Institute for Emerging Sustainability Leaders

Climate Change Workshop in Peru

July 6-17, 2015

The Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research (www.aceer.org) invites applications for its Institute for Emerging Sustainability Leaders in Peru scheduled for July 6 – July 17, 2015.  The theme for this year’s Institute is Climate Change in Peru.  This study tour is open to students, educators, and professionals in the field of sustainability as well as individuals interested in developing a more planetary perspective on the challenge of climate change.  You can find background information below and a preliminary itinerary here.

Up to 15 North Americans will be selected to participate.  Application letters should be submitted via e-mail by Friday, March 20^th to Dr. Paul Morgan (pmorgan@wcupa.edu).  Your email should briefly:

• explain why you want to participate in the Institute for Emerging Sustainability Leaders
• list knowledge, skills, work, and course experiences related to this year’s theme: climate change
• address your degree of understanding and interest in sustainability, sustainable development, and/or climate change

Selected participants will be notified by March 27^th and will have until April 10^th to formally register and submit a $500 deposit.  The final balance will be due no later than May 1^st, 2015.  The cost of the trip is $2,180 from Lima (double occupancy).

Academic credit (undergraduate or graduate) will be available through West Chester University of Pennsylvania.  Contact Dr. Paul Morgan for more information: pmorgan@wcupa.edu or 610-436-6945.

Included:

• Hotels, lodges, land travel, and all meals as noted in the itinerary
• Bilingual guides
• All air travel within Peru
• Gratuities for included services

Not included:

• Travel to/from Lima from home countries
• Meals/gratuities designated as “On your own” in the itinerary
• Personal items, e.g. travel insurance, laundry, alcoholic beverages, personal items

Institute for Emerging Sustainability Leaders

The mission of the Institute for Emerging Sustainability Leaders is to recruit emerging leaders from business, education, science and other professions to work together in an experiential, field-based setting to address the planet’s most critical issues. The Institute’s theme for 2015, Climate Change in Peru, is a follow-up to the 20^th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP20) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was held in Lima in December 2014.  Delegates to the Institute will engage in top level discussions with Peruvian government officials, social activists, human rights advocates as well as regional and local citizens, including indigenous villagers to gain first-hand experience on the current science around climate change, developments at the international level in the wake of the UN conference in Lima, and the concerns and opportunities climate change is presenting to all citizens of the planet.  Delegates will work in interdisciplinary teams to identify and assess current and new strategies, incentives, and hurdles aimed at addressing climate change. There will also be ample opportunity to experience the Andes and Amazon rainforest and to observe first-hand the impacts of climate change that are already unfolding in these ecosystems. A goal of the Institute is to create a community of emerging sustainability leaders who apply what they have learned in the Institute to their organizations upon returning, and to keep a dialogue continuing with their newly forged network of colleagues. The Institute will be led by Dr. Paul Morgan, an official observer at COP20 and the Director of Education for Sustainability at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Funding is provided in part by the National Geographic Society and TriVita, Inc.

Courtesy of Paul A. Morgan, Professor and Director of Education for Sustainability, West Chester University