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Peace, Justice and the Environment
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This 15-week academic and field-based semester is being run in partnership with Living Routes, Neve Shalom/ Wahat al-Salam and Bustan L’Shalom. The program explores the connections between new forms of ecological identity and stewardship, social justice and community in Israel. Students will work alongside Palestinian-Arab, Bedouin and Jewish Israelis who are striving for a just and lasting peace. There will be hands-on experience in ecological design, green building and sustainable agriculture and the opportunity to put permaculture into action in a Bedouin Village in the Negev Desert. Students completing the course will receive 16 U.S. undergraduate credits from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, widely transferable to colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and worldwide.
Courses
Peacebuilding and Social Justice (4 cr.)
Students explore social and environmental justice issues in Israel/Palestine from a variety of Israeli and Palestinian and Bedouin perspectives and learn tools for building a just peace.
Group Dynamics (Communication 352) (4 cr.)
Students learn service learning methodologies and skills for living in community. They create their own learning community while living in and contributing to social and development projects in kibbutzim, traditional villages, towns and bi-national intentional communities.
Permaculture Design (Plant and Soil Sciences 298B) (4 cr.)
Theoretical and practice-based course focusing on the context, skills and tools required for the design of sustainable human habitats in different environments. Using new ecological knowledge, students help lead a process of needs-assessment and design projects that will make a difference in village lives.
Sustainable Building (4 cr.)
Foundation course emphasizing theory and practice-based learing. Students focus on the skills, methods and materials associated with ecological design and construction, appropriate technologies, and the building of sustainable communities.
Program components:
Weeks 1-10: Permaculture and Ecovillage Design at Kibbutz Lotan
Practice meets theory in hands-on work in the organic garden and ecological building techniques including adobe bricks, geodesic domes, straw bale and construction with recycled materials. Learn permaculture design techniques and how to apply them. Kibbutz Lotan is the case study through which we will explore the vision and the practice of the ecovillage model and the processes and challenges involved with the design, building and running of sustainable communities.
Week 11: Service Learning in Abu Thul with Bustan L’Shalom
Bring ecological design concepts into the field in a hands-on eco-building project in an unrecognized Bedouin village in the northern Negev Desert. Experience Bedouin culture and work with Bedouin students at a learning site created by the village in partnership with the human rights organization Bustan L'Shalom.
Weeks 12-14: Intensive at Neve Shalom - Wahat al-Salam School for Peace
Experience first hand this unique, binational intentional community of Jews and Palestinian Arabs of Israeli citizenship. Seminars, panel discussions, group discussions and films present a broad view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Learn, observe and practice the School for Peace's approach to dialogue between groups in conflict.
Week 15: Return to Kibbutz Lotan
Presentation of individual learning projects.
Fees and Dates
Program Dates
September 1 - December 9
Application Deadline: March 31*
*Rolling admissions on a first come first serve basis. Contact us for late availability.
Fees
Tuition, program costs, room and board, in-country travel .... $14,200
UMass Amherst credit... Included
Learn about financial aid options »
Scholarship Information available at the Harold Grinspoon Foundation
Further Info and Contact
Further details may be found on the Living Routes website here. For applications, please click here.
Contact:
Mark Naveh
Center for Creative Ecology
Kibbutz Lotan
lotan-ecocenter@ardom.ardom.co.il
Tel: +972 8 6356811; +972 8 6356935; +972 54 9799033
Toll free (while in Israel): 1800 2000 75
Gregg Orifici
Director of Admissions
Living Routes - Study Abroad in Ecovillages
gregg@livingroutes.org
(888) 515-7333 or (413) 259-0025
http://www.LivingRoutes.org