Sense & Sustainability – A Conference and a Celebration
June 5-8, 2011
CAUCE 2011 marked the celebration of 25 years of Continuing Education at the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto. More than a play on a Jane Austen novel, the conference title, Sense & Sustainability, underlined what is acknowledged as one of this century’s most significant insights: sustainability means survival. And survival makes a lot of sense.
CAUCE 2011 marked the celebration of 25 years of Continuing Education at the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto. More than a play on a Jane Austen novel, the conference title, Sense & Sustainability, underlined what is acknowledged as one of this century’s most significant insights: sustainability means survival. And survival makes a lot of sense.
The word ‘sustainability’ entered common usage relatively recently. In fact, searches in dictionaries published before the new millennium rarely yield a listing of the noun. But the verb ‘sustain’ (meaning to support, especially for a long period) is there, as is the adjective ‘sustainable.’
Though the noun’s usage may be recent, its meaning has been acknowledged for centuries. Derived from the Latin sustinere (tenere, to hold; sus, up) it was originally used by environmentalists like Paul Hawken, whose groundbreaking book The Ecology of Commerce (HarperCollins, 1993) was subtitled A Declaration of Sustainability. Since then the term has come to refer to “that which enables the present generation of humans and other species to enjoy social well-being without compromising the ability of future generations of humans and other species to enjoy the same.”
How can we achieve sustainability?
Delegates to CAUCE 2011 explored the question under three general headings: Enlightenment, Economics and Environment. As educators, they could well understand the power of enlightenment to connect sense with sustainability when confronting the truly significant scientific, economic and social challenges of our time. Opening Plenary speaker, Geoff Cape, set the tone for the conference by pointing out the value of accepting even the occasional failure as part of the process that embraces change and innovation. By sharing the story of one social enterprise, Evergreen, he demonstrated the power of creativity, collaboration and risk tolerance in building a sustainable business model.
In a presentation that wove film clips and poetry into a historical overview of the evolution of ecological ethics, luncheon speaker Stephen Scharper challenged participants to consider the fundamental questions that face education in light of the pressing ecological issues he described, and to reflect on the myriad ways in which we can promote and sustain our creative, critical, intellectual and spiritual energies. Only an enlightened approach, Scharper suggested, will help us maintain hope in the midst of these major concerns.
As business leaders—and continuing education units do, in fact, function as small business units within a university context—participants also appreciated the economic imperative of sustainability. Conference keynote speaker and author of The Sustainability Champion’s Guidebook, Bob Willard, described the distinct advantages to be gained by embracing long-term versus short-term decision making, and by adopting a life-cycle approach to the production of goods and services. He called this the shift from a linear ‘take —make— waste’ model to a circular, more ecological ‘borrow—use—return’ one, a considerable shift in mindset. By using this closed-loop system, there is no waste: companies use any production waste and end-of-life disposal as a new resource.
As says a Native American proverb, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” And to endure for a long period is valuable and desirable not only for our species and our planet, but also for our organizations, our universities, our businesses, our communities and our countries.
Continuing education at St. Michael’s extends its sincere appreciation to all the delegates, speakers and sponsors who helped to make its Conference and its Celebration such a success.
Slides and speaking notes provided by presenters will be soon be available under the “proceedings” tab on this website.
(Portions of this note were originally published in an article by conference chair Mimi Marrocco, which appeared in the St. Michael’s Alumni magazine, Fall, 2011).
