Findhorn Community Semester - The Human Challenge of Sustainability

College Faculty

An undergraduate/postgraduate programme that provides an exceptional opportunity for students to gain critical personal and intellectual skills for building a better world.

Living and learning in the community offers a powerful curriculum which includes instruction on fostering sustainability on individual as well as collective levels, gaining valuable field experience in sustainable food systems, ecosystem restoration and group facilitation skills while also exploring sustainability through creative self-expression.

Students experience the successes and challenges of living and working in one of the world’s most progressive communities, awarded NGO status with the United Nations and Best Practice designation by the UN Centre for Human Settlements.

The programme includes a week visiting the Isle of Erraid (off the west coast of Scotland), an outpost of the Findhorn Community, where hands-on experience of rural sustainability is gained. Students participate in conferences and community activities.

The four courses are: Worldviews and Consciousness; Applied Sustainability: Ecovillage Living at Findhorn; Exploring Sustainable Living through Creative Expression; and Theory and Practice of Group Dynamics and Conflict Facilitation. Each course provides four credits from the University of Massachusetts on successful completion.

Price: US$14,200

For more information or to book online findhorn foundation

Or contact Findhorn Foundation College by phone +44 (0)1309 678 063 or send an email for more information.

If you're studying in America and want to know more, please see Living Routes.

Findhorn Ecovillage

Ecovillages offer new models for living. The Findhorn Foundation is a demonstration site for sustainable living: the community has its own organic gardens and community-supported agriculture system, wind-powered generators, Living Machine sewage treatment facility, and green building programme with 40 ecological buildings completed and a further 30-40 in planning stages. In addition, Global Ecovillage Network-Europe currently has its headquarters here.

Sustainable living means more than designing environmental systems or developing new technologies, however; it also includes human interactions such as conflict resolution and collective decision-making. The Findhorn Community is based on a spiritual philosophy that seeks to integrate personal and spiritual growth, environmental concerns, work, family, education, and global responsibility.

Suggested Application Deadlines We will consider applications past the suggested deadline, however it is best to apply early while space is still available on your intended semester.

For Spring 2009 please apply before 30 November 2008.


Faculty

Jonathan Dawson - BA (Hons) Politics and French, MA International Relations, M Phil, Economics Jonathan Dawson is a sustainability educator and activist. He has spent much of the last 20 years involved in development work in Africa and South Asia, as a researcher, author, project manager and consultant, working primarily in the field of small enterprise and community economic development. Currently Jonathan lives at the Findhorn Community where he teaches on several programmes and courses. He is Executive Secretary of the Global Ecovillage Network for Europe, in which capacity he is heavily involved in writing, representational and networking activities.

David McNamara - MS Psychology, PhD Psychology David's primary interest in life is the exploration of the nature and development of consciousness and self-awareness, which tend to fall in the realm that the world calls spiritual or psychological. He has studied with various teachers and explored a variety of paths, from Buddhism to Jungian Psychology, from Christian spirituality to shamanism, and is committed to bringing the results of this kind of self-awareness into the creation of a more sustainable, meaningful, and compassionate world. Professionally David has chosen training and practice in clinical psychology to support kids, teens, and their families in both healing trauma and bringing these values of compassion and greater possibilities into their lives. David lives at Findhorn, having returned to the community after a 20 year exploration.

Deborah Jay-Lewin - Diploma in Drama and Movement in Therapy, Accredited teacher with Gabrielle Roths' Moving Centre, New York, ITEC Diploma Holistic Massage, Deborah been working with a variety of client groups using a range of creative medium, for the last 17 years. This includes working with people with special needs, womens' groups and as an organisational consultant. Deborah's speciality is in working with movement and dance. She has been involved in an educational capacity with the Findhorn Foundation Community since 1990 where she lives with her husband and two children in an ecological strawbale house. Deborah is a guest teacher for the Moving Centre UK and in 2005 began further training with Gabrielle Roth in the 'Heartbeat' material - studying and working with emotional expression through dance.

Gill Emslie - Diploma (M.A. equiv.) in Process Oriented Psychology, School of Process Oriented Psychology Portland, OR, and London UK; Certificate in Holotropic Breathwork, School of Holotropic Breathwork, CA Gill has extensive experience as an international trainer and facilitator, drawing on her training in transpersonal psychology, as a consultant to organizations and communities, and as a psychotherapist, to deliver trainings in group dynamics and conflict facilitation, social design, personal development, staff training, supervision, and developing the relationship between individual purpose and its application in the workplace and the world. Gill currently works within the corporate and voluntary sectors both in Europe and Latin America as well as teaching in a variety of educational programmes.

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Findhorn Foundation, The Park, Findhorn, Morayshire, Scotland, IV36 3TZ