Collaborative Learning: Community, Education & Applied Research
“Culture is beyond definition and limitation – a concept or a box. It is the living, evolving soul of the people.” ~ M.J. Miller
The Nature Studies Conservatory (NSC) is vested in restoring life giving resources and systems. The Harmony Project’s development of alignment with the Earth’s natural rhythms, cycles, and processes (i.e., biomimicry) is also applied to inspire innovative ideas and collaboratively create solutions that advance a restorative relationship with the planet.
COS Collaborative: Model Development for Community Healing
The Culture of Sustainability (COS) Collaborative is a nature-based, interdisciplinary education and applied research community that involves individuals, organizations, and businesses interested in unifying vision to co-create sustainable, local/global communities. Developing innovative models, methods, and strategies that encourage altruism, transformative learning/justice, and social-economic-environmental restoration as well as community and planetary stewardship. People learn, develop, and work together drawing from experientials of Ancestral-Indigenous and Eastern wisdoms, heart journeys, inner inquiry, noetic/multiple ways of knowing, nature immersions, applied research, and interdisciplinary studies.
We address the intersectionality of local-global issues (i.e., poverty, discrimination, and subjugation; housing-food-resource insecurity; violence and systemic aggression; and overconsumption/natural resource depletion +) that affect the planet’s ecosystems, social-economic development, holistic health and wellbeing, and our quality of life. The connection between societal structure and relationship development has far reaching implications in co-creating a sustainable culture that is harmonized with the environment. We also engage in dialogue to develop effective strategies, models, and tools for reducing our collective carbon footprint and general over-consumption. Our work is to increase altruistic relationship and contribute to the healing of communities and the Earth.
Nature-based, Altruistic Leadership & Intentional Healing Community
“We seek to not only minimize our ecological footprint, but to change our relationship with the Earth, our environment.”
Sustainable Culture Design (SCD) Leadership Program
Startup Community & Economy
The COS Collaborative learning community is the base for our SCD Leadership program and capstone project. The certificate program is designed to effectively support participants in unifying vision to co-create sustainable, restorative local-global communities.
Transformative, Experiential Education & Research
Key Objectives:
- Cultivate a deeper relationship with nature: land, water, air, plants, wildlife and more.
- Explore land-water-air sovereignty and its impact on the sovereignty of people and the planet’s other life forms as well as level of engagement in sustainability, conservancy, and preservation practices.
- Participate in inner inquiry that draws from ancestral/family relationships with nature and the land (i.e., topophilia) to expand awareness and access new ways of being in relationship with oneself, others, and the Earth/environment.
- Utilize nature-based relational research methods with pluralistic epistemologies (noetic/multiple ways of knowing including states of consciousness, intuition +) to co-create innovative green strategies.
- Engage in altruistic social-economic-environmental stewardship.
- Develop personal and community resources via nature-aligned entrepreneurship, collaborative economics, the arts, science, and technology.
- Engage in community service and field studies to learn from the world around us via local-international learning experientials to build diverse relationships and skills development to revitalize our communities.
The Living Sanctuary Intentional Healing Community
Restorative Communities: Altruistic Relationship, Collaborative Partnerships & Economics
Ancestral-Indigenous Wisdoms, Cultural Arts, Sciences, & Tech ◦ Farm-to-Table Microfarming ◦ Apothecary Medicinals ◦ Bio-Energy & Fuel
Sustainable Community Design: Wellness, Lifestyle, & Ecopreneurship with Food, Housing, & Resource Security
It is recognized that quality of life, relationship with Nature/stewardship of our environment, and personal health and wellbeing are inextricably linked—and that central to health and vitality is the integration of body, mind, spirit, and the emotions. This holistic understanding and the paradigm shift inherent to it are driving major changes in our society and creating new markets. For underserved, disadvantaged populations including BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) with limited income and financial resources these critical preventive and restorative products and services are often out of reach. Increasing numbers of BIPOC are looking for these resources and led to establishment of BIPOC wellness and lifestyle businesses (i.e., The Loveland Foundation, Inner Workout, Naaya, Black Girl In Om, BLK+GRN, Pur-Home, Freedom Apothecary).
Quality of Life: Nature Relationship, Personal-Collective Healing, Earth Stewardship, & Sovereignty
The COS Collaborative and the SCD Leadership program are instrumental in the model development and establishment of The Living Sanctuary Intentional Healing Community (IHC). The IHC, an extension of the Harmony Project, includes a land trust with conservancy and preservation. Living Sanctuary will provide assistance and resources for healing from adversity and trauma as well as increasing economic/healthy housing/food security and restoring land-community relationship. This is the first of several nature-relational projects to nurture regenerative, altruistic relationship and establish a holistically supportive (particulary underserved, disadvantaged populations), green-sustainable/carbon neutral intentional community assisted by collaborative partnerships. Our Leadership certificate program also will provide students with an opportunity to contribute to the intentional community’s development.
Each resident will receive support to develop an empowering, eco-based vision/mission that is aligned with personal authenticity/purpose, clarify strengths/needs, and access effective strategies/tools for optimizing quality of life. The Living Sanctuary (IC) includes a social ecopreneurship startup community with a hybrid co-operative and incubator to optimize socio-economic-environmental sustainability. This healing community will promote holistic resources, trauma recovery and increase altruistic presence for all people acknowledging the special needs of underserved, disadvantage populations; while, contributing to the restoration of the planet.
Contact us for more information, to get involved or to join the Living Sanctuary Healing Community! We also would like to hear about your organization and to discuss working together for a common goal of local-global sustainability.