WORKSHOP SERIES #3/7
Perin Ruttonsha
This series of 45-minute workshops examines the balancing act that is implicit in global sustainability transition, organised around the following seven themes: (1) order in chaos; (2) reductionism reconciled; (3) parallel worlds; (4) power and vulnerability; (5) shadows and archetypes; (6) relational well-being; and, (7) fierce and quiet kinds of love.
Social psychologist Leon Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance (since modified by others to read as cognitive inconsistency) refers to instances in which one or more of our various perspectives, values, beliefs, attitudes, behaviours, or actions may be contradictory or misaligned, each with the other (Harmon-Jones & Mills, 2019). As an example, this could comprise claiming to embrace principles of social and environmental justice, while simultaneously purchasing goods from corporations that employ child labour and pollute local watersheds. Cognitive inconsistencies imply a certain level of psychological discomfort, or inner conflict, which may be heightened in accordance with our perceived risk of the negative outcomes that could arise from acting against our own belief systems. Meanwhile, a core premise of global sustainability transition is that we can no longer afford to maintain the conventions of thought and action that have perpetuated global environmental decline and social inequality. In other words, our world as we know it, and namely the human constructed systems therein, are highly inconsistent, incongruent, and misaligned with the principles, goals, objectives, and targets of sustainability. As we evolve from one era to the next—modernity to regenerative sustainability—we continue to straddle contradictions among worldviews and worlds, mediating among past, present, and future, along with the ecological, social, and economic sides of our own human nature. In this workshop, we will explore the cognitive inconsistencies inherent in facilitating global sustainability transition.