Sustainability with an Ethical Aim: Lessons from an American Nun in Amazonia

Research Topic: An exploration into human imagination, ethical aim and action are the progenitors for reconciliation between humans and their environment. This study of two successful projects in Brazil provides an example of working toward a balance between human endeavors and sustainable environments. This inquiry is an exploration that demonstrates programs designed to help people's lives as a result of the work of Sister Dorothy Stang. Theory and Protocol: The interpretive inquiry approach to research (Herda 1999) involves the researcher and participants coming together through language to form new understandings about the world. This exploration into the background of sustainable practices with an ethical aim includes three topics from critical hermeneutic theory (Ricoeur 1992) that are applicable to my research which are Ethical Aim, Imagination, and Praxis. The primary process I used for data collection was transcribed conversations. The conversations with research participants became a text that was analyzed in light of an ethical aim, imagination and praxis. The participants posited that we must collectively re-imagine what it means to be interconnected with the earth, because the current one-sided relationship between humans and their environment is unsustainable. Research Categories: The three research categories listed below served as the research directives and provided the boundaries for this inquiry: Ethical Aim, understood from a critical hermeneutic orientation, promotes living with and for others in a socially just manner; Imagination is the creative act of envisioning a different future that can be inhabited; and Praxis fosters the practical application of ethical aim and imagination through action. Findings: The following research based findings resulted from the conversations with participants: (1) sustainable praxis is the responsibility of everyone; (2) education can lead to sustainability in real world contexts; (3) an ethical aim includes esteem for people and the earth's resources. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]