Tue 7 Apr 2009
Bioregional "Biocurriculum"!
Posted by nemawashi under Biocurriculum, Biocurriculum blog
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Hello bioregional activist, organizer, artist, elder and/or enthusiast,
At the last Continental Bioregional Congress at Earthaven Ecovillege in 2005, the CBC Coordinating Council was charged by the congress to begin working on a bioregional curriculum, which could be piloted (at least in part) at the next congress. Participants at the last congress felt it
was essential to develop bioregional tools that could transit what we’ve learned and what we have to offer for a vividly-changing world. The need has only grown in the last four years.
VISION: Our vision was to develop something akin to the permaculture certification — perhaps an 80-100 hour curriculum comprehensively embracing bioregional theory and practice, and set up in such a way that local communities could infuse the curriculum with local wisdom and traditions.
PROCESS: Our process was to first develop this in collaboration with the Coordinating Council, and representations from the next congress’ site committee, and then widen the circle to get input from people like you!
After May 15, 2009, we will share this blog page with the larger bioregional listservs, websites and social networking sites to help raise energy for the next congress and for the curriculum.
WE SEEK YOUR INPUT: We ask you to visit http://Biocurriculum.blogspot.com, where you can see the goals for the curriculum, the curriculum structure, a draft for piloting a 16-hour introduction to the curriculum at the next congress (Oct. 3-10, 2009 at The Farm — www.Bioregional-congress.org), and questions for expanding this curriculum to an 80-100 hour program in the future. Note that the structure for both the short and longer curricula will be the same–just more details and place-specific information will be added to the longer version. We know that many of you have vast experience in bioregional, social ecological, environmental and related education, and we humbly ask for your suggestions, clarifying questions, feedback, etc.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Once the 16 hour curriculum is piloted at the next congress, and while it’s being piloted, all interested people (including any and many of you, we hope!) can meet to help us further develop the full curriculum, and then the infrastructure to carry it out into the world and seed it widely, including ways it can be widely offered through many organizations, individuals, institutions and communities.
We seek to create a curriculum that would dovetail with and/or build on some of the work many of you are already doing in bioregional education as well something many of you can integrate into your educational offerings on bioregionalism.
At the website — www.Biocurriculum.blogspot.com — you can leave comments, or you may email any comments to us at this email (Caryn will pass all comments onto the curriculum committee). And if you would rather share your comments by phone, just drop Caryn a line, and she’ll call you. Letters are also welcome: 1357 N. 1000 Rd., Lawrence, KS. 66046.
With great love for the beautiful earth,
Ken Lassman, Caryn Mirriam-Goldbeg & Jennifer English for the CBC coordinating council and CBC X site committee
