Protecting Little Sebago: A Model College-Lake Association Sustainable Partnership (original) (raw)
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Forming a community partnership to enhance education in sustainability
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 2005
Purpose-To provide an example of how colleges can partner with local EcoVillages to further sustainability curriculum on campus and the educational mission of the EcoVillages, and to strengthen ties with the community. Design/methodology/approach-Describes four structured courses developed for the Environmental Studies Program, including sustainable communities, sustainable land use, sustainable energy and environmental futures. Additionally, independent research opportunities in wind energy, solar photovoltaics, and GIS/GPS developed as part of the curriculum. Describes numerous ancillary activities that have promoted sustainability across campus and the community. Findings-Provides information about how to develop educational partnerships with community groups, foster sustainability education on campus, recruit additional faculty involvement, and influence college operations with respect to sustainability. Practical implications-A very useful source of information for those involved in building sustainability curriculum and linking it to campus operations and community outreach. Originality/value-This paper describes a unique partnership between a college and an intentional community that serves as a model for other colleges and universities.
Human Ecology …, 2007
It is estimated that humanity now uses more than one third of all accessible freshwater within the global water cycle. The complexity of water related issues has led the Environmental Protection Agency-and many other organizations-to encourage adoption of watershed-based regional planning as one way to address the balance of development and environmental needs. College of the Atlantic, located on Mt. Desert Island on the coast of Maine, is in the gateway to Acadia National Park. The area receives almost five million visitors a year and exemplifies the ecological and social infrastructure challenges faced by many communities. Within this regional context, the College has developed a collaborative watershed-based curriculum and educational partnership involving a multiplicity of community organizations and leaders. A significant part of this project has been the creation of a watershed coalition-The Union River Watershed Coalition (URWC)-that has successfully brought together a diverse cross-section of stakeholders, citizens and organizations throughout Downeast Maine. Digital mapping technologies-in the form of geographic information systems (GIS), publicly-accessible databases, and other partnership projects-have become critical features for integrating economic development, ecosystem viability and cultural values. Lessons from the current project have applicability for collaborative approaches by other educational institutions, watershed regions and communities elsewhere.
Sustainability, 2020
Sustainability education is more crucial than ever. High-impact practices, such as hands-on undergraduate research projects and service learning, can help to make the teaching and learning of sustainability relevant through the possibilities they open for convergence education. This case study describes how Chandler-Gilbert Community College revised and revitalized its sustainability program, as well as the evolution, since 2015, of its annual service-learning event, Sustainability Day. Curriculum is developed by using the overarching issues of climate change with subthemes of water, biodiversity, renewable energy, carbon footprint, and ethnobotany, among others. The case study demonstrates how such a program and event inspired collaboration between the campus and the community involving everyone in finding solutions to sustainability challenges in the face of climate change and points to the potential for deep learning for college students.
2012
give an overview of how research carried out through Maine's Sustainabilty Solutions Initiative (SSI) improves traditional models of science by providing a fuller picture of the interaction between social and ecological systems. They provide examples of universitycommunity research partnerships, where there is a continuous communication and feedback process that identifies problems and develops projects with a solutions-oriented focus. SSI projects, they argue, "focus on issues that may make lasting improvements to Maine's quality of place."
The Crabby Creek Initiative: Building and Sustaining An Interdisciplinary Community Partnership
2010
In this article, we identify the steps and strategies that emerged through an interdisciplinary, community-based participatory research (CBPR) project—the Crabby Creek Initiative. The Initiative was undertaken jointly by Cabrini College faculty in biology and psychology, the Valley Creek Restoration Partnership (VCRP), the Stroud Water Research Center, (SWRC) and local residents of this eastern Pennsylvania region. The paper examines the phases the partners have gone through and the strategies used as the building blocks of partnerships in the process of collaboration: trust, mutual design, shared implementation, joint ownership, and dissemination of knowledge, the building blocks of sustainable partnerships. Ultimately, the lessons learned have the potential to galvanize practitioners to engage not only in citizen science, but also more broadly in the practice of applied and engaged democracy. Introduction What do vanishing brook trout (Pennsylvania’s state fish) and the possible f...
The Community First: Impacts of Community Engagement (CFICE) is a Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funded research project designed to provide insights into how post-secondary institutions and community partners can establish and maintain successful relationships that ultimately maximize the value created for non-profit organizations. CFICE is organized into five self-managing research hubs; the focus of this report is the Peterborough and Haliburton section of the Community Environmental Sustainability (CES) hub. Hub members participated in interviews and a focus group to discuss the results of four first year demonstration projects. For the most part, results were favourable, especially for community-based organizations, who pointed to a high level of influence and a number of net gains such as increased capacity and the development of valuable resources. A notable finding was the important role of community-university bridging organizations, U-Links and the Trent Centre for Community-Based Education. Participants identified both organizations as a critical ingredient to the smooth functioning of demonstration projects. Challenges participants identified included delay of grant funds, delayed ethics approval and university resistance to community-based research projects in some areas.
Community and Environmental Sustainability
Critical Social Work
Academic institutions as community members, creators of knowledge, and educators of current and future citizens and practitioners have the potential to play a significant role in establishing sustainable environments. This article examines the role of community as the learning context for colleges and universities and as co-creators for complex change processes. Collaborative educational models are presented that link environmental sustainability to community engagement and the enhancement of social and economic justice. Through interdisciplinary, community-based education students gain an awareness of and learn to make an investment in sustainable communities. As teams of students work in the local community, they are meaningfully involved with the community, each other, and the environment. Examples of collaborations designed to engage in interactive learning and development are outlined. Research from the areas of social work, environmental science, social justice, and social ent...
Coastal Roots: Connecting Students with Sustainability in Mississippi and Louisiana
HortTechnology, 2010
The Coastal Roots School Seedling Nursery Program for Habitat Restoration was initiated by Louisiana State University in 2000 in cooperation with Louisiana Sea Grant. The program enhances learning areas such as plant growth, wetland issues, conservation, and hands-on habitat restoration, and includes the installation of a small container nursery for the production of coastal plants in schoolyards. The program was adopted by Mississippi State University's Coastal Research and Extension Center in 2008. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the program as well as Mississippi's plans to adapt the Louisiana model to demonstrate teaching by example through hands-on demonstration that will supply students with real-world conservation and stewardship experience.
2011
Portland State University has become internationally known for its whole-university approach to community-university engagement. Many academic leaders from around the world are now drawing on models for engagement that originated at Portland State. As the university takes stock of its successes, of changing economic conditions, and of the increasingly urgent need to focus on sustainability, the campus with its new leadership has begun to look closely at how to expand and refine the models. This paper on mPortland State's Second (R)evolution provides models and ideas that show great promise of reinvigorating community-university partnerships nationally and internationally.
2005
The Government of Canada believes that a healthy democracy requires the active engagement of its citizens in understanding the economic, social, and environmental issues faced by the nation. In the Atlantic Region, Environment Canada has been actively working, for more than a decade, on helping citizens achieve this integrated view and providing local communities with the means to develop their own visions of sustainability. In this regard, the Atlantic Coastal Action Program (ACAP) has been one of Environment Canada Atlantic Region's greatest success stories. ACAP is a community-based program that promotes local leadership and action. For more than 13 years, ACAP activities have involved thousands of community residents working as volunteers in local and regional initiatives. Their successes include solving complex problems related to sewage treatment, toxic contaminants and water quality, building local capacity and, educating their communities on issues such as pollution prevention, monitoring, climate change, assessment and household hazardous wastes to name a few. By working as a partner with local communities rather than imposing decisions, Environment Canada has helped a diversity of communities to responsibly address environmental issues of "local interest. " When communities realize that they can solve some of their own problems, they are empowered and can directly (or indirectly) influence decision-makers and policy makers. All of the ACAP groups have experiences in collaborative ecosystem management that have influenced local and/or regional decision-making. This paper outlines a number of these experiences, describes ACAP and its process as well as ACAP's influence within Environment Canada and the rest of the Atlantic Region.