Sunday, February 4 through Thursday, February 8, 2007
Seminar begins at 7:00 pm Sunday evening and ends at 1:00 pm on Thursday.

Faculty: Fritjof Capra, Joanna Macy,and CEL Educators

Location: IONS Retreat Center, Sonoma County, California
Registration is limited; we encourage early enrollment.

"Since the outstanding characteristic of the biosphere is its inherent ability to sustain life, a sustainable community is one that is designed in such a way that its ways of life, businesses, economy, physical structures, and technologies honor, support, and cooperate with nature's inherent ability to sustain life."
— Fritjof Capra

This seminar addresses fundamental concepts and practices of education for sustainability. Topics include living systems, thinking systemically and the perceptual shifts that follow, the principles of ecology, nature as model and mentor, the Great Turning, deep ecology and the ecological self, the cognitive and the spiritual, building learning communities, leadership to facilitate the emergence of creativity, project-based learning, and the pedagogy of place.

In addition to lecture/presentations and discussions, the seminar includes small-group practice in applying sustainability concepts, dialogue with accomplished practitioners, and field trips to exemplary regional projects in education for sustainable living.

Participants are encouraged to bring a project in which they seek to apply principles and practices from the seminar.

Faculty:

Fritjof Capra is a cofounder of the Center for Ecoliteracy. Dr. Capra is a physicist, systems theorist, and author who has been engaged in a systematic examination of the philosophical and social implications of contemporary science for 30 years. His books include The Tao of Physics, The Turning Point, The Web of Life, and The Hidden Connections. He serves on the faculty of Schumacher College in the U.K., and lectures widely to lay and professional audiences in Europe, Asia, and North and South America.

Joanna Macy is an internationally honored eco-philosopher and scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology. Interweaving her scholarship and four decades of activism, Dr. Macy has created a ground-breaking theoretical framework for personal and social change and a powerful methodology for its application. Her work promotes constructive, collaborative, action and frees people from the assumptions and attitudes that threaten the continuity of life on Earth. Her books include Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World; World as Lover, World as Self; and Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory.

Zenobia Barlow is a cofounder and executive director of the Center for Ecoliteracy, providing leadership in applying theory to practice in a philanthropic strategy committed to education for sustainability. She previously served as executive director of The Elmwood Institute, an ecological think tank and international network of scholars and activists.

Janet Brown is CEL program officer for food systems, a certified organic farmer, vice president of Marin organic, and founder and chair of the Marin Food Policy Council.

Stephen Rutherford is teacher-in-residence at the Center. A naturalist and long-time elementary and middle school teacher, he has served as a curriculum developer at the Lawrence Hall of Science and as a curriculum consultant to the Life Lab Science Project and the California Department of Education.

Accommodations:

The seminar will be held at a beautiful retreat center on 200 acres of rolling hills, 30 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Meals are prepared from organic, seasonal ingredients, with chicken, fish, and vegetarian options provided.

Fees include:

• Meals Sunday supper through Thursday lunch, lodging at IONS Retreat Center Sunday through Wednesday nights
• All seminar materials
• Field trips to local projects
• Sierra Club book about the work of CEL: Ecological Literacy: Educating Our Children for a Sustainable World, Michael K. Stone and Zenobia Barlow, eds.

Fees: $500 for tuition, $650 for meals and accommodations, $1,150 total fees
Deposit: $200 due upon registration
Balance: $950 due no later than January 21, 2007. First preference is given to applicants who complete payment by November 30, 2006