Title: The US-Brazil Sustainability Consortium: local-global collaboration for a sustainable future

Authors: John L. Motloch, Eloy F. Casagrande Jr.

Addresses: Land Design Institute, AB 226, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306, USA. ' Federal Technological University of Parana, Av. Sete de Setembro, 3165, 80230-901, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

Abstract: Sustainable development (SD) integrates growth with contextual systems such as environmental, social and economic, and with the elements and dynamics that characterise them. SD depends on an education for sustainability (EFS) that includes a focus on maintaining growth that promotes successful systems management and that pursues responsible planning and design of system elements (cities, buildings and landscapes) in ways that sustain a positive ecobalance. This paper reviews an EFS initiative and partnering framework, The US-Brazil Sustainability Consortium (USBSC), which integrates local and global knowledge to understand place-based systems, resource flows and ecobalance. The USBSC is a student mobility consortium funded by the US and Brazilian departments of education. It promotes the international exchange of students in architecture, engineering and civil building, landscape architecture, urban planning and natural resources and environmental management. It educates these students about the triple bottom line (TBL) of sustainability, environmental responsibility, social justice and economic vitality.

Keywords: sustainable development; sustainability education; student exchanges; environmental responsibility; local-global collaboration; sustainability consortium; USA; United States; Brazil; environmental education; social justice; economic vitality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESD.2010.029973

International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 2010 Vol.9 No.1/2/3, pp.228 - 240

Published online: 03 Dec 2009 *

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