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The
following workshops address educating and advocating for
sustainability at all levels of social organization. To
locate the time and place of these workshops, click here:
Cohousing
Kim Shute
Cohousing is a community living model that balances the
need for privacy and community. These modern day villages
enable people to own their homes and provide a place to
gather and share resources. Come learn about this comfortable
and satisfying way of life in an old fashioned neighborhood.
Kimberly
Shute has been involved with Mosaic Commons, a cohousing
community in Massachusetts, for four years. Kimberly discovered
cohousing after experiencing total isolation while caring
for her ailing Grandmother and a newborn. She relishes
the opportunity to spread her enthusiasm for building
community.
Eco-Villages
and Social Change
Daniel Greenberg
Ecovillages are communities striving to model sustainable
development ecologically, socially, culturally, and spiritually.
From appropriate technologies to holistic health; from
sustainable agriculture to group facilitation; ecovillages
are integrating solutions and creating new cultures and
"stories" in which we can live well and lightly.
This workshop will provide an introduction to the growing
ecovillage movement worldwide and explore the possibilities
and challenges of using these communities as sites for
education and social change.
Daniel
Greenberg, Ph.D., Executive Director of Living Routes,
has studied and directed community-based educational programs
for over 12 years on different parts of the globe. Currently
he directs college-level semester programs, and develops
curricula on sustainable community development, deep ecology,
ecological auditing and systems thinking.
The
Future of Food
Alicia Lehrer, Susan LeTendre
The workshop will present and discuss portions of the
film “The Future of Food” by Deborah Koons Garcia, which
reveals the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented,
genetically engineered foods that have been quietly filling
our grocery shelves for the past decade. Copies of “The
Future of Food” will be available to participants at a
discount.
Alicia
Lehrer, District Manager, Southern Rhode Island Conservation
District (SRICD), has a bachelor’s and master’s degree
in Environmental Science and specializes in water quality.
Alicia has been running SRICD, a quasi-state agency for
eight years and has a passion for grassroots environmental
training and action.
Susan
Letendre, Education and Outreach Director, SRICD, is a
long-time organic gardener and activist on the issues
of food security and water rights. Susan has spearheaded
numerous school-based projects and is currently working
with Native American youth and elders in the inner city
on reconnecting with their agricultural and land-stewardship
heritage.
Help
Increase the Peace Program
Edgar Contreras, Abbey Hambright, Alyssa Newerth
This workshop is an introduction to the Help Increase
the Peace Program (HIPP), a popular American Friends Service
Committee (AFSC) education program that engages participants
emotionally, mentally, and physically, through short group
exercises, in non-violence skills building and action.
Edgar
Contreras is a Junior at the MET High School in Providence.
He has been working with the AFSC for just under two years
and involved with the HIP program since its debut in RI
in 2005.
Abbey
Hambright and Alyssa Newerth have been HIPP trainers for
several years, and have conducted multiple trainings in
Rhode Island since moving here in January 2005.
Making
RI Education Sustainable Panel
Daniel Greenberg, Shareen Knowlton, Katherine Brown
Where do we begin? How do we prepare those we are educating
for leadership of the world they shall soon inherit, and
ourselves for the enormity of this task? How do we operate
in the systems we work in for maximum results and what
are the priority actions? This panel will engage these
questions through inquiry driven discussion and presentations
and reflections on real world projects.
Daniel Greenberg, Ph.D., Executive Director of Living
Routes, has studied and directed community-based educational
programs for over 12 years on different parts of the globe.
Currently he directs college-level semester programs,
and develops curricula on sustainable community development,
deep ecology, ecological auditing and systems thinking.
Shareen
Knowlton is the Director of Education at Roger Williams
Park Zoo. She has been an environmental educator for over
ten years and can’t imagine being in a different field
of work. She also serves on the board of the Rhode Island
Environmental Education Association and the board of the
New England Environmental Education Alliance.
Katherine
Brown, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of the Southside
Community Land Trust—the organization in Providence helping
people to grow food for over 25 years. Katherine left
tenure as a university professor of health policy and
ethics to help build sustainable community through urban
agriculture.
Oil
and War Panel
Greg Gerritt, Barry Schiller
American consumer demand for oil and the products cheap
oil bring us is driving foreign policy trends that get
people killed. This workshop will help us explore the
foreign policy implications of American oil policies and
what we can do in Rhode Island, such as create a great
mass transit system, to make a difference.
Greg
Gerritt has been an active environmentalist ever since
he organized his high school for the first Earth Day.
Currently he is the Secretary of the Green Party of RI,
works for the Environment Council of RI, and serves on
the Sierra Club conservation committee. In the past he
has run for Mayor of Providence and written extensively
on the politics of forestry.
Barry
Schiller, a recently retired math professor at Rhode Island
College, has long been active in the environmental community,
especially on transportation issues, serving as the RI
Sierra Club chapter’s transportation chair, as the environmental
representative to the Transportation Advisory Committee
of the State Planning Council, and as a previous member
of the RIPTA (RI Public Transportation Authority) Board
of Directors.
Planning
Projects for a Sustainable Future
Troy West
Architect Troy West and Associates will speak about and
display plans and models developed over a 10 year period.
Starting with a light rail proposal for south county that
would preserve open space and concentrate development
around station stops; to a complete transformation of
Wakefield, RI into a pedestrian-friendly commercial center,
featuring a 100’ diameter green park in the center of
the Dale Carlia intersection that will generate new three-story
green architecture along the roadways.
Architect,
educator and sculptor Troy West has guest lectured on
his art and architecture at over thirty universities in
the USA and abroad. His work is featured in several books
and periodicals including Green Architecture (Tashesn),
and New Houses New Households (Reinhold). He serves on
the board of directors of Architects, Designers, and Planners
for Social Responsibility (ADPSR/NY), DOT Watch, Inc.,
and The Alternative Food Cooperative.
The
Politics of Sustainability in Rhode Island
Chris Wilhite, Greg Gerrit, Emily Rochon
There are many things that need to be done to help RI
become a truly sustainable place; action in your home,
action in your neighborhood, action on the city level,
and action at the Statehouse. This workshop will focus
on what is going on up at the statehouse that relates
to helping RI become a more sustainable place. It will
be lead by people with both a broad and deep knowledge
of the issues and what is happening at the RI Statehouse.
Chris
Wilhite is the Campaign Organizer for Clean Water Action
and works in Rhode Island on reducing diesel pollution,
promoting clean energy and policies that reduce the threat
of climate change. He represents ECRI on the RI Renewable
Energy Fund and the Providence Clean Energy Task Force.
Greg
Gerritt has been an active environmentalist ever since
he organized his high school for the first Earth Day.
Currently he is the Secretary of the Green Party of RI,
works for the Environment Council of RI, and serves on
the RI Sierra Club chapter’s conservation committee. In
the past he has run for Mayor of Providence and written
extensively on the politics of forestry.
Emily
Rochon is the former Climate Campaign Organizer for Clean
Water Action. As the coordinator of the Rhode Island Climate
Coalition, she worked on successful campaigns to promote
renewable energy and energy efficiency on both the state
and local level. Currently, Emily is serving as the Legislative
Liaison for People’s Power & Light while pursuing
an MS in environmental toxicology at Cornell University.
RI
Responses to Global Warming
Eric Stephens, Emily Rochon
Find out how Rhode Island is working to combat climate
change by promoting renewable energy, energy efficiency
and smart transportation. The combination of an active
environmental community and a responsive legislature has
paved the way for Rhode Island to draft and implement
innovative solutions to the looming climate crisis.
Erich
Stephens is the founder and Executive Director of People’s
Power & Light- Rhode Island’s non-profit energy consumers’
alliance. His knowledge and expertise have been instrumental
in securing the adoption of policies that promote sustainable
and sensible energy use in the Ocean State. As an integral
part of the Rhode Island Climate Coalition, Erich has
helped put our state on the path to a clean energy future.
Emily
Rochon is the former Climate Campaign Organizer for Clean
Water Action. As the coordinator of the Rhode Island Climate
Coalition, she worked on successful campaigns to promote
renewable energy and energy efficiency on both the state
and local level. Currently, Emily is serving as the Legislative
Liaison for People’s Power & Light while pursuing
an MS in environmental toxicology at Cornell University.
RI
Transportation Now and into the Future
Barry Schiller, Chris Wilhite
This workshop is an overview of the current portrait of
public transportation in RI, new options for sustainability
and what participants can do to get the wheels rolling.
Barry
Schiller, a recently retired math professor at Rhode Island
College, has long been active in the environmental community,
especially on transportation issues, serving as the RI
Sierra Club chapter’s transportation chair, as the environmental
representative to the Transportation Advisory Committee
of the State Planning Council, and as a previous member
of the RIPTA (RI Public Transportation Authority) Board
of Directors.
Chris
Wilhite is the Campaign Organizer for Clean Water Action
and works in Rhode Island on reducing diesel pollution,
promoting clean energy and policies that reduce the threat
of climate change. He represents ECRI on the RI Renewable
Energy Fund and the Providence Clean Energy Task Force.
Walk
In the Woods
Marc Tremblay, CF
Walk through Apeiron’s woodlands. Identify local trees
& shrubs. Discuss forest and wildlife management,
forest health and stewardship. Review proposed thinning
of white pine for sustainable harvest of natural building
sources.
Marc
Tremblay is a Certified Forester with 25 years of experience
working with private forest land owners.
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