As we gently slip into Winter time here in North Carolina, I write to offer a glimpse into this moment of The Eco-Institute from my perspective as Executive Director, including a decision to pause programs in order to engage in a focused time of reflection, learning, and strategizing.
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Rising Earth Immersion
Between lessons in community building and ecological stewardship, the Rising Earth Immersion program has afforded me time. Living in this society’s capitalistic structure, our time is commodified. The community here at the Eco-Institute tells us differently…
Take a visual tour with us through some favorite snapshots so far from this year’s Fall Rising Earth Immersion. From friction fire, to growing organic food, to permaculture courses, to heart circles, this group goes deep.
The Eco-Institute’s Policy on Vaccination for Residential Program participants.
Gap year accreditation means college credit and access to 529 funding for Rising Earth Immersion applicants.
The Spring 2021 Rising Earth Immersion cohort joined in and walked for miles through rural NC neighborhoods knocking on doors and spreading awareness about the Mountain Valley Pipeline Southgate Extension. We were participating in the 100-mile, Indigenous-led Water Walk, resisting the MVP Southgate’s threat to precious water bodies and sacred Indigenous sites across ancestral Saura, Tutelo, Monacan, Occaneechi and Saponi lands in Virginia and North Carolina.
What has it felt like for me, as a Black woman, to participate in and then lead the Rising Earth Immersion? And what is now possible for BIPOC who are interested in joining this dedicated, healing-driven, ever-evolving community?
We sang a gratitude song before the meal, thanking the Earth and each of the meals’ contributors for their acts of generosity. It felt like a homecoming. I started attending the bi-weekly garden volunteer days, buoyed by the laughter and peace that come from the simplest of tasks in community: spreading mulch, pulling out tomato vines, or struggling to build a greenhouse. I showed up to the story nights, fire circles, and potlucks, reveling in this way of being so dramatically different and more fulfilling from what I had known before…
One highlight of 2020 for many people and organizations was the understanding that we are all interconnected, and that we do not exist outside of the political, economic and social systems in place, nor do we exist apart from the pain inflicted upon members of our society and on other-than-human beings of our beloved Earth Community.
Abbey Cmiel, graduate of the Rising Earth Immersion, sends an update, asking: how can humans be a beautiful and beneficial addition to the intricate web of life that exists?
Meet Psalms White: Rising Earth Core Facilitator
In this post, you will find a sample of programming for the Rising Earth Immersion. First you’ll get a sense of the core curriculum, followed by guest programming, which varies session to session. Many of these examples are drawn from 2020, a year that brought a lot of curricular articulation and response to the cultural events of our times.
We would like to offer our thoughts on why we believe that the Rising Earth Immersion plays a valuable role in the movements for collective liberation. We hope that these reflections help you discern whether this program might be a good fit for you.
Meet Cortina Jenelle, Rising Earth Core Facilitator.
Meet Topher Stephens, Rising Earth Core Facilitator.
Meet Kasey Kinsella, Rising Earth Core Facilitator.
We are moving forward with our plans to offer both summer and fall sessions of Rising Earth in 2020, and are maintaining attentive optimism about our ability to do so safely due to our unique location, infrastructure, small-scale adaptability and other resources we’re fortunate to have access to at this moment. This post contains details of our plan.
A Case for Alternative Education.
Since Rising Earth Immersion, Quadirah has moved to China to teach ESL through EnglishFirst. And, she’s using YouTube to promote mental health and holistic care, specifically for young people. Read more about what inspires her and where you can follow her work.
Vulnerability, reciprocity, and unconditional love are the main ingredients for a deep, spiritual bond. And that's what we were able to make while we were living together at The Eco-Institute at Pickards Mountain.