At the NATO ARW workshop on Enhancing Environmental Security in Transition
Countries (Sibiu, Romania, 2006), the assembled experts identified the inadequacy
of the traditional Soviet/Eastern European approach to higher education as
a major hurdle toward achieving environmental security in transition countries
(Allen-Gil and Borysova, in press) While this system of education has excelled
in promoting discipline-specific detailed investigations of basic science,
especially natural history, and advanced engineering (nuclear physics), it
has not approached education with an emphasis on applied science, interdisciplinary
thinking and holistic problem solving (Salmi, 2006). Thus, it is difficult,
and sometimes impossible, for research teams to approach and solve issues
of environmental security, such as resource conservation, water pollution,
food production, and air quality in a manner that addresses the multifaceted
nature of these issues. If the projections for peak oil production are correct
(Bentley, 2002), and the International Panel on Climate Change is correct
in their predictions of virtually inevitable global temperature increases
and sea level rise (IPCC, 2007), we will need a global community of educators
adept at training young people to work cooperatively to solve local, regional
and international environmental problems. NATO and its partner countries clearly
recognize the importance of this area for research: environmental security
is a priority research topic for NATO and for 11 of 15 partner countries.
The time is ripe for rethinking educational strategies, methods and goals.
In 2005, the United Nations launched the Decade for Education on Sustainable
Development. Universities in North America and Western Europe are responding
to this call. Both University Leaders for a Sustainable Future and the American
Association for Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) have grown exponentially
in recent years: The AASHE annual conference saw a four-fold increase in the
number of participants in two years. Likewise, the dialogue on curriculum
innovations for promoting sustainability and environmental security is expanding.
The universities of two co-directors (Ithaca College and University of British
Columbia) are internationally recognized as leaders in this area. In November
2006, Ithaca College was one of nine schools to receive recognition from the
National Wildlife Federation for its sustainability initiatives on campus.
A National Science Foundation grant (Applying Science to Sustainability) that
launched much of the sustainability-related activities at Ithaca College was
directed by Dr. Allen-Gil. For her work in higher education curriculum on
sustainability, Allen-Gil has received for two Dean Merit Awards, and the
Chronicle of Higher Education's Best Practices Award, and has been nominated
for the TIAA-CREF Hesbrough Award and for CASE US Professor of the Year. In
transition countries and those of the former Soviet Union, universities are
now stable enough in terms of finances and faculty to examine changes in curriculum
and teaching approaches. Reforming higher education of transitional countries
is a monstrous task, and there are several efforts currently underway, such
as the Tempus Programme of the European Union (http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/
tempus/index_en.html). This Programme supports university cooperation projects
for knowledge transfer. Another organization working in this area is the Alliance
of Universities for Democracy, whose mission is "to enhance the role of education
in promoting democratic institutions, economic development including technology
transfer, decentralized decision making, human health, sustainable habitation
of the earth, and common moral and social values", and it holds an annual
conference for academic exchange between professors and administrators from
Central and Eastern European Countries with those of Western Europe and North
America (http://www.audem.org/).
