There are serious global issues; and there are societies facing these serious global issues. Because the issues will eventually require societal changes, questions begin to appear about human behavior.
The concepts of societal change and reduced energy availability go together like oil and water, so to speak. Change is tough and change is slow.
Educators need to begin to piece together both the list of global health issues and resultant cultural change probabilities. World Health vs. Societal Changes.
Where do we find a good Anthropology 101 for this? An Ethics 101? A Social Justice 101? To teach with our compass aimed at the future (a foundational standard, anyway) we must become agents of educated change ourselves as we enter the classroom each day (...as Gandhi said, and as he is now quoted regularly). It’s not just curricular content- it’s choreographing curricula under the societal change umbrella.
Raising questions related to peak oil, population growth, climate change, water availability, economy, etc., can be fairly directly answered and investigated. Questions pertaining to human behavior, however, are going to take more thought.
Consider these energy questions - mostly fossil fuel energy questions. They are a jumble of human behavior and world ethics queries for thought. One could go on and on...as I know I have...
What is quality of life related to fossil fuels?Does "taking for granted" create a behavior issue?
Is there a level of foresight that society is willing to accept for global health?
What is “buy-in” when discussing change in behavior?
In economics, what are inflexible commodities or consumer products?
Why do people seem to require instant gratification?
What are labor-saving devices and do they cost us?
What is a social justice definition of luxury?
Have luxury and comfort become rights and expectations for societies?
How will the rate of behavior change appear when luxury and comfort are involved?
What do we mean by a lifestyle sacrifice?
What is survival energy?
Is change accomplished through leading by example?
How does the individual ego and its cultural norm fit with change? Is there a cultural ego?
Who will be in denial about the global future and how will they respond?
What is convenience as related to energy or commodities or services?
How do we address growth as a foregone given?
Are extracted energy sources a luxury?
Is there a social justice issue with the distribution of greenhouse gas emissions?
Where does privileged fossil fuel consumption and emission fit?
Is this where we tease-apart developed vs. developing countries?
How could a debatable energy issue, say, like air conditioning, become a model for studying behavior modifications?
Will a segment of society take on a future behavior to “...party like it’s 1999?”
What may be the effect of doomer behavior by some?
Is it reasonable to expect cultures to reconcile and cooperate for the collective sake of world health?
How do we create momentum to turn the supertanker toward education for sustainability?
Why is it important for teachers to aggressively address and discuss societal behaviors in the face of uncertain global future?
Who will need to be totally prepared to tackle decision-making in 2020 and beyond? (Hint: It’s not me.)
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There are concrete issues of global health, and then there are abstract behaviors. Both need to be addressed by educators- and soon.
