SUS 512

Sustainability, Ecology and Communities

Overview

Unit description

This unit develops knowledge of the conceptual, practical and policy aspects of sustainable development. The unit focuses on the implementation of sustainability at a local and sub-national level. Systems thinking and resilience are presented as key tools to both understand sustainability problems and develop sustainability solutions within socio-ecological systems. These concepts are then explored through three key sectors of government, business and communities.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this unit, but students who have not previously completed a sustainability unit should make sure to work through the optional topic which provides some recent background information on sustainability challenges and the concept of sustainability in general.

Aims of the unit

The unit builds on the introduction to sustainability issues, challenges and approaches in introductory units. Instead of exploring more critiques of current unsustainable practices, this unit will provide you with:

• An introduction to systems thinking – a new way to think about sustainability; and
• A set of sustainability tools and processes that will assist you to implement sustainability in practice, through the sectors of government, business and communities.

Learning Outcomes developed in the unit

1. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the principal concepts and theories of Systems thinking and their application to sustainability;
2. Discuss the multiple inter-disciplinary perspectives which can be brought to bear in responding imaginatively to sustainability problems and in developing sustainability solutions;
3. Analyse the range of tools and processes to implement sustainability through Government, Business and Community sectors.
4. Develop coherent sustainability solutions, based on a range of policy tools and a range of models of change;
5. Work both independently, and collaboratively and respectfully with a range of people;
6. Communicate effectively both orally and in writing.

Graduate Attributes developed in this unit

• Communication specifically speaking, listening, reading and writing skills;
• Critical and creative thinking specifically critical thinking, creative thinking, research skills;
• Social interaction specifically collaboration;
• Independent and lifelong learning, specifically independent study;
• Ethics specifically personal and social ethics;
• Social justice specifically social and civic responsibility;
• Global perspective;
• Interdisciplinarity;
• In-depth knowledge of a field of study.

What you need to know

The information includes:

• links to the Assessment Policy;
• a description of Academic Integrity;
• links to information about:

Examinations; Non-discriminatory language; Student appeals; Student complaints; Conscientious objection and assessment policy;

• determination of grades from components/marks; and
• information for equity students.

How to study this unit

The unit is delivered throughout semester. Each module, includes 3 topics. Module 1 introduces sustainability and systems thinking. Modules 2, 3 and 4 cover the development of sustainability solutions, via a range of tools and processes, in the sectors of government, business and community.

To get the most out of this unit, students should make sure to read the essential readings (generally 1 to 2 readings per topic) prior to the lecture and tutorials, and the recommended and further readings where possible. The websites and audiovisual materials provided will also provide some additional perspectives on the topic.

The unit aims to apply theory and concepts to real world situations, therefore it is important that you are familiar with the theories and concepts introduced before the lectures and tutorials. Another important reason to do the essential readings!

Internal students contact time

For internal students, contact time consists of one lecture and one tutorial each teaching week of semester.

Learning activities – internal

For internal students, the lecture will be complemented by a weekly tutorial to discuss unit concepts, readings and assignments. Internal students are also encouraged to post queries and comments on LMS.

Learning activities – external

For external students, the unit will run as normal, with twelve topics available weekly. Lectures for each topic will be released after the lecture each week and it is important for external students to listen to them to help keep them on track given they are not on campus.

External students should regularly engage with the discussion forum to highlight concerns and discuss issues that emerge from the readings and lectures

.Time commitment

This is a postgraduate unit, worth three (3) credit points. It can be taken in internal or external mode. There is an expectation that students will devote about 150 hours to the unit, which is an average of about 10 hours a week from Week 1 through the Week 15 study break. This study time involves unit contact time (e.g. listening to lectures or participating in tutorials and online discussion boards), plus time devoted to reading unit materials and doing assessment tasks.

Attendance requirements

For internal students, all sessions should be attended as the best way to understand the unit material and be able to work on the skills required to complete the assignments . Tutorials will vary in approach in order to help the group understand the unit content shared through the lectures, readings and other sources shared. The tutorials are an important way to combine prior experience and understanding with new evidence and concepts through critical thinking. They are also an important opportunity to clarify assignment approaches and tasks.

Unit changes in response to student feedback

The content of this unit has changed to include more of a focus on different ways of thinking about sustainability, such as systems thinking. The unit now also aims to provide specific tools and processes that may be useful in the implementation of sustainability.

The unit also has a much clearer focus on sustainability tools and processes. Any repetition of content from Part I units will hopefully be avoided by focusing more overtly on ways of thinking about sustainability as well as tools and processes to help with the implementation of sustainability.

Unit materials

Essential textbook

There is no essential textbook for this unit. All readings are available for download through the Library and the Online Unit.

Recommended reading (in alphabetical order):

The following books are all extremely useful for sustainability practitioners, so might be good additions to your bookshelf.

Atkisson, A. 2011. The Sustainability Transformation. London: Earthscan.

Meadows, D. 2008. Thinking in Systems: A Primer. Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing. (Available as an online resource through Murdoch library)

Parkin, S. 2010. The Positive Deviant: Sustainability Leadership in a Peverse World. London: Earthscan. (Available as an online resource through Murdoch library and in hard copy in Reserve)

Library resources

Make use of journals in our library or online like Local Environment, Sustainable Development, Global Environmental Change, Australian Journal of Environmental Management, Environmental Politics, Geoforum, Ecological Economics and Futures to augment your reading and research.

Further resources

The following will be provided during the teaching period:

• lecture slides and lecture recordings via the online unit
• links to digital media, electronic journal article and articles on the web in this Study Guide and via the online unit

Assessment

Assessment details

Learning journal

The learning journal will reflect on unit readings, concepts, definitions and personal and tutorial/online learnings. You need to complete a learning journal every week, commencing from Week 1 through to Week 4. The approximate word count for each journal is 250 words with the total of all four weeks of approximately 1000 words. You will submit all four journals in Week 5 through LMS.

Why a learning journal?

• To keep track of your learning experience
• To note down your thoughts, ideas and questions around your learning experience
• To note down key concepts and definitions from the readings
• To enter bibliographic details of the sources you have consulted (books, journal articles)
• To help you identify your personal strengths, challenges and ways to overcome the challenges
• To start seeing the complex relationships between theory and practice or your experience and what is reflected in the unit readings
• To make sense of what you have read by identifying relevant examples and complex issues
• To refine your ideas as you evolve as an active learner and scholar
• To write about new knowledge or understandings gained
• To provide a helpful tool to help you create a summary of key learnings from the unit which will be useful for your preparation for the major project and the exam

What can you reflect on?

• Your readings
• Key concepts and definitions
• Key relevant contemporary issues
• Connections between what you have read and your personal experience and knowledge
• Discussions in class and online

A template for doing the weekly learning journal will be provided on LMS.

Major Project – Systems analysis and recommendations

(due Week 12- Friday May 15 4pm)

Word limit: 2,500 words

In this project, you are required to choose a sustainability problem and analyse it using a very simple version of systems analysis. The main aim of this is to understand the factors driving the problem. You will then need to make some recommendations to address the problem.

(Please note that more information and examples will be provided during lectures and tutorials about the proposed process for this assignment.)

Part 1 (roughly 1500 words)

Step 1: Choose your sustainability problem

Choose one of the following sustainability problems in Western Australia. If you are in another area/region, you can insert the place name of your choice.

• “Perth has a dry Mediterranean climate, and a rapidly drying climate, yet household water consumption continues to be amongst the highest in Australia.”
• “Western Australia has some of the best renewable energy resources in the world, yet renewable energy still only comprises a small percentage of energy consumed in WA.”
• “Despite many years of education about waste, Western Australia’s per capita waste production is still extremely high.”
• “Access to affordable and ideally sustainable housing is a vitally important social sustainability/equity issue. Yet housing in WA continues to be expensive and mostly of unsustainable design.”

If you have another sustainability problem you would like to investigate, please contact your tutor to discuss.

Step 2: Choose your scale – either State Government or a specific Local Government area

Choose either State Government level or a relevant Local Government area as the scale to consider your sustainability problem within. This is to put a geographic, social and regulatory boundary around the problem you will be analysing.

Step 3: Preliminary research

Brainstorm all the factors contributing to the sustainability problem

Use the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)to help you brainstorm your sustainability problem as a system. Use each of the SDGs as a prompt for identifying the factors contributing to the problem. Within each of the factors, uncover the deeper, more systemic factors that are most important.

Be prepared to be surprised by what emerges, as there may be some important factors that you had not previously thought about. Try to include everything that has an impact on your chosen problem at this stage. Use a diagram to help the brainstorming process. Your diagram may be extremely complex, but you can refine this at the next step.

Step 4: Identify 3 major system factors influencing your problem and provide a rationale for your choice

From your preliminary research, identify the 3 most important factors that are influencing your chosen problem within your boundary (Local or State Government). These factors are highly likely to have the most interconnecting relationships to the other factors in your system.

In your report, make sure you provide a rationale for why you have chosen these 3 factors as the most important ones. It is also very important that any data or arguments about these 3 factors are supported with good quality research and references (i.e. use published journal articles and books not Wikipedia or other commercial websites).

Step 5: Linkages analysis

How do the 3 factors interact and influence each other?

This is the most important part of the project. This is the systems analysis where you will analyse the way in which the 3 most important factors interact and influence each other, as well as how they influence the problem overall.

In particular, clearly explain how each factor affects the others, and how all three factors affect the whole system/sector, by providing solid examples, evidence and explanation.

You can use a diagram (optional) to demonstrate the linkages and interconnections you discover. However, make sure you explain your diagram in the text.

Part 2 (roughly 1000 words)

The next part of the project is to make recommendations for the sustainability problem. It might be helpful to choose one of the major sectors presented in the unit (Government, Business or Civil Society) as your focus for how you might address the problem through a particular project or program.

Building on the systems analysis from Part I, you should be attempting to identify the best leverage point or ‘eco-tipping point’ (Marten 2008) within the system you studied in Part I. This leverage point will form the basis of part 2 of the project.

The points below are questions that you should at least consider in developing your project:

What is the overall goal of your project?

Make the goal for your project as specific as possible.

What will be the main outcomes of your project?

Think about the range of identifiable outcomes that you will achieve in the project. How do they relate back to the Sustainable Development Goals?

Who needs to be involved in this project?

Who will your key stakeholders be for this project? What role should they play in the project? How will you engage or involve them? What partnerships will need to be developed to undertake the project?

What will be the main activities in your project?

Think about the range of different ways that you can achieve the goal of the project. However, it is a much better idea to identify and develop one good idea in some detail rather than just listing broad outlines of potential activities.

What are the potential barriers to successfully implementing your project? Can you identify some possible barriers to the success of your project? How could these be overcome?

How will you measure the success of your project?

How will you measure whether you have achieved the outcomes and goal of your project? Think about the use of appropriate indicators here.

What research and evidence can you draw upon to support your project idea? Your project needs to be supported with a minimum of 10 good quality references (i.e. journal articles, books or reports not websites, blogs and news 

Academic Integrity

Showing ‘academic integrity’:

• Integrity means doing your own work and respecting the work of others; in other words, acting honestly.

Avoiding ‘academic misconduct’:

• Misconduct means not doing your own work, or using the work of others in dishonest ways; in other words, cheating.

What to do

• write your own assignments
• do everything you need to do (e.g., paraphrase, quote and reference) to use information properly
• do individual work you are expected to do by yourself
• do new, original work for each class
• demonstrate your own achievement

What not to do

• purchase papers or have someone write a paper for you
• use any website to help you paraphrase, including text spinning or spinbot sites.
• pretend someone else’s work is your own
• ask someone for a copy of their assignment
• copy ideas, data or words without proper paraphrasing, quoting or referencing
• collaborate with others to do individual work, or ask another student to do your work for you
• use electronic devices, notes or talk during exams
• submit projects or papers that you have done for a previous class
• allow another student to copy your answers on assignments or exams, or take an exam or complete an assignment for another student

For more information, please do a Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP) Search:

MODULE 1

INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABILITY AND SYSTEMS THINKING

"Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing patterns of change rather than static snapshots. It is a set of general principles - distilled over the course of the twentieth century, spanning fields as diverse as the physical and social sciences, engineering, and management.During the last thirty years, these tools have been

applied to understand a wide range of corporate, urban, regional, economic, political, ecological, and even psychological systems. And systems thinking is a sensibility - for the subtle interconnectedness that gives living systems their unique character."Peter Senge (1990) The Fifth Discipline

This module will introduce sustainability and systems thinking, which is an important way of understanding a complex world and complex sustainability problems. The application of systems thinking to sustainability is based on the idea of social-ecological systems.

“We all live and operate in social systems that are inextricably linked with the ecological systems in which they are embedded; we exist within social- ecological systems. Whether in Manhattan or Baghdad, people depend on ecosystems somewhere for their continued existence. “

Walker and Salt (2006) Resilience Thinking

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this topic you should be able to:

• Define the concept of sustainability;
• Apply the concept of sustainability to your own country and experiences;
• Describe the key concepts of systems thinking;
• Begin to apply the concepts of systems thinking to sustainability issues and challenges; and
• Conceptualise the connections between social and ecological systems.

What you need to do for this module

Please make sure that you have:

• Completed all the essential reading, and ideally one of the recommended readings for each of the 3 topics in the module; and
• Where possible, completed at least some of the further reading for each of the 3 topics and watched some of the audio-visual presentations.

MODULE 2

A SYSTEMS APPROACH TO IMPLEMENTING SUSTAINABILITY IN

 GOVERNMENT

Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them.  Paul Hawken

Since the global policy making efforts of the Brundtland Commission and the Rio Earth Summit in the 1980s and 1990s, it is arguably at the levels of Local and sub- National Government where the most significant attempts at implementing sustainability have been made.

In Australia, all levels of Government have significant roles to play in facilitating sustainability. Our particular focus in this unit is on the levels of State and Local Government. The State level is responsible for transport systems, energy systems, environmental protection and nature conservation, health and social services. Local Governments on the other hand have a far closer relationship to place and community, providing the opportunity for a meaningful contribution to sustainability. In Australia however, their legislative powers, jurisdiction and funding are constrained, all of which contribute to a limited capacity to address sustainability in a significant way. Topic 5 will explore some of the policy making tools a Government has at its disposal to implement sustainability.

At each level of government, the challenge is to approach the development of sustainability solutions through a governance framework.Governance, in its broadest sense, can be described as the different ways in which societies can organise themselves to accomplish their goals. In Topic 6 we will explore the participatory and partnership approaches, which are vitally important to governance. At their most transformative, they can offer genuine sharing of power and responsibility.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

• Outline the ‘policy problem’ of sustainability and what makes it unique;
• Outline the role of local and state government in the implementation of sustainability and describe some of the challenges they face;
• Describe the contribution that systems thinking can make to the implementation of sustainability through government; and
• Distinguish between government and governance, and the importance of genuine partnerships and participatory approaches.

What you need to do for this module

Please make sure you have:

• Completed all the essential reading, and ideally one of the recommended readings for each of the 3 topics in the module; and
• Where possible, completed at least some of the further reading for each of the 3 topics and watched some of the audiovisual presentations.

MODULE 3

IMPLEMENTING SUSTAINABILITY IN BUSINESS

There is no more strategic issue for a company, or any organization, than its ultimate purpose. For those who think business exists to make a profit, I suggest they think again. Business makes a profit to exist. Surely it must exist for some higher, nobler purpose than that. Ray Anderson

While the status quo approach of many businesses is to maximise profits at the expense of other environmental and social concerns, there are increasing numbers of businesses genuinely considering how they can transform their practices to achieve sustainability outcomes as well sustainability success. For many advocates of business sustainability action, systems thinking is essential.

Like any approach to sustainability, within businesses approaches there is a spectrum from weak to strong, or reformist to transformative action. A more conventional approach or more positively, an entry point, to sustainability for many businesses can be through reporting on their sustainability performance, through frameworks such as Global Reporting Initiative. In Topic 8 we will examine this approach, also looking at the development of sustainability indicators in other areas as a way to measure and analyse the sustainability of certain systems. Effective sets of indicators help us to monitor and evaluate our progress towards sustainable development, and to direct energy towards improving problem areas.

Topic 9 will focus on more transformative and innovative approaches to sustainability action within the business community, examining inherently systems approaches such as the circular economy, or socially oriented business models such as collaborative consumption. Leadership is crucial in effecting transformation and so we will also explore how leadership for sustainability might differ from other types of leadership.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

• Describe the key aspects of a systems approach to sustainability in business;
• Describe the role of indicators in monitoring progress towards sustainability in all sectors;
• Recognise the difference between reformist and transformational approaches to sustainability in the business sector; and
• Explain how sustainability leadership differs from traditional leadership.

What you need to do for this module

Before coming to the seminar you should have:

• Completed all the essential reading, and ideally one of the recommended readings for each of the 3 topics in the module; and
• Where possible, completed at least some of the further reading for each of the 3 topics and watched some of 

MODULE 4

IMPLEMENTING SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH CIVIL SOCIETY

Broadly speaking, civil society describes all the activities we undertake when we get together with other people in our communities. It is the space of geographical communities, community organisations and non-government / not-for-profit organisations. Many see the sector of civil society as absolutely crucial for innovating towards a sustainable future.

Because everyone is essentially part of civil society, it is often a priority for sustainability change efforts, where community education and behaviour change campaigns aim to reduce sustainability impacts. However, creating change within a system (whether it is an organisation, a community or a society) to a more sustainable and resilient state is extremely challenging. In this module we will look at basic theories and concepts of creating change, and then examine how they can be applied. In Topic 11 we will also look beyond simplistic ideas around ‘educating the community’ and explore some of the vast literature on the psychological basis for behaviour change for sustainability.

In Topic 12 we will look at even more innovative approaches to visioning and actioning a sustainable future. Articulating and communicating a vision for a sustainable future is an extremely important skill for a sustainability practitioner and in this module we will explore some ideas and techniques for visioning.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this topic you should be able to:

• Articulate a variety of theories of change, and in particular your own;
• Identify the key theories around behaviour change for sustainability;
• Generate ideas about putting these theories into practice in behavioural change programs;
• Articulate the importance of visioning for a sustainable future; and
• Describe some tools for creating and communicating a vision for a sustainable future.

What you need to do for this module

Before coming to the seminar for this week please make sure that you have:

• Completed all the essential reading, and ideally one of the recommended readings for each of the 3 topics in the module; and
• Where possible, completed at least some of the further reading for each of the 3 topics and watched some of the audiovisual presentations.