Keywords

1.1 Setting the Scene

In 2017 when this project began, hardly a week went by without some headline or another testifying to environmental justice issues. For example, “Storms hit poorer people harder from superstorm Sandy to Hurricane Maria” (Sellers, 2017) and “Urban noise pollution is worst in poor and minority neighborhoods and segregated cities” (Casey et al., 2017). We saw regular headlines about climate change, such as, “Federal scientists call the warming of the Arctic ‘unprecedented over the last 1500 years’” (Mooney, 2017) and “2017: The year climate change hit” (Banos Ruiz, 2017). We also saw headlines reporting attacks on science and scientists. “Climate scientists face harassment, threats and fears of ‘McCarthyist attacks’” (Milman, 2017). These attacks led to “Tens of thousands march[ing] for science and against threats to climate research” (Cushman, 2017).

Fast-forward 5 years to the completion of this project and the headlines for 2021 show problems still abound, but some signs of hope are recognized. For example, “How much air pollution do you live with? It may depend on your skin color.” (McCormick, 2021) contrasts with the “EPA gets serious about environmental justice” (Macfarlan et al., 2021). “Climate change [is] widespread, rapid, and intensifying – IPCC” (IPCC, 2021) contrasts with, “COP26 news: Coal phase-out boosts hope for limiting warming to 1.5 °C” (Marshall et al., 2021). “‘We’re heartbroken. We’re overwhelmed’ – U.S. hospitals grapple with delta outbreak as omicron takes root” (Kimball et al., 2021) appears alongside, “How Puerto Rico became the most vaccinated place in America” (Narea, 2021).

In the context of a rapidly-warming world, a global pandemic, systemic racism and environmental racism, as science researchers and educators, we recognize an urgent need for comprehensive sustainability and environmental justice education. We also recognize the special role that higher education can and should play in the creation of a sustainable future. In particular, higher education must challenge several prevailing assumptions (Cortese, 2003, p. 17):

  • Humans are the dominant species and separate from the rest of nature.

  • Resources are free and inexhaustible.

  • Earth’s ecosystems can assimilate all human impacts.

  • Technology will solve most of society’s problems.

  • All human needs and wants can be met through material means.

  • Individual success is independent of the health and well-being of communities, cultures, and the life support system.

To challenge these assumptions and achieve a holistic vision of education for sustainability that attends to viability, feasibility, durability, wholeness, and scale-sensitivity, we must thoughtfully and carefully address issues of justice, inclusion, and authenticity. Justice includes commitments to integrity, civil and human rights, fairness, and equity. Inclusion unpacks how we involve, incorporate, and weave together diverse stakeholders and perspectives and foster a sense of belonging. Finally, authenticity deepens our understanding of the genuineness, originality, credibility, and trustworthiness of our different approaches to sustainability.

In this volume, we gather voices from natural sciences, social sciences and the humanities, educators, administrators, staff, and students. Contributions range from life in the universe, climate change, volcanoes, birds, honey bees, microbiology, and the chemistry of lead, to green roofs, Bio Blitzes, science teacher education, and higher education. The work takes place in the community, at institutions, across institutions, and in the field, the classroom, the lab, and even within personal lives. Time scales range from billions to hundreds of thousands of years, to the historical, decadal, present, and projected and predicted future. Formats include reviews, personal essays, project narratives, curriculum reflections, interviews, panel discussions, and group conversations. The chapters explore sustainability and environmental justice through a focus on the subject matter (what to teach or research), the process (how to teach or motivate students and stakeholders to care about sustainability), and the people (who teaches, who learns, and who matters in education for sustainability). That said, this volume has an admittedly STEM foundation – in part due to the background of the editors – but also because many faculty come to sustainability from the natural sciences. All tell the story of their learning as they grapple with teaching for sustainability with authenticity, inclusivity and justice.

Part I of the book focuses on how we frame and reframe sustainability and environmental justice through a historical lens (María Rivera Maulucci, Chap. 2), the lens of diversity in academia (Shirley-Ann Behravesh, Chap. 3), an intersectional lens (Angelica E. Patterson, Tanisha M. Williams, Jorge Ramos, Suzanne Pierre, Chap. 4), a critique of ecology’s white nationalism problem (Ralph Ghoche and Unyimeabasi Udoh, Chap. 5), and the lens of science teacher education (María S. Rivera Maulucci, Chap. 6). Together, these chapters explore the fraught history (Ghoche and Udoh; Rivera Maulucci) and present-day experiences of academics grappling with sustainability in authentic, inclusive, and just ways (Behravesh; Patterson et al.; Rivera Maulucci). Concerning the student experience, “Education for Sustainability can help us answer the timeless question, ‘Why are we learning this.’ … Students also see that sustainability pathways can expand their ideas about the meaning and relevance…” of the subject (Rivera Maulucci, Chap. 6). On the other hand, a feeling of responsibility for relevance and inclusivity can wear on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) faculty. Through contributing to numerous department, university, and community committees, along with stepping up to informally mentor students, etc., as the only Black faculty member in her unit, Behravesh found that she lost traction towards her goal of academic advancement. “[B]y appearing to take everything in stride – I also made my efforts, and the toll it was taking on me, invisible.” In her discussion with colleagues of color, Williams explains that, “… being the color we are, from the cultures we are from, and having the experiences we have, [means] we are not just scientists. We are actually doing justice work just by showing up” (Patterson et al.).

Part II of the book explores sustainability and ecological perspectives on biodiversity. The chapters delve into sustainability issues surrounding the purpose of ex-situ conservation, specifically in greenhouse collections (Nick Gershberg, Chap. 7), cell biology and saving pollinators (Jonathan W. Snow, Chap. 8) finding the most important places for birds (Terryanne Maenza-Gmelch, Chap. 9), the local ecology of New York City green roofs (Matthew Rhodes, Krista McGuire, Katherine L. Shek, and Tejashree S. Gopal), conducting urban BioBlitzes (Kelly O’Donnell and Lisa Brundage, Chap. 11), and using game-based learning to engage students in learning about the human microbiome (Emma Ruskin and Tal Danino, Chap. 12). These chapters provide classroom and field-based examples of using experiences to engage students authentically.

Rhodes et al. note “… we intended for our students to gain a deeper understanding of these ecological challenges in the city in which they lived and achieve a more personal connection to their laboratory research projects.” Both Maenza-Gmelch and Snow discuss teaching reciprocity – that managing the environment for non-humans, also protects it for ourselves. Snow explains “… an environment that is healthy for pollinators is also healthy for people. So you automatically get into aspects of climate justice, and where people live, and how the environment they are in is going to impact their health.”

O’Donnell and Brundage and Ruskin and Danino also consider justice, but from a knowledge access perspective, “…we consider providing all students, whether they will become scientists or not, with foundational knowledge to navigate the scientific information they will encounter in day-to-day life to be a pressing social justice matter.” (O’Donnell and Brundage).

Part III of the book investigates sustainability and environmental justice perspectives in undergraduate science education. The chapters explore the chemistry and pedagogy of environmental lead exposure (Rachel Narehood Austin, Ann McDermott, Katrina Korfmacher, Laura Arbelaez, Jamie Bousleiman, Arminda Downey-Mavromatis, Rahma Elsiesy, Sohee Ki, Meena Rao, and Shoshana Williams, Chap. 13), Brownfield Action, a web-based active learning simulation (Peter Bower and Sedelia Rodriguez, Chap. 14), integrating ecojustice principles into ecology and environmental science courses (Mary A. Heskel and Jennings G. A. Mergenthal, Chap. 15), and using plant science in the UNPAK project (Undergraduates Phenotyping Arabidopsis Knockouts) to expand critical thinking skills and meaningful personal relationships, both so necessary for journeying from classes and on-campus research toward careers and life’s other challenges. (Hilary S. Callahan, Michael Wolyniak, Matthew Rutter, Courtney Murren, April Bisner, and Jennifer Jo Thompson, Chap. 16).

Each chapter addresses experiences with changing perspectives on teaching. Wolyniak of the UNPAK project emphasizes integrating classroom and independent experiences, crucial for allowing college students “to participate in the research regardless of their previous background and experience. This is a powerful tool … [to] inspire many more students than I could have before, and to attract people who may have slipped through the cracks.” Heskel and Merganthal, also working on a college campus, discuss a fundamental shift in teacher orientation. While our teaching “… often recognize[s] the importance of human systems and their effects … It is less common for professors to expand into the structural inequalities of human systems and how they shape the science we practice and the content we deliver.”

Austin et al. caution,

…talking about issues of social justice in the classroom requires a skilled facilitator. College science teachers may not be trained or experienced in moderating such difficult conversations. It can be helpful to lay out some guidelines for talking about racism, equity, and justice at the beginning of the class, particularly that their colleagues and community members may have very different life experiences and perspectives… It is important to remind students to remain humble and to acknowledge how much they do not know about diverse communities’ experiences and multidisciplinary perspectives. It can be challenging to balance this message while also encouraging students to become as confident of their basic scientific skills as quickly as they can.

Part IV of the book zooms in on climate change, engagement, politics, and action from the perspective of teaching about astronomy (Laura Kay and Kassandra Fuiten, Chap. 17), volcanoes (Sedelia Rodriguez and Kassandra Fuiten, Chap. 18), two decades of evolving approaches to teaching about climate change in environmental science (Stephanie Pfirman and Gisela Winckler, Chap. 19), and the process of building a circular campus at Barnard College (Sandra Goldmark, Leslie Raucher, and Ana Cardenas, Chap. 20). Kay and Fuiten and Rodriguez and Fuiton integrate teaching about climate change into their teaching of astronomy and volcanoes. Kay notes, “It is certainly an environmental justice issue to keep Earth habitable for humans! There is no way we can relocate everyone to another planet in the foreseeable future.” Rodriguez talks about intentionality in connecting students with their environments.

I think that teaching students about the natural world is especially important because hopefully as they look more at their environment, they will appreciate it more and want to preserve it. Knowing what happens naturally helps plan for a sustainable community. We can’t control everything – what can we not change? What do we need to work around? When you don’t understand the natural world, it’s harder to fight for it. Knowledge about the environment becomes a vehicle for activism.

Pfirman and Winckler tackle the political polarization of climate change “…explor[ing] how faculty who taught [a course in] climate over the years responded to [a] shifting landscape of both external context and internal responses.” They explain that

While scientists teaching about evolution have long had to face these issues, the rest of the scientific community was largely distanced from being confronted with questions about their opinions or positions, versus facts or a scientific consensus. For those who were teaching about climate, this was an unusual, and sometimes uncomfortable, situation. … [We] needed to learn how to address these differences with authenticity – congruent with who we are, and our own values – both in the classroom and beyond.

Goldmark et al. bring the need for action outside of the classroom home, stating “building a circular campus becomes about more than recycling, waste, or even greenhouse gas emissions; it is about creating a more equitable and just community.”

Finally, Part V brings us up to Spring 2021 with an introduction and series of edited transcripts from sustaining curricula conversations held at Barnard over Zoom due to the pandemic. These conversations brought faculty and students together to explore how sustainability was being integrated into the undergraduate curriculum. The introduction to the panel discussions (Jennifer Rosales, Chap. 20) provides an overview of the campus initiatives leading up to the interdisciplinary faculty panels and an explanation of themes for each panel. The first panel (Orlando Betancor, Carl Wennerlind, Hilary Callahan, Yuval Dinoor, Rachel Elkis, Chap. 22) addresses the theme of theorizing the environment from the perspective of History, Spanish and Latin American Cultures, and Ecology. The second panel (Angelo Caglioti, Andrew Crowther, Jonathan Snow, María S. Rivera Maulucci, Yuval Dinoor, Aastha Jain, Chap. 23) takes up the theme of climate change and the Anthropocene from the perspective of Environmental History, Chemistry, Biology, and Science Education. The third panel (Elizabeth M. Cook, Manu Karuka, Angela M. Simms, Joscelyn Jurich (Ed.) Yuval Dinoor, Rachel Elkis, Chap. 24) focuses on environmental justice. The fourth panel discussion (Kadambari Baxi, Sandra Goldmark, Martin Stute, Joscelyn Jurich (Ed.), Linda Chen, Olivia Wang, Chap. 25) takes up the challenge of decarbonization and design.

Wennerlind (Panel 1) reminds us of the foundation for our historical trajectory. It is

…essential to deconstruct the notion of scarcity and point out that it is based on assumptions made in the 1870s, grounded in very limited psychological or anthropological research. It was just analytically convenient to assume that human desires are insatiable and that people are mostly focused on consumption. While this way of thinking fostered behavior and policies conducive to economic growth, our present challenge is to build a social science that is conducive to more sustainable practices.

Karuka (Panel 3) connects a history of consumption to a need for a new emphasis on justice. He notes, “[in] addition to these broader overarching themes of imperialism, racism, and colonialism, I think environmental justice is also a way to think about place and our relationships and responsibilities to place.”

Cagliotti (Panel 2) moves from responsibility to empowerment and personal action, explaining,

When you try to examine such a global issue, an issue that has so many facets and so many angles, it is easy to feel a little bit powerless in a sense, and to say, “Okay, so what can I do?” The goal of teaching a subject like this is to empower students and make them feel that precisely because this is such a global issue with so many facets, that regardless of the discipline that you are studying, regardless of your major, or regardless of what you will be doing after college, for example, or regardless of your locality…or where you are situated geographically, where is your community? You can always make an impact, from any angle if you can think globally and act locally to use a very common expression.

Stute (Panel 4), in reference to tackling climate change, says “… we have to move people’s minds, we have to generate some groundswell of support for these massive changes we have to see in the future of our lives.”

This volume will point to some of the ways we see hope grounded in the difficult, meaningful work of each of the contributors as they strive for a more sustainable future by teaching sustainability with authenticity, inclusion, and justice.