Abstract
By critically engaging with current sustainability discourses and practices, this chapter strives to open space for more/different possibilities from the illusion of restoration or the seduction of neo-romanticism. Recognizing the global interconnectedness of humans and nonhumans alike by tracing (some of) the journey of a glass jar, the authors consider the roles of economic development, gender dynamics, political realities, and our relationships with the material world that may perpetuate unsustainable practices—even in the name of sustainability. This chapter thus complicates what can otherwise be dangerously simplified notion of restoration or desire for a ‘return’ to more sustainable days gone. Deconstructing the discourses of sustainability begin to reveal opportunities for other ways forward in the move from technical-rational fixes in favour of ontological approaches to change. In this chapter we examine how ontological shifts can substantially alter power relations, inviting us to recognize multiple and simultaneous possibilities for change through a hermeneutics of sustainability that strives to make space for emergent, democratic, and responsive actions when charting more equitable and ‘sustainable’ ways to live.
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Blades, D.W., Newbury, J. (2014). Learning to Let Go of Sustainability. In: Bencze, J., Alsop, S. (eds) Activist Science and Technology Education. Cultural Studies of Science Education, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4360-1_11
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