How we got here
In the summer of 1998, Joyce Gilbert was awarded a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship to look at education and sustainability in Northwest Canada. During her four-month stay, she met and worked with Dr Bob Jickling of Yukon College. Bob runs a number of unusual courses at Yukon College, and the Summer Institute in Environmental Ethics was of particular interest to Joyce.
This is a fully credited course that is attended by primary and secondary teachers from throughout Canada. But the course isn’t restricted to teachers, and in the past participants have included economists, engineers, lawyers, musicians, artists, writers, social workers, community educators and librarians. Participants are expected to read background papers and present topics for discussion. Seminar topics may range from the foundation of environmental thought to deconstructing adverts and analysing educational materials.
What gives the course a richness not found in other courses are the outdoor trips. Bob arranges for professional ecologists to join the group during these trips and when possible the participants help them with their work. The combination of reflective outdoor experiences with scientific research and the reading of philosophy, poetry and prose is very powerful. Undoubtedly it left a lasting impression on all of the course participants.
