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Chapters from the paperback
- Introduction
- Ecocriticism
- Optimisation
- Grounded Economic Awareness
- Advertising Awareness
- Transition Skills
- Commons Thinking
- Effortless Action
- Permaculture Design
- Community Gardening
- Ecological Intelligence
- Systems Thinking
- Gaia Awareness
- Futures Thinking
- Values Reflection and the Earth Charter
- Social Conscience
- New Media Literacy
- Cultural Literacy
- Carbon Capability
- Greening Business
- Materials Awareness
- Appropriate Technology and Appropriate Design
- Technology Appraisal
- Complexity, Systems Thinking and Practice
- Coping with Complexity
- Emotional Wellbeing
- Finding Meaning Without Consuming
- Being in the World
- Beauty as a Way of Knowing
- Citizen Engagement
- Re-Educating the Person
- Institutional Transformation
- A Learning Society
- Additional chapters
- Interviews
Home » The Handbook of Sustainability Literacy » Chapters from the paperback » Coping with Complexity
Coping with Complexity
Coping with Complexity: the ability to manage complex sustainability problems. Bland Tomkinson, University of Manchester
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In 1987, a commission led by Gro Brundtland identified a number of global issues which might fall within the broad area of sustainability, including:
➢ the burden of debt in the developing world, inequitable commercial regulations and a growing number of the world’s population living at or below subsistence level;
➢ overuse of nonrenewable resources and growing competition for limited water supplies, threatening armed conflict over access to water and mineral reserves;
➢ the threats and consequences of climate change.
At first sight, some of these might appear to have little to do with formal education as it has been experienced until now, but politicians have a particularly short-term view of complex issues and time horizons dictated by the next election. Commercial organizations can be even more short-sighted, with a focus not far beyond the next balance sheet. Resolution and amelioration of complex global problems in the longer term therefore falls to the professions and, through the education of professionals, to educational institutions.
