Colin Beard

Green teams and the management of environmental change in a UK county council

Explores the evolution of a participative, interdepartmental staff “green team” approach to the solving of environmental problems and a move towards a culture change within one of the largest UK local authorities. Reveals how Kent County Council (KCC), over a period of several years, used the largely voluntary effort of a group of dedicated individuals to help with a corporate move towards sustainability. Explores the management of these people in the process of cultural change and acknowledges that grass‐roots participative environmental change can be slow to break through organisational inertia and can be susceptible to collapse. Shows how efforts can be undermined both by a lack of a clear corporate direction and by events beyond their own control. Also focuses on the role of external trainers, as change agents, and their contribution to the environmental management programme, in supporting the emergence, motivation and maturation of these green teams. Finally, in an attempt to measure the success of green teams, some of the major team outputs are mentioned, and concludes with comments on the future of the teams. The use of green teams is an approach now adopted by a number of organisations but “the connection between environmental teams and the management of change is often overlooked”.

The learning combination lock – an experiential approach to learning design

This article investigates the meaning of experiential learning and relates this to the nature of cognition through the development of an experiential learning model based on information processing. This experiential learning model is then used as the basis for the design of a meta‐model – the learning combination lock (LCL). The LCL model provides for the first time, to our knowledge, a systematic process for the trainer, educator or developer to consider and select from some of the main ingredients of the learning process. It is not intended to be used mechanistically but rather as an aide‐memoire which may also be added to and developed according to the considerations of the programme designer, the trainer or educator, and the needs of the learner.

Naturally enterprising ‐ eco‐design, creative thinking and the greening of business products

Argues that currently many businesses are looking to reduce the environmental impact of their activities or products but sadly the results are often disappointing. Sustainable development remains elusive. The future clearly demands something different ‐ we need solution focused products that produce an E‐plus effect. These will increasingly dominate future markets and provide the key to a competitive edge. The challenges, and barriers, are, however, likely to be significant ‐ concurrently the environmental lobby is changing tactics, moving from problem/blame campaigning to preventive/solutions campaigning. Campaigners rightly point to the earth bank balance as continually overdrawn and unhealthy, with life support systems threatened and biodiversity declining. No one appears to re‐invest in this global bank balance. Withdrawals are easy, but investing is not so easy. With the E‐plus concept creativity and innovation will require different patterns of thinking from the people that have hitherto used their talent to create existing new products and markets or to survive hard times. Managers need not only promote a climate of innovation and creativity but do so in directions that are fundamentally different. Business talent and enterprise is poised to become a major player as a social force. The talent is out there and some of the new innovative thinking patterns are explained in this article through the description of simple examples from across Europe.

European and Asian telecoms ‐ their role in global sustainable development

Market forces are often unable to deal with environmental problems due to the inability of the economic system to internalise environmental costs. Telecommunications around the world are “service” companies that are considered to have little impact on the natural environment ‐ and as such were excluded from participation in EMAS. However, new research into European and Asian telecommunications has revealed extensive environmental impact through consumption of considerable quantities of the global resources. Some telecoms use 1 per cent of their nation’s electricity, consume 1 per cent of national paper or 1 per cent of national GDP. But the rate of change in this sector is greater than any other business sector, and telecoms are now reducing their environmental impact as a result of technical developments, the global market forces of liberalisation, privatisation and competition. The global impact of telecommunications developments on travel and lifestyles is also poised to have a significant positive effect on the environment, through changes in working practices as well as impacting on both indoor and outdoor leisure activities.

Environmental training: emerging products

Describes how environmental training is increasingly being recognized as a crucial element of any corporate, environmental strategy. In turn, corporate strategies will be an essential component to the achievement of sustainable development. But how do companies respond to the need to change the everyday practices of staff at all levels? Introduces a three‐layered approach to environmental training. Also examines the evolution and progress of two very different new training products. First, Expert Training Systems plc joined forces with BTCV Enterprises to create a Developing People Programme using the outdoors and incorporating specified environmental projects. More outdoor development suppliers are now offering such packages and they are selling well. Second, Earthwise, produced in 1995 in collaboration with ICI, Sheffield Hallam University and Sanderson CBT, provides an interactive toolkit approach to exploring the environmental aspects of producing a fictitious plastic, “prolene”. The product requires the user to assume a decision‐making role through a matrix of six main issues and 21 sub‐issues. At each sub‐issue there are over 34 events, 200 pieces of advice on offer, over 200 generic principles and around 122 possible courses of action.

Positive emotions: passionate scholarship and student transformation

This paper challenges the practical and conceptual understanding of the role of emotions in higher education from the twin perspectives of transition and transformation. Focusing on the neglected area of positive emotions, exploratory data reveal a rich, low-level milieu of undergraduate emotional awareness in students chiefly attributed to pedagogic actions, primarily extrinsically orientated, and pervasive throughout the learning experience. The data conceive positive affect as oppositional, principally ephemeral and linked to performative pedagogic endeavours of getting, knowing and doing. A cyclical social dynamic of reciprocity, generating positive feedback loops, is highlighted. Finally we inductively construct a tentative ‘emotion-transition framework’ to assist our understanding of positive emotion as a force for transformational change; our contention is that higher education might proactively craft pedagogic spaces so as to unite the feeling discourse, the thinking discourse (epistemological self) and the wider life-self (ontological) discourse.

The jouissance of learning: evolutionary musings on the pleasures of learning in higher education

This paper presents a philosophy and method for an ongoing investigation into the cause and effect of student emotions in higher education. In particular, it presents the possibilities for exploring students’ positive emotions as ‘jouissance’ experiences linked to the transgression of power relations and social structures. The paper takes the form of ‘evolutionary musings’ that guide the reader through a confessional account of the research programme, the epistemological and methodological challenges, the limits of data already produced, and suggestions for a future approach. The musings maintain that descriptions of causal relationships of pedagogic action and the phenomenology of students’ feelings of gratification are not enough to plausibly interpret the locatedness and meaning of emotions, and that the emotional nexus is shaped by and continues to inform social relationships.

Moments like diamonds in space: savoring the ageing process through positive engagement with adventure sports

ABSTRACT There are over 10 million people in the United Kingdom aged over 65, a figure predicted to double by 2050. Despite calls for the outdoors to be a focus for health-related physical activity younger adults still tend to be the predominant users of this resource. In an attempt to understand how older adults aged 65+ relate to outdoor adventure sports, data from purposive samples of rock climbers from the north of England (n = 8) and sea kayakers from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (n = 5) were gathered using focus groups and targeted semi-structured interviews. Analysis using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and critical friends showed clear links to theory and highlights the notion that older adults with life course commitments to adventurous ‘serious leisure’ savor the opportunities afforded by growing older. Furthermore, they reject the constant ‘pathologization’ of the ageing process, emphasising instead its positive and meaningful aspects.

Doing the plastic fantastic: ‘artificial’ adventure and older adult climbers

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to determine the perceptions and experiences of climbing at artificial climbing walls (ACWs) as undertaken by a cohort of ‘young-old’ people (approximately 65–75 years). The engagement of older people in outdoor activities and adventure is an evolving topic; however, as part of this development, little has been written on the use of ACWs. Methodologically, the research employed in-depth semi-structured focus groups and interviews with a purposive convenience sample of six recreational climbers, subsequently expanded to ten through snowball technique. Both sexes were equally represented. Manual thematic analysis identified two key motifs: ACWs and the notion of adventure, and ACWs and the potential for learning. The findings point at what constitutes ‘real’ adventure for this group of older adults; the shifting nature of ‘old age’; the significance of self-awareness; and the role of reflexivity and physical activity in the construction of a ‘successful’ old age.

ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS TRAINING: THREE IDEAS FOR GREENING THE COMPANY CULTURE

Environmental training is increasingly being recognized as a crucial element of any corporate environmental strategy. In turn, corporate strategies will be an essential component in the achievement of sustainable development. But how do companies respond to the need to change the everyday practices of staff at all levels? The evolution and progress of three very different training approaches taken in private and public sector organizations to promote change with regard to environmental management systems and principles are examined. This paper aims to assist training and development initiatives in companies of all sizes. Firstly, the progress made with an environment programme launched in 1989 by Kent County Council is considered, with the development and integration of an active green network initially using ‘Green Teams’ in 17 departments and incorporating a two-stage traditional training package as part of a long-term plan to develop environmental management systems. The mechanisms chosen by Kent County Council to sustain the momentum of these initiatives are also examined. Secondly, Earthwise, a computer-based simulation produced in 1995 in collaboration with ICI, Sheffield Hallam University and Sanderson CBT, is considered. This provides an interactive toolkit approach to exploring the environmental aspects of producing a fictitious plastic, ‘prolene’. The product requires the user to assume a decision-making role through a matrix of six main issues, such as energy and waste, and 21 sub-issues. At each sub-issue there are over 34 events, 200 pieces of advice on offer, over 200 generic principles and around 122 possible courses of action. Finally, Expert Training Systems plc, a company involved in training for a range of blue chip clients, created a ‘Developing People Programme’ using the outdoors and incorporating specified environmental projects. This idea has also been developed by some supermarket retailers who traditionally use the outdoors for junior and middle management training programmes.