Teaching Sustainability: An Interview With Dr. Pratima (Tima) Bansal

Abstract

Climate change and social unrest are signs that the planet, and everyone on it, is at risk. Business schools have a responsibility to build and share knowledge to mitigate this crisis. One important step is to help students learn how to act in a sustainable manner—to ensure the prosperity of not just today’s generations, but also tomorrow’s, within planetary boundaries/limits. While some students are eager to learn about how to achieve sustainability, others push back against the idea of straying from a strict profit motive in business. In an interview with Dr. Pratima (Tima) Bansal, a highly accomplished sustainability scholar, she offers her own experiences on the challenges she has faced in the classroom and her approaches to increase teaching effectiveness. She covers several topics, including the often-divisive nature of sustainability; the power of encouraging systems thinking, a process ontology, and a focus on a desirable future; and advice for new faculty to approach work as art. Overall, the insights of Dr. Bansal may help other instructors to effectively prepare students to contribute to a more prosperous and sustainable future.