FYI... Apologies for the length of this e-mail, but everything here seemed relevant to the list. Stefanie Rixecker ECOFEM Coordinator ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date sent: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 09:29:13 +0000 (GMT) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Schumacher College) Subject: SCHUMACHER COLLEGE FULL COURSE PROGRAMME MAY 1999 - MARCH 2000 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] SCHUMACHER COLLEGE An International Centre for Ecological Studies course programme June 1999 - March 2000 "Education at its best" David Ehrenfeld, Professor of Biology at Rutgers University, who taught a course at Schumacher College in July 1998. SCHUMACHER COLLEGE was founded in 1991 upon the convictions that the world view which has dominated Western civilisation has serious limitations and that a new vision is needed for human society and its relationship to the earth. Evidence of planetary crisis confronts us in the despoliation of the environment and the loss of meaning in the lives of individuals. Increasing numbers of people are seeking to understand the complexities of this breakdown and are wondering whether and how to invest their own lives in making a difference. The College offers rigorous inquiry to uncover the roots of the prevailing world view; it explores ecological approaches that value holistic rather than reductionist perspectives and spiritual rather than consumerist values. It also offers a learning experience which is consistent with an holistic philosophy. Through interdisciplinary studies, Schumacher College aims to explore the foundations of the new world view. A unified residential education offering physical work, meditation, aesthetic experience and intellectual inquiry creates a sense of the wholeness of life. At the College, people find refreshment, and often new direction. They find that they have touched a source of inspiration and are reminded that there are others who share their deepest values about life and its meaning. Director of College: Anne Phillips Programme Director: Satish Kumar Academic Course Tutor and Staff Ecologist: Stephan Harding Co-ordinator of MSc in Holistic Science: Brian Goodwin Why Schumacher? E. F. Schumacher is best known for his book Small is Beautiful, the title of which has passed into the language as a charm against all that is dehumanising in industrial societies. He sought to develop modest initiatives based on the human-scale, conjoining the spiritual and the practical. Through residential courses, the College that bears his name seeks to promote those human values in which Schumacher so passionately believed; it is a tribute to his achievement. NATURAL CAPITALISM: THE GREENING OF BUSINESS Amory Lovins, Ernst von Weizsaecker, John Elkington June 6-18, 1999 Previous industrial revolutions needed to make people 100-fold more productive because the relative scarcity of people was limiting economic development. Today, however, we face a new pattern of scarcity in which people are abundant but nature is becoming scarce. The cornerstone of the next economy will be radically improved resource productivity. *Natural capitalism* redesigns industry on ecological principles, with closed loops and zero waste. It shifts the economy from the episodic acquisition of goods to the continuous flow of value and service. And it reinvests in restoring, sustaining and expanding the stock of natural capital. Applications to participate in this course are invited from those already working in the business world who are able to take advantage of a pragmatic guide to redesigning their business' logic, structure, culture, processes, and products - people who are best placed to become the leaders in the next Industrial Revolution. Amory Lovins was described in NewsWeek as one of the Western world's most influential energy thinkers. He is author of Small is Profitable, and co-author of Natural Capitalism. Ernst von Weizsaecker is President of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy and co-author with Amory Lovins of Factor Four. John Elkington is one of Europe's leading environmental writers and business consultants, and Director of SustainAbility Ltd. His books include the best-selling Green Consumer Guide. BEYOND AN ECONOMY OF WORK AND SPEND: Sustainability for the 21st Century Juliet Schor, Prasannan Parthasarathi, Richard Douthwaite July 4-22, 1999 Consumerism is like a fast-growing weed overtaking alternative human values and forms of human interaction, ravaging the planetary ecology. This course examines how we can free ourselves from the destructive consumerist economic system. Juliet Schor with her husband Prasannan Parthasarathi, look at the freedoms we can win for ourselves in our personal, family and community lives so that we are not controlled by market forces and consumer culture. With his extensive knowledge of local economic systems, Richard Douthwaite discusses how we can work to make the local economy succeed. Practical examples such as LETS, permaculture and organic farming from the Totnes area will be presented, and participants will have the opportunity to research the specific changes they might make in their own lives and their home communities. Juliet Schor is Acting Chair of Women's Studies at Harvard University, USA. She is author of The Overworked American, The Overspent American, and co-author of the forthcoming Consumption and Society: A Reader. Prasannan Parthasarathi is Assistant Professor of History at Boston College USA, and has written and researched extensively on modern the economic, social and political history of Europe and South Asia. Richard Douthwaite is author of The Growth Illusion and Short Circuit. He contributes regularly to The Irish Times. Masters Level Credits Available AWAKENING OF THE FEMININE Marion Woodman, Ann Shearer, Phoebe and Lindsay Clarke September 5-24, 1999 At the threshold of the new millennium, more and more people - both women and men - are honouring the feminine principle in their own lives and in the world of business and public affairs. But what is "the feminine"? How can we embody it in our lives? What is the relationship between psyche and soma? How are they connected in our inner dynamic and therefore in our relationship to the planet? The course will draw on ancient goddess myths to come up with some challenging suggestions about how the feminine can be involved at the heart of politics, commerce, and technology. The course will also seek to strengthen the creative power of the feminine principle in participants' lives through movement, the imaginative use of language and through work with clay and other media. This course is open to both women and men. Ann Shearer is a Jungian analyst. Her books include Woman: Her Changing Image, Athene: Image and Energy, and When a Princess Dies: Reflections from Jungian Analysts. Marion Woodman is an internationally known lecturer and workshop leader. Two of her recently authored books are Coming Home to Myself with Jill Mellick and The Maiden King with Robert Bly. Lindsay Clarke is author of The Chymical Wedding (for which he won the Whitbread Fiction Prize) and Alice's Masque. Phoebe Clarke is a potter who helps people explore their creativity through work with clay. GLOBAL POWER, LOCAL PROMISE: Justice and Sustainability in a Global Economy Vandana Shiva, Mathis Wackernagel, Wolfgang Sachs October 10-29, 1999 Economic globalisation is presented as both an inevitable and a desirable outcome of our current market-driven system. Nevertheless, the deepening economic crises around the world show that its inherent instability is generating unbearable social and ecological costs. The course will assess the processes of globalisation for their effects on the environment and society, and look in particular at the key connection between the growing power of multinationals and the accelerating consumption of natural resources. But as globalisation fails to deliver its promises, people are beginning to explore and develop local alternatives. This course will explore some of these alternatives and sketch out possible paths towards a sustainable and more equitable future in both North and South. Participants will also learn how to use the concept of the "ecological footprint" to inspire positive action towards sustainability. By evaluating and monitoring the impact of individuals and communities on the biosphere's capacity to regenerate itself, this process can help people overcome their natural resistance to change. Vandana Shiva is an Indian physicist, environmental activist and feminist. Her books include Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development and Monocultures of the Mind. Mathis Wackernagel directs the Indicator Program of Redefining Progress, San Francisco, and is co-author of Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth. Wolfgang Sachs is a Fellow at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Energy and The Environment. He is author of Global Ecology: A New Arena of Political Conflict and most recently Greening the North: A Post-Industrial Blueprint for Ecology and Equity. Masters Level Credits Available A SENSE OF WILDERNESS Val Plumwood, Ian Player, David Brower November 7-26, 1999 The wildlands of the earth are of fundamental importance to human beings - places of solace, solitude; replenishment and perspective in our more-than-human world. Those who experience wilderness are moved to preserve it - not just for its economic utility to humankind, but for its psychological, spiritual and intrinsic value. On this course, three advocates for wilderness share their experiences of working in Africa, Australia and North America. At a personal level, they will share inspirations from their own transformative experiences in wilderness; from campaign work; from their friendships with indigenous people, photographers and writers; and from imagery, poetry, literature and dreams. This work will form the basis for an exploration of the personal significance of wilderness and wildness to each individual participating in the course. Course participants will also discuss the history and philosophy of movements to conserve wilderness areas - working together to see how lessons of the past can be used to form a blueprint for the future of wilderness conservation. Val Plumwood is an environmental activist and and feminist environmental philosopher. She is author of Feminism and the Mastery of Nature and editor of The Great New Wilderness Debate. Ian Player has been involved in wilderness protection in South Africa since 1950. He worked for many years as a game ranger, and founded the World Wilderness Congress and the Wilderness Leadership School. David Brower was the first Executive Director of the Sierra Club, and went on to found Friends of the Earth and Earth Island Institute. His conservation work has helped create nine national parks and seashores in the USA. In 1998 he was awarded the prestigious Blue Planet Prize. Masters Level Credits Available COMPLEXITY, CHAOS and CREATIVITY Ian Stewart, David Peat, Brian Goodwin January 9-28, 2000 The science we all learnt in school, which sees the world as governed by mathematical "laws of nature" and therefore behaving in fully predictable ways, is being challenged by new discoveries, which have led to the development of chaos and complexity theory. These discoveries show that even the simplest systems obeying simple rules can behave in complex ways which are impossible to predict, even with the most advanced computing facilities. The course will introduce the two key concepts of chaos and complexity and look at their implications for astronomy, ecology and biology, and as metaphors for understanding organisations, relationships and daily life. These new metaphors open us up to a more participatory view of the universe, leading in turn to an awareness of the importance of creativity and the sacred. Learning to participate with complex systems requires the cultivation of intuition as well as the analytical intellect, and the course will introduce ways of doing this as part of the methodology of a new holistic science of qualities. Ian Stewart is Professor of Mathematics at Warwick University, and has written popular articles about mathematics for Scientific American, New Scientist, the Economist and The Times. He is author of Does God Play Dice?: The New Mathematics of Chaos and most recently Life's Other Secret. David Peat is a physicist and author of many books including Blackfoot Physics, Infinite Potential: The Life and Times of David Bohm and Seven Life Lessons of Chaos. He recently organised a series of dialogue circles with Native American Elders and Western Scientists. Brian Goodwin was Professor of Biology at the Open University, and is now Co-ordinator of the MSc in Holistic Science at Schumacher College. He is author of How the Leopard Changed its Spots. Masters Level Credits Available THE PLACE OF RITUALS James Roose-Evans, Gail Thomas, one other to be confirmed February 6-25, 2000 Down the centuries, civilisations have used the power and vitality of rituals to celebrate important events in individuals' lives and the passing of the seasons, drawing communities together in honouring life and its mysteries. In the materialistic world we inhabit today, we have forgotten the value of rituals in marking significant rites of passage such as birth, puberty, marriage and death. Lacking the focus that the act of making ritual provides, people and communities are alienated from the natural world, the places they inhabit and from each other. This course will enable participants to work with teachers with many years of experience in creating innovative rituals appropriate for our times. Using creation myths, poetry, literature, and religious imagery, participants will re-discover rituals and their value in returning soul to our cities and creating more balanced and meaningful lives and societies. James Roose-Evans is a theatre director and founder of the Hampstead Theatre and the Bleddfa Centre for Caring and the Arts. He is the author of many books including Inner Journey, Outer Journey and Passages of the Soul: Rediscovering the Importance of Rituals in Everyday Life. He has led workshops and lectured extensively on both sides of the Atlantic. Gail Thomas is Founder of the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture in Texas, which spawned much of the current "soul phenomena" (James Hillman, Thomas Moore, Robert Sardello). She is currently serving as the Director of the Institute's Center for the City and is actively engaged with developers and planners in bringing the inner city back to life. SOIL, SOUL and SOCIETY Carolyn Merchant, Alastair McIntosh, John Seed March 5-24, 2000 How can we live in partnership with Planet Earth? This course takes us on a cosmic journey from the age of soil formation to a new millennium of sustainable partnerships with each other and our earthly dwelling places. Since the soil shapes human soul and society, the course begins with the Epic of Evolution. It will look at the consequences of Western culture's mainstream narrative of soul, which emerges from the biblical tale of the Fall from Eden. What has gender has to do with nature and the soil? How is nature dying as the new Eden is being created in the form of the shopping mall and the internet? How have alternative traditions, such as the Celtic culture of Scotland's outer Hebrides, maintained balance between humanity and the Earth? Through rituals and experiences, we'll tap into the vestiges of the indigenous in us all, whatever our tradition, and work towards a New Cosmology. One way to restore right relationship between soil and soul is through a personal ethic. But that is not enough. Ecology teaches us that it takes a whole community to live sustainably in partnership with the earth. We'll think and feel our way toward a geopolitics of the earth - a poetics that joins feminist philosophies, liberation theologies, and transformative education in a new cultural therapy. Alastair McIntosh is a fellow of Edinburgh's now-independent Centre for Human Ecology and co-founder of the Isle of Eigg Trust. His forthcoming book is called Soil and Soul. Carolyn Merchant is Professor of Environmental History, Philosophy, and Ethics iat the University of California, Berkeley. She is author of many books including The Death of Nature, Radical Ecology and Earthcare: Women and the Environment. John Seed is founder and director of the Rainforest Information Centre in Australia and co-author of Thinking Like a Mountain. He lectures worldwide and is involved in direct action to protect the Australian rainforests. Masters Level Credits Available Further details of all courses are available on request. Please apply at least two months before the start of a course in order to ensure yourself a place. MSc in Holistic Science Schumacher College, in partnership with the University of Plymouth, has launched the first postgraduate programme in the world to offer an MSc in Holistic Science. Holistic thinking is already revolutionising physics, earth system science, ecology, evolutionary biology, management development and health studies. It is generating increasing interest from scientists in many fields - especially those concerned with issues relating to sustainability. This MSc sets forth a rigorous methodology for holistic inquiry. The one-year programme is led principally by Professor Brian Goodwin and Dr Stephan Harding. The core modules in the MSc cover philosophy and methodology, the holistic perspective as it has developed in physics, chemistry and biology, and applications to a diversity of complex systems. Optional modules selected from the Schumacher College short-course programme feature visiting scholars such as Ian Stewart, James Lovelock, and Carolyn Merchant.. The programme culminates in a special project in which MSc students apply the holistic methodology to a research topic of their choice. Information about the MSc in Holistic Science, articles of related interest, and general details of Schumacher College are available on the website: http://www.gn.apc.org/schumachercollege/ The MSc Student Handbook and Application Form (in print form only) are available on request from the address on the back of this programme. COURSE FEES All of our three-week courses in this programme cost 1,350 pounds sterling. This covers tuition, residential accommodation, food and field trips. Natural Capitalism, a two-week course, costs 950 pounds sterling. These fees do not represent the full costs, and they are kept at this low level by substantial financial support from The Dartington Hall Trust and other grantors. If you can afford to pay more for your course, your donation will be gratefully received and used to subsidise those who have difficulty finding the fees. Bursaries and scholarships On each of our courses (but not on the MSc in Holistic Science) a limited number of bursaries and scholarships, funded by educational charities and the College itself, are available to suitable applicants. Please contact us or visit our website for further details of the financial assistance opportunities available. Applications for financial assistance should be made at least two months before the start of a course. This enables us to assess all applicants at the same time and allocate funds in the fairest possible manner. Most Schumacher College courses feature talks by Staff Ecologist Stephan Harding, Coordinator of Holistic Science Brian Goodwin, and Programme Director Satish Kumar. Course participants People aged from 20 to over 80 come to the College from all over the world. Many are at a turning point in their lives and, as well as having a clear academic interest, may be asking fundamental questions about the state of the world and their role in it. Participants need to be fluent in English in order to attend the courses. Continuing professional development Many participants use the courses as a unique opportunity to continue their professional development in an interdisciplinary group. Practising health workers, organisational consultants, educators, scientists, theologians and economists are among those who have particularly benefited from attending courses at Schumacher College. Learning Dynamic In order to create the most fruitful interaction during the courses, we usually have, in addition to the guest teachers, a facilitator and an Academic Course Tutor. The Academic Tutor provides support to people developing projects for masters level accreditation; the facilitator helps the group to find ways to work with the process of learning. Whatever the focus of study, each course aims to bring together people who wish to: * explore issues of sustainability, diversity, equity and wholeness. * interweave meditation, reflection, shared work, study, field trips and community life. * take an active part in the self-organising processes that enhance individual and group learning. Accreditation Where stated in the course descriptions, Schumacher College offers Masters Level Credits in partnership with The University of Plymouth. Schumacher College also offers a one-year taught MSc in Holistic Science. -- Schumacher College is an international centre for ecological studies that welcomes course participants from all over the world. The College runs short courses on ecological issues and a one-year MSc in Holistic Science. Schumacher College, The Old Postern, Dartington, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6EA, UK Tel: +44 (0)1803 865934; Fax: +44 (0)1803 866899; Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: http://www.gn.apc.org/schumachercollege/ If you are on our email or postal mailing list, you will be sent course programme updates biannually, and occasional scholarship or news announcements. We undertake not to sell or rent our mailing list to any other organisation. If at any time you wish to be removed from our mailing list, please let us know. SCHUMACHER COLLEGE IS A DEPARTMENT OF THE DARTINGTON HALL TRUST, A REGISTERED EDUCATIONAL CHARITY ************************************ Dr. Stefanie S. Rixecker Division of Environmental Management & Design Lincoln University, Canterbury PO Box 84 Aotearoa New Zealand E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fax: 64-03-325-3841 ************************************
