I’m delighted to be able to offer this class again in Spring 2010 (managed to get at least one unit this year, despite the budget cuts at Cabrillo). Join us as we explore tools and ideas for creating sustainable lifestyles, businesses, communities and cultures.  Together, we move beyond doom-and-gloom to learn and create sustainability solutions that will transform the way the world works. In this fun, cooperative class, you will join a topic team and a book group that suits your interests.

Meets 6 Monday Evenings, 6:00PM-8:35PM (2/22, 3/1, 3/8, 3/15, 3/22, 4/5)

Register at Cabrillo College: Section # 66527, 1 Unit, Instructor:  Michelle Merrill,  Room 431

New books for this year:  Original Instructions: Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future (ed. by Melissa K. Nelson)  and Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella Meadows, plus Blessed Unrest, Cradle to Cradle, Deep Economy, The Real Wealth of Nations and WorldChanging.

I plan to shift the emphasis of the class to focus more on the topics and less on writing book responses, so look for those assignments to change for February 2010.

Interested?  Have more questions? Contact Me

Welcome to the blog for Michelle Merrill’s Anthropology 19G class, Surviving the Future: The (Re)Emergence of Sustainable Cultures. Please go to WordPress.com and create a login and password for yourself so you can join the discussion (Anthr19G students only, please; no need to set up your own blog). Once you are logged on, please reply with a comment to this post as a way to introduce yourself to the class.

Note: don’t worry if your first post doesn’t appear right away – it is on hold until I get a chance to approve it. If you choose a login/user name that isn’t going to be easy for me to identify from the roll sheet, please add your name to your first post or send me an email so I can approve your comments and give you credit for your work.

This will be a space for you to share relevant news links, ask and answer questions about what you’re learning in the class, or share information that will be of interest to your fellow students. You can start new discussions, or comment on existing posts.

If you would like to get some extra units for working with Karen Groppi and Michelle Merrill on the Cabrillo Sustainability Assessment, you can register for 1, 2 or 3 units of CWEE99G . There is a link off http://www.cabrillo.edu/~kgroppi/SustainableCabrillo/CWEE99G.html that will take you to the CWEE site and give you info about getting started with the class. You may choose the area you wish to work in and design your project. As part of the class you will design learner outcomes and meet with Michelle or Karen each week to review progress on your project.

If you are not interested in units then joining the task force would be the thing to do; we can let you know when the next meeting is. The task force is assessing green house emissions related to a wide range of activities on campus including; water, waste, energy, transportation, food etc.

You can find a little more info here:
http://www.cabrillo.edu/~kgroppi/SustainableCabrillo/assess.html
If you are interested in the class you can still sign up by contacting Michelle Merrill and Leslie Read (CWEE coordinator).

• 12 or 15 minutes per team, plus 5 minutes for questions
• Everyone should speak at least a little
• Provide some visuals
  • visuals for the team, not necessarily each individual
  • can be PowerPoint, digital photos, website with graphics, video, poster, demonstration, and/or draw on board
• Describe key problems briefly (if not widely known)
• Focus on Local Solutions

The Clean Beaches Coalition of Santa Cruz has their annual clean-up day this weekend:

September 20, 2008
9 a.m. – noon
Moran Lake
Hosted by: Surfrider Foundation

register at http://www.cleanbeachescoalition.org/index.html

• Give your topic talk during Environmental Justice session of Social Justice Conference: Saturday, 19 April 2008, 12:30-2pm – email me to make arrangements
  • Social Justice Conference: Free! Registration starts at 9, sessions at 9:30, Keynote by Banafsheh Aklaghi 2:15-2:30
• Cabrillo Earth Week Events, April 21-25 – look for details to be announced soon
• I will be teaching a Cabrillo Extension Workshop “Turning the Key: Unlocking Nature’s Secrets” Saturday, 3 May 2008, 9:30 – 5
• I will be offering Anthr19G again in Fall on Monday nights – if you liked it, tell your friends!
• Please join the Cabrillo College Sustainability Alliance on WiserEarth
• Everyone is welcome to continue posting here as a way to keep in touch and share information about events

I have posted some articles that may be of interest on the Cabrillo protected webserver. I gave the class the user-name and password to access these on the first day. Students, please email me if you don’t have them anymore.

Topics:Agriculture | Fisheries | Gaviotas | Population and Development | Systems | Waste | Water

I will probably be hosting or co-hosting a panel on environmental justice topics at the conference in May 2009. This could be an opportunity for your topic team to present your research from this course (these presentations look great on resumes and transfer applications).

For information and application procedures go to:http://cabrillo.edu/~anajarro/socialjustice.html

Please consider sharing your work there, and perhaps also presenting sometime during Earth Week events at Cabrillo (April 20th -25th) . Let me know if you’re interested in these opportunities.