I've been involved in a discussion thread with Bryan Alexander and others around his proposition that we think of "climate change as the new liberal arts." Well, it's not a bad idea, and the traditional definition does need an upgrade; it's not for educating Princeton upperclassmen any more. But climate is connected with an entire ecosystem of ideas and concepts. That's sort of what's intended by the 'donut economics' referenced in this post. As Uri Kelly and Clare Kelly write "Addressing the climate and biodiversity crisis demands transformative changes in our economies and societies." Quite so. But it's not like nobody has been thinking along these lines, which is why I suggested, "I think we'll find that the UN sustainable development goals (SDG) are the new liberal arts." After all, the SDG are not simply what some professor came up with "in a paper, a book, and a lot of public appearances." They're the result of years of global discussion and consultations on these issues. That, to me, seems a more reasonable basis on which to found a redefinition of liberal arts.
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