Moving Beyond Sustainability at Institutes of Higher Education: The Potential of a Permaculture Initiative at Texas State University-San Marcos

Sustainability is a promising concept yet to take on true meaning in much of the world. The aim of this thesis is to discuss shortcomings of the sustainability movement within Institutes of Higher Education (IHE) while offering a grassroots methodology for creating substantive, systematic change. This thesis posits IHE are the most promising avenues for introducing the opportunities and challenges of sustainability to future generations. It posits the need to move beyond sustainability into more regenerative designs for living systems, i.e.) permaculture. In other words, humans must strive not only to sustain current ways of life so a world exists for future generations to inherit, but also to restore broken life cycles and heal degraded environments to produce a world with increased abundance, beauty, and resilience. Permaculture is a socio-ecological philosophy and design methodology characterized by a state of living which reaches beyond sustainability. It is an international movement making headway in the U.S. and IHE. This thesis discusses prospects of integrating permaculture into IHE using Texas State University – San Marcos as a case study.

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Agriculture

Grantor

Texas State University-San Marcos

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Tritsch, Katherine

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Mix, Kenneth D.

Committee member dc:contributor.committeemember

• Hagelman, Ronald R., III

• permaculture
• Texas State University
• sustainability
• grassroots

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10877/4474

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.library.txst.edu:10877/4474