ESJP 14 was held in Skylake retreat centre June 13-15 NY with two days of inspiring presentations, workshops and place-based learning experiences. Many different disciplines, academics students and practitioners worked together to consider the critical ways in which we might move forward as a profession in response to current inequities and environmental injustice. The full schedule and abstracts can be accessed here.

 

 

18 of us retreated further into rural NY at Cala Munda June 15-16 and spent two more days exploring how we might create alternatives to our existing growth model and how engineers might take part in this change. One image to capture the sense of this remarkable experience was a role playing game played across the forest. One group on the hilltop had minerals and fuel and few people. One on another forested hill had wind and water power and few people. One in the lowlands, based in an old ruin, had food and water and few people. The remaining group were in the built up area and had many people but no resources. They stayed comfortably inside a house as it had started to rain but eventually emerged as they needed food. Each group were invited to consider how they would sustain and refuel their ‘whole’ community including neighboring villages and towns. Groups walked up through the trees to visit and offer ideas, others were resistant and protective. It turned out to be an incredible way of creating knowledge about transport, energy, food, services and most of all what it means to live in community with others and with nature.