Program Description: This four credit, graduate level course shows the application of theories and models in sustainability design, social justice, and bio-cultural diversity. Through hands-on workshops, personal stories, lectures, and discussion, students experience real life examples of how individuals and institutions have developed a vision and implemented that vision in various areas of sustainability including: Education, Community Leadership and Governance, Food Systems and Policies, Indigenous Practices, and Appropriate Technology. Through group and individual reflection, students explore how they can integrate these experiences and perspectives into their own practice of sustainability education.
This program will take place primarily at Punta Mona Center for Sustainable Living and Education in Costa Rica. The course includes theoretical foundations, concrete examples and workshops, and experiential learning in deep ecology, permaculture and whole systems design, and living intentionally in community. Students will engage in daily hands on learning about permaculture design, organic gardening, cooking and composting, herbal medicine and appropriate technology. In addition to time spent in active learning, service, and reflection at Punta Mona, students will have the opportunity to participate in a larger service project off site, and will experience several other Costa Rican communities before and after traveling to Punta Mona.
Theory and Practice of Sustainability in Costa Rica will offer students an opportunity for education in areas that are fundamental to Leadership for Sustainability Education (LSE) goals including: a commitment to multiple perspectives including global perspectives, the capacity to collaborate with diverse others, and the fostering of hope and resiliency through relationships within global contexts. By living and learning for a short time within a different cultural setting, students will gain a more comprehensive understanding of sustainability within other contexts, and an appreciation for
a variety of approaches to sustainability leadership, education and solutions. Learning to integrate the theory and practice of sustainability within a diverse community-based learning setting will further enhance students’ abilities to reflect on their own leadership.
Through participation in this program students will:
• Understand principles of sustainable living by observing and actively participating in a sustainable community
• Understand and describe deep ecology, including ecological and social justice issues as they relate to sustainability
• Learn skills related to permaculture design, sustainable food systems, and appropriate technology and reflect as a community of learners on these hands-on experiences
Learn about sustainable theories and practice in a cross-cultural setting outside the United States; compare and
contrast this learning to previous life experience and graduate work
• Experience sustainability as bio-cultural diversity; build relationships and collaborate on projects with diverse (Costa Rican) leaders in sustainability
• Synthesize in writing critical reflection on ecological consciousness, sense of place, and cultural diversity as they relate to deep ecology and sustainability education
• Contribute to a final written group project designed to deepen reflection on: experiential learning, and
understanding of deep ecology and sustainability in multiple settings
