Ecovillage Education
Ecovillage Experience
Ecovillage Design for Sustainability

Gaia Education Design for Sustainability
Incorporating Transition Towns Trainings

Economic Design - Week 3

Saturday 19 - 26 October, 2013

Facilitated by Iain Davidson

Shifting the Global Economy Towards Sustainability

The urgent need is to make the shift from the current situation where ecology is a subset of economy, to one in which economy is a subset of ecology.

Topics include:

How the current economic system has evolved
What impacts it has on people, communities and the Earth
How we can make it more just, equitable, resilient and sustainable
Ecological footprints
An exploration of despair, anger and hope in the face of current realities
Visioning of a more just, equitable, resilient and sustainable global economy
Transitional paths towards a new global economy

How Money Works: Community Banks and Currencies

Far from being a neutral lubricator of economic activity, the way that money currently works is a major driver of our unsustainable, growth-dependent economies. We will explore how money currently works and how to make it our servant rather than our master.

Topics include:

Exploration of how money works and the various impacts of the current monetary system
Exploration of how money systems (global and local) could be reformed to encourage greater equity and sustainability
Theory and practice of community and alternative currencies
Exposure to Findhorn's community currency and bank
Examples of thriving community economies from around the worlld
How Money Works: Community Banks and Currencies

Far from being a neutral lubricator of economic activity, the way that money currently works is a major driver of our unsustainable, growth-dependent economies. We will explore how money currently works and how to make it our servant rather than our master.

Topics include:

Exploration of how money works and the various impacts of the current monetary system
Exploration of how money systems (global and local) could be reformed to encourage greater equity and sustainability
Theory and practice of community and alternative currencies
Exposure to Findhorn's community currency and bank
Examples of thriving community economies from around the world

Right Livelihood

An exploration of the values underlying our economic activities and decisions; of the ways in which individual and community quality-of-life can be unhooked from material consumption; and of how values-based choices can help us move towards more satisfying and sustainable lifestyles.

Topics include:

Voluntary simplicity and sustainable abundance
Sustainable contraction
Alternative well-being indicators
Exploration of alternative ways of considering ‘wealth’ other than financial income
Exposure to community members who have chosen to downsize and simplify their lives Exploration of participants' skills and values and of possible paths to increasing right livelihood

Social Enterprise

Social enterprises have as their principal aim not the maximising of profit but the delivery of social and/or environmental benefits that will enrich the communities in which they are based.

Topics include:

Exploration of how we can use enterprises to meet many of our communities social and environmental needs
Review of existing social enterprises in ecovillages around the world
Reflection on the creation of social enterprises with guidance on how this can be achieved

Legal and Financial Issues

"While these questions may seem technical, their answers reflect your community's basic values . . . Does this legal entity inherently support your community's vision, mission and values? Does it support your ownership, financing and decision-making structure?" - Diana Leafe Christian

A review of the various legal, ownership and financial options available both for ecovillages and social enterprises within them.

Topics include:

Overview of financial and legal issues to be taken into consideration when launching and managing social enterprises and ecovillages
Feasibility studies
Business plans
Different forms of capital, their uses and how to raise them
Creating abundance visualisation

The Gaia Education Design for Sustainability has been introduced to complement, correspond with, and assist in setting a standard for the United Nations' Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014.

Iain Davidson has over 30 years experience in the field of Technology and Computing for organisations ranging from small private companies to large multinationals (Group 4, AstraZeneca) and the UK Government (MoD, and the former DSS). He ran his own software development company for 8 years before moving to Findhorn. Until recently, he was the IT Manager for the Findhorn Foundation.
 
His current role is Strategic Development for the Education Department with responsibility for developing an online learning facility and video conferencing. In addition, he is a member of the Faculty and specialises in the delivery of courses and trainings in the field of Sustainability and Ecology, with a particular interest in how economics shapes our world.

He has been one of the Foundation's representatives on the Transition to Resilience Training Learning Partnership, and looks forward to deepening this work.
 
Prior to joining the Foundation, he trained as Trainer and Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

Findhorn's EDE course teaches holistically - from the heart and the head. The different facilitators taught from a place of optimism and love of their work. I was inspired by the other participants as much as from the wonderful teachers. I left the EDE month-long course with a huge number of new skills, new friends around the globe, and most importantly, a sense that a more gaia-centered civilisation is not only possible, but is happening already. I am honored to have been a part of such a rich programme and to help spread the word.
Miranda Loud, Rialto Art Inc, USA

For me, the month I spent at Findhorn for the EDE was incredibly powerful. Well-taught, empowering, motivating, it gave me a wide array of tools facts, excercises, rhetoric, personal empowerment, process and practice to take the message of sustainable living out into the world. Gandhi said Be the change you want to see in the world, I feel that having completed the EDE I really can.
Annie Palone

Training fees

Income related price for the five weeks

£2245 payable by participants with low income
£2350 payable by participants with medium income
£2795 payable by participants with high income

£495/£545/£695 per module according to income

Fees include tuition, accommodation, vegetarian meals and materials.

Please complete the Application Form and Enrolment Questionnaire

Enquiries by e-mail: admin@findhorncollege.org

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Findhorn Ecovillage The Park Findhorn IV36 3TZ, Scotland, UK