Critical Food Systems Education in University Student-run Food Initiatives: Learning Dynamics, Outcomes, and Opportunities for Food Systems Transformation
Zoë Deskin, Blane Harvey
Student-run Campus Food Systems Alternatives (CFSA) have been proposed as spaces which have the potential to advance Critical Food Systems Education (CFSE) – the objective of which is to motivate students to act toward radical food systems transformation on community and systemic scales. Evidence on how learning dynamics in CFSA drive student participants to develop transformative and critical perspectives on food systems is limited, however. This poster presentation will detail our multi-case study of students’ learning experiences in four student-run CFSA on the McGill University campus, to contribute to an understanding of how critical and transformative learning happens in these non-formal and student-run spaces. Our analysis of students’ described learning experiences in CFSA revealed three broad categories of learning dynamics which drive students’ learning about food systems and their willingness to act for food systems transformation: hands-on work in non-formal spaces, social connection and engagement between student participants, and engagement with the beyond-campus community. Engagement with the beyond-campus community via CFSA, particularly that which involved exposure to food-related injustice in marginalized communities, was found to be particularly important in driving student participants’ critical reflection on food systems and willingness to act toward transformative food justice and sovereignty. A lack of intentional critical reflective practice was however observed in CFSA, calling into question how this practice can be driven in campus food initiatives without compromising their student-run and informal structures. This poster presentation seeks to illuminate the importance of campus-based and student-run movements in enacting wider community and systemic transformation, and to identify opportunities for transformative and critical learning in non-formal student spaces.
Wildland-urban interface expansion: A global wicked problem.
Clara Mosso
Wildland-urban interface (WUI) expansion is a pressing phenomenon around the World due to its impacts on ecological processes, wildfire risk, natural resources management, and social and demographic dynamics. Given its rapid evolution, its uncertainty, and the involvement of multiple stakeholders with conflicting values, the expansion of the WUI is considered a wicked problem. Science can advance in the development of strategies to address this issue through transdisciplinary approaches that embrace complexity. Transdisciplinarity is easier said than done, however, and surrounded by challenges. The objectives of this study were: 1) to present the state of the art of WUI planning mechanisms and tools; 2) to identify the barriers and opportunities for the implementation of transdisciplinary approaches in WUI planning; and 3) to assess the feasibility of incorporating stakeholder-informed ecosystem services modelling in WUI planning as a strategy to promote transdisciplinarity and inform sustainable management approaches to WUI expansion. With the aim of comparing Southern and Northern hemisphere’s social-ecological systems affected by WUI expansion, I used the province of Neuquén (Argentina) and the State of Colorado (US) as case studies. I conducted a normative and literature review for each site, which was complemented with semi-structured interviews to key stakeholders. Then, I evaluated the use of InVEST models in WUI planning based on the availability of spatial ecological information for both systems and current WUI-related policies. Results suggest that collaboration between stakeholders, interjurisdictional coordination, and financial support are deficient aspects in WUI planning in both social-ecological systems, which results detrimental to the implementation of transdisciplinary approaches. On the other hand, both systems have reflexive WUI policies, which constitutes an opportunity for the introduction of transdisciplinary approaches, including ecosystem services modelling. The results of this study can contribute to improving the design of science-based transdisciplinary approaches to address the pressing issue of WUI expansion.
Catalyzing Transformations Towards Resilient Agriculture: A Case for Social Learning
Morgane Batkai
The transformation towards resilient agriculture is essential for climate change adaptation and mitigation. However, transformations are occurring slowly in small-scale agriculture while the global food system remains a significant contributor to climate change and is simultaneously vulnerable to its effects. Social learning – the co-production and exchange of knowledge within a group – is considered an essential mechanism for accelerating transformations by changing participants’ understanding about the issues at hand, and ideally, adopting new practices. This poster examines the connection between social learning and transformations in agricultural systems. While there are many positive assumptions about the role of social learning, little is actually known about the factors driving social learning processes and how such processes between various stakeholders actually lead to transformative action in agricultural systems. We conducted a systematic literature review to develop an evidence base identifying the role of social learning in processes of agricultural transformations, to identify drivers of social learning processes, and to identify the outcomes of social learning. The study found that while almost all analyzed cases lead to participants’ changes in understanding about either climate-related issues or resilient agricultural practices, little more than half of the studies noted the adoption of transformative actions on the short-term. Some of the key factors that influenced positive social learning outcomes included participatory on-farm demonstrations and addressing perceived risks from making on-farm changes. This literature review forms the basis for a conceptual framework that outlines factors that are more likely to lead to the adoption of transformative actions, taking into account differences in socio-economic contexts of smallholder farmers globally. The results from the systematic literature review can be used to improve assessments, and understandings, of case studies that implement trans-disciplinary approaches such as transformative social learning processes as a solution to building resilience.
Individual Transformation: A Systematic Review of Sustainability in Psychology
Julius Rathgens
Sustainability transformations require rapid and unprecedented change in technologies, systems, and policies. These transformation processes can happen in very different areas, ranging from technical responses, stocks and flows to changing values, attitudes and societal paradigms. Individual behavior is an important lever in these transformation processes. Psychologists usually seek to understand, experimentally test and evaluate how different types of interventions, as well as how individual differences such as values or political orientation shape individual behavior and how behavior changes can be motivated. However, psychological theories have rarely been applied to behavior change for sustainability or explicitly combined with research from sustainability science. We therefore review articles in psychological journals that address sustainability. In particular we assess how psychological research reported in prominent psychological and interdisciplinary journals has studied individual behavior change related to sustainability since the Brundtland Report in 1987. We are interested in how this research investigates topics from sustainability science. We focus on four aspects: (1) Types of behavior change (2) Types of interventions fostering sustainability transformations (3) Samples and places of studies and (4) Theories of change. We give an overview on how research from psychology has been tackling issues from sustainability science and what role theories and interventions from psychology could take to address the pressing needs to shift societies to more sustainable trajectories.