Metaphors of nature and development: reflection on critical course of sustainable business

Abstract

This article examines the role of metaphors of nature, sustainable development, and neoliberalism in business education. The research underpinning this article focused on a shift in the language business students used in response to a critical course on the neoliberal economic model. Results of the examination of metaphors before and after this course suggest a change in these higher education students’ perceptions toward the recognition of culturally unique and ecologically sensitive ways of conceiving environment and human development. The study also shows that intervention courses can play a role in disrupting how university students view nature in relation to neoliberal economics, business practices, and social relations. It is argued that the alternative conceptions of nature and development help to inform and empower students about solutions to the sustainability challenges.

Keywords:

• business education
• education for sustainable development (ESD)
• metaphors
• neoliberalism

Notes

1. Based on the notions of natural cycles or metabolisms, C2C and circular economy proponents argue that eco-efficiency allows the essentially linear ‘cradle to grave’ system that ‘takes, makes, and wastes’ last longer. Instead, they propose a system of production in which nothing is wasted and where products remain either in biological (organic matter) or industrial (ready for disassembly and made of non-toxic materials) product cycles. In its simplest form, one can think of pre-industrial production as an example of the type of products C2C and circular economy promotes. Additionally to these forms of ecologically benign production, the steady state economy framework calls for the need to address demographic issues, due to the fact that population growth tends to be an additional factor that adds to challenges of large-scale production and consumption. As expressed by Daly (1991, 39), the twin problems of overpopulation and overconsumption ‘have no technical fixes but only difficult moral solutions’.

2. Significantly, EE/ESD scholars who support pluralistic approaches often argue that sustainability issues are socially constructed and constantly evolving, complex, uncertain, and contested (Rudsberg and Öhman 2010). Examplifying this, Van Poeck and Vandenabeele (2014) note that sustainability concept is interwoven with diverging and often irreconcilable values, interests and knowledge claims and that it is often unclear who will suffer from the far-reaching consequences.

3. Discussions were converted into notes by a number of student assistants, and some segments were analyzed using the qualitative data analysis strategy of basic coding and triangulation of data. The scope of this article was limited to summary discussion and more detailed written assignments on films.

4. In the film, ‘Heidi’, a German volunteer and beneficiary who helped to fund the school which features in the film, confesses her love of the local people and reflects that she wanted to help them because they are like needy children, in need of everything from schools to housing to ‘mental help’.