High on a throne of royal state, which far

Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,

Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand

Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,

Satan exalted sat, by merit raised

To that bad eminence; and, from despair

Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires

Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue

Vain war with HeavenMORAL DISCONNEC TION

External Morality (av = 4.60)Is it immoral for : 1=not at all at all; 5=hugely N=30 average1. a company to pollute the environment and kill off native plants? 4.672. a company to pollute the environment and kill off native animals? 4.773. a company to pollute the environment and cause cancers and other illnesses? 4.734. a company to promote and sell products that sound research has shown are very damaging to the environment? 4.63

5. a company to promote and sell products that sound research has shown are very damaging to the health of many in the community? 4.676. a government to support policies that contribute to dangerous levels of greenhouse gases? 4.307. a city council to support policies that contribute to dangerous levels of greenhouse gases? 4.47

Personal Morality (av = 3.95)

Is it immoral for: 1=not at all at all; 5=hugely N=30 average8. an individual to buy shares in companies that pollute the environment? 4.279. an individual to support political parties who have policies that contribute to dangerous levels of greenhouse gases? 4.1710. an individual to buy products that contribute to dangerous levels of greenhouse gases? 4.0011. an individual to buy products that sound research has shown are very damaging to the environment? 3.7712. an individual to buy products that good research has shown are very damaging to the health of many in the community? 3.9313. an individual not to recycle rubbish wherever possible? 3.9714. an individual to waste water, power, gas, petrol? 3.9715. an individual not to use re-usable shopping bags and fast food, coffee, etc containers? 3.57

Stealing

Is it immoral for: 1=not at all at all; 5=hugely N=30

average16. individuals to steal from their community?

4.5017. individuals to steal from people outside their community?

4.5018. individuals to steal from companies and institutions? 4.30

19. individuals to steal from rich people? 4.23

The disconnection between morality and eco-sustainable behaviour

Disconnect between external and personal

Connection between the personal

An experiment to address the disconnect

• a procedure where you measure or describe the state of something (a person, a group, an animal or plant, an eco-system) before and after a planned intervention

• We’ve done the baseline measurement/description, we’ll do am experiment to see if we can reduce that perception of disconnection, and then discuss where we got to.

• How could we improve our experiment?• First we need to do a bit of a lit review on morality to

help us understand what might cause the disconnect

The drivers of moral behavior

• Social pressure - we do things because everyone around us does it. Rules or conventions, like no running in the corridors, which we may ignore if we can get away with it.

• Personal conviction - these are individual moral positions, such as the choice to not eat battery chickens on the basis of animal rights.

• Religious beliefs - these are rules and prescriptions that part of a wider set of religious or spiritual practices. For example not eating meat on Fridays if you are a Catholic.

• Habit - we do things like never buying goods on credit, because that's the way we've always done it

• How can each of these processes contribute to eco-sustainability?

The evolutionary drivers of moral behavior

• Morality is the motivational mechanism by which sociability is prioritised in human conduct.

• Moral behaviours such as the universal desire to protect the very young or to collaborate with close kin which are seen as being key to human survival and development from an evolutionary point of view

• Based on competition with Nature

The Five Foundations (principles) of Morality• Harm/Care - not harming others and caring for others; • Fairness/ Reciprocity - treating others as you yourself

would expect to be treated;• In group/Loyalty - supporting your extended family,

your community, your kin group, hapu, iwi, your country over and above other families, communities, etc;

• Authority/Respect - being respectful to those in authority, positions of power and status, including divine powers; and

• Purity/Sanctity - staying free from the contamination of unclean food , bodily and sexual habits. and impure thoughts.

The Five Foundations (principles) of Morality

• Evolutionary principles – aiding the development of the human species with cooperative behaviour and specialisation of roles, thus and giving space for our enormous creativity and versatility.

• Anthropocentric – all from our perspective for our good

• No criteria for moral behaviour in relation to the rest of the biosphere - animals and plants and the environment they depend on.

• No built in moral system that gives intrinsic value to the non - human biosphere

Deep Ecology

• Deep ecology rejects the idea that each human being possesses a separate essence or soul/spirit separating the human self from the rest of the world. Separation leads to selfishness towards other people and nature.

• Our identity is constituted by our relationship to other things in the world, especially living things. If we think of ourselves and the world in relational terms then we will take better care of ourselves, nature and the world in general.

• By identifying with nature I enlarge the boundaries of the self beyond my skin. My larger - ecological - Self (capital "S" shows I am something larger than my body and consciousness - the universal aspect of Self) deserves respect as well. Ecocide 6:40

• Mental Health Foundation believes that our disconnection with our natural environment is a cause of mental illness, and that re-connection is a strategy for recovery.

Animism, Gaia,

• Animism: the features of the non-human world have their own consciousness and sentience

• The world is a "self- realising"

system or a series of such systems

• Gaia hypothesis: the living and nonliving components of earth function as a single system in such a way that the living component regulates and maintains conditions so as to be suitable for life.

Indigenous spirituality• Everything has wairua – a sacred and immortal element

– spirit. Everything has mauri - life force• North American Indian spirituality is not separated from

other realities. It is present in one’s total existence - body, mind and spirit, relationships with self, others and nature

• Being forced from their traditional lands people struggle to hold onto their spiritual beliefs and practices because these are so intimately tied to their ecosystems. Whakamomori (suicide) was traditionally the despair felt from loss of tribal lands.

• Land is the people's life and soul. A person without land or land connection is soulless.

• Catarets islands 0 – 2:28, 4:42 to finish

Dealing with the disconnection• Lit review conclusion. There’ s never historically been a

moral argument for looking after the environment – a non-anthropocentric view. However if we felt more connected to the non-human world we live in, our moral emotions (the motivational force) would match our moral intentions with regard to ecosustainability.

• How? Maybe if we get out of our mental space and into our bio space and perhaps into that part of ourselves that is connected to everything. Our complexity is held in the DNA molecules that we share with every living thing. That potential is held within the quantum physics that describe the big-bang or the beginning of the universe

Become a

Waitakere Eco rep

see what you can do

Manage classroom rubbish better!

Get staff/students to use classroom rubbish bins for non- recyclable materials – not food, paper, plastics and metals.

How about: taking a few minutes before class starts to talk about where

recyclable things can be deposited? providing progress reports to staff/students

on the amount of recyclables going into to classroom rubbish bins?

Join the Twin Streams Project!

The Twin Streams Community Project has have guardianship over the part of the streams closest to Unitec.

How about: Engaging in clean-ups of

the Unitec stream area, perhaps by having a canoe kayak fun event to support the cleanup?

Recycle plastic bags and batteries!

Get a plastic bag and battery recycling station going at Waitakere.

How about: Working with Facilities Management to create a space for plastic bag and battery recycling (publicise it, monitor its use, and provide progress reports for our Good News notice boards)?

No more Disposable cups and dishes!

How about:Identifying when cups/plates/cutlery are being used at functions and just thrown away so we can educate on options for change?

Checking eco-friendly dishwashing products are used? we’ll be doing more washing up!

Contains >30% Phosphates

Get Unitec on its bike!

How about:Finding out what bike amenities we’ve

got (racks, showers, storage, drying area, etc) and what we need?

Save power and water!

How about:

Developing and implementing a checklist to monitor power and water usage (e.g. lights, computers left on, wasteful automatic taps)?

Encouraging refillable water bottles?

keep your coffee cup!

How about:

Always using reusable cups/bottles?

Asking cafes to sell reusable cups?

Suggesting cafes offer a discount or incentive for doing this?

Getting our cafes to sign up at www.consciousconsumers.org.nz?

Supporting cafes that give discounts?

Join a local community garden!

Waitakere has 8 community gardens

Massey Community

Garden

How about:Learning how to grow organic food?

Connecting with your local community?

Having cheap healthy food?

Car Pool or Catch a Bus!

How about

Setting up a car pooling Moodle page?

Catching a bus or train?

Save on transport costs

Do Ecosustainability Surveys!

What do Unitec students think about & want from Ecosustainability?

How about:

Surveying students about their views?

Running the results in a poster campaign?

Co-ordinate Eco-reps

How about Hoani Waititi Kapa Haka Group

Organising meetings of eco-reps, sending out information, putting people in touch with each other