[Scpg] Masters degree in Deep Sustainability

[LBUZZELL at aol.com]

In case you know someone who is interested in an M.A. specializing in Deep  
Sustainability. John F. Kennedy University is located in the San Francisco 
Bay  area.
 
"Career opportunities for graduates of this specialization include work for 
nonprofits and other organizations  dedicated to the transition to “green 
and clean” business practices, work in  companies offering alternative energy 
sources (solar power, wind power, etc.),  work in organizations dedicated 
to organic growing and permaculture, community  education and organization 
(including formal teaching), consulting  (environmentalists, scientists, and 
business leaders stand in dire need of  communication methods for talking to 
each other), environmental activism, and a  range of entrepreneurial 
pursuits."
 
The designer of this pioneering program is the  co-editor of Ecotherapy: 
Healing with Nature in Mind (Sierra Club Books  2009), Dr. Craig Chalquist.
 
Linda
 
The _School of Holistic Studies_ (http://www.jfku.edu/schools/shs/)  at 
John  F. Kennedy University offers a master's degree in Consciousness &  
Transformative Studies. As part of that master's, we are setting up a new  
specialization in Deep Sustainability.

The Deep Sustainability Specialization addresses  the increasingly urgent 
need to position academic and professional work within  an environmental 
context. Students within this specialization learn about  important and intimate 
interconnections between self, consciousness, and world.  Courses prepare 
students to be environmentally awake community mentors for the  necessary 
transition toward a life-sustaining civilization that respects and  serves 
human and planetary needs. 
Why “Deep” Sustainability? Depth psychology  looks beneath surface 
behaviors and attitudes to their roots in unconscious  motivation. Deep  Ecology 
moves beyond unsophisticated, quick-fix approaches to ecological  problems by 
inquiring into the underlying strengths and pathologies of our  relationship 
to nature and Earth. Deep Sustainability incorporates discoveries  from the 
study of Living Systems, cybernetics, and Complexity Theory that offer  new 
perspectives for understanding complex problems. These scientific theories  
show us that complex problems such as environmental sustainability must be  
addressed on multiple levels from multiple perspectives, that disciplines 
must  talk to and amplify each other; and that chaotic events and crises  
represent possibilities for the emergence of new cycles and forms of order.  “
Deep” grounds the inquiry in the human capacity for creative innovation: the  
capacity for consciousness. Deep Sustainability aims beyond technical  
fixes, new “green” purchases and habits, and linear economics—important though  
these might be—toward the transformation of our relationship with the  
environment, and therefore with ourselves and with each other. 
No other academic program puts  consciousness and its potential for 
training in complex, systemic, “deep”  approaches to sustainability in the center 
of its educational efforts.  
Courses Units 
Core (9 units):
Issues in Science and  Consciousness: Living Systems Theory (2)
Consciousness and Sustainability  (2)
Living Systems (2)
Planetary Psychology (3)
Exploring Professional  Identity A/B (2,1) 
Elective (7 units): 
Electives include courses such as From Farm to  Table, Art and Healing, 
Visionary Leadership, and Ecological  Medicine.

Total units required: 16.   
Students  completing the Deep Sustainability Specialization will be able 
to: 
    *   Mentor their  communities of origin in the psychological, 
scientific, philosophical, and  systemic dimensions of sustainability. This includes 
a capacity for  translating ecological concepts into understandable terms 
and educational  images in a vari­ety of media. 
    *   Conduct  critical analyses of the scientific, financial, and 
political discourse  sur­rounding sustainability, localization, alternative 
energy, food  production, and cli­mate change.
    *   Share the  results of these analyses with coworkers, community 
leaders, and other  interested parties. 
    *   Discuss and  utilize sustainability practices drawn from a variety 
of cultural and scientific  sources. 
    *   Discuss and  illustrate usually hidden connections between 
consumers and products,  including food and energy products and the role of 
advertising.  
    *   Dispense  offline and online sustainability resources while 
remaining aware of the many  current perspectives on human relations with the 
environment. 
    *   Challenge and  change entrenched attitudes and biases that prevent 
adaptation to  environmentally wise solutions and habits.
Career opportunities for graduates of this  specialization include work for 
nonprofits and other organizations  dedicated to the transition to “green 
and clean” business practices, work in  companies offering alternative energy 
sources (solar power, wind power, etc.),  work in organizations dedicated 
to organic growing and permaculture, community  education and organization 
(including formal teaching), consulting  (environmentalists, scientists, and 
business leaders stand in dire need of  communication methods for talking to 
each other), environmental activism, and a  range of entrepreneurial 
pursuits. Of students now interested in entering the  new specialization, one is 
already writing a curriculum for educating her  community in how to purchase 
authentically green products, another is putting  together a series of 
workshops to study the impact of local ecological health on  the health of human 
relationships and communication patterns, and a third plans  to set up a 
school garden to educate children about where healthy food comes  from and how 
to grow it. NOTE: It is important to bear in mind that the old  philosophy of 
pre-given, long-term jobs into which graduates can be slotted is  vanishing 
before our eyes, and that the future of viable employment belongs to  those 
with the kind of strong entrepreneurial capacity for innovation that our  
specialization is designed to train and encourage. 
For more information contact Craig Chalquist  at 925-969-3137.

-- 
_
Craig  Chalquist, PhD
Core Faculty, JFK  University 
Visit  Chalquist.com_ (http://www.chalquist.com/) : 
Catching  the World by the Tale 



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