Earth Learning members Erwin Weber and Adrienne Weber had their paper "Community Environment Education Centers: Facilitating Community Created Ecoscapes", published in Spaces and Flows: An International Journal of Urban and ExtraUrban Studies.
Community Environment Education Centers: Facilitating Community Created Ecoscape, Erwin Weber, Adrienne Weber [award winner, Spaces and Flows Journal Award]
Abstract
"This study focuses on designing a community environment education center (CEEC) for Chillingham, as a hub for community transition to sustainability, redressing social fragmentation, youth unemployment, a high eco-footprint and economic rural decline due to globalisation.
The ecologically sustainable development framework was delivered by integrating environment education and community development through project-based experiential learning.
The development of Chillingham Community Centre involved case study research and incorporated participatory design charrettes, transformative learning, eco-positive development and community-public-private partnerships.
This process evolved from community strategic planning in a small rural village buffering world heritage rainforests impacted by a rapidly expanding urban conurbation on Australia’s east coast.
This community space encompasses socio-environmental flows connecting people to each other and the ecoscape to grow natural capital, community cohesion and empower eco-governance.
Modelling passive solar design, on-site renewable energy/water/nutrient cycling, community garden/market and environment education programs sowed the seeds for a green local economy, demonstrating community capacity to participate in transition to sustainability.
A small rural community can demonstrate to other communities that a CEEC enables people to meet their socio-environmental and economic needs locally and sustainably.
The ecologically sustainable solution is holistic, all settlements need to be richly biodiverse, locally specific and globally wise."
Read more or purchase the PDF: https://cgscholar.com/bookstore/works/community-environment-education-centers?category_id=common-ground-publishing
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