What if?Professor Paul Clarke

Are we in the midst of the sixth mass extinction?

David Wake and Vance Vredenburg 2008

•There have been five mass extinctions leading to profound loss of biodiversity•Based on the CURRENT extinction rates amongst amphibians an event of similarly catastrophic nature is now under way •The history of the previous mass extinctions are being uncovered just as we begin to realise that we are causing another

Defining actionWe are deciding…which evolutionary pathways

will remain open and which will forever be closed.

No other creature has ever managed this, and it will unfortunately be our most enduring legacy.

Elizabeth Kolbert 2014

What could Universities do?

Institutional Alignment of mission principles & ethics

OperationalSustainable procurement: through carbon, social, environmental, economic activism

PedagogicCurriculum: content, process and product

What could Universities do?

Coffee – institutional, operational, pedagogic?

2.25 billion cups are consumed per day 2nd most traded global commodity

Can this be a direct example of

Institutional Alignment of mission principles & ethics?

OperationalSustainable procurement: through carbon, social, environmental, economic activism?

PedagogicCurriculum: content, process and product?

Through the happycoffeebean project we align developments…Institutional Alignment of mission principles & ethics?Designing the next generation ethical trade framework – trust, transparency, traceability improved lives, improved product development, improved environment

OperationalSustainable procurement?economic: enhanced payback for farmers and communities through a transparent process of trade and infrastructure developmentsocial: creating cooperative and resilient networksenvironmental: ecosystem knowledge through permaculture training

PedagogicCurriculum: content, process and product? Training and education programmesSharing of best practiceEmbedded, real life experiences for students

Successes and breakthroughs?

Institutional Alignment of mission principles & ethics?

OperationalSustainable procurement: through carbon, social, environmental, economic activism?

PedagogicCurriculum: content, process and product?

How does this play out in our daily work? How much coffee is consumed in your university per year?How much of it is completely traceable, transparent and directly connected to farmers and communities with whom you could begin to build long-term supportive relationships?

Coffee Take-Aways…We can help you to…a)Implement – use at strategic special events, gatherings, visiting guests, graduation days etc.b)Build ‘own brand’ – securing your name on a reliable process and using this to push your organisational message on sustainable practicesc)Demonstrate through example that principles, ethics and practices of ethical trade can already be embedded into the procurement system d)Integrate across all curriculum subject areas an example of an ethical value chain in progress – practical problem based learninge) Participate in a multi-University project to help to build the model together

Asks• We are building a school

in Parabong Uganda• We need help!Institutional

– Working with the community to align mission principles & ethics to practical life

Operational– Sustainable procurement: through every

aspect of the developmentPedagogic

– Curriculum: content, process and product – an ecoliterate community and a leading example of the next evolutionary stage of humanity