Sustainability Field School Blog

Below you'll find the location-based blogs compiled by students from the 2012-2016 Sustainability Field Schools. Use the drop-down menu below to filter the blogs by year. You can also explore the each blog post on the Cascadia Sustainability Experience Map.

The Start of Something Big

Submitted by reykjavik on

We are a group of 32 sustainably minded students, faculty and family from UVic's geography department spending 30 days travelling through countries of Northern Europe. Our journey will bring us to Iceland; Stockholm, Malmö & Lund in Sweden; Copenhagen, Denmark; Berlin and Hamburg in Germany and finally Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 

A Quick History of Europe

Submitted by malmolund on

Europe, a continent of rich and diverse history that will soon be home to 32 more Canadians - at least for the next 4 weeks. During the Victoria portion of our field school, we were fortunate enough to have two UVic professors come in and teach us about Europe; Dr. Valerie D'Erman and Dr. Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly. 

But first, Cam (Dr. Owens) gave us a lecture on our destinations and showed us an abundance of maps, which naturally made the group excited since it is a geography field school after all. These maps included, but are not limited to, topics such as:

Springridge Commons

Submitted by berlin on

On Wednesday we traveled off campus to Fernwood to help out at the Springridge Commons permaculture project. We were met by several local activists; Chris Norseth, Aaren Topley, and Chris Hildrith, all of whom are involved in VIctoria's local food system. Aaren introduced the ideas of food security, food sovereignty and food literacy, which he and CR-Fair, the organization he represents, are trying to improve in Victoria.

The Art of Conversation with Chris Bowers

Submitted by stockholm on

Monday, May 11, 2015

Who embraces the stochastic nature of the UNIVERSE? 

CHRIS BOWERS DOES!

It's early on a Monday morning, no student wants to be in the classroom after a very luxurious 2 week vacation period, yet they are all smiling and excitedly communicating with each other. Wow!

This was all thanks to Chris Bowers who came into the class to lead a workshop on engaging the unexpecting, strangers, or other travellers in meaningful, authentic conversation. 

Hood River Middle School

Submitted by admin on

Learning Permaculture at Hood River

Student produced video detailing our visit to the revolutionary Hood River Middle School in Oregon. Come join our tour with Michael Becker and his middle school students as they showcase their innovative approach to teaching and learning focused on experiential, active, permacultural education. 

Trestle Bridge

Submitted by camo on

The trestle bridge is the way I get to school everyday. Sometimes I see otters. One day when my grandma was here, we saw an otter eating a crab. It was pretty spectacular. We told her that that happened everyday. 

"Heart Places"  - Finn Owens, 9 years old.

Golden Adventures in the City of Love

Submitted by saundersk on

Winding Roads, Hopefulness and Community

Our travels continued bright and early on Friday June 6th, with an exhilarating bus ride along the winding roads of the California Coast, singing along to songs about California. Scott McKenzie’s “San Francisco” played as we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and set our eyes on San Francisco for the first time. The air was electric as it dawned on us that this was the final stop of our trip, but clearly the start of something greater than ourselves.

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