Contemplative Environmental Studies: Pedagogy for Self and Planet

July 1-7, 2012
Lama Foundation, San Cristobal, NM
$850 (includes all meals, workshop fee, and workshop materials)
For more information, visit:
http://www.american.edu/sis/gep/Contemplative-Environmental-Studies-Workshop.cfm

The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society/ACMHE is a co-sponsor of this event.

Environmental challenges call into question not simply our technological, economic, and political capabilities, but also our fundamental understandings of who we are as a species, and how we fit into the more-than-human world.  This Summer Institute aims to develop tools for teaching and researching environmental dilemmas with this broader sensibility in mind.  It focuses on the interface between environmental challenges and contemplative practices with the understanding that the latter can provide access to inner resources for understanding and responding meaningfully to environmental issues. Through discussions with distinguished scholars, focused conversations among colleagues, artistic exercises, and regular contemplative practices (meditation, yoga, journaling, nature walks, etc.), participants will collectively deepen higher education’s orientation to Environmental Studies. Part workshop and part retreat, the Institute seeks to widen our own capabilities as university and college teachers committed to education on a fragile and wild planet.

To apply, please submit a short statement (a single paragraph is fine) about how your work relates to Contemplative Environmental Studies, and a brief biographical sketch. Email applications to: gep@american.edu (with subject line: Lama Workshop). Please include contact information (postal address, telephone number, and email address).

Do note address any questions regarding your application to the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society or the ACMHE; our colleagues at American University’s Global Environmental Politics department are managing the application process and logistical details and may be reached through the email address above.

Event Faculty:

David Abram,* director of the Alliance for Wild Ethics and author ofBecoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology, andThe Spell of the Sensuous. *David Abram will be in residence for two days.

Nicole Salimbene, visual artist whose work explores themes of sustainability, intimacy, political voice, and devotion, and leader of workshops that use art to deepen political and vocational engagement.

Paul Wapner, professor of Global Environmental Politics in the School of International Service at American University and author of Living Through the End of Nature andEnvironmental Activismand World Civic Politics. 

Jeff Warren, interspecies consciousness theorist, writer, and author ofHead Trip: Adventures on the Wheel of Consciousness

For more information, please visit http://www.american.edu/sis/gep/Contemplative-Environmental-Studies-Workshop.cfm.