is needed to describe more explicitly what sustainability looks like in practice, providing specific examples to assist educators to frame sustainability authentically.

FROM CRITICAL THINKING TO REFLECTION TO CITIZEN ENGINEERS

What does it mean to be a “responsible engineer”? The question has been asked throughout history, including during times that were fraught with challenge, but the problems awaiting engineering students in Canada in 2021 are arguably unprecedented in their complexity. Technologically difficult problems resulted in recent advances such as the World Wide Web and 5G mobile communications, but today’s challenge derives not only from the global scale of man-made environmental problems and their impacts, but from lack of agreement around appropriate mitigation strategies and on the need to act at all. The engineering students of today must develop solutions to problems that have newly acknowledged and highly contentious human factors. In the Canadian context, new policy is emerging from Canada’s recognition that it must reconcile the harms of past policies towards Indigenous peoples. This recognition has created a discourse around equity that will shape the landscape in which graduates will practice. In preparing young engineers to navigate technological and social complexity, and to equip them to find personal fulfillment in an uncertain landscape, a reinvigorated emphasis on critical and relational thinking is required. In 2019 and 2020, students in a fourth-year class in Sustainability, (which includes a study of law, policy, and sustainability reporting metrics) participated in multiple group exercises that asked them to explore multiple facets of problematic or politically current issues. These learning activities sought to support a transformative learning experience in which students would come to recognize their ability to contribute as citizens to the development of responsible public policy. In these exercises they examined opposing positions and assessed the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and risks, associated with each. That there was no RIGHT conclusion was emphasized. The only criteria for assessment was depth of exploration and logical chaining of evidence. Students learned about cultural perspectives from an Indigenous educator, and as they explored the diversity of viewpoints around the question of pipeline expansion in Canada. A final exercise asked students to reflect on the meanings of responsible policy and practice and how they would operationalize sustainability thinking.

Advocating recycling and encouraging environmentally friendly habits through gamification: An empirical investigation

A circular economy emphasizes decreasing the use of new raw materials and the disposal of waste by reusing and recycling, which ensures that products and materials can remain in use, thereby extending their life cycle. Promoting recycling and environmentally friendly habits can help consumers engage in sustainability thinking, which is essential considering that effective resource recycling critically depends on environmentalists' behaviors. A helpful means to encourage such thinking and habits is gamification. Deepening and extending findings from the existing literature, this study applies gamification to conceptualize contributions to resource recycling and environmentally friendly habits. For this purpose, we integrate a cognitive–affective model with an expectation–confirmation model to examine causal relationships between the utilitarian (effectiveness and efficiency) and hedonic (playfulness) values of a website and users' cognition- and affect-based attitudes, satisfaction, confirmation, and behavioral intentions (word of mouth [WOM] and continued usage). We empirically test the research model by applying structural equation modeling to analyze the experiences of a sample of 457 participants that are members of Recyclebank, an American company set up to encourage recycling and environmentally friendly habits. The results reveal that effectiveness, efficiency, playfulness, and confirmation contribute to cognition- and affect-based attitudes and satisfaction, which in turn influence repetitive usage and WOM intentions. Attitudes, however, may differ depending on the cultural background of the user. Thus, we find that collectivistic versus individualistic user orientations moderate the effects of value on attitudes in a gamification context. The findings provide website managers with insights regarding determinants crucial in formulating intention policies and motivating users’ to continue using a service.

A Comprehensive Framework for Evaluating Sustainable Green Building Indicators under an Uncertain Environment

The development of sustainable green buildings (GBs) is a major contribution to the preservation of the environment. Sustainable thinking in GB construction is not a supplementary element, but rather necessary to achieve the building’s functional, economic, and environmental efficiency in order to preserve resources and meet current and future needs. In particular, developing countries can apply the idea of sustainability in GBs by following international policies and standards, combined with their local characteristics, to construct GBs that are aligned with the environment and are in line with the available local capabilities and resources. The paper focuses on the dimensions and indicators of sustainable design for GBs in developing countries to achieve the positive dimensions of building sustainability, such as preserving energy and natural resources, water management, adaptation to the surrounding environment, and respecting the needs of its users. We assess and prioritize the dimensions and indicators of GBs through the use of a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method under a neutrosophic environment. Initially, the Delphi method is employed to capture preference and to determine the dimensions and their indicators in addition to provide preference among sub-indicators. The relative importance of the selected dimensions and indicators is assessed through the analytical hierarchy method (AHP) method. The results indicate that the water efficiency dimension is the most significant, with a weight of 0.330, while the energy efficiency dimension is the least significant for GBs in developing countries, with a weight of 0.100. The paper concludes with a set of administrative implications for applying sustainable development strategies in GBs.

Planting food sustainability thinking and practice through STEM in the garden

Planting food sustainability thinking and practice through STEM in the garden

Book Review: Rebekkah Smith Aldrich's Sustainable Thinking: Ensuring Your Library's Future in an Uncertain World

Book Review: Rebekkah Smith Aldrich's Sustainable Thinking: Ensuring Your Library's Future in an Uncertain World

Sustainable Thinking by Design Researchers

In this issue of The Design Journal are six original articles, two exciting PhD reports and an important book review. It is an open issue which means it has a range of design subjects, often with n...

Asking the Right Questions for Sustainable Development Goals: Performance Assessment Approaches for the Qatar Education System

Questions determine our fate as individuals and societies. Asking the right questions at the right time and in the right amount makes our choices and decisions meaningful. As human beings we all experience this from an early age. In education, in order to evaluate, learn and inform the growth of students, the professional development of teachers and the overall efficiency of the system, questions become an integral element of the complex, non-linear and social system at different levels. The purpose of this article is to investigate how performance assessment strategies play a role in the education system, and to understand how progressive performance assessments can be set up with sustainable thinking and designed in alignment with the United Nation’s (UN) Development Goals (SGDs) for a given context. To aid Qatar’s pursuit in transitioning from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based one, this study aims to design and develop a proper performance assessment (PA) framework that is aligned with the SDGs and education goals (EGs) to help achieve social and human development as envisioned in Qatar’s national vision. This article: (i) presents a theoretical and qualitative analysis of PA practices in the Qatar Education System (QES); (ii) provides a comparative analysis among the best PA practices at the global level; and (iii) examines the methodology, conditions, and findings based on learning from: (a) the successful experiences of other countries, (b) documented analyses of local past experiences, (c) local stakeholders (through a qualitative investigation) in order to understand the needs, develop recommendations and design a tailored PA strategy. The results indicate that there are misalignments between the core educational components such as EGs and the assessment methods used to evaluate them. The analysis and findings reveal that the QES urgently needs to develop a PA strategy that is appropriate for its stakeholders to meet the EGs and enhance their sustainability competencies. Finally, this study proposes a PA framework for the QES to align its core elements with SDGs and EGs.

Sustainability: A Regional Australian Experience of Educating Secondary Geography Teachers

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number four seeks an equitable and widespread education that enables an outcome of sustainable development by 2030. Intersecting the studies of society and earth processes, a geographical education is well placed to make cohesive sense of all the individual knowledge silos that contribute to achieving sustainability. Geography education is compulsory for the first three years of the secondary education curriculum in Australia; however, research has shown that many geography teachers are underprepared and report limitations in their teaching of sustainability. This article engages with this research problem to provide a critical reflection, using experiential knowledge as an analytical lens, on how tertiary level geography training at one Australian regional university can equip undergraduate teacher education students with the values, knowledge, and skills needed to develop their future students’ understanding and appreciation of the principles of sustainability. The authors unpacked a geography minor for a Bachelor of Secondary Education degree at Central Queensland University and, deploying content analysis, explain how three units in that minor can develop these students’ values, knowledge, and skills through fostering initiatives and activities. The analysis was framed by elements of pedagogy that offer learners a context for developing active, global citizenship and participation to understand the interdependencies of ecological, societal, and economic systems including a multisided view of sustainability and sustainable development. The study concluded that the three geography units engage student teachers in sustainable thinking in a variety of ways, which can have a wider application in the geography curricula in other teacher education courses. More importantly, however, the study found that there is a critical need for collaboration between university teachers of sustainability content and university teachers of school-based pedagogy in order to maximise the efficacy of sustainability education in schools.