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).
Author: Daniella Cheslow
Daniella Cheslow grew up in a car-dependent suburb in New Jersey, where she noticed strip malls and Wal-Marts slowly replacing farmland. Her introduction to nature came through hiking trips in Israel. As a counselor for a freshman backpacking program at Northwestern University, Daniella noticed that Americans outdoors seemed to need to arm themselves with performance clothing, specialized water bottles and sophisticated camping silverware. This made her think about how to interact with and enjoy nature simply. This year, Daniella is getting a Master’s in Geography from Ben Gurion University of the Negev. She also freelance writes, photographs and podcasts. In her free time, she takes day trips in the desert, drops off compost and cooks local foods like stuffed zucchini, kubbeh and majadara. Daniella gets her peak oil anxiety from James Howard Kunstler and her organic food dreams from Michael Pollan. Read more at her blog, TheTruthHerzl.com. Daniella can be reached at daniella (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
Updated Program Information for Peace, Justice, and the Environment Program with Living Routes
Program Dates: August 20,2012-December 20,2012
Program Cost: $15,900
Please view our page for more information and to check out some of the great work that we are doing! http://livingroutes.org/programs/p_lotan.htm