New sustainability Institute announced

It's with a mixture of excitement and anticipation that I pass on news of the creation of INSPIRE in west Wales to drive change and transformation on sustainability. Exciting times lie ahead - here's the press release:

The University of Wales Trinity Saint David is delighted to announce that its new institute for sustainability- INSPIRE (Institute for Sustainable Practice, Innovation and Resource Efficiency) - will be led by Jane Davidson (currently Minister for Environment and Sustainability in the Welsh Government) in partnership with Peter Davies (Commissioner for Sustainable Futures in Wales) who is already a Professor of Professional Practice at the University, and Andy Middleton (Managing Director TYF).

Last month the University called for expressions of interest from external agencies and individuals involved in sustainability to assist in the development which will be up and running from September.  INSPIRE will support embedding sustainability within the University’s curriculum at all levels as well as engaging with the widest number of organisations to develop sustainable practice across all sectors in Wales and further afield.

Professor Medwin Hughes, Vice Chancellor said, "I am delighted to have been able to secure such high quality individuals to lead the new institute. The University of Wales Trinity Saint David is committed to promoting the sustainability agenda in higher education in Wales and to work with all sectors to actively support the sustainability agenda."

Jane Davidson said, "Sustainability needs to be at the heart of how we do business, we cannot continue to use more resources than our one planet can support. I am privileged to have been invited to lead this new phase of the work at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, particularly in light of its existing partnerships with the further education sector and schools as well as the future merger with Swansea Metropolitan University as part of the creation of the dual sector university in South West Wales”.

Peter Davies added, "I am delighted to be able to play a part in the creation of this new institute in south west Wales, particularly as it provides opportunity to work with partners to develop exemplars of rural sustainability in practice".

Jane Davidson continued “I commend the University of Wales Trinity Saint David for the step it has taken in establishing the institute and am confident that its work will enhance the reputation of the University."

Andy Middleton said "INSPIRE will become a focal point for practical innovation in the areas of sustainability that make real difference to the performance of government, community resilience and long term success of business"

The University received some 50 expressions of interest from organisations and individual who are active in the field of sustainability and INSPIRE will be collaborating with them to develop its portfolio so that it can make a real difference to communities in Wales and beyond.

Professor Hughes concluded “The University sees its role as a catalyst in bringing together agencies and individuals who can transform the lives of individuals and communities, particularly within the region of South West Wales.

The importance of passion

Passion Over Pleasure

by James Shelley (March 12, 2011)

The word “passion” comes from the Latin passio, which implied suffering and the endurance of hardship. To be passionate, truly passionate, demands a willingness to suffer for the object or cause of your passion. It is unswerving commitment in spite of pain and loss. Rooted in either cocksure confidence or calculated commitment, a passionate person earns their title because of their unflinching persistence in the face of opposition.

There can be no passion without the experience of personal loss: until one suffers, one’s passion is not exposed. your passion is not what makes you feelcomfortable — the things you are passionate about will probably make your lifeless comfortable. Potentially miserable, actually.

As a culture, we seem somewhat confused by the idea of passion. We confuse passion with personal opinion. We misinterpret passion as the pleasures that inject us with feel-good emotions. Too many of us are inoculating our pursuit of passion with fancy declarations of preference.

Placating ourselves with the opinion of the day and heralding our propensity for corporate brands is not progress. Instead it is a lazy and poor placebo for the deep reflective and meditative mind work required to fertilize passions that are praiseworthy, beautiful, healing and transformative in the world. Our neutered version of passion in North America is much like the mental equivalent of a LazyBoy.

Although passion may at times appear dangerous, the planet does not need less human passion right now, it needs more passion than ever before — passion that refuses to be immunized by the lulling caress of consumption and the crippling inundation of knowledge.

Student sustainability trends

The Higher Education Academy have recently commissioned a student survey on "First year attitudes towards, and skills in, sustainable development". The results are no surprise, yet do not echo what employers are really doing to use the potential interest of younger people entering work.

• over 80% of respondents believe sustainability skills are important to their future employers;
• employers anticipate a need to employ staff with these skills;
• 63% of respondents are prepared to sacrifice £1,000 salary to work for a sustainably-aware company;
• awareness of sustainable development schemes is up to five times more likely in first-year students who have come from a sixth-form attached to a state school than those who have come from a standalone sixth form college or private school;
• sustainability concerns are significant in students’ university choices;
• ESD is considered by many practitioners to be a nebulous concept with a need for a nationally accepted working definition;
• the research indicates that skills in sustainable development are slightly more relevant to students from Scotland, where there is a history of national policy in ESD;
• 65% of respondents believe that sustainability skills should be delivered throughout the curriculum rather than through a separate module;
• ESD content is avoided when teaching staff feel they do not know enough about the issues;
• there can be limited institutional drive to encourage the embedding of ESD into the curriculum which is often seen as already overcrowded.