2003 Development Goals

With the support of the social ecology community, we were able to successfully undertake many important projects and program developments over the last year. Our goals for 2003 are equally as demanding and important as the accomplishments from 2002. Your generous donation to the Institute for Social Ecology will help to support the following projects:

Campus Development

Barn Project The ISE purchased a 50-acre campus in Plainfield, Vermont in 1997. Our campus functions as both an educational community and a demonstration site that illustrates our holistic and liberatory approach to community development and land use. In keeping with our social ecological principles of democratic community design, ecological building, and sustainable land use, we have developed organic gardens and permaculture orchards; a solar powered washhouse with a living machine waste water system; camping facilities; and an energy efficient kitchen. This past spring, we began building a timber frame barn, and in the near future we hope to further apply our ecological design methods to the construction of more student housing and expanded classroom and library space.

The ISE Barn Project was initiated in 2001 by students in our year-round B.A. program as an ecological solution to our growing needs for classrooms, storage, studio and workshop space, as well as a large meeting space. The Barn Project is one of many projects in our Long Range Plan that offers an opportunity for the ISE to put into practice our understanding of community-based ecological development. Students participating in this project gain experience in community design and land use planning, and practical experience with alternative energy technology and building techniques, such as straw bale, cob, cordwood masonry, and timber framing. Students also gain exposure to the concepts around sustainable forestry as the lumber used in this project has been sustainably harvested from our land and milled on site.

The Barn Project is now well underway. Once the timber frame is raised, different sections of the barn will be enclosed with alternative wall systems (straw bale, cob, cordwood). In order to finish this important project we need to raise an estimated $25,000 for construction and workshop costs. With your continued support, we hope to provide a rich learning environment for our students, while accomplishing the much-needed development of our campus.

Program Development

As an educational and activist organization, the ISE is committed to the social and ecological transformation of society. In recent years we have considerably expanded our programs. In addition to our Ecology and Community program and our Sustainable Design, Building and Land Use program, the ISE now offers a Continuing Studies in Social Ecology program, an Arts Media, Activism, and Social Change program, and a week-long Biotechnology course. We have also recently expanded our B.A. program to include an on-site option, allowing students to take classes and workshops on-site at our Plainfield campus year-round. We also continue to offer our winter public lecture series and art-shows as well as summer internship opportunities. With your support we hope to further expand the educational opportunities and perspectives that we have to offer our students.

Independent Accreditation

The ISE’s programs are accredited through a partnership with Burlington College. Though we are grateful for this partnership, the current cost per credit doubles the price of tuition for our students. Until the ISE becomes independently accredited, the cost of our accredited programs will remain a prohibitive burden for many of our students. Self-accreditation will allow the ISE to offer students accredited undergraduate and graduate work at a significantly lower cost, while maintaining financial and academic independence from other accredited institutions.

Our Accreditation Committee has assumed the primary responsibility for moving through the accreditation process. Yet completing this lengthy process requires that we hire an additional staff person to coordinate the project.

Scholarship Fund

Student The ISE’s educational programs serve over 100 students annually. In addition to the financial assistance that we struggle to provide for our low-income students from the U.S., each summer we offer considerable assistance to our international students. As we recognize that not all people have equal access to financial resources, we offer scholarship and work-study assistance to students who would not otherwise be able to attend our programs. The ISE is committed to making its programs accessible to all people regardless of gender, race, color, class, age, physical ability, religion, national origin, or sexual preference. Within the spirit of this goal, it is our hope to be able to offer more financial assistance to students each year so that we may serve an ever-wider and more diverse constituency.

Unfortunately, our ability to provide financial aid is limited. The high demand on our already limited budget does not allow us to offer as much financial assistance as is needed. With your support, we can offer financial aid to students who otherwise would not be able to access our programs.

Biotechnology Project

The ISE Biotechnology Project is an independent project of the ISE, operating since 1997. The ISE Biotechnology Project is the only effort in the U.S. that is focused almost entirely on facilitating grassroots action around genetic engineering and other biotechnologies.

The ISE Biotechnology Project has been a consistent voice for scientific clarity in the growing opposition to genetically engineered foods. As well, we are pushing for the enlarging of the debate to encompass the widest possible implications of genetic engineering and other biotechnologies, particularly the importance of the biotechnology industry’s links to corporate driven globalization.

Biotech Perverts Our approach to grassroots organizing is firmly grounded in the principles of decentralism, community control, and face-to-face democracy that are central to social ecology, and have been widely embraced by the growing movement against corporate-driven globalization. We anticipate that our work will continue to offer an important model for U.S. activists seeking a long-range, sustainable approach to activism, one that seeks to understand the widest implications of food biotechnology, rooted in an understanding of its social and political context, as well as the potential for sustainable alternatives.

Over the course of the next year, the ISE Biotechnology Project will be working in specific areas to generate increased momentum in the fight against the biotechnology industry. This work includes expanding our existing network infrastructure, and helping to initiate and support local and national campaigns. We cannot do this work without your support. Your tax-deductible contribution will help us allocate much needed resources to this ever-important movement.

Social Ecology n 1: a coherent radical critique of current social, political, and anti-ecological trends. 2: a reconstructive, ecological, communitarian, and ethical approach to society.

Published by the Institute for Social Ecology