Friday, November 20, 2015
International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability in Portland
I'm excited to be presenting at the On Sustainability Knowledge Network's 12th International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability, this January at Portland State University. The theme is "Urban Sustainability: Inspiration and Solution," and my presentation is titled "A Scholar’s Garden: Inquiry into the Landscape of Food Justice Scholarship and Implications for Sustainability Education." This will be my second time presenting to an international audience following the IAU International Conference in Iquitos, Peru in 2014. I am thrilled to be visiting Portland again, and the Graduate Scholar Award supporting my attendance is an honor. Now, to figure out how to take all those food carts home!
Climate of Change: Good work to share in food systems
Re-posting this news from Antioch University New England:
Several Antioch University New England students, alumni, and faculty attended the New England Environmental Education Alliance conference held November 8-10 in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire. Many of the AUNE attendees also led workshops. The New England Environmental Education Alliance (NEEEA) has a 46-year history of leading, convening, and advancing environmental education in New England. This year’s conference was titled, “Climate of Change.”
AUNE is represented at NEEEA Conference by: Andrew Graham, Cynthia Espinosa Merrero, Dr. Jean Kayira, Jen Trapani (in front), Dave Chase, MEd (in back), Jess Gerrior, Dr. Libby McCann
Dr. Libby McCann and Dr. Jean Kayira, both core faculty in the AUNE Department of Environmental Studies, teamed with students Andrew Graham, Jess Gerrior, and Cynthia Espinosa Merrero for two sessions. “Everyone Eats: Community Gardening as a Practice of Civic Ecology & Resilience,” offered tools, practices, and programming approaches to empower people, increase food security, mitigate climate change, and build community resilience through garden-based education. “Climate Justice and Environmental Education: An Open Space Dialogue” was a participatory session for educators to engage with each other around issues of equity and justice in the face of climate change impacts.
Dr. McCann paired with Dave Chase, affiliate faculty in the AUNE Department of Environmental Studies, for the workshop, “What’s Change Got to Do with It? Evaluation Strategies 101,” a hands-on, interactive session providing ideas and resources, as well as helpful evaluation terminology, logic models, data collection methods, and evaluation planning strategies.
Visit NEEEA for more information.
Monday, November 2, 2015
Sourcing knowledge, sharing the journey
I had the wonderful privilege of co-presenting two workshops at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability (AASHE) Conference on "Transforming Sustainability Education" in Minneapolis this past week, and am so pleased to report that not only were both sessions really well attended, our participants were deeply engaged and passionate about both topics: "Re-thinking Options for Curriculum and Faculty Development: How will we take it to the next level?" and "Sustainability Officers: The Dream, the Sometimes Harsh Reality, the Reasons You Want Us on Your Leadership Team" (a video shoot). Many thanks to my colleagues for a great collaborative experience!
It's rejuvenating to be in the company of such thoughtful and skilled sustainability educators, and I keep finding new facets of meaning in "sustainability" (even if the term sometimes falls short as a tool to convey an idea). There was a strong voice for change in both workshops - toward livelier communication with our peers, stronger connections across disciplines and industries, a more robust and inclusive body of curriculum that both models and nurtures a deep understanding of complexity. I would add to this a reverence for our birthplace, Earth, and the preciousness of this moment.
I'm working on ways to weave these voices into my research, in part because I really believe we are on the brink of a paradigm shift, and that sustainability is the seismic force that's catalyzing it. I am particularly interested in cooperative partnerships between higher education institutions and communities around resilient, restorative local food systems, but I see that area as just one gateway into new, dynamic roles for both. As tied as it is to culture, ecology, well-being, economic policy, (and of course, enjoyment), food is a wonderful access point to the conversation. The shift that is happening in higher education, I think, is both a response and a solution for the change that's demanded in the rest of the world.
As David Orr and others have said, higher education is already doing the easy things - investing in clean energy, incorporating sustainability into planning, reducing our climate footprint, promoting responsible environmental behaviors. Yet as necessary and laudable as these actions are, they do not change the reality that we still work in silos, we do not hear one another, we lack the organizational supports to do real trans-disciplinary work. The more arduous, even dangerous (i.e., exciting) work is ahead: challenging higher education's purpose, its value, its reasons for existence. How do we cultivate planetary citizenship? How can we engage across boundaries in a way that changes the boundary itself? How does our thinking limit or create possibility? What must we change in ourselves?
In the meantime, I'll be co-presenting two more workshops next week, at the New England Environmental Education Alliance (NEEEA) Conference on "Climate of Change":
"Everyone Eats: Community Gardening as a Practice of Civic Ecology and Resilience"
How can garden-based education empower people, increase food security, mitigate climate change, and build community resilience? Here we explore tools, practices, and programming approaches designed to do just that.
"Climate Change and Environmental Education: An Open Space Dialogue."
This participatory session creates space for educators to engage with each other around issues of equity and justice in the face of climate change impacts. Come ready to actively contribute to, and be inspired by, what matters most in this essential work.
Maybe I'll see you there!
It's rejuvenating to be in the company of such thoughtful and skilled sustainability educators, and I keep finding new facets of meaning in "sustainability" (even if the term sometimes falls short as a tool to convey an idea). There was a strong voice for change in both workshops - toward livelier communication with our peers, stronger connections across disciplines and industries, a more robust and inclusive body of curriculum that both models and nurtures a deep understanding of complexity. I would add to this a reverence for our birthplace, Earth, and the preciousness of this moment.
I'm working on ways to weave these voices into my research, in part because I really believe we are on the brink of a paradigm shift, and that sustainability is the seismic force that's catalyzing it. I am particularly interested in cooperative partnerships between higher education institutions and communities around resilient, restorative local food systems, but I see that area as just one gateway into new, dynamic roles for both. As tied as it is to culture, ecology, well-being, economic policy, (and of course, enjoyment), food is a wonderful access point to the conversation. The shift that is happening in higher education, I think, is both a response and a solution for the change that's demanded in the rest of the world.As David Orr and others have said, higher education is already doing the easy things - investing in clean energy, incorporating sustainability into planning, reducing our climate footprint, promoting responsible environmental behaviors. Yet as necessary and laudable as these actions are, they do not change the reality that we still work in silos, we do not hear one another, we lack the organizational supports to do real trans-disciplinary work. The more arduous, even dangerous (i.e., exciting) work is ahead: challenging higher education's purpose, its value, its reasons for existence. How do we cultivate planetary citizenship? How can we engage across boundaries in a way that changes the boundary itself? How does our thinking limit or create possibility? What must we change in ourselves?
In the meantime, I'll be co-presenting two more workshops next week, at the New England Environmental Education Alliance (NEEEA) Conference on "Climate of Change":
"Everyone Eats: Community Gardening as a Practice of Civic Ecology and Resilience"
How can garden-based education empower people, increase food security, mitigate climate change, and build community resilience? Here we explore tools, practices, and programming approaches designed to do just that.
"Climate Change and Environmental Education: An Open Space Dialogue."
This participatory session creates space for educators to engage with each other around issues of equity and justice in the face of climate change impacts. Come ready to actively contribute to, and be inspired by, what matters most in this essential work.
Maybe I'll see you there!
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