Cultivando la educación agroecológica: el huerto colectivo urbano como espacio educativo

The current planetary socioecological crisis and the growing urbanization of human life are interdependent phenomena that impel education to rethink its objectives and processes. The notion of "sustainability" provides a broad framework of construction for activities in teaching, research, and outreach programs. Among the proposals aimed at promoting sustainability, agroecology stands out as a set of integrating practices and theories capable of transforming the productive, sociopolitical, economic, and cultural relations of the food system. Our objective in this article is to present the contributions of urban agroecology and to analyze its connection with education. Following this purpose, we share the experience of Huerto UV, an agroecological education project developed by students and researchers at Universidad Veracruzana, in association with inhabitants of the city of Xalapa, Veracruz.La actual crisis socioecológica planetaria y la creciente urbanización de la vida humana son fenómenos interdependientes que incitan a la educación a repensar sus objetivos y procesos. La noción de "sustentabilidad" provee un amplio marco en construcción para actividades docentes, de investigación y vinculación. Entre otras propuestas orientadas a promover la sustentabilidad, la agroecología se destaca como un conjunto de teorías y prácticas integradoras, capaz de transformar las relaciones productivas, sociopolíticas, económicas y culturales del sistema alimentario. Nuestro objetivo en este artículo es presentar las contribuciones de la agroecología urbana y analizar su conexión con la educación, compartiendo para ello la experiencia de Huerto UV, un proyecto de educación agroecológica desarrollado por estudiantes y profesores de la Universidad Veracruzana en vinculación con habitantes la ciudad de Xalapa, Veracruz, México

Diverse values of nature for sustainability

Twenty-five years since foundational publications on valuing ecosystem services for human well-being(1,2), addressing the global biodiversity crisis(3) still implies confronting barriers to incorporating nature's diverse values into decision-making. These barriers include powerful interests supported by current norms and legal rules such as property rights, which determine whose values and which values of nature are acted on. A better understanding of how and why nature is (under)valued is more urgent than ever(4). Notwithstanding agreements to incorporate nature's values into actions, including the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)(5) and the UN Sustainable Development Goals(6), predominant environmental and development policies still prioritize a subset of values, particularly those linked to markets, and ignore other ways people relate to and benefit from nature(7). Arguably, a 'values crisis' underpins the intertwined crises of biodiversity loss and climate change(8), pandemic emergence(9) and socio-environmental injustices(10). On the basis of more than 50,000 scientific publications, policy documents and Indigenous and local knowledge sources, the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) assessed knowledge on nature's diverse values and valuation methods to gain insights into their role in policymaking and fuller integration into decisions(7,11). Applying this evidence, combinations of values-centred approaches are proposed to improve valuation and address barriers to uptake, ultimately leveraging transformative changes towards more just (that is, fair treatment of people and nature, including inter- and intragenerational equity) and sustainable futures

Spinoza's relational ontology and ethics of desire

The interpretation of the individual as atomic or self-contained constitutes a dominant trend in Spinoza scholarship. One of the implications of that trend is the focus on reason as the primary expression of individual power and as the key to ethical progress. In this thesis I argue, against this reading, that Spinoza’s philosophy is illuminated by a perspective that focuses on relationality as the locus of individuation. Following that line of inquiry, I demonstrate how imaginary and rational transindividual systems of knowledge engender different forms of individuality and sociability, and how the transition from passion to action can be described as a process in which corporeal and intellectual interactions play a decisive role. With a special focus on desire as a relational process, I also argue that desire (and not reason) is at the heart of Spinoza’s ethics. The ethical experience is thus fulfilled when a virtuous circle is created between the understanding of desire, the desire to understand, and the desire to share our understanding with others. An exploration of the concept of ambition as a form of desire allows me to suggest different connections between individuality and collectivity. In an active sense, the ontological interdependence between self and others corresponds to the reciprocal relationship between ethics and politics. I argue that it is through that mutual connection between the exercise of virtue and the active generation of empowering political conditions that relationality reaches its liveliest expression. In conclusion, an examination of Spinoza’s concept of intellectual love of God or Nature leads me to suggest that the association between active self-love, love of others, and love of Nature corresponds to the necessary link between one’s ethical life and the desire to form an empowering community

Morte individual e vida coletiva em Spinoza

São três as questões básicas às quais se dedica este artigo. Primeiramente, perguntamos: Por que seria a liberdade de pensamento e expressão uma condição necessária à paz social? As respostas que nos provê Spinoza nos ajudarão a compreender o grave erro político que é condenar ao exílio, à prisão ou à morte aqueles cujo pensamento confronta o regime estabelecido. Entre os raros casos de indivíduos que mantêm sua honestidade quando esta lhes impõe o risco da morte, destacamos o de Sócrates. As supostas palavras deste filósofo legendário nos levarão a uma segunda discussão: Pode a razão determinar a honestidade mesmo quando esta implica a morte do próprio indivíduo? Não estaria a razão opondo-se assim ao próprio conatus? Por fim, das considerações sobre o vínculo entre indivíduo e coletividade, ética e política, surgirá a questão: Como se relacionam amor próprio, amor aos outros e amor à Natureza?This article discusses three basic questions. Firstly, we ask: Why would freedom of thought and expression be a necessary condition for social peace? Spinoza’s answers will assist us in understanding the serious political mistake of condemning those who confront the established regime to exile, prison or death. Among the rare cases of individuals who reaffirm their honesty when this attitude implies a risk of death, we will select Socrates’. The alleged words of this legendary philosopher will lead us to a second discussion: Can reason determine one to act honestly even when that implies one’s own death? Would not reason thus oppose conatus? Finally, from considerations about the bonds between individuality and collectivity, ethics and politics, the last question will emerge: How are love of self, love of others and love of Nature related

Transindividuality and philosophical enquiry in schools: A Spinozist perspective

We suggest in this paper that the practice of philosophy with children can be fruitfully understood as an example of a transindividual system. The adoption of the term 'transindividuality' serves two main purposes: it allows us to focus on individuation as a process and at the same time to problematise some of the classical antinomies of Western philosophy that continue to inform our understanding of the relation between individuality and community. We argue that the practice of philosophical inquiry with children, when interpreted in terms of Spinoza's conceptions of relational individuality and affective reason, offers a compelling example of how shared thinking operates as an individuating process in that knowledge and affect, interiority and exteriority, individuality and collectivity can be experienced in action and thought as complementary aspects of the same process. © 2011 The Author. Journal compilatio

Seminario Virtual de la Red SIAL México: Alimentación y Política

Participantes: Marie Cristine Renard, moderadora. Gerardo Torres, moderador. Juliana Mercon, ivestigadora. Peter Gerritsen, investigador del Centro Universitario de la Costa Sur de la Universidad de Guadalajara. Ayari Pesquier, representante del Centro de Investigaciones Interdisciplinarias en Ciencias y Humanidades de la UNAM. Álvaro Urreta, economista.Temas: Ontología política de la alimentación: ciudad, campo y cosmos. Paisajes alimentarios universitarios: reflexiones, experiencias y propuestas para la equidad y sustentabilidad. Desarrollo local, territorialidad y alimentación

The role of diverse values of nature in visioning and transforming towards just and sustainable futures

These documents correspond to Chapter 5 of the IPBES methodological assessment of the diverse values and valuation of nature and its supplementary material.Suggested citation: Martin, A., O'Farrell, P., Kumar, R., Eser, U., Faith, D.P., Gomez-Baggethun, E., Harmackova, Z., Horcea-Milcu, A.I., Merçon, J., Quaas, M., Rode, J., Rozzi, R., Sitas, N., Yoshida, Y., Ochieng, T.N., Koessler, A.K., Lutti, N., Mannetti, L., and Arroyo-Robles, G. (2022). Chapter 5: The role of diverse values of nature in visioning and transforming towards just and sustainable futures. In: Methodological Assessment Report on the Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Christie, M., Balvanera, P., Pascual, U., Baptiste, B., and González-Jiménez, D. (eds). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.652232