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Sustainable Living for a Sustainable Earth PDF

293 Pages·2013·2.35 MB·English
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Sustainable Living for a Sustainable Earth: From an Education for Sustainable Development towards an Education for Sustainable Living Werner Sattmann-Frese A thesis submitted to the University of Western Sydney for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2005 i © 2005 All rights reserved Photo by Simon Wolff Long standing and passionate amateur photographer based in Sydney Australia, his photographs will be featured on a forthcoming web site, specialising in 'Scenic' and 'artistic' range of photos which will be on sale over the web. He can be contacted by e-mail at Acknowledgments The creation of this study would not have been possible without the qualified and passionate support of other people. I wish to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Stuart Hill, for his untiring professional and emotional support during the last six years. I also feel indebted to Dr John Cameron for his unwavering dedication to Social Ecology at the University of Western Sydney, and for his support in upgrading this project to PhD candidature. Furthermore, I am thankful to Kathy Adams, to the other academics at Social Ecology, and to my fellow travellers for maintaining a stimulating and sane environment within an unsustainable modern culture. I would also like to express my gratefulness to the research participants for their insights into their struggles with becoming more sustainable people and to Associate Professor Daniella Tilbury at Macquarie University, Sydney, for her suggestion to integrate the depth psychology perspectives on ecological deterioration with the change strategies employed in the various approaches to environmental education. Judith McCreath, Roy Garner, and Annie James deserve recognition for their assistance in editing this thesis and/or associated brochures and conference material, and my clients and supervisees for sharing with me their ideas, and experiences, and struggles with becoming more sustainable humans. Last, but not least, I am grateful to my wife Lisa and my sons Leon and Julian for supporting me during the long gestation period of this thesis, and to my friends Claus Bargmann and Norbert Schrauth for their support and challenging questions. iii Statement of authentification The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original except as acknowledged in the text. I hereby declare that I have not submitted this material, either in full or in part, for a degree at this or any other institution. …………………………………………………………. (Signature) iv Claims to originality The world is a big place where many scholars publish research in many different languages. It is thus difficult to be certain that knowledge and concepts similar to the ones that have been generated as part of my inquiry are not also being developed by other people working in similar fields of inquiry. Considering this, readers can be assured that great care has been taken to ensure that the topics claimed as original knowledge have not been formulated by other scholars. Many searches of key topics in library catalogues and on the Internet, both in English and German, suggest that the following procedures and concepts that can be claimed as original are the: • structured inquiry into the views of health professionals on issues concerning ecological deterioration and sustainable living • description of eco-self-consciousness development as a six-stage process that is unfolding in a range of psychological disciplines and environmental change practices • description of sustainability in terms of interrelated but also distinct features of physio- emotional, psychosocial, environmental, and institutional sustainability • investigation of interrelated and analogical aspects of unsustainability in terms of the psychological metaphors: separation, pollution, exhaustion, and growth/excess • description of key aspects of terrorism as predictable manifestations of the schizoid character condition. Readers who have found or developed similar ideas and research findings are encouraged to alert me to this work by contacting me on Contents CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................................................... 1 LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................................................... 3 LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................................. 4 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................... 5 INTRODUCTION: THE NEED FOR THIS STUDY......................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER 1 THE PROJECT .......................................................................................................................... 18 1.1 MAKING SENSE OF OUR ECOLOGICAL CRISES .......................................................................................... 18 1.2 AIMS AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS............................................................................................................... 21 1.3 LIMITATIONS OF THIS STUDY ..................................................................................................................... 22 1.4 METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................................................... 23 1.5 TOWARDS AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH .................................................................................................... 32 1.6 RESEARCH APPROACHES EMPLOYED IN THIS STUDY ................................................................................. 34 1.7 RESEARCH METHODS.................................................................................................................................. 38 1.8 PHILOSOPHICAL BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................. 39 1.9 PSYCHOLOGICAL BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................ 47 CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH DATA ................................................................................................................... 53 2.1 QUESTION 1: WHAT DO PEOPLE ASSOCIATE WITH THE NOTION OF ENVIRONMENT? ............................... 53 2.2 QUESTION 2: WHAT DO PEOPLE ASSOCIATE WITH THE NOTION OF HARMING THE ENVIRONMENT? ....... 54 2.3 QUESTION 3: WHAT ARE THE CONNECTIONS BETWEENS PEOPLE’S FEELINGS, EMOTIONS, AND THEIR BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS THE ENVIRONMENT? ........................................................................................................ 57 2.4 QUESTION 4: HOW HAVE PEOPLE LEARNED ABOUT THE DETERIORATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND WHAT HAS INFLUENCED THEM TO CHANGE THEIR PERCEPTION OF AND BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS THE ENVIRONMENT? ..................................................................................................................................................... 60 2.5 QUESTION 5: WHAT DO PEOPLE ASSOCIATE WITH THE NOTIONS OF SUSTAINABILITY AND SUSTAINABLE LIVING, AND WHICH EXPERIENCES, IF ANY, HAVE ENHANCED THEIR ABILITY TO LIVE SUSTAINABLY? ........... 65 2.6 DATA ANALYSIS .......................................................................................................................................... 68 CHAPTER 3 NOTIONS ON CONSCIOUSNESS AND SELF ................................................................... 71 3.1 NOTIONS ON CONSCIOUSNESS .................................................................................................................... 71 3.2 NOTIONS OF ‘SELF’ ..................................................................................................................................... 77 3.3 ASPECTS OF EGO-SELF CONSCIOUSNESS .................................................................................................... 81 CHAPTER 4 MANIPULATED ECO-SELF CONSCIOUSNESS (STAGE ONE).................................. 84 4.1 4.1 PROBLEMS WITH DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN BEHAVIOURIST AND COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY ........... 84 4.2 THE NATURE OF MANIPULATED ECO-SELF CONSCIOUSNESS ..................................................................... 85 4.3 BEHAVIOURAL TECHNOLOGIES USED TO FOSTER SUSTAINABLE BEHAVIOUR .......................................... 86 4.4 BENEFITS OF BEHAVIOURIST INTERVENTIONS ........................................................................................... 88 CHAPTER 5 LEARNED ECO-SELF CONSCIOUSNESS (STAGE TWO)............................................ 89 5.1 COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY ........................................................................................................................... 89 5.2 LEARNING ECO-SELF CONSCIOUSNESS ....................................................................................................... 89 5.3 BENEFITS OF AN APPROACH BASED ON COGNITION AND LEARNING ......................................................... 91 CHAPTER 6 PARTICIPATORY ECO-SELF CONSCIOUSNESS (STAGE THREE)......................... 92 6.1 EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY (EFS) .................................................................................................. 92 6.2 THE NOTION OF PARTICIPATORY ECO-SELF CONSCIOUSNESS.................................................................... 92 6.3 BENEFITS OF EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY ........................................................................................ 93 6.4 EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT........................................................................................ 95 1 CHAPTER 7 DEEP ECO-CONSCIOUSNESS (STAGE FOUR)............................................................... 98 7.1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................................ 98 7.2 KEY CONCEPTS OF DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY .................................................................................................... 98 7.3 FROM A FREUDIAN TO A REICHIAN SELF-CONCEPT ................................................................................101 7.4 OUR SEARCH FOR EMOTIONAL IDENTITY, HAPPINESS, FREEDOM AND BELONGING ...............................103 7.5 A DEFENCE MECHANISM PERSPECTIVE OF ECOLOGICAL CRISES .............................................................105 7.6 AN OBJECT RELATIONS AND CHARACTER STRUCTURE APPROACH TO ECOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY.......116 7.7 ECOLOGICAL CRISES AND THE ORAL-EXPLOITING CONDITION ...............................................................121 7.8 ECOLOGICAL CRISES AND THE NARCISSISTIC-SHAMING CONDITION ......................................................126 CHAPTER 8 HOLISTIC ECO-SELF CONSCIOUSNESS (STAGE FIVE)..........................................136 8.1 EPISTEMOLOGY .........................................................................................................................................137 8.2 METAPHORS OF UNSUSTAINABLE LIVING ................................................................................................141 8.3 THE SEPARATION METAPHOR ...................................................................................................................142 8.4 THE POLLUTION/WASTE METAPHOR.........................................................................................................148 8.5 THE GROWTH/EXCESS METAPHOR ............................................................................................................152 8.6 THE EXHAUSTION METAPHOR...................................................................................................................155 CHAPTER 9 PERSON-PLANET UNITY CONSCIOUSNESS (STAGE 6) ..........................................161 9.1 SIX PERSON-PLANET UNITY EXPERIENCES ...............................................................................................161 9.2 ISSUES OF TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY ..............................................................................................163 9.3 TRAUMAS AND LOSS OF PERSON-PLANET UNITY .....................................................................................166 9.4 COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS ..........................................................................................................................168 9.5 PERSON-PLANET UNITY AND ENERGY ......................................................................................................170 9.6 REDEFINING OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY................................................................................................172 9.7 THE SCHIZOID-REJECTING CONDITION AND THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT............................................174 9.8 THE SCHIZOID CONDITION AND TERRORISM ............................................................................................179 CHAPTER 10 PLACING THE SIX-STAGE MODEL IN LARGER FRAMEWORKS .....................188 10.1 LINEAR AND CIRCULAR MODELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS TRANSFORMATION ...........................................188 10.2 FROM EDUCATION TOWARDS CHANGE TOWARDS AN ENABLING OF SUSTAINABLE LIVING .................191 10.3 DEEP AND SHALLOW CHANGE ................................................................................................................195 10.4 LIMITATIONS OF APPROACHES TO CHANGE BASED ON BEHAVIOURIST PSYCHOLOGY .........................199 10.5 LIMITATIONS OF A COGNITIVE APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE ...........................................203 10.6 DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY AND POSTMODERN ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION .............................................207 10.7 CRITIQUE OF ASPECTS OF CONSTRUCTIVE POSTMODERNISM ................................................................213 10.8 ECOLOGICAL PSYCHOTHERAPIES ...........................................................................................................217 CHAPTER 11 FROM SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TO SUSTAINABLE LIVING.................222 11.1 SUSTAINABILITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................222 11.2 ASPECTS OF SUSTAINABLE LIVING .........................................................................................................226 11.3 SUSTAINABILITY INDICATORS ................................................................................................................229 CHAPTER 12 EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVING .................................................................239 12.1 ECOLOGICAL APPROACHES UNDERPINNING ESL ..................................................................................239 12.2 OBJECTIVES OF EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVING.......................................................................246 12.3 FEATURES OF ESL ..................................................................................................................................249 12.4 SUSTAINABILITY POLICIES AND ‘SUSTAINOLOGY’ ................................................................................251 CHAPTER 13 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION......................................................................................256 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................................262 2 List of Tables Table 1.1 Topics relating to a holistic versus a mechanistic worldview ........................................................... 33 Table 1.2 List of participants by gender, age-bracket, and marital status ........................................................ 39 Table 1.3 Distribution of participants by gender, age-bracket, and marital status ........................................... 39 Table 3.1 Aspects of ego-self and eco-self.......................................................................................................... 81 Table 4.1 Behaviourist approaches to change .................................................................................................... 85 Table 6.1 Modern versus deconstructionist postmodern psychology................................................................ 93 Table 6.2 Cognitive modern versus cognitive postmodern education foci ....................................................... 95 Table 6.3 Assumed causes of ecological deterioration (modern versus deconstructionist postmodern) ........ 96 Table 7.1 Psychological comparison between coloniser and colonized ..........................................................134 Table 8.1 Exoteric and esoteric/holistic principles ...........................................................................................141 Table 8.2 Aspects of the separation metaphor ..................................................................................................148 Table 8.3 Aspects of the wastefulness/pollution metaphor ..............................................................................152 Table 8.4 Aspects of the growth/excess metaphor............................................................................................155 Table 8.5 Aspects of the exhaustion metaphor..................................................................................................159 Table 8.6 Body-mind and person-planet synergies and compensatory structures .........................................160 Table 9.1 Comparison between the disconnected and the integrated child....................................................176 Table 10.1 Comparison of deconstructionist and depth psychology values ...................................................209 Table 10.2 Comparing environmental education based on a mechanistic, postmodern, ecological, and depth psychology worldview...................................................................................................................................210 Table 10.3 Theoretical framework, schools of thought, and aims of postmodern, cognitive psychology and depth psychology ...........................................................................................................................................211 Table 10.4 Assumptions concerning causes of environmental degradation ....................................................211 Table 10.5 Strategies for supporting behavioural change .................................................................................212 Table 10.6 Comparison of deconstructionist, Spretnak’s ecological postmodernism and an ecology based on depth psychology and transpersonal psychology.........................................................................................213 Table 11.1 Issues relating to health (Added features appear in italics) ...........................................................236 Table 11.2 Issues relating to education ..............................................................................................................236 Table 11.3 Issues relating to births and childrearing (Added features appear in italics) ................................236 Table 11.4 Issues relating to relationships (Added features appear in italics) ................................................237 Table 11.5 Psychosocial sustainability testing questions .................................................................................237 Table 11.6 Physio-emotional sustainability testing questions..........................................................................237 Table 11.7 Environmental sustainability testing questions ..............................................................................238 Table 12.1 Examples of sustainable and unsustainable structures...................................................................253 3 List of Figures Figure 1.2 Happiness and spending money ......................................................................................................... 29 Figure 1.3 A case of Multiple Sclerosis.................................................................................................................. 30 Figure 10.1 System on different levels of sustainability .....................................................................................191 Figure 10.2 System surrounded by resistance wall..............................................................................................192 Figure 10.3 System on three of the possible six stages .......................................................................................193 Figure 10.4 Forces acting at a point of crisis ......................................................................................................196 Figure 10.5 Schematic distribution of consciousness among modern people....................................................196 Figure 10.6 Schematic distribution of consciousness achieved through Education of Sustainable Development .........................................................................................................................................................................197 Figure 10.7 Schematic distribution of consciousness achieved through Education for Sustainable Living ....197 Figure 12.1 Sustainability Mapping Process .........................................................................................................248 4 Abstract This research project, entitled Sustainable Living for a Sustainable Earth, responds to the observation of radical ecologists and ecopsychologists that our present approaches to environmental change are widely limited to technological, behavioural and cognitive strategies, and lack a deep understanding of the complex psychological and sociocultural interrelationships that underpin human perception and behaviour. To gain a deepened understanding of our ecological crises from depth psychological, holistic, and transpersonal perspectives, a number of counsellors, psychotherapists, naturopaths, and one environmental educator were either interviewed or completed questionnaires that explored the meaning of the terms ‘environment’ and ‘sustainability’. They were also invited to express their views on environmental deterioration and what it means to them to live sustainably. The knowledge obtained from the research participants, an extensive literature review, and my professional experience as a psychotherapist, workshop facilitator and trainer, suggest that the current dominant theories and practices of environmental education, and other change practices, are limited in their effectiveness. This is because they fail to provide a deep understanding of the unconscious emotional and psychosocial forces that prevent most people in modern societies from developing a coherent and stable sense of self. This self-deficit, then, predictably manifests as experiences of disconnectedness from nature, as anthropocentric worldviews, and as destructive and uncaring feelings and behaviour towards the natural environment and human beings (themselves and others). The need to acknowledge the value of the existing theories and practices of environmental and sustainability education, and the proposed necessity to integrate the abovementioned perspectives, has led to the proposition that a shift from the dominance of ego-self consciousness to a fully developed eco-self consciousness can be framed as the following six-stage process: • manipulated eco-self consciousness based on the application of behaviourism • learned eco-self consciousness based on the application of cognitive psychology • participative eco-self consciousness based on deconstructionist postmodern psychology • deep eco-self consciousness based on the application of depth psychology • holistic eco-self consciousness based on the application of holistic and psychosomatic thinking, and • eco-self consciousness based on transpersonal psychology and processes facilitating felt experiences of body-mind and person-planet unity. 5

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