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ANTHR19G
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Fall '09 Flex Week
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Sustainability:
finding solutions for the continuing co-existence of humans and other
life on this planet.
Fall 2010 News
Cabrillo GreenSteps
is up and running! Thanks to everyone on the Climate Initiative Task
Force and in Marketing who helped get this underway.
Spring 2010 News
The Climate Task Force hosted a Flex Week event to work
on our Climate Action Plan. See the presentation
and participate
in a discussion of what we can do to reduce Cabrillo's carbon footprint
at the Cabrillo
College Sustainability Alliance site.
Many sustainability
classes at Cabrillo Collge have been put on-hold due to state budget
cuts. ANTHR 19G Surviving the Future: The (Re)emergence
of Sustainable Cultures will be offered as a one-unit course in
Spring 2010.
We'd love to get the student Sustainability Club happening
again, and we need to start making plans for Earth Week at Cabrillo.
Contact
me if you want to join in these efforts.
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Cabrillo
College Sustainability Alliance
We now have a site to network and exchange information about sustainability
issues at Cabrillo College on WiserEarth:
"We are growing an alliance of students, faculty, staff and administrators
at Cabrillo College, all working to transform our college into a hub
for sustainability education in our community. We seek to improve sustainable
practices on campus, and to increase ecoliteracy education inside and
outside the classroom. Emerging websites:
http://arana.cabrillo.edu/~kgroppi/SustainableCabrillo/index.html
http://arana.cabrillo.edu/~mmerrill/sustainability.htm
http://greencabrillo.blogspot.com/"
Please
join us!
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Fall 2009 News
Flex week activity: Strides
toward Teaching Sustainably, Monday 24 Aug 09. 3-5pm
Many sustainability
classes at Cabrillo Collge have been put on-hold due to state budget
cuts. ANTHR 19G Surviving the Future: The (Re)emergence
of Sustainable Cultures was not offered in Fall 2009, but we will
be able to offer it as a one-unit course in Spring 2010 (although it
has been approved to be expanded into a 2-unit course in the future).
Curriculum for a new class, ES
50 Local Sustainability Research and Solutions, was approved in
February 2009, but is not being offered, again due to the reduced units
available during this budget crunch. The reasoning for not offering
these courses is that they are not part of the core curriculum - they
are electives not currently considered essential for transfer, graduation
or certificates.
April '08 Update:
Sustainability Curriculum Projects and Progress at
Cabrillo College Cabrillo College
Master Plan Goal B: Enhancing Excellence in the Classroom
and Student Support Services
Draft Objectives and Justification Narrative (Revised: 4/4/08)
4. Promote awareness of the interdisciplinary nature of emerging trends,
including global sustainability and social justice.
As the college mission includes "assisting all students in their quest
for success… in an ever-changing world," we must increase our efforts
to deliver education that reflects emerging realities in the workforce,
at the colleges and universities to which our students transfer, and
in the broader social and ecological contexts of our world. The need
to respond to global changes and the repercussions of our past and current
interactions with natural systems and diverse cultures is already a
factor in many business and policy decisions, and our students must
be prepared for these realities as they enter the workforce. Social
justice is inextricably linked with sustainability as world problems
are linked to economic issues and ethics in dynamic, global systems.
There is broad interest in increasing interdisciplinary approaches to
address these complex, interdependent realities.
Spring 2008 & Fall 2007: Educating for Ecoliteracy activities as Flex
Week faculty development seminar
January 2008: new website to connect and coordinate with community
http://www.wiserearth.org/group/cabrillosustainability
Registration for Spring 2008: "Sustain on the Brain" fliers listing
sustainability courses posted on campus
and around community (e.g. New Leaf Markets)
Fall 2007: Karen Groppi and Michelle Merrill received small Faculty
Grant for Student Success to support "Student
Participation in Sustainability Assessment" for curriculum development
and additional grant research
Fall 2007: Elissa Wagner and Michelle Merrill took draft Ecological
Literacy requirements to Academic Council
Fall 2007: New 1-unit course proposed, approved by Curriculum Committee:
Anthropology 19G - Surviving the Future: The
(Re)Emergence of Sustainable Cultures
Summer 2007: Brian King signs President's Climate Commitment
Spring 2007 (?): Elissa Wagner proposes revision of Cabrillo College
Core Competencies - limited success "Global Awareness: An appreciation
of Scientific Processes, Global Systems and Civics, and Artistic Variety"
(word "Systems" added)
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January '08:
Flex Week Workshops on Sustainability, Wednesday February 6th:
Cabrillo Climate Initiative Organizational Meeting
This session is an organizational meeting to explore the challenges
of the national College and University Climate Commitment approved
by the Cabrillo College Governing Board. The goal of the meeting is
the formation of a task force that will develop a clear timetable
and a list of goal's for Cabrillo's Climate Initiative. The resulting
plan will be a road map to improve energy efficiency and implement
campus-wide sustainability measures at Cabrillo. 9-10am SAC 202
Brian King
Education for Ecoliteracy: Continuing the Conversation
Before the sea rises to flood Santa Cruz, please join us to continue
discussion about what you do or would like to do in class to address
issues of ecology and the environment. Our cultures, our economies
and our communities all rely on a healthy, functioning biosphere.
Solutions for sustainability will come from smart people working across
discipline boundaries, finding the ways that environmental concerns
can be addressed throughout the disciplines. Let’s discuss strategies
for presenting information on the various global environmental crises
and their possible solutions. 1-3 pm rm406 Barbara Bloom, Karen
Groppi, & Lisa McAndrews
Sustainable Cabrillo Now that Cabrillo
has signed on to the President’s Climate Commitment, how will we approach
zero greenhouse gas emissions? What innovations will we create towards
educating and evolving our campus to a fully sustainable institution?
What new or existing best practices in course design, interdisciplinary
courses, task forces, community outreach, student-run programs and
activities will help us move toward climate neutrality and improve
our ecological footprint as a campus community? Open to all members
of the Cabrillo community—staff , faculty, students, administrators—who
would like to be a part of the greening of our campus. 3-5pm rm406
Karen Groppi, Lisa McAndrews, & Michelle Merrill
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December '07: Karen
Groppi and I received a Faculty Grant for Student Success to begin
research and development of curricula to give students opportunities
to participate in a Cabrillo College. Contact
me if you think you might be interested in participating.
More info on the way!
November '07: I
will be teaching a new 1-unit course in the Spring 2008 semester:
Examines tools and
ideas for creating sustainable lifestyles, businesses, communities
and cultures, and innovative sustainability solutions that are
transforming the way the world works. Investigates the complex
systems and networks experiencing dynamic change in our environment,
our economy and our society to understand where we are now.
Provides scenario building strategies to imagine culture changes
in future decades.
Section 57076 | Days
W | Times 06:00PM-09:00PM | Units1.00 |
Meets 6 weeks
2/27-4/9. Holiday 3/26.
Click here
to learn more about this course.
I am also teaching a workshop
called "Unlocking Nature's Secrets" through Cabrillo
Extension on May 3rd. Registration will begin in January...
Stay tuned for more info!
Elissa Wagner and I are working on developing an
Ecoliteracy graduation requirement at Cabrillo (similar to the
Multicultural requirement). This will mostly be met by existing
classes, and will not be officially required of students who began
work at Cabrillo before its inception. We presented our ideas
to the Academic Council on November 5th, and were met with a very
positive response. We're now asking for feedback from faculty
on our Ecoliteracy Goals and Criteria, for determining which classes
would meet this requirement.
Cabrillo College Solar Update: See news
items at Solar Technologies regarding this project. Rumor
has it that contention over preserving native habitat versus installing
panels up the hillside is heating up again.
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the existing
model obsolete."
--R. Buckminster
Fuller
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Oct-Nov '07: I attended
two amazing conferences: Bioneers
and This
Way to Sustainability III.
October '07: Thank you to Karen Groppi
and her Engineering 25 class for inviting me to speak about Biomimicry.
Here's a recent article about constructal theory and how biology
can improve models for flow in engineering practice: "Going
with the Flow" R. Bliwise, Duke Magazine Sept-Oct 2007
and some useful links and text references.
Thank you also to LauraLee Alben, who invited
me to give a talk called "From Sumatra to Santa Cruz: Fathoming
the Heart of Sustainability," and to the many wonderful people
who supported me there. What an excellent opportunity to find
ways to connect with, learn from and teach people so together
we can co-create a sustainable, resilient culture!
Summer '07: Cabrillo
College is currently considering installing solar photovoltaic
panels to generate 1 Megawatt of power on campus. We are in negotiations
with a thrid-party vendor for a Power Purchase Agreement to fund
construction. See the links on the Password
Protected page (for Cabrillo College students, faculty, or
staff) to learn more.
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find
it hitched to everything else in the Universe."
--John
Muir
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Cabrillo GreenSteps
Cabrillo
College Sustainability Alliance
Sustainable
Cabrillo Site
EcoCruz is a portal for Santa
Cruz County organizations and events
Earth2Cabrillo
is a student-run blog about sustainability issues at Cabrillo College.
My Top 6 Outside Sustainability Links:
- WorldChanging
- Grist
- WiserEarth
- Apollo Alliance
- Biomimicry
- Bioneers
See what I've found lately at:
Dr. Pongo's Sustainability
bookmarks on del.icio.us
ANTHR
19G Surviving the Future: The (Re)emergence of Sustainable Cultures
Sustainable
Cultures Class Blog
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