Weekly Ebundles are emailed by Matt, and include
readings and other information for the following week. Ebundles can also be found here:
Ebundle
#1 January 15
Hey folks,
Great to meet many of you this morning. I've already spoken with a few of
you about some exciting project topics, and I'm looking forward to seeing what
emerges. Usually, I'll be sending out these ebundles of readings once per
week (usually on Thursdays). But this week I'll be sending two, as I have
a short reading for you for class this coming Thurs.
It can be found here: http://www.augustana.ab.ca/rdx/eng/activism_illich.htm. We'll discuss it in lecture.
Cheers, Matt
Ebundle
#2 January 17
Hello folks,
For next Thursday, please read two pieces:
1) An essay by Adrienne Maree Brown (whose leadership
model I presented today). You can find her article here: http://www.grist.org/comments/soapbox/2005/03/15/brown/index.html
2) A very influential piece on problem-solving and
systems thinking: "Places to Intervene in a System" by Donella Meadows. You can find her article here:
http://www.sustainabilityinstitute.org/pubs/Leverage_Points.pdf
Lecture on Tuesday will involve a chance for you all to interact with community
partners and learn more about their work/needs and the context of problems as
they see them. Please be on time.
Thursday we'll talk a bit about these readings, systems thinking, and theories
of change.
Finally, I think there might have been some confusion about my comment at the
end of class today regarding reflections. The reflections I was referring
to are part of the "critical reflection analysis" assignment (see
handout). Technically, the first round of 2 reflections
are not due until February 21. However, I would highly suggest you
work on these while the subjects are fresh in your mind. And I would
enjoy hearing your thoughts on today's conversation and leadership model.
You can turn them in as soon as you want.
Have a great weekend,
Matt
Ebundle
#3 January 25
Hey folks,
Two short readings for next week:
1) Selections from: Hughes, J. W. 2005. Environmental Problem-Solving
for Tomorrows Movers and Shakers ? a
primer for those who wish to move the world.
** Attached are chapters 1 and 2 (in abridged form)
2) Peter Forbes: "The Role of Emotion and Values in the Environmental
Movement." This essay can be found here:
http://www.wholecommunities.org/pdf/publications/the%20role%20of%20emotion%20and%20values%20in%20conservations.pdf
We'll be discussing both of these on Tuesday. Have a great weekend,
Matt
Ebundle
#4 February 1
Hey folks,
Next week we'll be getting into the nuts and bolts of your the proposal process
and talking about assessment techniques and methods. Your reading for
this week involves "Whole Measures" -- a systems-based approach for
evaluation. Please spend some time reading about this approach, the underlying
principles and values and view the demo all of which can be found here:
http://www.measuresofhealth.net/what_is_moh/index.shtml
Have a great weekend,
Matt
Ebundle
#5 February 8
Hello folks,
Hope you all get out to enjoy the snow this weekend! Please carefully
read the following important announcements:
1) This coming week we've decided to use both lecture periods (Tuesday and
Thursday) as open workshop time. There will not be a formal lecture that
is delivered. Based on feedback from quite a few groups, I will make
myself available during lecture times to read over proposal drafts and
troubleshoot any issues associated with community partners, project details,
etc. You do NOT need to be in Aiken 116 during this time -- attendance will
not be taken. However, we will expect you to use this time constructively
and demonstrate progress on your project. If you'd like to set up a time
to meet with me
during either the Tuesday or Thursday lecture time block, please let me
know. Again, we highly recommend getting feedback on certain sections of
your proposal BEFORE submission.
2) At this point in the semester, you should have all the info and
background material needed to craft a stellar proposal. Attendance seemed
to be unusually low over the past couple weeks. You are responsible for
all of the information that was delivered during those lecture periods -- much
of it has related to how you approach your proposal and project. I also
want to let you know that we've posted my powerpoint
slides on the NR206 website as well as an additional example proposal from last
semester.
3) Your proposals are due on my office door by 5:00 pm on Thursday,
February 14th.
4) Your reading for this week is a chapter from Chip Heath and Dan
Heath's book: "Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others
Die." We'll be talking about this in class in two weeks, but many of
the ideas are quite relevant to your proposal writing process.
If you have any other q's or concerns, let me know!
Best, Matt
Ebundle
#6 February 15
Hello folks,
A couple quick updates regarding next week...
We've received most of the proposals and we're doing our best to turn these
around and get them back to you asap.
We'll be reading them over this weekend and will be scheduling a time to meet
with groups to return them early next week. These meetings will occur
during lecture on Tuesday or during your lab time. Look for an email
sometime this weekend or Monday scheduling your group meeting. We hope to
finalize these proposals and get them signed by your community partners (as a memorandum
of understanding) as soon as possible so you all can get on with your projects.
There will be no formal lecture this coming week. Tuesday we'll be
meeting with groups to return proposals. And Thursday will be our first
in-class dialogue (which is optional). Remember, your first round of 2 critical reflections are due on Thursday by 5:00.
You can either turn in 2 written reflections, or you can turn in one written reflection
and attend Thursday's in-class dialogue for credit. This will be a very different
class format and will provide context for a verbal group reflective
process. If you choose this option, please come prepared to engage in the
process, and please respond to this email letting me know you'll be attending
so I can anticipate our group size.
For next week, I'd like you to read a short piece from Derrick Jensen that waspublished in Orion last year. It is a polemic and inflammatory
piece on realism, problem-solving, action, and hope. I look forward to
hearing/reading about your reactions to it. You can find it here:
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/170/
Have a great weekend,
Matt
Ebundle
#7 February 20
Hi All,
It's been great reading your proposals. There are some great projects
emerging and overall we've been quite impressed with the quality of thought
that has gone into them. A few quick announcements and your reading for
next week follows:
First, this Thursday is an OPTIONAL lecture where we'll engage in a reflective
dialogue about Jensen's article and the problem-solving process in our own lives.
If you are planning to join us and haven't already let me know, please do
so. I will leave the critical reflection box outside my door (341 Aiken)
for you to hand in your written reflections by 5:00 pm tomorrow.
Second, next week lecture time will be filled with your group project
overviews. Please plan to prepare these beforehand and be present to offer
feedback for other groups. Details follow:
Group Project Overview Expectations:
Rather than have each group give a formal powerpoint
presentation on your proposal and work plan, I'm asking each group to give a 90
second "farmers overview" to the class next Thursday. (The
Hughes reading will give you the guidelines you need). This short assignment
has 3 purposes:
1) To provide an opportunity for everyone to hear about the great projects that
are developing. (Many have taken different form from the initial conceptualization).
2) For each group to receive feedback and suggestions. Each 90 second
overview will be reviewed by your peers based on the following criteria:
quality of the proposal, need for the service, and capacity of the group to see
the project through. In past years, this has been a very fruitful
process and has led to some great q's and networking
opportunities (and even some collaborative strategies between different
groups). So many of you have experience with many of these topics that
you provide a great sounding board for each other and can usually offer some suggestions
that will help the process move along more smoothly.
3) To provide experience crafting and delivering articulate (and even eloquent)
descriptions of your project and why it is important. So often (as I'm
sure you all are aware), professionals get tied up using their own jargon to
describe the essence of what they're doing. Inevitably, you'll find yourselves
delivering these sort of explanations all the time -- and doing so skillfully
will provide you with all kinds of thoughtful feedback and connections that
will help your work (often in the strangest of places). These
should be 90 second descriptions and should be engaging. They can be
delivered by all group members or just one, but all group members should play a
role in crafting them...
Any q's,
let me know! See you all next Tuesday!
Have a great weekend,
Matt
Ebundle
#8 March 4
Hello folks,
Hope you all have gotten out to vote today. I've been tardy in getting
you this week's ebundle, because I've been waiting
for confirmation on our guest speaker this week. But I'm happy to report
that Hub Vogelmann (probably responsible for
conserving more land in Vermont than any other person) will be joining us to
tell some amazing stories and give his advice on what it really takes to make
things happen. In past years, most students have found his talk to be
quite inspirational.
Given that, I have a very short reading for you this week: "Ecology
and Community" by Fritjof Capra can be found
here:
http://www.ecoliteracy.org/publications/pdf/community.pdf
See you all on Thursday,
Matt
Ebundle
#9 March 10
Hey folks,
Hope you all are having a rejuvenating break. A quick update for when we
return. On Tuesday, March 18th, we'll be having our second group dialogue
session at Burlington Cohousing (a much better space for dialogue -- thank you Sumana!) on East Ave (about a 5-minute walk from
Aiken). We'll be meeting in the Common House at 9:30. Remember,
that this dialogue is optional and can serve as credit for 1 of 2 reflections
that are due on March 20th. The topic this time around will be: "The
Problem of Education." We'll also be considering the core curriculum
and some possible ways of enhancing it. Please read a
short piece from David Orr: http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC27/Orr.htm
I'm especially interested in your take on his commentary about the role of
education and learning in problem-solving.
Finally, we'll have another guest speaker joining us on Thursday, March
20th. Please be on time.
Best,
Matt
Ebundle
#10 March 21
Hey folks,
Happy spring to you all.
As I mentioned previously, next Tuesday in lecture, you'll have workshop time
to work on your project. Please be sure to use it well. I'll be
available during the lecture time to meet with groups or individuals and trouble shoot any unexpected bumps in the road. Feel
free to schedule meetings with your partners or be in the field.
On Thursday, we'll be joined by Ben Falk of Whole Systems Design. Check out his
website to get familiar with the range of his work: http://www.wholesystemsdesign.com/
The reading for next week is a transcribed speech by
UVM's own John Todd to the Schumacher society meeting in 2001. In the
reflections, many folks have been asking for tangible examples of systems
thinking in action and few can demonstrate this better than John Todd.
Some of the stories he uses in this article are a bit dated but still exemplify
the whole systems approach in action: http://www.schumachersociety.org/publications/todd_01.html
Best,
Matt
Ebundle
#11 March 29
Hey folks,
For next week, please read the attached excerpt (introduction, chapters 1 and
2) from Dan Dagget's book: "Beyond the Rangeland
Conflict."
This coming Tuesday (April 1) is your last open project workshop time in
lecture. I'm available again to meet with groups during that time. And
we'll have a guest speaker with us on Thursday April 3rd. I'll also be
handing out details on the final paper and presentation. More to come on that.
Have a great weekend!
Matt
Announcements
April 7
Hello folks,
A few quick reminders. All of these were mentioned in class last Thursday:
1) Our last dialogue session (optional) will take place tomorrow at the
Burlington Cohousing Common House on East Ave. The main focus will be the
Julian Simon video that we watched on Thursday.
2) Our final guest presentation will occur this coming Thursday.
Chittenden County Forester -- Mike Snyder -- will be joining us. While
some of you have heard Mike speak, most of this presentation will be new
material and will span more than just "forestry." PLEASE
BE ON TIME. Remember, attendance and timeliness are
key components of your "class participation grade."
3) The semester is quickly winding up and on April 15th we will launch
into your final group presentations. These presentations are an
opportunity to tell the story of your semester. Did you solve the
problem? What was changed? What worked? What didn't? What
lessons did you learn that you can share with the rest of us?
We have 21 groups that need to present so each group will be asked to provide
an 8-minute presentation with 4 minutes at the end for questions. Clearly,
8 minutes is not a lot of time, so please plan to rehearse your presentations
beforehand and figure out what elements of your story are most crucial and
worthy of sharing. I will have the unenviable job of holding each group
to this time limit so that every group gets their time.
***On the day of your presentation, please be sure to have one of your group
members arrive 10 minutes before class to load your presentation onto the
computer and make sure that it is working. This way we'll be able to move
seamlessly between presentations.
The schedule for presentations is as follows:
April 15th
1. Burlington legacy Project - Peter Kovacs
2. Mobbs Parcel group
3. Sustainable Schools Ecoliteracy
group
4. Friends for High Schools in Environmental Studies (NYC)
5. Green Hotel - Schroon Lake
6. JRF timber harvest plan
April 22nd
1. Sustainable schools Ecoclub
2. Center for Biological Diversity - Leanne Deschennes
3. Diversity Task Force - Anastasia Yarbrough
4. Sustainable Schools project living machine
5. Roger's Tract Road Restoration
6. Mobius
Mentor Recruitment
April 24th
1. Little Park
2. Moosalamoo
3. Local Baitfish Farm
4. Green Hotels of Vermont
5. American Chestnut Reintroduction
6. Aiken landscaping for LEED
April 29
1. Miller Pond/Farm
2. JRF Pizza Oven/community building
3. Intervale Compost Carbon Footprint
Best,
Matt