Session 6 Assignment Overview

Colleagues,

This month we are going to focus on some of the better literature on sustainability leadership that is out of the integral arena. We will also continue with work to deepen your understanding of the integral framework in action for sustainability. I have included four great case studies that range from fishery management to developing sustainability principles for a major water project to linking strategic foresight with sustainability (with a look at nuclear power as a potential solution for climate change) to reducing consumption and waste. Also included is a great TED video by Janine Benyus on Biomimicry, and a link to my favorite newsletter: FutureEdition by John Peterson. He offers up some controversial perspectives frequently, but his newsletter of leading news articles about macro forces that are shaping our world is really interesting and will help you stay up to speed in this vast information age.

Finally, I want to continue to hold out the opportunity to in-depth work on your project during the next class. Here are the details on that again. The reading assignment is below.

An Opportunity/Challenge For Anyone in the Course - Deadline by April 21:
What I am most willing to do during class is to take a deeper dive into real projects that people are working on, and work together in a practical way to advance them. That comes to my third design precept for this course: action learning (the first two being to focus on 1) self-awareness development/embodiment and 2) understanding of the core concepts that undergird a sophisticated understanding of sustainability). For even deeper practical insight on applying this stuff (beyond the many case studies offered), I invite you to bring a real case to class that you are struggling with and we will take good time to look at it. There is a caveat to this, though. In order to efficiently use everyone's time, the case has to be well prepared and submitted ahead of time to me for approval, and I need time to prepare as well. So here's how I'd like to organize this...

If you want to offer an aspect of your project (or other sustainability issue) for us to work on during the next class, then submit to all of us, by April 21st, a one-page overview, max 300 words, that has:

  • Sufficient details to understand the general context;
  • A clear statement of the project objective(s) which is SMART (specific, measurable, agreeable, realistic, and time-bound);
  • A clear problem definition of the issue you feel challenged by
  • A short note on what you've tried already, or thought about already, to address the problem.

I will review the submissions and choose one for us to focus on.

I'm excited about this and really hope that some of you step up and use this opportunity to not only advance your project but also to serve the deeper learning of our community.


REQUIRED READING  

On Systems Understanding


On Sustainability Leadership

  • “Sustainability leadership: Co-creating a sustainable future” by Mary A. Ferdig
  • "A leader's framework for decision-making" (on the cynefin model) by David J. Snowden and Mary E. Boone
  • "Overcoming the seven sustainability blunders" by Bob Doppelt - available at: http://www.pegasuscom.com/<wbr></wbr>levpoints/7blunders.html
  • “The action logics of environmental leadership: A developmental perspective” by Olivier Boiral, Mario Cayer, Charles M. Baron


On Application of the Integral Framework (Choose two of interest)

  • "Integral marine ecology: Community based fishery management in Hawaii" by Brian Tissot
  • "Water sustainability: Integral case study - Developing sustainability principles" by Will Varey
  • "An integral approach to sustainable consumption and waste reduction" - by Cameron Owens - from the World Futures journal, integral edition
  • "Linking foresight and sustainability: An integral approach" - by Josh Floyd and Kipling Zubevich, from Futures Journal. Has a case study on considering nuclear power as a response to climate change.


FOR THE HUNGRY

  • D'Amato, Alessia, Henderson, Sybil, & Florence, Sue (2009). Corporate social responsibility and sustainable development: A guide to leadership tasks and functions. Center for Creative Leadership. - This provides an overview of the literature on sustainability leadership. Most interesting is the annotated biography at the end. Scan through the annotated biography and read the sections that are of most interest to you. The article itself is 12 pages. If you want some of the articles mentioned, I can get them for you.
  • Read the other case studies I submitted above


Barrett

Barrett C. Brown, M.A., Co-Director
Integral Sustainability Center