I was at the university of Bristol the other day talking with their impressive ESD team at the students union – in one of their BREEAM 'excellent' buildings. It apparently has the slowest lift in Christendom – the idea being that students (and visitors) will be nudged into walking up the stairs because it's much faster. This was part of what the Estates team terms the 'subliminal curriculum' – a concept that I'd not come across before but one which, when you think about it, is all around us. Cheap and frequent buses that go to where you want them to, are another example; as are strategically-placed bins for different sorts of waste recycling, although these tend to legitimise waste, of course. My admiration for the BREEAM 'excellent' experience was tempered a little by how hot the meeting room was: a sweltering 27 *C, a good 10 degrees warmer than outside. Clearly the heat wasn't sinking fast enough to the basement swimming pool.
We talked about how the subliminal, formal and informal curricula related to each other – and I tried (though not very well) to ask how they all mapped on to Bristol's hidden curriculum. Had I had more of my wits about me, I'd have asked how all their ESD stuff squared with Bristol's insatiable thirst for Asian students and their collective carbon indebtedness.
Revealingly, I then stumbled on this:
The University of Bristol's roots date back to 1876. Since its formation it has become one of the leading institutions among the UK's Russell Group of universities with around 13,000 Undergraduate and 5,500 Postgraduate students. The University has a strong interdisciplinary approach and is internationally renowned. It is ranked in the top 30 universities globally (QS World University Rankings) due to its outstanding teaching and research, its superb facilities and highly talented students and staff.
This is the blurb at the head of an advert for a senior academic post. Although there is no specific mention of sustainability, some will no doubt say that the reference to its "strong interdisciplinary approach" is evidence of this emphasis. But I think not. That would rather be like saying that vegetables on a menu are evidence of a commitment to being vegan.
Responses
As ever, a perceptive review. It was great to have a Bill testing our ideas and challenging us so helpfully.
If you don't have veg on the menu you can't become a vegetarian let alone a vegan. I
Bristol's current task, stage 1 is to do what we do as sustainably as possible. We're bUilding a community of vegetarians ( with meat free given prominence for the meat eaters to reduce meat consumption). with menu options for vegans not instant veganism for all. Diet change has to be tactical, but let's not confuse the aim with the tactics.