This research focuses on the academic programs at the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm (the Farm). The Farm is a centre for sustainability learning and research, providing a working model of sustainable food systems with which to engage students, faculty and community. The Farm is situated within the global context of a dominant industrial food paradigm that is demonstrated to be a major contributor to the social and ecological crises the world now faces. The Farm is further situated within the context of a dominant education paradigm that provides most students with knowledge that is disconnected from social and ecological realities, leading to the misuse of knowledge and to the exacerbation of global crises. The purpose of this research is to explore the contributions that the Farm’s academic programs provide toward advancing sustainability learning from the perspective of program participants, including myself. The research methodology was guided by participatory approaches to research. Qualitative methods were employed, focusing primarily on surveys and semi-structured interviews with program participants. I have also been an involved participant in a diversity of programs at the Farm from April 2004 – December 2008. The results of the research suggest that program participants value the ability to engage with their subject matter, not only on an abstract/theoretical level, but also on practical and affective levels. Participants feel that UBC is lacking in programs that allow students to engage physically and emotionally with their learning. Students feel their knowledge will be better recalled and more likely to be useful if they care about what they are learning, if they can engage with it in a real world context, and if they have some ownership and responsibility for what they are learning. Further, program participants feel that the Farm’s academic programs would benefit from providing more theoretical context and connection to their other academic work, from additions and improvements to Farm infrastructure and resources, and from additional human resources support. This research project was site specific. Nevertheless, it connects with and complements work being done at dozens of universities, colleges and student farms around the world.

This research focuses on the academic programs at the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm (the Farm). The Farm is a centre for sustainability learning and research, providing a working model of sustainable food systems with which to engage students, faculty and community. The Farm is situated within the global context of a dominant industrial food paradigm that is demonstrated to be a major contributor to the social and ecological crises the world now faces. The Farm is further situated within the context of a dominant education paradigm that provides most students with knowledge that is disconnected from social and ecological realities, leading to the misuse of knowledge and to the exacerbation of global crises. The purpose of this research is to explore the contributions that the Farm’s academic programs provide toward advancing sustainability learning from the perspective of program participants, including myself. The research methodology was guided by participatory approaches to research. Qualitative methods were employed, focusing primarily on surveys and semi-structured interviews with program participants. I have also been an involved participant in a diversity of programs at the Farm from April 2004 – December 2008. The results of the research suggest that program participants value the ability to engage with their subject matter, not only on an abstract/theoretical level, but also on practical and affective levels. Participants feel that UBC is lacking in programs that allow students to engage physically and emotionally with their learning. Students feel their knowledge will be better recalled and more likely to be useful if they care about what they are learning, if they can engage with it in a real world context, and if they have some ownership and responsibility for what they are learning. Further, program participants feel that the Farm’s academic programs would benefit from providing more theoretical context and connection to their other academic work, from additions and improvements to Farm infrastructure and resources, and from additional human resources support. This research project was site specific. Nevertheless, it connects with and complements work being done at dozens of universities, colleges and student farms around the world.

This research focuses on the academic programs at the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm (the Farm). The Farm is a centre for sustainability learning and research, providing a working model of sustainable food systems with which to engage students, faculty and community. The Farm is situated within the global context of a dominant industrial food paradigm that is demonstrated to be a major contributor to the social and ecological crises the world now faces. The Farm is further situated within the context of a dominant education paradigm that provides most students with knowledge that is disconnected from social and ecological realities, leading to the misuse of knowledge and to the exacerbation of global crises. The purpose of this research is to explore the contributions that the Farm’s academic programs provide toward advancing sustainability learning from the perspective of program participants, including myself. The research methodology was guided by participatory approaches to research. Qualitative methods were employed, focusing primarily on surveys and semi-structured interviews with program participants. I have also been an involved participant in a diversity of programs at the Farm from April 2004 – December 2008. The results of the research suggest that program participants value the ability to engage with their subject matter, not only on an abstract/theoretical level, but also on practical and affective levels. Participants feel that UBC is lacking in programs that allow students to engage physically and emotionally with their learning. Students feel their knowledge will be better recalled and more likely to be useful if they care about what they are learning, if they can engage with it in a real world context, and if they have some ownership and responsibility for what they are learning. Further, program participants feel that the Farm’s academic programs would benefit from providing more theoretical context and connection to their other academic work, from additions and improvements to Farm infrastructure and resources, and from additional human resources support. This research project was site specific. Nevertheless, it connects with and complements work being done at dozens of universities, colleges and student farms around the world. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

I have chosen to conduct an intuitive inquiry into the relationship between a pedagogical focus on epistemological stretching and transformative sustainability learning. The study contributes to theoretical and practical knowledge of teaching and learning about and within the realm of transformative sustainability learning, and contributes to a deepened understanding of epistemological stretching as a pedagogical orientation. Specifically, I have investigated the implications of epistemological stretching as a focal point for teaching and learning for students in ENVS 811: Multiple Ways of Knowing in Environmental Decision Making, a graduate level course in the School of Environment and Sustainability (SENS) at the University of Saskatchewan. Using the 5 cycles of Intuitive Inquiry, this research records and interprets accounts of eight students who participated in ENVS 811. The course is oriented around critical examination of human-nature relations with an emphasis on epistemology. The goal for this research is to investigate the ways in which a focus on epistemological stretching can enable three things: (1) prepare students to engage in interdisciplinary and sustainability knowledge creation; (2) help alleviate the epistemic incongruence in resource co-management arrangements; and (3) bring multiple ways of knowing to bear on complex environmental issues. This research is focused on answering three questions: 1. In what ways can a focus on epistemology help enable perspective transformation implicit in a transformative learning experience? 2. In what ways can educating for epistemological stretching result in new ways of thinking, valuing, doing? 3. In what ways can epistemological stretching help students engage in more effective and ethically appropriate ways with Indigenous peoples and their knowledges? This research concludes that epistemological stretching can contribute to transformative sustainability pedagogy in meaningful ways and develops 5 lenses for describing the conceptual spaces in which learning occurs: acknowledgement and deconstruction of power, relationship reconceptualization, change in perspective and action, worldview bridging, and validation of previously held views.

This dissertation reports a study exploring adult engagement with sustainability learning practices in EcoSchools-certified secondary schools in Canada, Lithuania and Sweden as a means towards shaping a liveable future. The study is situated in the area of education for sustainable development. The study design was initially based on an interest in revealing specific practices of sustainability education as a means of improving the relationship between environmental impact and wealth. While echoing findings in the existing literature, this research contributes to the development of the field through insight into the perspectives that adults bring to sustainability education. Primary data collected in the spring of 2006 were recorded (mostly single) semistructured interviews with 30 individuals (national coordinators, caretakers, teachers and administrators), including 10 Canadians from four schools, 14 Lithuanians from four schools, and six Swedes from two schools. Four phases of qualitative analysis were used on the data: initial transcript coding and trends; précis document trends; a six-stage model of interview responses allowing vertical (between question) and horizontal (between stage) comparisons; word maps of subthemes as a scaffold to detail participants’ four primary views (long, wide, deep, dynamic) regarding sustainability. Ultimately, the results of this study point less than expected to revealing specific transferable practices regarding success and challenge in EcoSchools. Rather, these findings provide some insight into a means of shaping a sustainable future through an individual’s sustainability perspective: a living responsiveness based on a sense of connection, supported by improved sustainability cognition, and realized through sustainability practice and considered engagement.

This dissertation reports a study exploring adult engagement with sustainability learning practices in EcoSchools-certified secondary schools in Canada, Lithuania and Sweden as a means towards shaping a liveable future. The study is situated in the area of education for sustainable development. The study design was initially based on an interest in revealing specific practices of sustainability education as a means of improving the relationship between environmental impact and wealth. While echoing findings in the existing literature, this research contributes to the development of the field through insight into the perspectives that adults bring to sustainability education. Primary data collected in the spring of 2006 were recorded (mostly single) semistructured interviews with 30 individuals (national coordinators, caretakers, teachers and administrators), including 10 Canadians from four schools, 14 Lithuanians from four schools, and six Swedes from two schools. Four phases of qualitative analysis were used on the data: initial transcript coding and trends; précis document trends; a six-stage model of interview responses allowing vertical (between question) and horizontal (between stage) comparisons; word maps of subthemes as a scaffold to detail participants’ four primary views (long, wide, deep, dynamic) regarding sustainability. Ultimately, the results of this study point less than expected to revealing specific transferable practices regarding success and challenge in EcoSchools. Rather, these findings provide some insight into a means of shaping a sustainable future through an individual’s sustainability perspective: a living responsiveness based on a sense of connection, supported by improved sustainability cognition, and realized through sustainability practice and considered engagement.

[pt] As cadeias de suprimento (CS) estão sendo cada vez mais pressionadas a implementar iniciativas para tornar o seu desempenho mais sustentável. Como exemplo, pode-se citar os desafios impostos pela transição energética para o setor de óleo e gás e suas CS. Orientar a CS em direção a sustentabilidade requer um esforço coordenado, integrado e colaborativo entre os múltiplos parceiros. Um fator crucial para evoluir a trajetória de sustentabilidade das CS é a aprendizagem que ocorre durante a implementação das iniciativas de sustentabilidade colaborativas. Entretanto, não há evidências suficientes na literatura sobre como e em que níveis o processo de aprendizagem ocorre, assim como, sobre suas características e forma de interação entre os parceiros. O objetivo da tese é aprofundar o entendimento sobre as características da dinâmica de aprendizagem e sua influência na trajetória de sustentabilidade nas CS. A tese utiliza os métodos de revisão sistemática da literatura e estudo de caso múltiplo. Como resultados principais, apresenta uma tipologia e framework teórico integrado sobre aprendizagem de sustentabilidade em CS e propõe uma abordagem baseada em processo para investigação empírica do fenômeno. A pesquisa foi conduzida em três grandes multinacionais internacionais e em suas CS atuantes no Brasil. Os resultados mostram que a trajetória de sustentabilidade da CS é cumulativa, recorrente e não-linear, resultante de sucessivas oportunidades de aprendizado emergentes das iniciativas de sustentabilidade colaborativas na CS. Valendo-se do raciocínio abdutivo, a tese fornece um primeiro passo na elaboração de teoria de sobre aprendizagem de sustentabilidade da CS e cunha o conceito de plasticidade da CS. / [en] Supply chains (CS) are pressured to implement initiatives to make their performance more sustainable. For example, the challenges imposed by the energy transition for the oil and gas sector and its SC stand out. Guide SC towards sustainability requires a coordinated, integrated, and collaborative effort between multiple partners. A crucial factor in evolving the sustainability trajectory of SC is the learning that takes place during the implementation of collaborative sustainability initiatives. However, there is not enough evidence in the literature about how and at what levels the learning process occurs, as well as about its characteristics and form of interaction between partners. The objective of the thesis is to deepen the understanding of the characteristics of the learning dynamics and their influence on the sustainability trajectory in the SC. The thesis uses the methods of systematic literature review and multiple case studies. As the main results, it presents a typology and integrated theoretical framework on SC sustainability learning and proposes a process-based approach for empirical investigation of the phenomenon. The research was conducted in three large international multinationals and in their SC operating in Brazil. The results show that SC s sustainability trajectory is cumulative, recurrent, and non-linear, resulting from successive learning opportunities emerging from collaborative sustainability initiatives at SC. Adopting abductive reasoning, the thesis provides a first step in the elaboration of a theory of learning about SC sustainability and coined the concept of SC plasticity.