Eco-Kibbutz Lotan Rolls Out Two Green Programs

Tucked deep into the Arava desert at the southeastern border of Israel, Kibbutz Lotan‘s Center for Creative Ecology has announced two programs for the late summer and fall, including detailed information for funding on its Web site.

The first is the Peace, Justice and Environment course, which is run in conjunction with the Living Routes organization and runs August 31-December 9, 2009. Students in the course will work with Jewish and Arab environmental leaders, from the ecological straw-bale builders on Kibbutz Lotan to a permaculture site in the Bedouin town of Segev Shalom.  The course includes a tour of the Separation Barrier in Jerusalem The 14-week course is accredited by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and is worth 16 credits. The program costs $14,200.

The second is a Green Apprenticeship Eco-Village and Permaculture design course held exclusively on Lotan. Participants spend seven weeks sleeping in straw-bale and mud geodesic domes (see photo above) while they learn about organic agriculture. The program grants a Permaculture Design Course Certificate.  The Green Apprenticeship costs NIS 11,000, and several funding options appear on the site. This year’s dates, according to the Web site, are:

• 21 December 2009 – 10 February 2010
• 22 February 2010 – 13 April 2010
• 19 April 2010, 9 June 2010

For more information, check out the Center for Creative Ecology Web site.

(Photo courtesy of livingroutes.org).