Eco Practicum NYC consists of two week-long environmental sustainability and action program for college students and recent graduates. Taking place during Spring Break, participants explore the ecological infrastructure of New York City, focusing on food, energy, and resource management. Each day will include hands-on work on an urban farm; meetings with experts, activists, and policy makers; and thoughtful discussions facilitated by skilled, democratic educators. Eco Practicum NYC was designed through a consensus-based horizontal process by Eco Practicum educators and alumni.

There are two week-long sessions.
Participate in one or both of the weeks. 

Apply online by February 1, 2015. 
  
Session One: Food & Water
March 8 - 15, 2015
Food is both a biological and cultural imperative. Thus it plays a myriad of roles in our personal lives, as well as our ecosystems and our economy. Food choices do make an impact, but beyond the simplicity of consumer behavior lies an exploration of a food system that is at once centralized and dispersed, efficient and ineffective, utterly destructive and inspiringly regenerative. Food and water have always shaped human and animal settlements. Our ability to procure these basic necessities from far away places has made us both more secure and more vulnerable. Session One addresses ... Read More

Session Two: Energy & Infrastructure
March 15 - 22, 2015
There is no doubt that our desire for energy has had a tremendous impact on the planet. As we move into the age of extreme energy, mountaintop removal, tar sands, fracking, and deep sea drilling all present ever riskier modes of obtaining the fossil fuel that make our cities run. Current models for renewable energy, from solar, to wind, to biofuels, come with their own hazardous risks and faulty promises. How do we distinguish between energy hope and hype? How do we decide that one urban project is better than another? Session Two examines ... Read More


Download the full Eco Practicum NYC Syllabus