New River Earth Institute

Discussion Courses

NREI offers peer-led discussion courses on environmental awareness and encourages participants to respond using personal strategies and specific actions. There are seven courses to choose from, each lasting 8-9 weeks. The book for each course is made up of a collection of articles, excerpts, essays and case studies pertaining to the topic of each week’s session. They are peer-led and facilitated by a different person each week who simply follows a list of possible questions. The cost is minimal, $15-$20, and you can even share books. These courses can be started at anytime and can be offered just about any place where people naturally gather. Meeting places have included local libraries, college campuses, restaurants, employee lunchrooms, coffee shops, community centers, church basements and even back porches. It is completely up to the participants involved. Group sizes are usually 6-12 people, and each session lasts about 1-1½ hours.

Menu for the Future

The discussion course goals are to explore food systems and their impacts, to gain insight into agricultural and individual practices that promote personal and ecological wellbeing, and to consider our role in creating or supporting sustainable food systems.

The six topics to be covered are, What's Eating America?, Anonymous Food, Farming for the Future, You are What You Eat, Toward a Just Food System, and Choices for Change.

The discussion group will meet at the Spin-A-Yarn store on the Backstreet in downtown West Jefferson on Mondays at 6:30 pm starting May 4th 2009.

Anyone who eats is invited to come to the course! For more information, call 336-877-1860. To view the course outline and individual readings in detail click here or go to www.nwei.org.

Voluntary Simplicity

This course explores the personal and environmental benefits of simplicity. Topics covered in eight sessions include:The Meaning of Simplicity • Living More with Less • Your Money or Your Life • Do You Have the Time? • How much is Enough? • Swimming Against the Tide • The Practice of Simplicity • Celebration
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Choices For Sustainable Living

Each of us makes choices that have an impact on the earth. We can choose options that are more sustainable than others. Participants consider steps toward ecologically sustainable lifestyles, communities and organizations. Topics covered in nine sessions include: A Call to Sustainability • Ecological Principals • Sustainable Communities • Sustainable Business and Economy • Sustainable Food • Sustainable Buying • Sustainable Lifestyles • Visions of Sustainability • Celebration
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Discovering a Sense of Place

Purpose: • To understand the meaning of bioregions, and what it would mean to develop a bioregional perspective. • To discover how an understanding of and commitment to a place affects our willingness to accept personal responsibility to care for that place.• To explore opportunities to protect the place we live. Topics: * A Bioregional Perspective * Sense of Place * The Land Ethic * Knowing Your Bioregion * Living in Place * Mapping * Community * Empowerment
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Healthy Children, Healthy Planet

This course is geared to understand how the pervasive effects of advertising, media, and our consumer culture can influence a child's view of the world. To discover ways to create meaningful family times and healthful environments for children. To explore ways to develop a child's connection to nature, and to foster creativity.
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Deep Ecology & Related Topics

Deep Ecology is a term coined in 1973 by Norwegian philosopher and mountaineer Arne Naess. It describes an approach by which an individual looks deeply at her or his relationship with the earth and responsibility for it. Participants discuss how personal values affect the way they view and treat the earth. Topics covered in nine sessions include: Deep Ecology • The Gaia Hypothesis • Spirituality and the Earth • Native American Wisdom • Simplicity • Ecopsychology • Bioregionalism • Ritual • Celebration
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Global Warming: Changing CO2urse

A four session course exploring the history and science of global warming, personal values and habits as they relate to climate change, and personal actions to curb the effects of global warming.

Created on 09/25/2006 08:19 PM by nrei
Updated on 09/15/2009 06:48 PM by nrei