Contemplative Approaches to Sustainability in Higher Education ─ Theory and Practice

How do we foster in college students the cognitive complexity, ethical development, and personal resolve that is required for living in this "sustainability century?" Tackling these complex and highly interdependent problems requires nuanced interdisciplinary understandings, collective endeavors, systemic solutions, and profound cultural shifts. Contributors in this book present both a rationale as well as a theoretical framework for incorporating reflective and contemplative pedagogies to help students pause, deepen their awareness, think more carefully, and work with complexity in sustainability-focused courses. Also offering a variety of relevant, timely resources for faculty to use in their classrooms, Contemplative Approaches to Sustainability Education serves as a key asset to the efforts of educators to enhance students’ capacities for long-term engagement and resilience in a future where sustainability is vital.

Marie Eaton is Director of the Palliative Care Institute and Professor Emerita of Humanities and Education at Western Washington University.

Holly J. Hughes is a poet, naturalist, and co-Founder of the Sustainability Initiative at Edmonds Community College, where she taught writing and interdisciplinary classes focusing on natural history and sustainability.

Jean MacGregor is Director of Curriculum for the Bioregion, an inter-institutional initiative of the Washington Center for Undergraduate Education at The Evergreen State College, where she also teaches in the Masters of Environmental Studies Program.