The Institute for Social Ecology (ISE) is an

educational institution An educational institution is a place where people of different ages gain an education, including preschools, childcare, primary-elementary schools, secondary-high schools, and universities. They provide a large variety of learning environments an ...

in Plainfield,

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

dedicated to the study of

social ecology Social ecology may refer to: * Social ecology (academic field), the study of relationships between people and their environment, often the interdependence of people, collectives and institutions * Social ecology (Bookchin), a theory about the relat ...

, "an interdisciplinary field drawing on philosophy, political and social theory, anthropology, history, economics, the natural sciences, and feminism." Founded in 1974, ISE offered some of the first courses in the country on urbanism and ecology, radical technology, ecology and feminism, activist art and community; it "won an international reputation" for its courses in social theory, eco-philosophy and alternative technologies.

History

The Institute for Social Ecology was established at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont in 1974 by cultural anthropologist Daniel Chodorkoff and author

Murray Bookchin Murray Bookchin (January 14, 1921 – July 30, 2006) was an American social theorist, author, orator, historian, and political philosopher. A pioneer in the environmental movement, Bookchin formulated and developed the theory of social ec ...

. The ISE became independent from Goddard in 1981, establishing its own campus at Cate farm in Plainfield. In 1974, Dan Chodorkoff arranged for 20 members of the Lower East Side activist group Charas to visit the Institute; they were doing similar work in their neighborhoord, including the creation of a community garden, building a geodesic dome, and the rehabilitation of abandoned buildings into housing and an arts center. The group included future actor

Luis Guzman Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

, who recalled, "I discovered a new sense of freedom when I came up here. The fresh air, the vibe, growing your own food, solar energy. These guys were doing all that type of stuff. I was going to the quarry and swimming and everybody was butt naked. Oh, hell, yeah!" In 1986, members of the Maple Hill neighborhood in Rochester, Vermont, hired a lawyer to challenge state and local building permits for the Institute, based on a variety of concerns that included water pollution, traffic congestion, and the subject matter taught at the school. In 2014, after forty years of operation, Dan Chodorkoff reflected on the founding in 1974, "People thought we were kind of crazy back then but the ideas have percolated into the larger society and I think that’s particularly true in Vermont: ideas around de-centralization and ecological forms of food production." While the three-month summer programs had hosted an estimated 300 participants, the Institute has since become smaller, but continues to offer smaller programs. The Institute for Social Ecology has been involved in the exploration of ecological approaches to

food production The food industry is a complex, global network of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the world's population. The food industry today has become highly diversified, with manufacturing ranging from small, traditional, ...

, alternative technologies, and

urban design Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, cities, and regional spaces, urban de ...

. It has been involved with the

Anti-Nuclear Movement The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, nationa ...

of the 1970s, and affiliated with the

Occupy movement The Occupy movement was an international populist socio-political movement that expressed opposition to social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of "real democracy" around the world. It aimed primarily to advance social and econo ...

and climate movement. Over time, the ISE developed what ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' described as an "international reputation for its courses in social theory, eco-philosophy and alternative technologies."

Activities

The ISE hosts summer programs, a year-round

B.A. degree Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate education, undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally complet ...

program, workshops on issues such as biotechnology and a speakers bureau. The ISE is involved in research as well as publishing and activist projects.

Intensives

The ISE organizes educational ‘intensive seminars’ about human/nature relationships, directly democratic movements,

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

, and the historical unfolding of

Left politics Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political%20ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically in ...

. At ISE intensives, students establish links between their current political work on the ground to the ' grounded theory' of social ecology.

MA Program at Prescott College

The ISE works in collaboration with the

Prescott College Prescott College is a private college in Prescott, Arizona. History In 1965, the Ford Foundation brought together a group of educators from around the United States. Prescott College was the result of this gathering. The college was originall ...

Master of Arts Program (MAP) to offer a concentration in social ecology for Prescott MAP students. Students attend colloquia in Prescott, Arizona and in Vermont, while working independently in their home communities in collaboration with an ISE graduate advisor.

Summer Colloquia

The Institute for Social Ecology has held annual summer colloquia since 2007. The weekend gatherings are an opportunity for new and longtime associates of the Institute to discuss current issues, workshop writing projects, and renew a sense of community.

Activism

Dan Chordokoff told ''VPR'' in 2014, "I think we’ve always seen our role as one of educating other educators and activists," and "as a place which was involved in praxis, really trying to take the ideas and see how they can be applied in the world. And invariably, inevitably that’s led to involvement in a number of ecologically oriented social movements over the years." In the early 2000s, the ISE Biotechnology Project activist focus included opposition to

genetic engineering Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including t ...

of food. ISE has also been involved in the movement for

climate justice Climate justice is a concept that addresses the just division, fair sharing, and equitable distribution of the burdens of climate change and its mitigation and responsibilities to deal with climate change. "Justice", "fairness", and "equity" ar ...

, including protests that occurred on the day after Earth Day in 1990. The ISE’s approach to grassroots organizing is rooted in the principles of

decentralism Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group. Conce ...

, community control, and face-to-face,

direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate decides on policy initiatives without legislator, elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently establishe ...

that have broadly inspired many movements for global justice.

References

External links

*
Education & Community Action: A History of the Institute for Social Ecology’s ProgramsSocial Ecology and Social Movements: From the 1960s to the Present

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Institute For Social Ecology Environmental organizations based in Vermont Organizations established in 1974 Plainfield, Vermont Vermont culture Anarchist organizations in the United States Social ecology (Bookchin) Anti-consumerist groups Education in Washington County, Vermont Goddard College 1974 establishments in Vermont