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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”—Margaret Mead, Cultural Anthropologist

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Today, we remember David Fleming, economist, cultural historian and writer on environmental issues. His work lives on through the paperback version of Surviving the Future: Culture, Carnival and Capital in the Aftermath of the Market Economy published by Chelsea Green Publishing and through his colleague Shaun Chamberlin. Chamberlin leads the Sterling College Surviving the Future: Conversations for Our Time interactive, online course that starts January 4th. Less than 100 spots available. https://sterlingcollege.edu/course/surviving-the-future/ ⁣
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#sustainablefuture #environmentaljustice #doughnuteconomics #climatechange #conservation #cleanenergy #sustainability #resilience #onlinelearning #davidfleming #networking #transitionus #climatechange #donuteconomics #sustainable #resilience

“We need the tonic of wildness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.” - Henry David Thoreau

“In order to be stewards of the land, we need to understand our historical and current relationships to the natural world and each other. Sterling College courses and our community provide us with opportunities to explore these relationships, uncover the complexities of our natural world and society, and discuss the many environmental issues that we face today.” - Farley Brown '85, Sterling Faculty

Student, Grace Jessiman writes, “For me, most of the appeal of climbing is the problem solving aspect– a hand there, a foot there, the pleasant surprise of successfully balancing upon a single square centimeter of quartz protruding from the wall, using practical physics for perhaps its least practical application. The Advanced Rock class was focused on systems and technical skills– rescues, anchor building, gear placement, all different ways to belay, guiding and teaching skills, knot tying, use of different types of gear, problem-solving, troubleshooting, going on a 4-day climbing and camping trip to dive even more intensively into the concepts we were practising. We followed the approximate curriculum of the AMGA Single Pitch Instructor Course, giving us a good foundation to be able to take the course and exam in the future, and launch a guiding career if we choose. This course was eminently practical. Every day, I could see how the concepts we learned and the skills we practiced would be useful in any career. Whether it was the concepts of responsibility, interpersonal communication and meticulousness that underpinned everything we learned, Outdoor Ed-specific teaching skills, or a specialized climbing system, I could envision myself using different facets of what I learned in the future. Whether I chose to go into business, teaching, or of course, becoming a guide for rock climbing, something I learned would apply. Some days during the class, we didn’t physically climb that much, but it was never boring. In some ways it was even more thrilling, the puzzle of figuring out the complicated and yet streamlined systems. The challenge was different, but equally exhilarating. It was hanging 12 feet off the ground waiting for your mock rescuer to save you from your imaginary plight. It was painstakingly working through why you made an anchor the way you did, and adjusting the ropes until you had it just right, with no element superfluous or unnecessary. It was looking around and realizing that you trusted the people you were climbing with, both on the wall and off it.”⁣
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#climbinglife #climbing_pictures_of_instagram #climbingphotography #climbing

Amelia Zenerino, a Wendell Berry Farming Program student in the Restorative Forestry course, completes a Naturalist Guide to the trees of Drennon Woods.

A Sterling education is fundamentally experiential and place-based in character, with the world as the primary classroom, laboratory, and research setting. Whether offered in a room on campus, at the State House, on a mountainside on the other side of the continent, classes foster deep inquiry and close relationships between faculty and students. With shared educational outcomes and experiences across our disciplines, the College uses the liberal arts to strengthen our understanding of the natural world (Ecology), interpret the human experience with the natural world (Environmental Humanities), understand human adaptation of the natural world (Sustainable Agriculture and Sustainable Food Systems), and prepare ourselves and others for experience in and with the natural world (Outdoor Education). ⁣
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#ecocollege #sustainableliving #ecology #sustainabilitymatters #savetheplanet #sustainablity #greenfuture #ecofriendly #ecological #sustainability #nature #environmentfriendly #climatechange #environmental #environment #eco

“To be whole. To be complete. Wildness reminds us what it means to be human, what we are connected to rather than what we are separate from.” ― Terry Tempest Williams ⁣
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#wildness #nature #adventure #conservation #wild #wildlife

This northern corner of Vermont, with its beautiful and diverse ecosystems, serves as your living laboratory where you will explore, conduct field studies, and develop skills you can translate to any environment. #workinghandsworkingminds

The future belongs to the curious. The ones who are not afraid to try it, explore it, poke at it, question it and turn it inside out.

Meet Emily Brodsky, Faculty in Ecology

Emily’s insatiable curiosity about the natural world results in daily astonishment, and her passion is to share that with students. Before coming to Sterling, Emily spent many years developing and teaching experiential education programs relating to ecology and natural history. Her professional background also includes assessing and mapping natural resources on conserved lands as a consulting ecologist, and participating in wildlife monitoring and field research. Emily is interested in the application of ecological knowledge, from both western scientific and traditional perspectives, to natural resources conservation and management. She teaches courses including Foundations of Ecology, Wetland Ecology, Winter Ecology, and Vertebrate Natural History, and co-teaches Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Environmental Education.

Emily spends most of her free time tinkering on projects around her yurt in Craftsbury, following wildlife tracks and birds, and otherwise exploring the wilds of Vermont.

Surviving the Future: Conversations for Our Time is a flexible, interactive online course, designed to build and inspire a global community of people who are committed to helping their localities seek out new insights for times of profound change.

These are frightening and confusing days. As we have rearranged our daily lives in response to the coronavirus pandemic, other interlocking crises continue to worsen, from biodiversity collapse to food security to climate catastrophe.

In these tumultuous times, we will take a long moment to pull back and think together — to share conversation — curated by experts and in the company of some of the most compelling people who have been thinking about these issues for a long time.

The late David Fleming called this convergence of crises “the Climacteric,” and he held out a tantalizing cultural vision of how we might respond. Now is our opportunity to reforge Fleming’s principles in the context of the diverse realities we are facing today in each of our own home communities.

Some may choose to pursue the possibilities unveiled in Fleming’s works, while others might use these as a springboard for finding their own unique pathways to confronting the Climacteric.

As we open up conversations for and about people and communities facing profound change, we increase our capacity to share and discover solutions, making our own localities more resilient in their diverse circumstances while also supporting global understanding and shared priorities. ⁣
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#doughnuteconomics #davidfleming #transitionus #networking #socialnetworking #onlinecourse #onlinelearning #resilience #systemicracism #cleanenergy #sustainablefuture #conservation #climatechange #sustainableliving #sustainability #climateactivist #sustainablility #environmentaljustice #environment

In our outdoor laboratory, all sorts of creatures drop in to examine and explore our field research. #workinghandsworkingminds

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