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Gaia University Graduates,
October
'09
Summertown, Tennesee
October 2nd marked the largest Gaia University
graduation ceremony yet! Congratulations to BSc graduates Benjamin Griffin,
Connor Stedman and Kurt Belser; MSc graduates Ben Jones and Mary Ellen
Bowen; and Graduate Diploma recipient Eden Vardy.
MSc Graduate,
Ben Jones, is founder and director of the Virgin
Islands Sustainable Farms Institute (VISFI), which will host its first
Gaia U International Orientation December 1 - 9. Ben is also the creator of
Beneficial
Consultants (BC). Beneficial Consultants offers community-building
support, land management and organic farming services, and mission
and vision facilitation. BC also offers specialist advising to Gaia U
associates.
Interested in finding out about the projects of our
other recent graduates?
Financial Permaculture:
Bridging the
Gap
This year’s
Financial
Permaculture Summit in Hohenwald, Tennessee, themed ‘Greening a Rural
American Community’, explored various ways that permaculture and business
designers can learn from each other.
Gaia U Advisory Board Member,
Albert
Bates, opened the weekend with a session that introduced the key steps
to becoming a Transition Town. The Transition
Town Movement was started by Rob
Hopkins in Southern England, and promotes participatory,
community-driven sustainability initiatives. Transition Towns look to the
issues of peak oil and climate change as the primary motivators to help
them to become more localized, resilient communities. The introduction of
this topic at the summit sparked much discussion about how to organize in
places where there is still heated debate over the direct relevance of
climate change to small communities.
Carbon Farming Intensive:
Regenerating the
Earth's Soils
Last month the first Gaia University affiliated
Carbon Farming Intensive took place at the Ecovillage
Training Center in Summertown, Tennessee. The six-part curriculum
explored the holistic management of soil, water, carbon, energy and the
economy in the context of carbon negative agriculture. Carbon farming is a
system of agricultural design that returns carbon to the soil for increased
soil health and agricultural production. The intensive was led by a cadre of highly
accomplished instructors on the cutting edge of sustainable farming
development, including Joel Salatin, Dr. Elaine Ingham, Kirk Gadzia, Darren
Doherty, Brad Lancaster and Eric Toensmeier.
Read
more
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Degree
Pathways
BSc
Programs
MSc
Programs
Post
Masters Programs
Dates
& Venues in 09 Gaia U now on Twitter and
Facebook! Gaia University now has a live Twitter
account for all things Gaia - follow us at twitter.com/Gaia_University. You
can also find us on Facebook - just follow this link!
New Director of Advisory
Services
Valerie
Seitz
Valerie Seitz
has been an indispensable member of the Gaia U International team since
its
pioneering days. Co-founder of Gaia
U Southeast (Gaia SEUS) in
Tennessee, Valerie has most recently taken on the role of Director of
Advisory
Services. Several years of experience as a highly effective Gaia U advisor
have
informed her approach to this new position. Valerie has strategically created new
communication and
design flows by establishing advising ‘guilds’ through which advisors
share
their experiences and insights with each other and capture that feedback
for
the further development of Gaia U.
“Working for
Gaia University is never boring; it always brings you to your edge and
creates
tons of learning experiences. It
is a joyful ongoing learning process within a worldwide community,
a very special system with a lot of
freedom that resonates with my need to think and act on my own. Yet when I
need support, it is there! At Gaia University, I feel at home. I find it so
inspiring — with tons of outlets for my creativity and
thinking."
Read more
2009 Gaia U International
Programs
VISFI, US
Virgin
Islands Sustainable Farms Institute 
Gaia U
Orientation
December
1 - 9
(St. Croix, Virgin
Islands)
Extension
Workshops
December 9 -13
Re-Evaluation Counseling
Fundamentals Workshop
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