(This module requires that you first complete the EcoTypes followup reflection form; if you haven’t, go here and enter your survey entry key to do it.)
You recently completed the EcoTypes reflection form, based in part on your survey results. You may be wondering: what was the point of that reflection form? Aren’t we supposed to be learning the facts about environmental issues, and not get lost in our own perspectives? Well, here’s why the reflection form, and this module on navigating difference, are so important:
Ours is a world of difference.
Consider almost any environmental issue, and you’ll find that there are many different people and opinions, many different ideas related to the issue. You may see this as an opportunity!: after all, difference makes the world a richer place.
But you may see the other side of difference: disagreement, debate, and policy paralysis. Possibly the biggest reason we can’t make environmental progress today is that we can’t agree on what to so. Just research the environmental issues you are passionate about, and you will find that not everyone agrees with you.
What are we to do? It is easy, but shortsighted, to think that we and our allies are right about everything, and that our ideas are the right ones. Whether difference is expressed in terms of people or ideas, many of us know that being open to other people and ideas is a good thing—certainly in the context of environmental issues, given their scope and complexity.
But the question remains: how do we navigate difference—among people or ideas? Do we just agree with everyone and everything we hear? Do we stand our ground and disagree? The point of the reflection form was for you to think carefully about this question, using EcoTypes as a point of departure.
In this module you’ll get a chance to process the alternatives you met on that form: counting to two, counting to one, and counting between one and two. You’ll learn to identify these strategies in the environmental context, how counting to one or two are both extremely common and yet problematic, and how counting between one and two may be a better—though not easy—alternative for navigating difference, one that may lead to more creative, inclusive approaches.
This module includes three lessons (fewer than other modules, to honor your time doing the reflection form!) plus a review lesson, takes about one hour, and culminates in a final quiz. Each lesson includes about 1000 words of text and a brief quiz. Each lesson also includes small images representing EcoTypes axes, in alphabetical order from Aesthetics to Technology. A sample image is below!
You’ll need to complete the lessons in sequence; each also ends with a brief quiz.
When you complete the module you’ll get a certificate!
Ready?: click the first lesson below to begin. [And if you have already completed this module, feel free to send us anonymous feedback.]
