Happy 10th Anniversary, Ecoversities Alliance!

This year the Ecoversities Alliance marks its 10-year anniversary. As a network we have been re-envisioning and transforming mainstream education into "many-streams" via social movements, communities, sanctuaries, universities, and unlearning projects. These new models arise from various territories, ecologies, hearts, and ancient and new economies in healing, renewing, and right relationship with Earth and other beings with whom we share our home.

 

Ecoversities thrives on abundance — the immeasurable wealth that our members and communities offer. Over our first 10 years their relational contributions of time, effort, space, creativity, wisdom, and other resources to our work have been valued at more than $1 million. This speaks to the depth of the generosity of our wildly diverse global family and supporters, and their commitment to cultivating other ways of learning and knowing.

 

This year we invite you to help us expand this shared abundance. Our goal is to raise up to $25,000 — in this first campaign of the year, not as a transactional exchange but as an investment in the possibilities we are cultivating together! Our campaign ends on April 30th.

 

✦ Connect 10,000+ Ecoversities initiatives around the planet.

 

✦ Guide young people, including those who have been labeled as dropouts and failures, in transforming themselves into leaders.

 

✦ Support people of all ages, sexes, genders, languages, economic means and cultural roots, in identifying and joining spaces where they can learn what they want, at their own pace, in their own language, as long as they require.

 

✦ Free, revivify and nurture our diverse knowledge systems and creativity, rooted in indigenous wisdoms and cosmovisions that otherwise continue to be plundered, violated and colonized in mainstream systems.

 

✦ Convene a Council of Wisdom with indigenous elders from around Earth to cross-pollinate and fertilize our efforts.

 

✦ Support our commitment to language justice by making our work accessible in diverse languages.

 

✦ Germinate sanctuaries and ecoversities responding to the needs of their communities. Just a few examples:

✦ Build regenerative communities and local economies that contribute to food and water sovereignty and mutual aid networks throughout our territories.

 

✦ Nurture residencies and learning exchanges between learners of different ecoversities to mutually inspire, grow and learn. For example, Vanessa bringing her multisensorial poetry with HIRAYA Collective for the Blind in the Philipppines (watch video); Andres Fonseca connecting with indigenous communities in Sierra Santa Marta at Escuela Lobitos Selvatorium (watch video).

 

✦ Tend to our growing Ecoversities Publications Library where we curate and publish open-access multimedia and commissioned pieces from learners in all stage of life., as well as experimenting with different forms and methods.

 

✦ Support scholarships for our in-person Regional, Thematic and Global Gatherings where we network, share ideas, and re-image learning systems.

 

✦ Strengthen the alliance and its organizing capacities by supporting the people who donate their time, care and energies to weave its incredible tapestry.

 

✦ 1 Global Gathering and 6 Regional Gatherings

✦ 29 Emerging Ecoversities and 18 Residencies and “Pollinations”

✦ 100+ sessions at the Re-imagining Education Conference

We also support learning exchanges and “pollinations” (inspirational seeding and cross-fertilization) among members of different ecoversities. In 2024, the PER service circle supported 18 projects! To mention a few:

The year 2024 yielded new magazine issues, some featuring essays by Israeli and Palestinian neighbors strengthening ties even while living in unspeakably horrific circumstances, and 24 individual publications. A sampling of their offerings:

The Re-imagining Education Conference

In October, members organized the fourth online Re-imagining Education Conference and the first post-conference “Mushrooming” reuniting past, present and future voices and offerings of our network with more than 1200 participants who enjoyed more than 100 live sessions.

We are dedicated to the practice of Gift Economy, which means that our abundance and resources enter in a diversity of forms.

 

Making a financial donation to the Alliance means enchanting our capacity for supporting the beautiful and possible. With even a $10 gift you can strengthen the Alliance and our relationships throughout the world. With a contribution of $200 you can support an Ecoversities member’s Learning Exchange Residency; your $300 gift will bolster a Germinating Ecoversity Project; with $500 you’ll assist colearners to attend the Global Gathering; with $1,000 you can boost thematic and regional gatherings in your home territory.