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NWEI’s New Hampshire based partner organization, Global Awareness Local Action, will be hosting Hungry for Change: Food, Ethics and Sustainability January 26th through February 9th, 2012. Hungry For Change explores the true meaning of the phrase “you are what you eat.” This discussion course challenges participants to examine their roles, not only as consumers of food, but also as creators — of food, of systems, and of the world we all share. Each session addresses the impact of individual food choices on a range of issues, including ecosystem health, the treatment of factory and farm workers, and the global economy.
G.A.L.A Study Circles are a great way to come together with other community members in an informal, yet inquisitive, atmosphere to deeply explore issues of social and environmental concern. The discussion courses provide an enjoyable, supportive setting in which to examine personal values and habits, engage in stimulating conversation, create meaningful community, and consider ways to take action towards creating a more sustainable future.
As a partner organization to NWEI, and the New Hampshire point of contact, G.A.L.A. can help your group get a Study Circle up and running by providing guidance, advice, assistance with press releases and promotional materials etc. If you are in New Hampshire, contact G.A.L.A at 603-539-6460 or email contact@galacommunity.org
Congrats also to G.A.L.A for their recent grant to expand their Sustainable Home Makeover Program! More information to follow on this program that will be available nationwide.
The Northwest Earth Institute is excited to announce that Colorado Mountain College has become NWEI’s newest formal partner, and NWEI’s first formal higher education partner!
Colorado Mountain College has been using Menu for the Future in several courses over the past few years with positive feedback from students, hence a commitment to integrating both Menu for the Future and Hungry for Change into ongoing and future sustainable food related courses.
A perfect resource for CMC’s Sustainable Cuisine program, NWEI course books will be used in classes ranging from Introduction to Environmental Science, Food Politics, Policies and People, Introduction to Sustainable Cuisine, and Agroecology. The NWEI course books will also be used in CMC’s Bachelor of Arts Program in Sustainability Studies.
Colorado Mountain College serves nine counties in north-central Colorado. Each year, nearly 25,000 students take classes at CMC’s 11 locations and online. We look forward to serving faculty, students and staff at CMC in the years to come, and are grateful to be a part of inspiring young people to take responsibility for Earth in new ways!
Barbara Duncan of the Catamount Earth Institute in Vermont, a partner organization of the Northwest Earth Institute, recently announced their winter initiative: a series of Healthy People, Healthy Planet discussion groups based on the World of Health discussion course created by NWEI. Courses will be happening at multiple local libraries, food co-ops, a nature center, the Upper Valley Land Trust, local bookstores and the Women’s Health Resource Center. Thanks Barbara for sharing this update!
Catamount’s winter project is offering Healthy People, Healthy Planet discussion groups. Winter in the Upper Valley is long, dark, and cold; one way to cope is to gather with friends and neighbors for good conversation, on a lively topic … such as shedding light on the connections between our health and the health of the planet.
Healthy People, Healthy Planet conversations are being hosted at 15 venues around the Upper Valley this winter. The 6-session series topics include preventive medicine, food issues, our chemical legacy, simplicity and consumption, and healthy natural systems.
This free discussion series is based on a discussion guide/anthology, A World of Health, by the Northwest Earth Institute of Portland, Oregon. Guides are available at the Hanover Co-op service desk for $15. (Participating libraries have discussion guides available on loan to their Healthy People, Healthy Planet group participants.) This series of community conversations began with a group at the Grantham Town Hall. Upcoming groups are hosted by the Baldwin Library, Wells River on Sunday, January 8; Shiretown Books, Woodstock, January 11; and Quechee Library on January 12…Sponsoring organizations for the 2012 discussion groups are the Catamount Earth Institute, Co-op Food Stores, the League of Women Voters of the Upper Valley, Sierra Club, Sustainable Hanover, the Upper Valley Land Trust, Upper Valley Localvores, and the Upper Valley Household Hazardous Waste Committee.
We’re grateful to the Jack and Dorothy Bryne Foundation, the Mascoma Saving Bank Foundation, the Upper Valley Sierra Club, the Stettenheim Foundation, the Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation, and King Arthur Flour for subsidizing the discussion guides and providing sets of books for loan by participating libraries. Thanks also to the Co-op Food Stores, the Upper Valley Food Co-op and Health Connections of the Upper Valley for purchasing sets of books to share with discussion groups.
Catamount Earth Institute will soon be on Facebook so that discussion group members can share their thoughts, concerns and information. See you there!
If you are local to Vermont and want to see a listing of where groups will be taking place, click here.
Assessments that Produce Learning for a Sustainable Future
We are delighted to share information on an upcoming webinar hosted by one of NWEI’s partners, The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education.
Are you educating for sustainability? How do you know? In this 2-hour interactive webinar, participants will learn about the attributes of assessments that produce learning for a sustainable future. We will then explore and discuss exemplary EfS assessment instruments , and engage in the process of analyzing student work for evidence of the knowledge, skills and attitudes that characterize Education for Sustainability. Finally, we will celebrate what the research is telling us about the impact EfS is having on students, teachers, and communities.
At the end of the session, participants will be given a “take home” tool to self assess their own assessment practices so that they can identify the next steps they want to take to improve their practice.
Wednesday, January 4th | 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM EST OR Saturday, January 7th | 10 AM – 12 PM EST. Click here for more info.
We are happy to share an invite to an upcoming webinar hosted by one of NWEI’s partners, The Cloud Institute for Sustainability. The topic will be on Educating for Sustainability. The Cloud Institute prepares K-12 school systems and their communities to educate for a sustainable future by inspiring educators and engaging students through meaningful content and learner-centered instruction. For more info on this webinar opportunity, please click here. Here is a description of what will be addressed:
In this 2-hour interactive webinar, we will begin by exploring the whole system of EfS and the rationale for our approach. Then, we will zoom in to discuss what it takes for a school to educate for sustainability, and what it looks like (and what it doesn’t look like) in curriculum. Finally, we will walk through the practice of “sustainablizing” units of study so that students are prepared with the “different way of thinking” required to lead with us the shift toward a sustainable future.
At the end of the session, participants will be invited to beta test our “EfS Reality Check,” a new tool designed for educators to determine the extent to which their school is already educating for sustainability, and to provide insight on strategic next steps.
Wednesday, December 7th | 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM EST OR Saturday, December 10th | 10 AM – 12 PM EST
For more info: click here.
Ryan Harper
Deborah McNamara
Kerry Lyles
Mike Mercer
Lacy Cagle
Carolyn White
Rob Nathan
