Please join us for our AAEE April Learning Circle: Deep Ecology in Australia - past, present, and future.

Who: A conversation with eco-philosopher and Deep Ecology founder John Seed, facilitated by AAEE President (and Deep Ecology facilitator) Lisa Siegel

When: Wednesday, 23 April - 5-6pm AEST.

Where: Online via Zoom.

What: As John Seed writes, "underlying all the symptoms of the environmental crisis lies a psychological or spiritual root – the illusion of separation from the rest of the natural world which stems from anthropocentrism or human-centeredness". The Deep Ecology movement, based on a term coined by eco-philosopher Arne Naess in 1973, works to address this illusion of separation through interactive collective processes. John Seed, along with his colleague Joanna Macy in the US, has worked for years creating and facilitating these processes with thousands of people worldwide, including Australia. In this special conversation with John Seed and Lisa Siegel, we will look back at the history of the Deep Ecology movement in Australia, learn about current initiatives and sites of learning, and explore exciting possibilities for stronger connections between Deep Ecology and Environmental Education work as we move forward.

Please join us! All welcome. This session will be recorded and will be available afterwards to AAEE members via our Learning Circle library on our website.

Biographies:

John Seed is founder and director of the Rainforest Information Centre in Australia. Since 1979 he has been involved in the direct actions which have resulted in the protection of the Australian rainforests. In 1984 he helped initiate the US Rainforest Action Network which grew out of the first of his many US roadshows. He has created numerous projects protecting rainforests in Sth America, Asia and the Pacific through providing benign and sustainable development projects for their indigenous inhabitants tied to the protection of their forests. These projects have been funded by the Australian Government aid agency AusAID, The Australian Council of Churches and various foundations.He has written and lectured extensively on deep ecology and has been conducting Councils of All Beings and other re-Earthing workshops around the world for 25 years. In the US, his workshops have been hosted by Esalen, Omega, Naropa and the California Institute of Integral Studies. With Joanna Macy, Pat Fleming and Professor Arne Naess, he wrote “Thinking Like a Mountain – Towards a Council of All Beings” (New Society Publishers) which has now been translated into 12 languages.

Lisa Siegel lives and learns on Gumbaynggirr country, in Bellingen NSW. She currently holds the role of National President of AAEE. Lisa is a lifelong educator, having worked as a school teacher before taking up her current role as a Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Southern Cross University, where she teaches Environmental and Interdisciplinary Education to pre-service teachers. Lisa is a member of the SEAE (Sustainability, Environmental, and Arts Education) Research Centre; her PhD research explored the stories of women environmentalists, and she continues to be fascinated with the interconnected stories of environmental educators. Lisa is also a founding member of the Centre for Ecological Learning in Bellingen NSW, where she has been designing and facilitating nature connection and deep ecology programs with young people and adults for over 15 years.