Surfing global change: negotiating sustainable solutions

Abstract

SURFING GLOBAL CHANGE (SGC) serves as a procedural shell for attaining sustainable solutions for any interdisciplinary issue and is intended for use in advanced university courses. The participants' activities evolve through five levels from individual argumentation to molding one's own views for the common good. The paradigm of ethics of negotiation is implemented using a guided, step-by-step procedure that is characterized by mutual evaluation among the participants and by the dissolution of the traditional roles within education. Despite the existence of an elaborate structure of game rules, the setting of SGC provides for flexibility concerning the choice of themes, the definition of roles, the means of information retrieval, the selection of emphasis within the issue to be negotiated, the exploration of solutions, and notably, the allocation of success to the participants. SGC is therefore also usable as a tool for training in areas ripe for innovative social procedures.