Why Academia Needs Ecovillages: Hierarchy vs. Heterarchy (2 of 10)

Humans exceeded the carrying capacity of the Earth around 1970, but academia is still catching up to this fact. In this 10-part blog series, I unpack the “hidden curricula” embedded within much of higher education and consider ecovillages as alternative "curriculum" in which to train leaders for a more

By | July 7th, 2017|0 Comments

An Important Question about Humanity

In 1859, European settlers brought 24 rabbits to Australia to help colonialists feel more comfortable in this strange new land. With no natural predators, the rabbits bred like, well ... rabbits, and it wasn’t long before hunters could brag of shooting 1,200 of them in just a few hours.

By | June 18th, 2017|1 Comment

Why Academia Needs Ecovillages: Conventional v Experimental (1 of 10)

Humanity's ecological footprint has exceeded global biocapacity since ~1970.  This is an astounding, game-changing fact. One species overshooting the Earth's carrying capacity has never before happened in our planet's 4.5 Billion year history. And yet, we are still educating our future leaders as if nothing has changed. Resiliency, sustainability, interdependence — these

By | May 26th, 2017|0 Comments

What is an Ecovillage?

Upon first hearing the term "ecovillage", many assume they are eccentric experiments well outside the mainstream.  Let's remember, however, that for 99.9 percent of our 250,000-year evolutionary history, humans lived in small-scale, low-impact communities. Only since the Industrial Revolution have changes in human activity and urbanization led to dramatic growth in

By | April 27th, 2017|1 Comment

Sustainability in Study Abroad Resources

Here are some of the best sustainability in study abroad resources I've collected while working in this nexus between international education and sustainability for over 25 years.  It was last revised on May 8, 2017.  Please suggest new resources in the comments so I can keep

By | April 27th, 2017|14 Comments

3+ Ways to Green Study Abroad Promotional Activities (4/4)

While air travel certainly accounts for the lion’s share of environmental impacts associated with education abroad, if you’ve ever been to a study abroad fair you know there’s more to the story. In my last three blog posts I shared about how to green the

By | April 27th, 2017|0 Comments

3+ Ways to Green Study Abroad Offices (3/4)

Behind every student studying abroad, there are dedicated staff from his or her home institution assisting with everything from program applications, financial aid, credit transfer, visas, medical preparations, cultural orientations, packing lists, and even (occasionally) luggage tags. So, when we consider ways to make education

By | April 27th, 2017|0 Comments

Five Ways to Help Students Learn about Sustainability while Abroad (2/4)

How can studying abroad help develop “global citizens” – leaders who have a sense of belonging and responsibility both with the peoples of the Earth and with the Earth itself? In my last post about program design and management I shared about my work with The Forum on

By | April 27th, 2017|0 Comments