[Reader-list] Online course -- Green Action: Creating Sustainable Communities - Mar 2010

[Chintan]

>From http://p2pu.org/green-action-creating-sustainable-communities-mar-2010

How sustainable is your community? How sustainable does it have the
potential to be?

This course is going to get at the principles and practices that are making
communities everywhere more sustainable. Sustainability is guiding and
empowering communities to develop and evolve in ways that are more just,
transparent, healthier and more environmentally responsible.

Many communities, such as Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, are, in fact,
defining their identities by how sustainable they are today, and aspire to
be. Green is good!  But what exactly is this new green—sustainability—and
how do you harness it to improve the quality of (all) life where you live?

This course has two main objectives: 1) To examine and understand
sustainability as a visioning and organizing principle for communities.  2)
To apply this knowledge toward developing the beginnings of a sustainability
plan for our own communities (defined at whatever scale you wish:
neighborhood, group, work, school, city, town, region).

Learning exercises in this course will build toward these plans. We’ll work
collaboratively and individually and the final project can be in whatever
communications medium you prefer: written, graphic, video, audio, digital, a
mix. We, ourselves, will come together as a community virtually. A course
wiki, video conferencing and other digital means will connect and engage us.

Areas of sustainability we will cover are: Foundations and Origins;
Grassroots and Government; Greening of Business; Education; Your Community;
Greenwashing and Other Perils.