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Institutions of higher learning can be centers of meaning-making and learning and are expected to play a pivotal role in a global shift toward sustainability. Despite recent innovations, much sustainability education today is still delivered using traditional pedagogies common across higher education. Therefore, students and facilitators should continue innovating along

Institutions of higher learning can be centers of meaning-making and learning and are expected to play a pivotal role in a global shift toward sustainability. Despite recent innovations, much sustainability education today is still delivered using traditional pedagogies common across higher education. Therefore, students and facilitators should continue innovating along pedagogical themes consistent with the goals of sustainability: transformation and emancipation. Yet, more clarity is needed about pedagogical approaches that will transform and emancipate students, allowing them to become innovators that change existing structures and systems. My dissertation attempts to address this need using three approaches. First, I present a framework combining four interacting (i.e., complementary) pedagogies (transmissive, transformative, instrumental, and emancipatory) for sustainability education, helping to reify pedagogical concepts, rebel against outdated curricula, and orient facilitators/learners on their journey toward transformative and emancipatory learning. Second, I use a descriptive case study of a sustainability education course set outside of the traditional higher education context to highlight pedagogical techniques that led to transformative and emancipatory outcomes for learners partaking in the course. Third, I employ the method of autoethnography to explore my own phenomenological experience as a sustainability student and classroom facilitator, helping others to identify the disenchanting paradoxes of sustainability education and integrate the lessons they hold. All three approaches of the dissertation maintain a vision of sustainability education that incorporates contemplative practices as essential methods in a field in need of cultivating hope, resilience, and emergence.
ContributorsPapenfuss, Jason (Author) / Merritt, Eileen (Thesis advisor) / Manuel-Navarrete, David (Thesis advisor) / Eckard, Bonnie (Committee member) / Cloutier, Scott (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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Description
Positive Youth Development (PYD) programs include intentional efforts by peers, adults, communities, schools, and organizations to provide opportunities for youth to increase their skills, abilities, and interests in positive activities. The goal of PYD is to provide positive outcomes where youth are viewed as resources to be developed rather than

Positive Youth Development (PYD) programs include intentional efforts by peers, adults, communities, schools, and organizations to provide opportunities for youth to increase their skills, abilities, and interests in positive activities. The goal of PYD is to provide positive outcomes where youth are viewed as resources to be developed rather than problems to be managed. Future generations rely on youth as active contributing members of society and PYD programs promote sustainable futures for young individuals and the community. PYD programs started in the United States and grew out of interest in prevention programs targeting risky behavior of youth.

Interest is growing in expanding PYD programs internationally as they may promote resilient characteristics and sustainable life skills. In particular, and one focus area of this dissertation, interest is growing in rural Asia. However, given the interdisciplinary nature of PYD programs, there are no standard assessment metrics or tools in place. Without standards, comparing PYD programs effectively is impossible. Within this dissertation, in four papers, I 1) develop a universal PYD assessment tool, the Positive Youth Development Sustainability Scale (PYDSS), 2) apply the PYDSS to two PYD programs in rural Thailand as a quantitative analysis, 3) use the categories of the PYDSS as a coding guide for qualitative analysis of two PYD programs in rural Thailand, and 4) assess a PYD program in the Phoenix-metro area that integrates physical activity, academics, and ethics. Results indicate that the PYDSS can be applied to PYD programs in both Thailand and Phoenix and that a mixed methods approach is a suggested form or data collection. My research could lead to the further improvement of current PYD programs and their intervention role, while also promoting universal PYD assessment techniques that support sustainable impacts on youth as a result of program intervention and design.
ContributorsSieng, Michael (Author) / Cloutier, Scott (Thesis advisor) / Dooley, Kevin (Committee member) / Eder, James (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
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Description
The resilience of infrastructure essential to public health, safety, and well-being remains a priority among Federal agencies and institutions. National policies and guidelines enacted by these entities call for a holistic approach to resilience and effectively acknowledge the complex, multi-organizational, and socio-technical integration of critical infrastructure. However, the concept of

The resilience of infrastructure essential to public health, safety, and well-being remains a priority among Federal agencies and institutions. National policies and guidelines enacted by these entities call for a holistic approach to resilience and effectively acknowledge the complex, multi-organizational, and socio-technical integration of critical infrastructure. However, the concept of holism is seldom discussed in literature. As a result, resilience knowledge among disciplines resides in near isolation, inhibiting opportunities for collaboration and offering partial solutions to complex problems. Furthermore, there is limited knowledge about how human resilience and the capacity to develop and comprehend increasing levels of complexity can influence, or be influenced by, the resilience of complex systems like infrastructure. The above gaps are addressed in this thesis by 1) applying an Integral map as a holistic framework for organizing resilience knowledge across disciplines and applications, 2) examining the relationships between human and technical system resilience capacities via four socio-technical processes: sensing, anticipating, adapting, and learning (SAAL), and 3) identifying an ontological framework for anticipating human resilience and adaptive capacity by applying a developmental perspective to the dynamic relationships between humans interacting with infrastructure. The results of applying an Integral heuristic suggest the importance of factors representing the social interior like organizational values and group intentionality may be under appreciated in the resilience literature from a holistic perspective. The analysis indicates that many of the human and technical resilience capacities reviewed are interconnected, interrelated, and interdependent in relation to the SAAL socio-technical processes. This work contributes a socio-technical perspective that incorporates the affective dimension of human resilience. This work presents an ontological approach to critical infrastructure resilience that draws upon the human resilience, human psychological development, and resilience engineering literatures with an integrated model to guide future research. Human mean-making offers a dimensional perspective of resilient socio-technical systems by identifying how and why the SAAL processes change across stages of development. This research suggest that knowledge of resilient human development can improve technical system resilience by aligning roles and responsibilities with the developmental capacities of individuals and groups responsible for the design, operation and management of critical infrastructures.
ContributorsThomas, John E. (Author) / Seager, Thomas P (Thesis advisor) / Clark, Susan (Committee member) / Cloutier, Scott (Committee member) / Fisher, Erik (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
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Description
Producing, transforming, distributing, and consuming food requires a multitude of actors, from the microbes in the soil to the truck drivers, from the salesperson to the bacterial life that supports digestion. Yet, the global food system – far from being neutral – unequally provides and extracts resources around the globe

Producing, transforming, distributing, and consuming food requires a multitude of actors, from the microbes in the soil to the truck drivers, from the salesperson to the bacterial life that supports digestion. Yet, the global food system – far from being neutral – unequally provides and extracts resources around the globe to serve and protect the needs of some, while excluding and/or oppressing others and producing trauma in the process. Drawing on feminist scholarship and permaculture research – two fields that discuss the importance of care but only rarely work together – and using social science methods, I explore how to integrate care into food systems, and what are the outcomes of such an integration. I first bring together the voices of 35 everyday experts from Cuba, France, and the United States (Arizona) and perspectives from ethics of care, creation care, indigenous scholars, and permaculture specialists, and I use grounded theory to develop a definition of care in food systems context, and a conceptual map of care that identifies motives for caring, caring practices and their results. I then discuss how caring practices enhance food systems’ adaptive capacity and resilience. Next, I study the relationship between a subset of the identified caring practices – what is recognized as “Earth care” – and their effect on well-being in general, and Food Well-Being more specifically, using three case studies from Arizona based on: (1) interviews of school teachers, (2) interviews of sustainable farmers, (3) a survey with 96 gardeners. There, I also discuss how policies and cultural transformations can better support the integration of Earth care practices in food systems. Then, I examine how urban food autonomy movements are grassroots examples of integration of care in food systems, and how through their care practices – Earth care, “People care” and “Fair share” – they can serve as a catalyst for social change and contribute to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Lastly, I conclude with recommendations to strengthen a culture of care in food systems, as well as limitations to my research, and future research directions.
ContributorsGiraud, Esteve Gaelle (Author) / Aggarwal, Rimjhim (Thesis advisor) / Cloutier, Scott (Thesis advisor) / Samuelson, Hava (Committee member) / Chhetri, Netra (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
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Description
Human connection is fundamental for a shift toward sustainable societies. Small groups of people working in response to their unique conditions and environment can find joy in the co-creation of a shared existence. A collaborative network of related efforts can contribute to a broader understanding of resilience and adaptation,

Human connection is fundamental for a shift toward sustainable societies. Small groups of people working in response to their unique conditions and environment can find joy in the co-creation of a shared existence. A collaborative network of related efforts can contribute to a broader understanding of resilience and adaptation, aiming toward a regenerative relationship with the Earth and all species. Such an approach ameliorates both pervasive loneliness and extreme inequity that have grown from modern consumerist individualism, through a strong focus on trust, respect and authenticity. I have created a structure to pursue these goals as an applied Sustainability researcher and artist. First, I present a tool that measures and guides community-based work to support the values of equity, justice, transformation and connection. I follow this with an in-depth process of qualitative inquiry grounded in an applied participatory design project to gain insight on the act of building connection across perceived divides. Finally, I share “The Building Community:” the group and process I formed with formerly homeless individuals who are co-designing a tiny home ecovillage of transitional supportive housing for homeless human beings in the Skid Row neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles. The Building Community method combines Council-style talking circles with elements of Action and Design research in which equal co-learners embark on a fun and challenging journey to nurture housing security, interconnectedness, and sustainability. The results of this research indicate an opportunity for community-based researchers to further incorporate support for the rights of nature, decolonization efforts and preservation of the commons into their projects. Flexible structure, consistency, balanced effort and shared decision making proved to build a strong foundation for group processes centered on trust. Finally, The Building Community showed that intimate local groups can produce abundant and creative sustainability solutions when partnered with academic guidance and resources. Sustainability scholars have the chance to balance power, amplify voices and make collective visions manifest if they immerse themselves in efforts on the ground.
ContributorsFalstad, Beth Ann Grace (Author) / Cloutier, Scott (Thesis advisor) / Gee, James (Committee member) / Sale, Gregory (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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Description
Predominant sustainability pedagogy and science largely focus on fixing existingproblems via solutions external to humans (e.g. carbon sequestration, renewable energy).
While external or outer interventions can support a transition to a sustainable future,
internal or inner developments should also be highly valued. For this dissertation, I define
sustainability as the ability of any

Predominant sustainability pedagogy and science largely focus on fixing existingproblems via solutions external to humans (e.g. carbon sequestration, renewable energy).
While external or outer interventions can support a transition to a sustainable future,
internal or inner developments should also be highly valued. For this dissertation, I define
sustainability as the ability of any individual, community or country to meet their needs
and live happily without compromising the ability of other individuals, communities,
countries and future generations to meet their needs and live happily. Framed this way, a
sustainable and happy life should focus on both outer and inner development, the latter
largely unconsidered in sustainability science and scholarship.
I propose that emphasizing spiritual wellbeing and spiritual practices can support
individuals and communities to act with mindfulness, awareness, compassion,
connection, and love, transitioning to a more sustainable existence. This dissertation
consists of three studies: (1) the development of a theoretical framework identifying
spirituality as the missing link between sustainability and happiness, (2) an empirical
pilot study testing the theoretical framework via contemplative practices in a
sustainability classroom, and (3) an autoethnography exploring my inner development
and transformation as a sustainability and spirituality researcher over the past four years.
The theoretical framework found and posits, based on existing literature, that
spirituality indeed may be the missing link between an unsustainable existence and a
sustainably and happy future. Results from the empirical study suggest that a focus on
spirituality leads students to develop inner traits necessary for sustainable behavior and a
deeper understanding of sustainability. My autoethnography demonstrates the spiritual
ii
transformation possible from integrating spiritual well-being and intellect, while striving
to embody sustainability as a spiritual journey. My research supports further studies and a
greater understanding of the importance of spiritual well-being to sustainability and the
incorporation of contemplative practices in sustainability classrooms. Finally, I hope this
dissertation will (1) inspire sustainability scientists, researchers, and students to integrate
spiritual well-being as an important part of their lives and work, and (2) encourage deeper
conversations about the radical inner shift we need to achieve lasting sustainability for all
beings.
ContributorsBerejnoi Bejarano, Erica Anahi (Author) / Cloutier, Scott (Thesis advisor) / Ulluwishewa, Rohana (Committee member) / Fonow, Mary Margaret (Committee member) / Afinowich, Robin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
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Description
Understanding sustainability worldviews and resulting behaviors is critical to the field of Sustainability Science. As humans face increasingly complex socio-ecological challenges, it is vital to address the lenses through which individuals see the world and act upon. Thus, it is imperative first to understand people's knowledge about and disposition toward

Understanding sustainability worldviews and resulting behaviors is critical to the field of Sustainability Science. As humans face increasingly complex socio-ecological challenges, it is vital to address the lenses through which individuals see the world and act upon. Thus, it is imperative first to understand people's knowledge about and disposition toward sustainability to promote behavioral change. Equally important is acknowledging the cognitive nuances and limitations experienced by individuals attempting to engage in sustainability practices. Studies have shown that cognitive processes, including cognitive dissonance, carry-over effects, moral licensing, and hypocrisy play a significant role in adopting sustainability practices, even amongst sustainability-conscious individuals. In this dissertation, I present a mixed-method exploration of the public's worldviews of sustainability and the cognitive challenges to the adoption of sustainable lifestyles. In my first study, I explore worldviews of sustainability through the development, administration, and quantitative analysis of an online survey. The survey measured five sustainability constructs to explore the sustainability worldviews of a representative sample of the U.S. population (N = 346). Results indicate two separate groups with distinct worldviews: Ambivalents and Sympathizers. Ambivalents tend toward neutral sustainability worldviews, while Sympathizers perceive sustainability more favorably. In study two, I present an analytical autoethnography, shedding light on the attitude-behavior gap in sustainability by focusing on my sustainability worldviews and experiences as a practitioner. Within, I provide an insider's account of the nuances and limitations one experiences while engaging in and striving for a sustainable lifestyle and practices. The autoethnography results reveal the tensions between cognitive processes and the adoption of a sustainable lifestyle. Collectively, my research results offer the sustainability movement insights about possible paradigm shifts toward sustainability based on barriers associated with worldview factors and cognitive processes.
ContributorsRodriguez, Natalia Andrea (Author) / Cloutier, Scott (Thesis advisor) / Augustin-Behravesh, Shirley-Ann (Committee member) / De la Garza, Sarah A (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
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Description
Good food, or food that is good for people and planet, demands a different worldview and approach than the current industrial food system. As an ecofeminist researcher who values reciprocity, justice, and a holistic approach, my research investigates varying good food perspectives by integrating scientific evidence and practical experience. Specifically,

Good food, or food that is good for people and planet, demands a different worldview and approach than the current industrial food system. As an ecofeminist researcher who values reciprocity, justice, and a holistic approach, my research investigates varying good food perspectives by integrating scientific evidence and practical experience. Specifically, I explore the opportunities climatic change have created for innovative and solutions-oriented small-scale food systems techniques in arid regions to define, identify, regulate and communicate good food and its related practices. A significant gap exists between current small-scale good food practices and how they can fit and be valorized into a wider food system. This dissertation combines social science and arts-based methodologies with the intention of digging deeper to understand what is required to support a food system that produces good food. This dissertation is broken down into three deliverables, bound by this introduction and a conclusion: (1) a theoretical research framework for regenerative food systems, grounded in biomimicry and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) defining and identifying good food and the systems that produce it, (2) a research paper that follows three traditional fermented foods in Arizona to contextualize their socio-cultural aspects within a regulatory framework and propose a way to make food governance more inclusive, and (3) an analytical autoethnographic exploration of the normative aspect of sustainability, and how it can be more regenerative. The narrative is an exploration through the author's past, present, and future in finding ways to instill more regenerative practices in their life in Arizona, as well as amplify the voices of others using podcasts. The dissertation aims to expand the field of food system sustainability to be more inclusive of diverse knowledge systems and arts-based methods in creating an understanding of good food in arid regions.
ContributorsAly El-Sayed, Sara (Author) / Cloutier, Scott (Thesis advisor) / Spackman, Christy (Thesis advisor) / Adamson, Joni (Committee member) / Baumeister, Dayna (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
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Description
ABSTRACT

The tourism industry continues to mature as many consumers are demanding more responsible and sustainable development. Mindfulness has been studied in tourism as a cognitive trait recognized by actively processing information through an acute sensitivity to an individual's environment and openness to new information. Mindfulness has been shown

ABSTRACT

The tourism industry continues to mature as many consumers are demanding more responsible and sustainable development. Mindfulness has been studied in tourism as a cognitive trait recognized by actively processing information through an acute sensitivity to an individual's environment and openness to new information. Mindfulness has been shown to predict behaviors related to tourism and recreation. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) has been extensively applied to understand human behavior. Despite TPB's extensive history in the social sciences, researchers continue to incorporate new social factors to explain behavior. This study employs an emerging psychological construct, mindfulness, into the TPB model as an enhancement to conceptual and empirical discrepancies.

This study aimed to: (1) understand the presence of mindfulness among those who travel, and (2) test a hypothesized relationship between mindfulness and intent to be sustainable on vacation. The research seeks to answer - does mindfulness add to a traveler's likelihood to behave sustainably in a destination with active sustainable initiatives? The purpose of this study is to showcase emerging consumer traits, like mindfulness, to enhance visitor experiences through sustainability initiatives.

A survey research method was employed to provide a broad, generalizable set of findings from a group of people who were planning a trip and may have visited a specific destination. This study partnered with Sedona Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau to access such a population. The survey was conducted with a self-administered online survey and 550 completed surveys were obtained. Behavior intention to be sustainable, in any visited destination, was regressed twice to address the research question. The first regression included original TPB independent variables (such as attitude, social norms, perceived behavioral control). The second regression added the mindfulness variable. The mindfulness variable was found to be positive and significant in a general context. The model was tested for those who traveled to Sedona and mindfulness and actual behaviors associated with sustainability were strongly related. A traveler's perception of their ability to control behaviors had a significant role when paired with mindfulness. Results suggest the TPB model has availability to incorporate new consumer behavior traits to understand behavior intention.
ContributorsAzzi, Maya Violette (Author) / Vogt, Christine A (Thesis advisor) / Buzinde, Christine (Committee member) / Cloutier, Scott (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017