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Past Conferences

Conference 2001 – Thirteen Voyages

On our voyage on the peace boat Shalom, Dr. Toh Swee-Hin and Dr. Virginia Cawagas, of University of Alberta, will lead participants through creative activities to explore key issues of conflict and peace at the global level, using examples from their experiences in conflict-ridden societies. At the local level, Sally Hodges of Project Ploughshares and Jim Gurnett of Bissell Centre will examine obstacles to peace and social justice locally and describe opportunities for teachers and students to work for peace in their own communities. To create peace personally, Gayle Laird of Calgary will help participants develop person peace practices to become centres of peacefulness in their work and daily lives. She will use the six tenets of the United Nations Culture of Peace project (Respect all life, Reject violence, Share with others, Listen to understand, Preserve the planet, Rediscover solidarity) to help participants discover how these principles can enhance their spiritual, social, emotional and intellectual lives. Our voyage together on the peace boat Shalom will inform, energize and ground us in peaceful practice.

On the heels of Mother Theresa: GEOEC 2001 Presenter Wins UNESCO Award

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Voyage #2: Interpretive Theatre: Right-Brain Science
Navigator: Tara Ryan, Artistic Director of Evergreen Theatre Society

Interpretation is a multidisciplinary approach to bringing information and concepts to life, but how can it be used effectively in classrooms, historical sites and natural settings? This session will teach interpreters and teachers how to design and implement exciting learning experiences through informative and curriculum-based theatrical interpretation. Tara will lead us through the entire process: from topic brainstorming and research, presentation skills, character development, script and lyric writing, prop and costume design – all the way to the final rehearsal! Rockyview teacher Clint Ellard will show how he has successfully used this process to create the student-written and produced interpretive program “Starstruck.”

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Voyage #3: Global Climate Change
Navigators: Louella Cronkhite, USC Canada; Dave Mussell, Pembina Institute for Appropriate Development

Human ingenuity has created some truly remarkable inventions over the last two hundred years: electricity, automobiles, airplane travel, computers, etc. But each has also increased our dependence on fossil fuels and resource extraction. In the process of changing our lifestyle, we are also causing changes to the Earth’s climate. On this voyage, we will learn about the science of climate change through the work of scientists and researchers. We’ll learn about climate change in Albertan industries and communities, in indigenous communities, and in the developing world. Cheryl Dash, Lynsay Smith, David Lunn and your navigators will introduce educational resources for use in the classroom and community through activities designed for youth. Lastly, we will explore the inner life, seeking the wisdom of the self which chooses to be rather than to have, to turn that human ingenuity into choices and actions for the sake of the planet.

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Voyage #4: Knowing your Place
Navigator: Sue Arlidge, Educational Consultant

Many of our environmental ills stem from being dispossessed from the places in which we live; if we don’t know the areas around our homes, we don’t look after these places. Sue’s voyage will give you new understanding and tools to help reconnect people to place. Jasper National Parks’ Kevin van Tighem will give us tools to help us see a place – in this case, the Bow Valley – through an ecologist’s eyes. Devonian Botanic Garden’s impressive Plantwatch program will be highlighted as an example of how to monitor a local community. Finally, using Calgary schoolyard naturalization case studies, we’ll review the processes and valuable resources that you can use to help students “know their home place.”

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Voyage #5: Caring For Nature
Navigators: Heather Dempsey, Parks Canada; Lorraine Widmer-Carson, Friends of Banff National Park

Our ability to be good stewards of the Earth will determine how the Earth looks in the future. This voyage will help us look at stewardship at different levels – from national parks to our own backyards. We’ll meet biologist Dwayne Lepitzki who discovered – and resolutely looks after – Banff’s most endangered species, a snail that makes its home in the Banff Hot Springs and nowhere else in the world. Colleen Campbell will describe how her multi-disciplinary work as artist, teacher and wildlife researcher has enriched her life as a wildland advocate. Activist and educator Jill Kirker will outline the process behind a community’s efforts to protect Calgary’s Nose Hill Park. Throughout the day we’ll make connections, allowing you to incorporate this voyage into your everyday lives and into the classroom.

“Stewards are caretakers and protectors. They seek to understand our natural world and provide for its long-term existence. Stewardship, then, is a job for everyone, challenging all of us to act as advocates for the protection of species and ecosystems.”
John A. Murray, The Quotable Nature Lover

Voyage #6: Thinking Deeply about Living Lightly
Navigator: Carole Stark, Environmental Adult and Community Educator

Our lifestyle choices and consumption patterns profoundly influence how we impact upon the natural environment. Carole Stark teams up with Noel Keough and Brad Davis of Sustainable Calgary to explore ways that people – both individually and in community – can create lifestyles that are both sustainable and fulfilling. Through activities that promote critical reflection and group dialogue, we will focus on consumer trends, the life cycles of everyday objects, and lifestyle movements such as voluntary simplicity. We will measure our ecological footprint and identify ways that people can support each other in building sustainable communities. Come prepared to think deeply, share stories and gather creative ideas for challenging your own students!

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Voyage #7: Taking it Outside
Navigator: Jeff Reading, Fish Creek Environmental Learning Centre; Nancy Pollard, teacher, Rocky Mountain School Division

In this session we will experience a variety of outdoor pursuit activities designed to re-connect people with the wonders of the natural world. Through activities such as mountain biking, hiking, rock climbing and rafting we will explore – with the help of Calgary teacher Bert East – how outdoor pursuits can be effectively and safely merged with environmental and global education to create quality educational experiences. We’ll discuss how outdoor activities can lead to environmental stewardship, responsible decision making, and the development of effective outdoor living skills. Come prepared to be outside for the entire day actively involved in a wide range of outdoor pursuit activities, and expect to provide some equipment and personal gear.

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Voyage #8: Rediscovering our Roots
Navigator: Lynne Hately, Ghost River Rediscovery Program

This voyage will share indigenous perspectives and lessons on Mother Earth, giving us insights that we can share with our students. Indigenous session leaders from North America and beyond will cover what it means to be Native and the importance of their connections with the land, and an activity-based curriculum that bridges gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students and teachers will be shared by a member of the Rediscovery in the Schools program. Come discover how Indigenous voices from the past and present are linked to how schools help us move into the future.

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Voyage #9: Biological Diversity
Navigator: Mike Mappin, Education Program Coordinator, U of Calgary Kananaskis Field Stations.

In this journey we will join research and education staff from the Kananaskis Field Stations to explore current perspectives on biodiversity. We’ll discuss what it is, its value, its relationship to ecosystems, and how to measure and protect it. How do we educate and mobilize society about the “unprecedented urgency” of biodiversity loss? The Museum of Nature’s Don McAllister will introduce us to a range of biodiversity conservation and management strategies at the regional, national and international level that are driving current trends in research, management and education, and discover programs and resources in biodiversity education.

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Voyage #10: Justice for All
Navigator: Earl Choldin, Learning Network - and past Director of Alberta Global Education Project

What are the challenges we face in building a just global society? What role can educators and citizens play? In this voyage our ship will dock in Brazil, Pakistan and Canada as we meet with community leaders – men and women struggling for social, economic, and environmental justice. We will witness their stories and explore how their work relates to us and our students. When we return to our home port, we will learn how we can launch our students on personal voyages, finding their own power to create a world of Peace and Justice.

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Voyage #11: Spirituality – The Inner Journey
Navigators: Rita Poruchny, Calgary teacher; Chris Reynolds of Spirit Works

How do we help children develop self-knowledge and an authentic feeling of connection to the environment? In order to guide our students we must first explore where we are on our own personal journeys of self-understanding. Within ourselves we each guard a gate to change which can only be unlocked from the inside. Reflection and meditation activities led by Wes Geitz (Windwalker Outdoor Skills) will allow the best of ourselves to shine through so our classroom can be nurturing places for ourselves and our students. Come and join us for a day in which we explore some hidden trails in the mountains and some hidden trails in ourselves. Activities will be conducted outdoors in the beauty of nature; please dress accordingly.

Climb into the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while care will drop off like autumn leaves.
John Muir

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Voyage #12: Sustainable Development
Navigator: Pat Worthington, Principal, Springbank Middle School

Sustainable development has been defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Is sustainable development a laudable goal, or is it an oxymoron? What does true sustainability look like, and how do we get there from here? In this session, you’ll meet a variety of people from dramatically different organizations – among them CUSO’s Rebecca Seidel and Dr. Bob Page, V.P. Sustainable Development, Trans-Alta Utilities! – who will allow you to deepen your understanding of this complex but vitally important topic. We will also discuss and critically analyze school based projects dealing with local and international issues of development.

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Voyage #13: Transforming Working and Living
Navigators: Ian Waugh and Elizabeth Lange

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”

This voyage will assist you in setting sail and moving out of the harbour into ways of working and living that are “life giving.” Venturing outside, you will explore models in the natural world that can teach us about restoring balance between working and living. By moving to a holistic understanding of work, you will understand your work within the sea of larger spiritual and social values. You will also examine the ethics of the global forces that daily shape our working and living. Finally, you will outline an action plan for sailing toward your new horizon. By creating sustainable well-being for ourselves, we are creating the future of a life-sustaining society.

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