Let's Raise Capable Children

In this episode of It’s Sustainability Time, we explore the idea that the true goal of education in a sustainable society is the development of capable human beings.

What does it mean to be capable in the context of sustainability?

A capable person is able to understand systems, navigate challenges, contribute constructively to community, and support the long-term stability of both humanity and the natural world.

Using the American Revolution as an example, this episode explores how history changes when students are taught to understand the resource systems, economic realities, and environmental pressures operating underneath historical events.

How does knowledge of systems shape perception?

How might education evolve if its purpose became the development of people capable of sustaining humanity over time?

This episode explores sustainability as a philosophy of human capability — the capability to support a dynamic, prosperous, and resilient humanity.

Transcript

Welcome And A New Definition

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hello everyone, my name is Todd Francis. Welcome to the It's Sustainability Time Podcast, the podcast where we do endeavor to challenge our view of reality, challenge our belief system regarding sustainability, challenge our sustainable future. Let's start out, as we always do, by making sure we all understand that sustainability, a sustainable society is one that promotes growth for human beings in many ways, many aspects. A healthy natural environment is a healthy natural consequence of people, a people that are living sustainably, promoting growth in many ways for ourselves. Healthy environment is a natural consequence of this reality. A sustainable society produces beings that are capable of doing many things. Capable, capacity, ability, potential, I can do. I can do is what a sustainable society produces people to be. I can have the mental capacity. I am emotionally capable. I have the spiritual capacity. I am spiritually capable of supporting a society that is based on one primary goal, which is to achieve wellness and health in the society in which I live in a way that is resilient for myself and future generations to come. So if we're serious about building a sustainable future, we have to ask ourselves the larger question, what kind of human what kind of human beings does a sustainable society require? Not in politics, not in ideology, but practically, mentally, emotionally, socially. What cultural environment is best suited to foster development of a sustainable society? What kind of minds are capable of leading us to the dream of a sustainable future? A truly sustainable future? Where's the start of the yellow brick road? Tell us, Arianda Grande.

The Human Skills Sustainability Requires

SPEAKER_01 2:42

So the answer to this question leads directly back to education. Not a green education, bless us. Not just environmental sciences classes, which is a great thing to do. It's like a it's like a rite of passage environmental sciences class. You should be as an adult, I guess. They're just a wonderful way to perceive or see the importance of our resource base in many ways. From natural ones in the ground to us as human beings, we're all resources, everything, everything in between. Sustainability breeds a philosophy which develops people to be capable of holding the society in which we live and continue to broaden it and deepen it in ways reflect the best of us, the best of our potential as group, that to produce health and wellness as our primary product. So

School That Includes Resource Reality

SPEAKER_01 4:02

when we think of education, we have to say to ourselves, okay, now look, we have math, we have arts, we have social studies, we have many sciences and many liberal arts areas. What I'm saying is that all of these subjects, we spend a lot of time discussing the ideologies, the facts, the theorems, the messages, the protagonists, the antagonists, the pros and the cons, the how to's and how not to's, without giving a lot of thought at the very basis of our educational system theory. We don't give a lot of thought to instruct our young people to consider our all-encompassing need for easy access to natural resources and the systems and infrastructure to develop them. It's not communist, it's these are the things that we need. These are the things that we have. These are all of the things that are important to us as resources. We're all going to take part in developing them one way or another eventually. So in a broader way, in a softer way, more gentle way, we need to have this on our minds as we're taking math classes, orienting ourselves towards sciences, towards English, towards French, social studies, just have an understanding that they're in our mix of things as we live, in the emotion, in all things should be a discussion of our resources that are completely entwined, of our re our need for resource development, all the way entwined in an educational mix.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

It's who we are, it's what we need to do. We need to understand this fully outside of the need for conservation.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Just get a firm grip on who we are. Absolutely vital.

Teaching History Through Material Systems

SPEAKER_01 7:01

So we look at a if we look at an easy subject to consider, look at a very straightforward subject to consider in terms of a sustainable to consider a sustainable education. Let's look at history. History, we have to have a more solid understanding of how societies actually actually sustain themselves materially to fully understand why historical events unfolded and the decisions that were made. We need to do this a lot more before we start to study violence on large scales between nations. If you think about it, you take one nation from the leader, which is a resource, to the people, which are a resource, its water, its land, its traditions, it's the idol its ideologies, its customs, its economic potential and ability, the way it organized in it organized the way it organizes, the way it organ the way it organizes, the way it organizes itself in many ways, fundamental ways. This is that one group, that one system set of resources. It's one set of resources versus another set of resources in a battle. That's how God may look at it. Okay, one set of resources here, one set of resources there, get engaged in conflict. So it might even be more important to understand both sets of resources, and then understand what the resulting set of resources was after the conflict. That might be one or two, and then third, move back into who was involved in the conflict at what point in times, and what the result was. That third. Before conflict first, after conflict second, and then you want to discuss violence, go ahead. That's your choice. So let's take an example.

The Revolution As A Sovereignty Fight

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Let's go into just some basics. Let's talk let's talk about the American Revolution. When we learn about this point in history, we're usually taught to focus on ideals, government, leaders, and wars. So we think about freedom, we think about democracy, we think about revolution, we think about conflict.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

But that's one that's one that's a bubble. That's one thing.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

But the thirteen colonies had thirteen different bubbles. They were not all experiencing the British system in the exact same way, which is important to know. Each colony had in many ways dissimilar relationship and view of the British Empire. Weren't the same. So what we have to do to discuss the American Revolution, what it was, and the result, and how that led to, and how that led to further future, to it how that how that led to more. So how we come to understand what happened after that, the best thing to understand is so we have to get back to understanding the economic realities, understanding the underlying economic realities and resource realities that shape how different populations actually experienced this period. A sustainable-based education would still teach the ideals being developed, but it would put them in a context? Would the ideals be in the context of the resources? Would resources be in the context of the ideals?

SPEAKER_00 12:16

I think it's the former, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Resources abound. What we're doing matters, or we spend our time doing, producing for ourselves matter from there. That's where the ideals come from. Not at all belitting belittling the importance of democracy, of revolution, of independence. But let's let's not let's not be let's not get it twisted. The American Revolution was a battle for sovereignty. Right? It wasn't a battle for the many freedoms for individuals. Right? It wasn't a battle for the result of the Bill of Rights. The American Revolution was a battle for who's going to control resources. And that's a good thing. It's a beautiful thing. There's nothing, there's no hidden conspiracy by saying to imply somehow that the American Revolution was actually a military, a materialistic set of interests and goals. No, not at all. We teach the ideals in a sustainability-based education, but we also teach students to look underneath to see the struggles early American colonists were having in developing and managing resources, with the British overlooking their shoulders at all times. That's the problem. They're being hampered, they're being stymied, they're being stopped from developing their own economy and managing it. And having this external influence pick, pick, pick, pick apart, taking pieces from it all the time. And it's more like a manifesto was produced from that, not really an ideology, a manifesto, right? This is our land. No taxation without representation. That's not philosophy. That's get your hands out of my bucket. Get your own milk bucket. Get your own milk and honey. So what would a sustainable education ask of children to know? We'd want to know who benefited from the structure as it was. In Britain and here, who was benefiting? Who was being constrained by it? Who was profiting most from it? What economic system actually existed then? How the people were sustaining themselves, how did they do that, and what pressures were building over time? So if we look at the contrast between Boston and New York, the responses to British rule were different in both colonies. And it's important to understand that because the reasons for getting into the war both were different. They weren't the same.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

Both didn't have the same disposition for interest to fight.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

They had to work together to find one series of things that they could all stand behind, or agree to stand behind each other for their own purposes and reasons. It was complicated. There were convictions to manage, also negotiated principles to manage between people who were making a lot of money from Britain relationships, to change their opinion eventually, to join up with people who felt they were being stopped.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Restricted from employing their abilities in an economy or trade.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

The interest for rebellion in Boston was a lot higher than in New York. Both were major colonial cities, both existed under British rule, both participated in Atlantic trade, but both economic realities inside these colonies were different. They had to be brought together to fight. There was no notion across the thirteen colonies. There were individual interests in all thirteen places that came together to achieve a certain goal for a variety of different interests, which is very different than just fighting for the theory, the thought of independence. They were fighting for sovereignty. Think about that. Sovereignty. They're fighting for sovereignty. Each colony was fighting for its sovereignty, its ability to hold on to resources. They were fighting over to be the captain of the ship.

Boston And The Economics Of Rebellion

SPEAKER_00 19:05

Not all the colonists were for rebellion.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

Boston's economy relied heavily on maritime trade and shipbuilding, fishing, and connections to the Caribbean. The merchants traded fish, lumber, and goods throughout Atlantic and goods throughout Atlantic trade networks. There was molasses that was imported from the Caribbean to be turned into rum. And that became part of a larger system of commerce throughout the Atlantic world. That's Boston. But the British, their trade regulations became increasingly frustrating to many of the Bostons, many of Boston's economic interests. Policies, policies such as the Molasses Act, Molasses Act, and others, taxation measures, they attempted to channel policies like the Molasses Act and later taxation measures. They channeled colonial trade or tried to channel colonial trade through British controlled systems. They take their cut and leave the rest to whomever, all the time trying to profit from the effort the guided and developing developed resource trade markets in the United States, in the Americas, by the colonialists themselves. So for many people in Boston, these policies were experienced not simply as political control, but as economic limitations. And they've these influenced everyone. Larger, smaller pool of resources means smaller resource to the actual workers. Smaller pool of resources means less for each investor, and for the towns, churches, everyone got a smaller piece. If the British government was taking if cadre if people if merchants from if some producers inside of the British economy were allowed to take pieces from American merchants and colonies. So these paws were experienced as limitations. They reduced flexibility. Their taxes affected their commercial activity quite a bit. And they began to feel intrusive. The British restrictions felt intrusive, which makes sense. Someone who's not there among you producing is taking a piece. And by taking a piece, they're guiding your markets, determining where they can be developed, and where they should not. So at the same time, Boston, they were developing a strong culture of organized resistance. The city was dense, so information passed back and forth easily. They were politically active, and they were highly interconnected socially in Boston at the time. So frustration spread pretty quickly through the merchants and laborers, dock workers, and political groups, such as the Sons of Liberty. So the Boston Tea Party did not emerge from abstractions and theory and philosophy alone. It was a direct response to the hardcore obstructions of British rule. Not just get your hands off in the name of Liberty, but get your hands off us in the name of taking money out of my pocket, taking my potential to be a leader in this economy away from me. So the rebellion then emerged from growing feelings that the economic and political system emerging if the emerging the rebelliousness emerged from a growing feeling that the economic and political system controlling the colony was becoming restrictive and misaligned with local interests. Can we see that? Is there a difference between what we normally say? Is there a difference between what is normally constructed as why the American Revolution began? They're irritated. Because at the core, what the British were doing were forcing restrictions on us. They're placing shackles on us, is what they were doing. They're inhibiting growth at all points, trying to control and trim profits and develop markets. That's what was going on on the ground everywhere. When you think of the British troops standing around here and there, that's not really what was going on. They had a grip on our economy. Forcing production and receiving profits in the ways that they wanted to receive them.

New York Loyalists And Risk Avoidance

SPEAKER_01 25:45

New York was different. New York had New York's economy was deeply connected to the Atlantic trade, but many of its commercial systems are well developed and integrated, more integrated, better integrated with the British Imperial Networks, which means there are a lot of happy New York merchants, colonialists, who were quite pleased with the status quo. The city in New York already functioned as a major port and distribution center, which was tied closely to British commerce. They didn't need revolution for anything, no one was bothering them, so to speak. So the Hudson River connected to New York to intere resources and trade routes involving grain and timber and fur, but these were already the damage had been done. The partnerships in these large operations were in place. There were co-involved investors in and around Wa in and around New York. There are huge operations, free flowing, and their partnerships produced money, produced profit on all sides, here and in Britain. And the Imperial Trade Networks supported commerce in general. So the tie on to Britain was the normal thing to do, was the natural thing to do, was the sensible, reasonable thing to do, which made them loyalists, which now today we vilify. So sustainability-based education, it's not simply good people versus bad people, is important to understand, or freedom versus oppression versus oppression. We learn to study how different economic and resource reality shape perception and how we interpret the same historical movement moment right in front of us. You have the same empire, same period in history, same positions within the American colonies, different positions within the American colonies, and different perceptions of reality because of it. Same same sight, different requirements produces a naturally flowing reflection on their experiences. So the most important thing there is we have to understand that when it comes to war, there are often going to be systems within that nation. There are often going to be there are going to be systems which are there are going to be systems within the nation that are going to start to feel the pinch. They're going to start to feel pressured to support conflict, to feel pressured all over the place. They're competing visions of development there, trade systems and resource systems instability. There was population management and leadership to think about, thoughts about the future land use, how to define economic independence or dependence and leadership. So it's a far more complex environment than a population consisting of patriots and traders. More complicated. So this country's bid for independence was not a bid that was fought for in absolute certainty. There are people here who just didn't didn't want it. But eventually, New York was drawn into the war. Despite having these economic ties to Britain, and despite having one of the largest, strongest, loyalist populations in the colonies, New York did ultimately become part of the revolutionary movement. And that matters to education. It shows students how simple agreements and clean divisions are not part of the advancement process when it comes to history. Clean divisions, no. Simple agreements, no. Complexities, always complexities, get to the point, the next point where we're 75 or 80% certain of something, and there are 20% of the people that are dragging on it. At a minimum. Uncertainty breeding more uncertainty to get the conflict where there's probably less certainty, where there's probably more certainty than getting up to the point where both sides decide to fight. They're talking about competing systems, pressures, realities existing all at the same time. The fabric of the economy and its resources are not in conflict. They're just continually, continually divided into many fashions, many forms and interests. So officially, New York did join the revolutionary cause, and the colony did send delegates to the Continental Congress, participated in resistant efforts, resistance efforts, and contributed troops and leadership and supported the independence along with other colonies. But it was always uneven in New York, very uneven. People remained cautious about the revolution. And that's where the system's perspective becomes very useful. Because if we teach the revolution through ideals, we miss part of what is actually part of what the system is responding to. New York was deeply integrated into British trade networks. We have to keep that in mind. Where Boston was not. Many people remained cautious about revolution. Some people were economically dependent on British trade and stability. Others remained open loyalist. Unlike Boston, where revolutionary energy became heavily concentrated, concentrated, New York. Unlike Boston, where revolutionary energy became heavily concentrated, New York, New York's New York's revolutionary energy was always a much more mixed environment. Where shifting loyalties depended on what region you were, occupation, and your social class. So if we look

Why Simple Stories Fail Students

SPEAKER_01 34:44

at history in terms of just ideals, we're missing the most important part really. Which is that people are trying to move forward in prosperity. Hudson River Link, New York, two interior resources. British naval protection helped secure trade in New York. Commercial interest experienced commercial interest in New York City with British support, provided economic continuity and stability. So revolution for people in New York didn't automatically look attractive, looked risky, disruptive, damaging to existing systems they depended on. But pressures were growing. Resentment towards British taxation increased. Concerns about political redemption, concerns about political redemption from other colonies and other forces increased. And many colonists began to fear the long-term economic limitations that a British leadership, colonial empire leadership would provide. So over time, a stronger colonial identity began to form across all of the colonies. Then events completely escalated. So when we got to the Battle of Lexington and Concord, and British military actions in Massachusetts, and British military actions in Massachusetts, the thought of growing the conflict throughout the colonies increased. Many people, so that so many people who had actually been cautious at the start were increasingly forced, forced to choose sides. For people, but the systems underneath the ideals. Can't say it enough times. It would teach sustainability-based education, it would teach students that different groups often experience the same political system in very different ways depending upon their economic position, resource dependency, and relationship to stability. Relationship to stability. Massachusetts more clearly shows the spirit of independence and the ideals that came with it. But they again they were largely shaped by the economic environment in Boston. More and more people developed a sense that the colonies possessed the capability to manage more. Over time, the people of Massachusetts increasingly developed a sense that they could have better capability to manage resources under its own activity. So this became a very important part of discussing British policy during the period. The trade regulations. All these influences come together at the same time and offer and with some inspiration begin to form the character of the nation. The nation and its resources. How much of the nation's this nation's self-definition is involved in the resources we have? What percentage is that discuss our dis our ideals? Do our ideals imply our resources? I think they do. Say democracy it means. Not simply who fought for specific moments of time. You have environmentally shaped perceptions, system-shaped behavior, different forms of economic and social organization produce very different historical outcomes. So when students begin to see

Building Capability And Local Impact

SPEAKER_01 42:30

through both ideals and resource systems together, they begin developing a deeper form of capability. They begin to understand that it's not then begin to understand that it is possible to make an impact on our world. The work you do at your local level matters. You can see it from the history of the colonists. Your efforts and understandings put the big issue right before your eyes. Your impact is real. You are part of the involvement of why the city, your city, is prosperous and you know it.

SPEAKER_00 43:29

You can see it.

SPEAKER_01 43:35

Sustainable communities are impactful because they're capable of seeing how things are interrelated and how the mental and emotional capacity that the people are carrying can make impact in an organized way. You can make society more stable, more thoughtful, more healthy, and more resilient. Sustainable over time. You can be a beacon for progress. You can be. Anything else is pure negative, and you're better than that. Sustainable minds see how resource systems and ideals develop together. We have a more complete understanding of how civilizations function over time. And we see, and then we see how we determine, we determine what is important and what is not. And that's the hidden gem of education. And it's also at the core of sustainable thinking. We are capable, we have the capacity, we have the mental presence, the emotional contact, the spiritual necessity to move forward. But we the people are the largest foundation of it all. We the people are the largest of all our foundations, of all our resource development and networks, we people are the largest. When we think about education and history, we have to give our web of supporting resources the proper amount of focus. Our acquired focus to have a key to have a clear view of historical events. What compels us to go to war and our consideration of how we're going to do is everything. What might compel us to get into a war? Our children don't spend enough time in school understanding the real basis of conflict between nations. Whether they are part. They are things

Closing Reflections From The Shore

SPEAKER_01 47:10

that bind us. They are our resources. Each one is more of an ideal than the next. They're all transparent. They'll help to transcend us. Each one is an abstraction of a kind. Are you in a sustainable mood right now? Are you feeling like being a giver or a guide? Are you a beacon right now for sustainability for your sustainable mind? For an advancement of a clearly present and distinct guidance system and support of things that are happening now that will be even more important as we proceed into the future. Your beacon to share. I'm on the Connecticut shore right now, looking out, and I can see a lobster trawler. Wonder if it's a sustainable lobster trawler or not. I see an oyster trawler. Wonder if it's a sustainable oyster trawler or not. It's hard to say. Anyway, it's been a pleasure speaking with you today. I hope things are very well with you. And I guess we'll we'll see you another time. We'll see you another time. Take care.