Together towards sustainability - University and Civil Society meet - Einzelansicht

Sustainability is an issue which is preeminent on the minds of activists in the Civil Society of Muenster - particularly amongst groups belonging to the "Eine-Welt-Forum" and the "Umweltforum". Their activities led to a unanimous decision of the town council in 1999 in which the city of Muenster declared its adherence to the principles of sustainability. Following the conference "Höher, Schneller, Weiter?" ("Faster, Further, Higher?" - organized by the Institute for Sociology) civilian activists organized the Day of Sustainability (Nachhaltigkeitstag) in 2015.

This seminar (which is open to participants from Civil Society) asks why the City of Muenster- despite these active citizens and the decision of the town council - does not act more strongly on matters of sustainabilty. We will use both published literature (Tillmann&Tillmann 1999; Hoffmeister 2014) and experiences of participants from the civil society to tackle this question. In addition, the cultural history of the term "sustainability" (Grober 2012) and an overview over global problems with sustainabilty (Kanninen 2013) will provide material from a wider perspective. We hope to continue the dialogue between students and activists from civil society - which has proven fruitful to both sides in an earlier seminar. We also hope that this seminar will strengthen the activities of Civil Society in Muenster.

Grober, Ulrich (2012): Sustainabilty: A Cultural History

Hoffmeister, Dieter, (Hrsg., 2014): Nachhaltigkeit in Münster - Studierende und Normalbürger: Ressource für eine zukunftsfähige Stadtentwicklung?

Kanninen, Tapio (2013): Crisis of Global Sustainability

Tillman, Berthold und Michael Tillmann (1998): Über unsere Verhältnisse. Beiträge zur Diskussion um ein zukunftsfähiges Münster