People working together can increase their power and impact for positive change. Engaged and inspired citizens, working together, can interact with the systems we’ve created on multiple levels to make them better and more ecologically sound. Thousands of people have already been doing this all around the globe — crowd-sourcing solutions and impacting their communities positively. Recognizing the interconnected systems of our world can be difficult, but it can also be a joyous and empowering realization — through these networks of relationships, people power can expand and together, we can make a real difference for good.

For over twenty years, Northwest Earth Institute’s discussion course programs have given people a framework to talk about their relationship with the planet and to share in discovering new ways to live, work, create and consume. The self-facilitated discussion courses are designed to help participants break big issues into bite-sized pieces. And they help create a personal network of shared stories and support that makes it easy to take action in your own circle of influence. Through shared learning, shared stories and shared action, NWEI courses help foster a spirit of community and inspire change.

 

In this webinar, Lacy Cagle, NWEI’s Director of Learning and Engagement, will facilitate a ‘taster’ session of NWEI’s newest discussion course, Seeing Systems: Peace, Justice and Sustainability. The interactive session will overview an ecosystems perspective, environmental justice issues, stories of positive change, and tools for community action. Additionally, Lacy will discuss the educational and behavior change principles behind NWEI’s discussion course model for those who are interested. Each webinar attendee will receive a free sampler of the Seeing Systems discussion course book, as well as discount code for 10% off the full course book.

As the Director of Learning and Engagement at the Northwest Earth Institute (www.nwei.org), Lacy Cagle oversees the development of NWEI’s discussion course books and educational programs. Before joining NWEI in 2011, Lacy worked for seven years in higher education administration, teaching and research, at Greenville College and at Portland State University. She holds a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Policy with a focus on Leadership in Sustainability Education from Portland State University. She holds a Permaculture Design Consultant’s Certificate from the Permaculture Institute USA. Lacy has been a director at the Zahniser Institute for Environmental Studies (www.zahniserinstitute.org) since 2010.

 

One of Lacy’s favorite parts of working at NWEI is inspiration—being inspired by people’s stories of action and change, and being able to develop curricula that inspire some of those actions and changes, as well.