J. Vann et al.

/ Journal of Cleaner Production 14 (2006) 900e905 900

Journal of Cleaner Production 14 (2006) 900e905

www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Cross-cultural education for sustainability: development of

an introduction to sustainability course
John Vann a,*, Pedro Pacheco b,1, John Motloch c,2
a
Department of Marketing and Management, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306, USA
b
Department of Architecture, ITESM Campus, Monterrey, Ave. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501 Sur COl Tecnologico CP 64849,
Monterrey, NL, Mexico, USA
c
Department of Landscape Architecture, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306, USA
Available online 24 March 2006

Abstract

This paper reports on Ball State University’s activities in the area of education for sustainability and current activities to develop an
Internetbased Introduction to Sustainability course. As the course will be Internet-based, it will mesh well with and can serve as the introductory
course in the sustainability curriculum of Ball State University Land Design Institute’s international network of Sustainability Consortia, and
can be used in sustainability education programs within the context of other international partnerships. This course will serve as a foundation
for that effort and for a broader curriculum that can be delivered across cultures. Ball State University’s Clustered Minors in Environmentally
Sustainable Practices utilizes three courses to address the social, environmental, and economic aspects of sustainability: environmental ethics;
ecology; and environmental economics. The intention is to compose a course comprising elements from all three dimensions. The course will
include Internet content and assignments and will exploit the emerging ability for Internet-based teleconferencing for real-time interactions
among students and faculty at diverse international sites. 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Cross-cultural education; Sustainability; Environmentally sustainable practices; Internet courses

Ball State University (BSU) is reaching out through its
Land Design Institute to collaborate with an international
constituency in the development and delivery of a
sustainability curriculum. This effort is being pursued through
the Institute’s international network of Sustainability
Consortia and is exemplified by on-going cooperation with the
Department of Architecture at ITESM, Campus Monterrey,
Mexico.
The need for international collaboration is reflected by the
United Nations 2002 resolution designating 2005e2014 as the
Decade of Education for Sustainable Development [34].
International collaboration serves multiple purposes. It
promotes intercultural understanding and harmony, fosters the
exchange
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ1 765 285 5194; fax: þ1 765 285 4315.
E-mail addresses: jvann@bsu.edu (J. Vann), ppacheco@itesm.mx (P.
Pacheco), jmotloch@bsu.edu (J. Motloch).
1
Tel.: þ81 83 58 2000.
2
Tel.: þ1 765 285 7561; fax: þ1 765 285 1983.
0959-6526/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2006.01.002
of information regarding local solutions to sustainability
problems that may be transferable, and provides insight into
limitations of parochial world views that overlook broader
sustainability issues and solutions.
In developing their collaborative partnership, faculty of
BSU and ITESM have recognized that a sustainability
curriculum will be well served by a strong foundation
course that introduces the principles and primary issues of
sustainability, demonstrates their inter-relatedness, and
provides a framework for the integration of information in
follow-on courses that treat these principles and issues in
more depth.
This perspective is also supported in UNESCO’s draft
Framework for an International Implementation Scheme for
the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
They suggest changes in educational orientation to include:
‘‘Rethinking and revising education from nursery school
through university to include a clear focus on the
development of the knowledge, skills, perspectives and
values related to sustainability is important to current and
future societies. This implies a review of existing curricula
in terms of their objectives and content to develop
transdisciplinary understandings of social, economic and
environmental sustainability’’ ([33], pp. 4e5).
This course will serve as a foundation for that effort and
for a broader curriculum that can be delivered across
cultures. This paper provides an outline of a course that can
meet these and other needs. A sample syllabus is provided
in Appendix A.
1. Needs to be met by an introductory course
In an introductory course for sustainability, there should
be a balance between breadth and depth of coverage. There
is a need for breadth that provides an understanding of the
complexity and system’s nature of sustainability tempered
by the realization that a full understanding of each of the
issues that is a part of that complexity cannot be developed
in one course. Full treatment of specific issues must be
remanded to later courses in the curriculum.
Since the course is intended to play a role in an
international network of Sustainability Consortia, the issues
must be global in nature. Examples cannot focus solely on
one country or region. Multinational examples will reflect
localized diversity and commonalties across regions in
sustainability challenges and solutions. The course should
also draw upon materials that are broadly available
(focusing on Internet materials) in multiple languages
whenever possible.
At Ball State University, the grounding in sustainability
principles for students enrolling in any of the Clustered
Minors in Environmentally Sustainable Practices is
provided by a trio of courses: Environmental Ethics;
Environmental Economics; and Ecology. While this set of
courses covers the three major dimensions of sustainability,
there are problems associated with this approach that can be
overcome by integrating the three dimensions within one
course. This will allow students to examine the
interdependencies among social, economic, and
environmental systems and the manner in which they
collectively provide the necessities for human survival and
902 J. Vann et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 14 (2006) 900e905
to examine sustainability from a holistic system’s
framework. With three pre-existing courses that have been
developed independently and without a focus on
sustainability, the interrelationships are not addressed in a
holistic, systematic way. In addition, while a system’s
approach is inherent in ecology courses, system’s theory is
not stressed nor are its principles taught in the other two
courses. A final difficulty is that both environmental
economics and ecology have prerequisites that have been
waived for the Clustered Minors program. This has not
been altogether satisfactory for the students or for the
faculty in these courses. Having an introduction to
sustainability course can address all of these issues. The
benefits of the one-course approach can be summarized as:
Course designed with a specific focus on sustainability;
Multiple aspects of sustainability integrated throughout the
course;
No need for cross-departmental coordination of section
offerings;
Introduction is handled efficiently with one course rather
than three;
No prerequisites.
2. A working definition of sustainability
Before a discussion of sustainability can proceed, it is
necessary that a definition of sustainability be established. For
this paper sustainability is viewed as Humans Surviving
Indefinitely into the Future with an Acceptable Quality of
Life. The issues to be covered in the introductory course, then,
are those factors that affect the viability of human survival and
the quality of that survival. Addressing these issues requires a
framework within which the factors may be examined.
3. A framework for sustainability
The framework that is proposed for the course is the same
that has emerged internationally; embracing environmental,
economic and social issues. It has become evident through
discussions with those in various countries that the focus in
North America is on the economy first, followed by an
emerging awareness of the importance of the environment,
with little attention to the social dimension of sustainability.
On the other hand, in Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa, the
focus is on the social dimension first. This course must reflect
factors comprised by all three dimensions. Ongoing
discussions with partners in Mexico and Brazil are aiding in
the development of this multidimensional perspective.
3.1. A system’s perspective
Within the global system, elements of all three subsystems
(environmental, economic, and social) interact with each other
to exchange information, energy, and materials, while at the
same time, elements within each subsystem are interacting
 J. Vann et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 14 (2006) 900e905
with each other. Because human survival and quality of life
depend on the functioning of these systems, a system’s
perspective adds three other criteria for the assessment of the
potential for sustainability. Survival depends on intact,
functioning systems; available energy to run the systems; and
the material resources used in system’s processes for the
generation of outputs (which in turn are exchanged with other
system’s elements). Since system’s functioning is essential in
generating the outcomes necessary for survival, an
introductory course in sustainability must begin with
grounding in system’s thinking. This will allow students to
better understand the complexity of systems on which survival
depends. In addition, it will provide them with a more
comprehensive perspective on the human role in system’s
viability and preservation and the long-term availability of
materials and energy necessary for system’s functioning.
3.2. Basic requirements for survival
There are some systems that are critical for human survival:
food, water, land, health, atmosphere and climate, energy,
materials flows, transportation, and natural biological systems,
social systems, and economic systems. These systems interact
and each is a part of or is influenced by and has an impact on
the environment, economy, and society. In addition, humans
have an impact on each system through consumption, as
moderated by the technologies used to generate the goods and
services consumed, and through the multiplier effect of the
number of humans consuming. Each of these systems will be
addressed in the introductory course. In each case, a system’s
view will be emphasized. As additional background for these
systems, the UN Millennium Development Goals will be
discussed [35].
The interrelationships among system elements is shown in
Fig. 1. Interrelationships are represented as being influenced
by human activities (and influencing each other) within the
context of human values, population, technology, and
consumption [5]. (See [52] for similar diagrams.)
3.2.1. Food
Food will be examined from the perspective on the quantity
and quality of food consumed. The following issues will be
examined: trophic levels, pest control needs, nutritional needs
and deficits, population impacts, land (quantity, quality,
fertility, footprint), water needs and availability, poverty and
equity, biotechnology, seasons, latitude, energy requirements,
distribution, natural capital (e.g., global fisheries), and
pollution. World Wide Web sites such as ‘‘Nutrition Profiles
by Country’’ [7], Global Food Projections to 2020 e Emerging
Trends and Alternative Futures [23], ‘‘FAO Global
Information and
Fig. 1. System interactions within the context of human values, population, consumption, and technology.
Indicators [46].
902
VALUES POPULATION
Water Social Systems
Economic
Systems
Food
Land
Natural
Biological
Systems Atmosphere
and Climate
Materials
Health Flow
Systems
Energy
TECHNOLOGY CONSUMPTION
Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture’’ [8], the
International Food Policy Research Institute [12], and the
World Watch Institute Food Site [47] will be used as
sources for reading material. The interrelationships of the
economy, the environment, and society will be highlighted.
3.2.2. Water
Water will be studied in terms of its various uses, its
sources, and its purity. Global availability of water will be
matched against global needs as influenced by population
pressures alternative uses and efficiency of use. The
reciprocal relationships among water access, social
structure, pricing, and poverty as they in turn influence
equity of water distribution will be examined. Equity in
distribution and the reciprocal relationship between access
and poverty will be use. Finally, water pollution will be
addressed. Internet sites for reading material include: World
Resources Institute [48]; the Earth Policy Institute [6]; the
WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply
and Sanitation [44]; and the UNEP.Net Freshwater Portal
[28].
3.2.3. Land
Land is necessary for agriculture, for the built
environment, for nature, and for the natural capital on
which humans depend. Human demands are characterized
in footprint analysis. The appropriateness of land for
alternative uses, policies guiding that usage, private versus
common ownership, set-asides for nature and natural capital
and the interactions with the economy and society will be
studied. Loss of farmland to the built environment and
through erosion, loss of fertility, and salinization will be
examined. The impact of loss of habitat on biodiversity will
also be noted. Useful Internet web sites include: World
Bank Atlas Maps [45]; Globio, Human impacts and
vulnerability [10]; Earth Update Biosphere [20]; and Rural
Environment and Land Use World Development
3.2.4. Health
Health systems include socio-economic systems as well as environmental systems (including the human body). For
sustainability, these systems should protect humans from disease and injury (including those which may lead to premature death).
Information covered for this theme includes manners of disease transmission, major types of infections, antimicrobials
(availability, prices) and antimicrobial resistance, the human immune system, and sources of physical injury. As with all of the
other elements of the course, this one is interrelated with many of the others. Health is related to food, water, poverty, population,
transportation, chemical exposure, and other economic and social factors. Internet sources to support this portion of the course
include ‘‘Selected major risk factors and global and regional burden of disease’’ [18]; ‘‘The world health report 2003 e shaping
the future’’ [42]; ‘‘Antimicrobial resistance’’ [40]; and ‘‘Health topics’’ [43]; ‘‘Global Assessment of the State-of-the-Science
of Endocrine Disruptors’’ [41]; and ‘‘UNEP Chemicals’ include: Tilton [24]; Interagency Working Group [14]; and
Programme’’ [27]. WRI [49].

3.2.5. Atmosphere and climate 3.2.8. Natural biological systems

The atmosphere/climate system has an impact on the
environment, society, and the economy. Impacts from
human activities on the composition of the atmosphere are
examined (e.g., greenhouse emissions, ozone-depleting
substances). Linkages with population, lifestyle, material
consumption, and energy usage will be examined. Projected
and observed climate change affects on the economy,
society, and nature are addressed. Internet sources for this
portion of the course include: The Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change [15]; the Facts & Figures chapter from
Climate Change: Science, Strategies, and Solutions [22];
Kyoto Protocol and Greenhouse Gases [29].
3.2.6. Energy
Energy is related to population, lifestyles, equity,
technologies, economic development, climate change, land
use, mobility, and health among other factors. These
linkages will be examined. Fossil fuels fuel climate change
while renewables are more neutral in their effects.
Alternative energy sources will be considered along with
the impact of consumption and efficiency. Internet sources
to support this theme include The National Renewable
Energy Laboratory [21]; World Energy Assessment: Energy
and the Challenge of Sustainability [26]; Global Energy
Scenarios to 2050 and Beyond [38]; Statistical Review of
World Energy 2003 [1]; and The International Energy
Agency [13].
3.2.7. Materials flow systems
Materials systems are necessary for humans to utilize in
constructing the accoutrements for living. Some material
sources are non-renewable and some are renewable. The
linkages of natural capital, energy, land use, population,
lifestyle, consumption, efficiency, and economic material
flow systems will be explored. Closing the loop on material
flows and the social and economic systems that facilitate
such closure will be presented. Impacts of materials flows
on economic, environmental, and social systems will be
examined within the framework of Life Cycle Assessment
[31,36]. Additional sources that will provide useful reading
Natural biological systems provide ecosystem goods and
services [2,11]. The threats to ecosystem stability and
integrity will be examined. The course will examine
impacts on biodiversity from habitat loss from forest
conversion to the built environment, agriculture, mining,
tree plantations and other factors associated with the human
footprint; alien species, over-harvesting, hunting, and
disease will be examined. Internet sites for this theme
include Island Press [16]; UNEPWCMC [32]; WCS [39];
and WWF [51].
3.2.9. Social systems
Social systems comprise those institutional arrangements
by which societies set objectives, organize activities to
achieve those objectives, and allocate resources for those
activities. They inherently involve the consideration of values
and reflect the relative power of individuals and groups within
and between societies. They also reflect the voice held by
different constituencies within a society. The objectives,
organization, activities, and resource allocations relate to all of
the previous systems (e.g., organizing to produce and
distribute food, water, health care; distribution of available
land to different purposes; preserving and consuming natural
capital). The values inherent in social processes determines
the equity in distribution of outcomes and preservation or
destruction of other systems necessary for human survival.
Internet sites useful for this theme include WRI [50], La Vin˜a
et al. [17], Maurer et al. [19], Global Reporting Initiative [9],
Duke University Perkins Library [4], UNECE [25], and
UNEP.Net [30].
3.2.10. Economic systems
Economic systems consist of businesses engaged in raw
material acquisition, manufacturing, distribution, wholesaling,
retailing, various service industries (including local, regional,
and international financial institutions). Economic systems
interrelate with all other systems, exchanging energy,
materials, and information. The interrelationships with other
system elements will be covered. For example, the health of
the economy affects the health of society and directly affects
and is affected by the health of the environment. Globalization
 J. Vann et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 14 (2006) 900e905 904
of business has cultural effects on intra-generational equity
and business in general affects intergenerational equity based
on the extent to which business activities are benign or
destructive for long-term quality of life. Useful Internet sites
include Hawken et al. [11]; Global Reporting Initiative [9]; the
Dow Jones Sustainability Group Indexes [3]; and the World
Business Council for Sustainable Development [37].

4. Conclusion

A single course serving as an introduction to sustainability

has many advantages over the use of multiple courses. It saves
time in the program for students. It is designed specifically to
serve as an entryway into a broader program of study in
sustainability. It is internally integrated so that the
interrelationships between the environment, economy, and
society may be addressed. The course framework outlined in
this paper approaches sustainability as a quest for long-term
survival of humanity and considers what systems must be
present and viable for that survival. Multiple sources of
background reading for students are cited, with the emphasis
on internet sources available internationally. This framework
will continue to evolve with experience and the input of global
partners in this endeavor.
J. Vann et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 14 (2006) 900e905
Appendix A Week 6 Water Water cycle; surface; groundwater;
aquifers; storage; purification; coastal
waters; drinking water/
A sample syllabus for an Introduction to Sustainability is commercialization
presented in Table A.1. There are three exams for 50 points Fisheries Management; dead zones
each and a paper and presentation for 50 points.
Week 7 Land Competing uses; footprinting
Table A.1 Mobility/sprawl
A sample syllabus Week 8 Food

Week 9 Materials flows

Week 1 Introduction/defining Introduction to sustainability; Chemicals
sustainability linkages, energy, resources, and Week 10 Greenhouse gases
information; environment/economy/ and climate
society; critical needs for Week 11 Disease
sustainability and interrelationships; Exam 2
I ¼ PCT (options for intervention) Week 12 Intra- and inter-
Introduction to systems Cycles; positive and negative generational social
feedback loops; life-cycle assessment equity
Week 2 Human interactions Preservation of the ecosystem’s integrity International Kyoto and Montreal Protocols; Whaling
with ecosystems and the laws of thermodynamics agreements
Natural capital Ecosystem goods and services; International UNEP; WHO; WTO; World Business
tragedy of the commons Institutions Council for Sustainable Development
Perspectives on Values and desired future, precautionary Week 13 Economics and
sustainability principle, indices of sustainability sustainability
Week 3 Population The role of business Factor 4 and Factor 10
technology:
Consumption Household and organizational buying Week 14 Business and ISO 14001; sustainability reporting;
(environmentally preferable sustainability life cycle assessment; design for the
purchasing (EPS)) environment; ecoefficiency; extended
Week 4 Ecosystems and producer responsibility (EPR); reduce;
biodiversity reuse; remanufacturing; recycling;
Energy Alternative sources; renewables; fossil materials exchanges; waste/zero-waste
fuels; nuclear; solar; water; geothermal Week 15 Potential solutions
Week 5 Peak oil production
Exam 1
Week 16 Exam 3
Presentations
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