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STANWOOD HEALING ARTS ECO-CENTER
& 10-person transport van

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WHAT IS AN ECO-CENTER

An Eco-Center does not have a specific agenda or environmental focus.  Rather, it provides an open forum and physical space for local groups to address environmental issues that are of concern to them. 

The intention is for different Eco-Centers to emerge in different ecosystems.  Each Eco-Center can focus on its own local and regional environmental issues.

An Eco-Center is linked to other Eco-Centers;  they are linked by websites, word-of-mouth, different groups, and both formal and informal networks. 

An Eco-Center facilitates change, but it does NOT tell people how to do it.  A Eco-Center is about transformation;  it gives people the physical and mental space to make their own choices, to gather their own skills and resources, and to engage in activism as each group sees appropriate, based on the Elemental Ethics of Peace, Love, and Healing (whether it be water-testing, bird watching, whale counting, nature hikes, nature education, beach clean-up,  etc.)

There is an environmental sense of urgency, in these times.  As the Park systems are in financial trouble, and other conservation agencies are in dire need, the Eco-Center is an emerging, local solution, that is forming for concerned persons. The Eco-Center is the communal, gathering place.

EMERGENCE OF LOCAL & REGIONAL ECO-CENTERS

The concept of regional Eco-Centers or Eco-Schools, was discussed at Royal Roads University, in Victoria, Canada, at the International Adventure Therapy Symposium, in March 2009.  Updates on the conference are available through CATS, the Canadian Adventure Therapy Symposium.  Contact Catherine for details/ website links.

At the CATS symposium, there were practitioners, teachers, healers, educators, outdoor guides, scientists, artists, and environmentalists.  They  descended from across Canada and the North West, to discuss the emerging and interdisciplinary ways to connect and educate people about the environment. The term "Eco-Centers: or "Eco-schools" was explored and defined at this symposium.

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