What WAS this summer?

Dan: This summer we started a land restoration school. It was an immersive eight-week experience teaching ecological restoration with and among a remarkable cohort of seven promising restorationists and twelve faculty – faculty who absolutely felt privileged to be among the seven. Many ways in, many ways forward, were among our mottos. We all arrived skilled and unskilled and when we left we were all more than when we came as individuals but now connected in ways we never imagined.

Nancy: These eight weeks have been pure flow of energy – an unfolding and unpacking of what learning has been and could be, of seven emerging experts observing, then assessing, then imagining the healing of habitats... Filling in the connections of earth, soil, plants, animals, water, climate, people, ancestors... Exploring unexpected ways and media of communicating… Becoming a cohort of lifelong colleagues… And somehow, with admirable persistence, the determination to learn what was needed, and hard, intense work, developing distinctive and inspiring ecological restoration plans that are surely the first of a life filled with actions to heal the earth.

Chris: Over the summer, I helped to launch a land restoration school. It is the first of its kind. Two experienced and passionate restorationists and more than two handfuls of academic experts created the content and activities to transform seven willing participants into professional restorationists in their own right. The results, presented last night, sparked hope and inflamed a community.

The Land Restoration School classroom