Ragged University: Littoral Art 'plus' Education for Sustainability

Come along for the next Ragged University of the Edinburgh year. Put your feet up, break bread, and enjoy learning as we share our company.

These are free public lectures (no booking required).

News from the littoral Zone By Julia Barton

Common litter items such as plastic bags, food packaging, fishing gear have all been the subject of waste-­reduction campaigns. The Scottish Wild Life Trust (SWT) report ­in 2011 found that a lack of improvement in levels of sea pollution threatened Scotland’s Zero Waste Plan. On average, 46,000 pieces of plastic are swirling in each square mile of our oceans. Every year, at least one million sea birds and 100,000 sharks, turtles, dolphins and whales die from eating plastic. I am now keen to share my beach litter findings recorded within 18 littoral zones in Ross-shire over the last year and a half and to show ways I want to use contemporary art to highlight ways we can change our behaviour to reduce this environmental degradation and loss of marine life.

There will be a break in between where we can enjoy a bite to eat and a chance to socialise around learning. Everyone is warmly invited to bring an item of food to share, and help take away what is left so that nothing goes to waste.

Fostering Vandalism of the Earth or Stewardship? Towards Education for Sustainability by Susan Brown

I have taken the somewhat rash decision of taking on a very broad subject area, ‘education for sustainability’ with the ambitious and perhaps foolish expectation that I can cover key aspects of the stimulating discussions going on around this theme in the space of 25 minutes. I even have the audacity to think that we could come up with a potential curriculum for sustainability in 5 minutes! We may not complete this work but we can make a start. This is really what I want to do in this talk: promote initial thinking about what ‘education for sustainability’ is, why it is important to engage with this question and how people are working towards integrating sustainability into curricula.