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AAEE Fall Conference
Educating for Sustainability
October 25-27
Tucson - University of Arizona
Educators of all walks attended the conference and gained useful tools for educating students of all levels and types about the importance of Sustainability. Each track offered a unique experience of workshops and fieldtrips for a truly hands-on experience.
Download the conference schedule
Conference Track Information:
Community Food Security and Sustainability Track
How can Community Food Security be attained sustainably?
This track explores the local and global food system, and the challenges that exist for the food system to sustainably attain Community Food Security - when all people at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient food for a healthy life.
Field trips, discussions, and trying out different participatory activities for various ages and situations will give food track participants a wealth of ideas and resources for educating about food and sustainability.
Water Conservation Track
Water is the most precious commodity in the semi-arid southwest. Competing demands for water due to unprecedented population growth, emerging contaminants, ecological concerns about habitat and species conservation, drought and the uncertainties of climate change all contribute to the growing need to understand our water resources, where our water comes from, and how we protect and sustain supplies for human and environmental purposes into the future.
Through interactive workshops and field trips the water track will explore Arizona water issues, addressing management, conservation, riparian monitoring, and ecological modification and restoration.
Permaculture Track
Permaculture is a design system that reconciles human communities with the ecological imperatives of a living planet. It provides an ethical and holistic foundation for sustainable culture based on three ethics: Care for the earth; Care for people; Limit needs and reinvest in the future. Permaculture integrates the energies of wind, sun, water, soil and the complex processes of the world's organisms to support healthy, sustainable ecosystems.
Hear more about the principles of permaculture design, rainwater harvesting, science curriculum for a sustainable house and visit living examples of permaculture in the urban landscape.
Climate Change Track
The conference kicks off with a climate change focus with a Thursday evening keynote address by Jonathan Overpeck, director of the University of Arizona's Institute for the Study of Planet Earth and a lead author of the paleoclimate chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2007 report.
Friday's climate change track will include workshops to help educators improve their understanding of basic climate change, its link to drought in the Southwest, and how individual habits influence the carbon emissions that lead to rising temperatures.
Friday field trip offerings include a visit to the world-renowned Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research (LTRR) to get a hands-on understanding about how tree rings contribute to our knowledge of past climate. Another option is a visit to a local grassroots group, Bicas, that encourages alternative transportation by helping residents build and repair bicycles.
On Saturday, participants can join tree-ring expert Paul Sheppard on a field trip up Tucson's Mount Lemmon. Dr. Sheppard will provide background on why ecosystems shift from desert to grassland to forest as local climate changes with elevation, and relate the changes to the global warming projections for the region.
Thanks to all our Conference & Green Festival Sponsors!