Home – Sustainable thinking and action for life

Community Sustainability Frameworks™ workshops provide participants with guidance on the various elements within the domains of sustainability. An outline of how individuals, groups, businesses, and governments can collaborate on behaviour change to create sustainable communities that interconnect across regions and beyond. This workshop introduces participants to CSFs and the many roles they can adopt to implement and maintain change towards sustainability in their communities. The interactive sessions build on the existing expertise of the group, emphasising the vital role citizen science plays in driving social behaviour change and building a culture of sustainability system. 

This programme covered all of the SDGs.

Funded by the European Union, this project. It used family therapy to help participants from long-term and intergenerational unemployment backgrounds. The therapy aimed to increase their sustainable and positive mental health skills. It also boosted their well-being. Participants increased their self-confidence and self-esteem by engaging in programme activities. These activities helped sustain their health and well-being in their homes and communities. They included art and music therapies. Participants also enjoyed appreciative outdoor activities. The project then provided participants with an understanding and knowledge of the sustainability system and employment opportunities within this system.

Sustainable healthy lifestyles include diet, stress relief practices for positive mental health, and exercise. These are inherent in SDG #3 Good Health and Wellbeing.  This project partnered with New Horizons Mental Health organisation. It collaborated with participants affected by mental health conditions. The aim was to increase and maintain supportive social relationships. It also sought to improve quality of life through good dietary habits and outdoor exercise. Additionally, the project aimed to increase personal self-esteem and confidence. 

In collaboration with Pfizer Inc., this research project implemented family outdoor therapy. It used intergenerational learning to assist the whole family unit. These methods helped them manage FH more effectively in their everyday lives. The aim was to increase the possibility of those with FH to live longer lives. Another goal was for them to have symptom-free lives. This would be achieved through early identification, intervention, and combining pharmacotherapy and lifestyle change treatment.  Daily sustainable health and well-being practices were discussed. These practices help manage their condition. They included outdoor lifestyles, diet and nutrition, and stress relief practices.

This workshop was part of the University of Gloucestershire, Grundtvig programme on individual and community well-being. It used the healthy towns and transition towns’ models. These were employed to investigate the use of culture and the natural environment in sustainable ways. The aim was to support emotional, mental, physical, and social well-being. Workshop participants discussed the use of Dahlgren & Whitehead’s Determinants of Health. They also talked about health education based on Multiple Intelligences (Gardner, 2006). They examined how culture informs and guides perceptions about what constitutes a healthy, environmentally connected, and active lifestyle.

The practical implementation of global sustainability changes can be overwhelming for people at a local level. Participants in these workshops improved their understanding of gardening techniques. They use these techniques as a tool to implement sustainability in their backyards and everyday lives. Working through the sustainability domains, the discussion covered examples of diverse cultural uses for home garden produce. These included food production, market produce, natural products, and herbal remedies.

An individual’s ability to prevent, resist, respond and recover positively when faced with a wide range of risks is resilience (UN, 2020).  For people with additional needs, including neurodivergent and chronically ill individuals, these risks are a daily occurrence.  This project provided much-needed education for PANs on how to be self-sufficient in food production and engage in outdoor activities to maintain their health.  This independence assists with resilience in daily life.

Participants learned about the impact the building industry has on the environment and the possibilities for sustainable building designs.   Working with local people and communities, these workshops incorporated site visits to eco-friendly buildings and lifestyle developments.  The participants examined the theory behind sustainable buildings and eco-homes. They also explored practical aspects of urban heat islands, renewable energy, and resilient community designs.  Showcasing these alternatives gave participants the knowledge and skills to design and plan sustainable homes, urban villages, and communities.

Master of Engineering students worked on development systems thinking scenarios for sustainable urban designs.  Activities were undertaken to incorporate elements of the sustainability domains into their urban development projects.  Students used critical thinking skills to determine what defines sustainable designs. They identified resilience-building techniques. They also learned how to overcome the barriers to changing traditional urban design norms.

These workshops were part of the Education Business Partnership with Gyrfa Cymru/Career Wales in association with the Education Business Links Project and local County Borough Councils.  Year 8 students were involved in the workshops about Citizenship in Action and employment options in fields related to sustainability.  The workshops aligned with the Welsh Government’s requirement for sustainable development and global citizenship to be included in the Welsh education system. The students benefitted from our consultant’s knowledge of employment opportunities in the sustainability field. They discussed the range of sustainable employment pathways. These pathways assist with maintaining different elements of the sustainability domains.

This Welsh Government-funded project, Beacon for Wales, was a partnership between Cardiff University, University of Glamorgan, and local high schools.  There is no better way to ignite a passion for sustainability than through drama.  Drama provides a learning platform for awareness, advocacy, and enlightenment for change towards sustainability (Duruaku, 2017). Dramaturgy was used to educate year 9 students about sustainability and global citizenship.  An examination of the movie Avatar helped students understand elements of sustainability domains. It also improved their cultural literacy and global citizenship. Lastly, they learned how cultures can sustain healthy humans. Students produced a theatre version of Avatar. It highlighted real-life sustainability issues facing their immediate community and share their sustainability knowledge and skills with their peers and teachers.

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This session was delivered to year 11 business students. Discussions included systems thinking and sustainability and the implementation of the sustainable development goals in different business contexts.  Sustainability knowledge and skills students will require in their future careers were outlined.  Students then critically examined the sustainability values, policies, and procedures of businesses they want to work for in the future.

This consultation with Meridan State College clarified their sustainability goals. It showed how these goals can be embedded into their curriculum across P–12-year levels. It also helped to identify developments across the school to implement this sustainability curriculum.  Interconnections between the learning areas, general capabilities, and cross-curriculum priorities were identified to start the change towards their sustainability journey.

Women are at the forefront of change towards sustainability (UN Women, 2024).  Altered gender roles across the globe place women in the complicated process of business development. They face this stress while juggling family and social responsibilities.  This can often be at the expense of their health and well-being.  These workshops addressed this issue.  Participants understood the tasks required to start a business. They learned about the many facets of their health and well-being and how to sustain themselves on their busyness journey.

This programme of workshops was designed to provide local council officers with the knowledge, understanding and skills to implement change towards sustainability in their respective council departments.  Sustainability knowledge sessions took place. We used SDG mapping exercises to discover partnerships. These partnerships could help bring this change to fruition.

The WWOOFer movement is a trust and non-monetary exchange-based movement. It is a worldwide movement. It links volunteers with organic farmers and growers. This promotes cultural and educational experiences. The goal is to build a sustainable global community. In partnership with Spanish WWOOFer farmers, this project enhanced participants’ knowledge and skills in organics. It also focused on biodynamics and permaculture farming. Participants built their cultural literacy skills by working with people from other cultures.  Engagement in local outdoor and environmental education activities increased their appreciation for diverse ecosystems. They also learned to value sustainable lifestyles.

Adults living with mental and mild physical health concerns participated in this Wales Council for Voluntary Action project. The primary aim was to provide participants with the skills to reduce these health concerns and return to the workplace. The project also aimed to enhance pro-environmental values for environmental sustainability. Opportunities for close interactions with nature through outdoor activities positively impact our ability to care for and respect the natural environment, others, and ourselves. They also increase mindfulness skills that have a positive effect on our physical and mental health.

The river clean-up projects were designed to generate positive and intrinsic value for local rivers, waterways and surrounding natural environments. They encouraged and supported the stewardship of rivers by local communities.   Education for environmental sustainability sessions was provided to reinforce the benefit of keeping rivers clean for humans and non-human species.  Knowledge of safe practices on waterways, environmental degradation and regeneration, and eco-stewardship were covered.

This learning and teaching grant-funded project extended existing informal outdoor and pro-environmental learning at the community level.  Resources were provided for the community groups to design, develop, and maintain an area of urban environmental regeneration.  The project was a collaboration between university staff and students, residents’ associations staff and community members. The aims were to encourage a connection between local community members and their immediate natural environment whilst supporting informal outdoor and pro-environmental learning. Another aim was to regenerate a natural local area. Outcomes included a nature trail in a local playground, the regeneration of a small local forest area, and a community vegetable garden growing endemic food sources.

People with additional needs, including neurodivergent and chronically ill individuals, generally have lower rates of participation and employment. They often encounter discrimination in finding employment (AIHW, 2024). Education on cultural literacy was included. This helped attendees gain skills for the mental, social, and cognitive processes that guide them safely through life. This included those that sustain them through life changes, including employment in the sustainability sector. Using a cultural literacy and diversity lens, this programme increased participants’ awareness and understanding of sustainable employment opportunities. It drew on practices from across the globe that were implementable in their community.

The W4SGC project worked with women from areas of multiple deprivation. It helped them to design sustainable futures for themselves, their families, and their local communities. The women developed skills in sustainable social enterprises. This enabled them to create enterprises that would support not only them but also their communities. This project celebrated the enormous potential of women in bringing a sustainable world to fruition.

This project, in collaboration with WWOOFer farmers, gave participants a context to critically examine sustainability values in economic systems. They compared neoliberal economic systems with sustainable or green economic systems. Participants evaluated each system’s ability to provide a higher quality of life for local people. They also considered decent pay conditions, fair trade processes, and economic stability for local communities.

The focus of these workshops was the opportunities for utilising the natural environments in our home to provide economic stability.  Income generation was one of the topics covered. This included different cultural uses for home garden produce. The workshops talked about reducing grocery and food expenses, crafts, sustainable food production, and herbal remedies.

Sunshine Coast Environment Council – World Environment Day 2023, 2024