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Michael J. Cohen, Ed.D.
Institute of Global Education
Natural Systems Thinking Process

ECO 500: GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP ORIENTATION:

PSYCHOLOGICAL ELEMENTS OF THE ART AND

SCIENCE OF THINKING WITH NATURE. (1-2 credits)

Applied Ecopsychology/Integrated Ecology Department

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This short course is offered to students when required or suggested by their department or by the student's personal choice during any period semester of enrollment or application. It is also a student facilitator training internship opportunity once the student has completed the course. Students discover how our excessive separation from nature stresses our sensuous inner nature and initiates our personal and global troubles. Students learn to reverse this destructive process by mastering thoughtful sensory nature reconnecting activities that dissolve stress by satisfying our deepest natural loves, wants, and spirit. This hands-on course teaches lasting leadership, education, counseling, and mental health skills that feelingly tap the "higher power" wisdom of Earth's creation process. The email and telephone contacts of the course empower students to let nature help them nurture warm interpersonal relationships, wellness, and responsibility on personal and global levels. Students relate the course methods and materials to their fields of interest in order to integrate these areas with the global ecosystem. They become familiar with the Natural Systems Thinking Process, improve their Globally Balanced Thinking Score and write a scholarly paper that integrates the course with their lives.

COURSE TOPICS
*Natural systems thinking process
*Sensory ecology
*Lifeweb communication
*Thinking like nature works
*Reconnecting with natural senses
*The powers of natural senses
*People and nature as community
*The greening of personal and professional relationships
*Psychology of nature negatives
*The sensory history of personality
*Psychological origins of our separation from nature
*Reconnecting with nature: the process in action
*The twelve elements of the natural systems thinking process
*An ecology of spirit

COURSE OBJECTIVES
The outcome of the course is to enable a student to be familiar with and bring into their daily thinking and relationships a process that incorporates the intelligence, beauty and balance of natural systems The process helps the student make a strong contribution to personal and global responsibility through heightened natural sensory awareness.

BRIEF NEED STATEMENT
Laymen and experts alike recognize that the thinking of nature separated human cultures is inflicting damage on people and the life sustaining systems and resources of the planet. Critical stress arising from the nature disconnected way we think, adversely impacts the wellness of people and the environment. It deteriorates human relationships, the air, water, and soil, our climate, and plant and animal species. The process of thought used by industrial society damages earth's ability to provide for life in balance and risks damaging vital personal and global systems beyond repair. Our destructive ways are not logical. They are psychological, subconsciously bonded relationships that seldom change until the bonds are attached or transformed to constructive relationship building processes. Our troubles arise from disturbing the natural logic of the psyche which, in turn, emotionally disturbs our thinking into producing our dilemmas. It is irrational to try to solve our problems by using the same thinking process that causes them. We need to recognize and utilize a thinking process that effectively co-creates in balance with nature's restorative ways and wisdom.

COURSE AUDIENCE
This course is available to all graduate and undergraduate students at their request or as required by their programs.

TRACK OPTION
Be sure you are aware of the option offered by the Certified Master Practioner track for certification or a degree.

FACULTY-STUDENT COMMUNICATIONS

By email, telephone or on site, students form local or global interact groups that include the instructor and with whom they share and react to their reading and nature reconnecting experiences. Through this supportive group interaction they set a mutually beneficial time schedule for the cours and discover how nature organizes itself and creates the harmonious interspecies world community of which we are part. The interact group process takes advantage of the fact that participants are able to learn a great deal from the inner nature of others. Each participant depends upon the other course interact members for information and feedback, and each participant's interaction become part of the coursework itself. The course requires a minimum of 11 interact email communications that can occur within the minimum period of 11 days, or preferably longer with the consent of the interact group.

COURSE DELIVERY STYLE
Students will read required degree related materials and do sensory nature activities that are provided on the internet. They may optionally increase their knowledge and skills through the use of the suggested textbook.

REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS

- Electronic hardware and software for email and internet access

-Required Textbook
There is no required textbook for this course as most of the text may be read on line. or downloaded which is inconvenient. The total course is contained in the book The Web of Life Imperative by Michael J. Cohen, and its use is highly recommended for best results. Also recommended is that Reconnecting With Nature by Michael J. Cohen, be used as directed as an option. The general bibliography below is related to applied ecopsychology. An extensive library and Internet literature search is to be conducted under the guidance of the instructor through which the students will optionally select appropriate reading materials and create quotations in support of applied ecopsychology and their course paper. Results of past searches will be made available.

-Recommended Bibliography
Students may select from the following general bibliographic materials, and the bibliographies they contain, as appropriate. See www.amazon.com for publication details and availability.

*Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukoff
*The Monkey Wrench Gang, Edward Abby
*Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions, Richard Erdoes
*Voice of the Desert, Joseph Wood Krutch
*The Soul Unearthed, Cass Adams,
*My Name is Chellis, Chellis Glenndinning,
*Ecopsychology, Theodore Roszac
*The Web of Life, John Storer
^Gazelle Boy, Jean Claude Armen
*Dream of the Earth, Thomas Berry
*Earth in Mind, David Orr
*Wilderness and the American Mind, Roderick Nash
*The Quiet Crisis, Stewart Udall
*Wisdom of the Body, Walter B. Cannon
*Ishi in Two Worlds, Theodora Kroeber
*Education of Little Tree, Forest Carter
*Magical Child, Joseph Chilton Pierce
*Ishmael, Daniel Quinn
*Summerhill, A.S. Neill
*The Web of Life, Fritjov Capra
*The Tao of Physics, Fritjov Capra
*The Spell of the Sensuous, David Abram
*The Battle in Seattle, Janet Thomas.

COURSE ASSIGNMENTS

-Assignment #1: Initial Communications
*Email the course coordinator to prepare a plan of action and a schedule for creating an interact group and beginning communications.
Vist http://www.rockisland.com/~process/5grglobal.html
and follow the links there to the course pre-requisites and instructions:
http://www.rockisland.com/~process/5grnchdprerqust.html
http://www.rockisland.com/~process/5grnchainstruct.html

*Keep copies of all learnings important to you that are posted on the course for integration into your final 3-page integration paper. Note the addresses of important documents in the course so you may refer to them later.

Assignment #2:
In sequence, follow the updated instructions you receive in the online instructions
http://www.rockisland.com/~process/5grnchainstruct.html
and from the instructor by email.

These instructions will take you to the index "Basecamp" part of the course and the links to the eleven course parts and sessions.

Assignment #3:
Do the Part One activities and readings and respond by email to your study group

Assignment #4:
Do the Part Two activities and readings and respond by email to your study group

Assignment #5:
Do the Part Three activities and readings and respond by email to your study group

Assignment #6:
Do the Part Four activities and readings and respond by email to your study group

Assignment #7:
Do the Part Five activities and readings and respond by email to your study group

Assignment #8:
Do the Part Six activities and readings and respond by email to your study group

Assignment #9:
Do the Part Seven activities and readings and respond by email to your study group

Assignment #10:
Do the Part Eight activities and readings and respond by email to your study group

Assignment #11
Do the Part Nine activities and readings and respond by email to your study group

Assignment #13
Do the Part Ten activities and readings and respond by email to your study group

Assignment #14
Do the Part Eleven activities and readings and respond by email to your study group

Assignment #15
Optionally follow the instructions and information located at
http://www.ecopsych.com/eco500paper.html .

Otherwise,
*Submit to your interact group, and hard copy, a three page
paper "The Importance of this Course to Me" that integrates
the course with your life and goals and things that attracted
you in the prerequisite Survey material. Use quotes you have
collected from yourself and other course members as evidence
and examples for the points you make.

COURSE EVALUATION
The satisfactory completion of the course requirements includes completing an evaluation form and other evaluation requirements determined by the course members and facilitators.

COURSE GRADING DETERMINANTS
*Grades are determined by group evaluation 40%
*Cooperative, responsible course participation 30%
*Scholarly integration paper 30%

COURSE COMPLETION TIMETABLE
The standard time allotted for course completion is six months and it may be completed in two weeks if convenient to the student and faculty.

DAY #1:
Complete assignment #1

DAY #3:
Complete assignment #2

DAY #5:
Complete assignment #3

DAY #7:
Complete assignment #4

DAY #9:
Complete assignment #5

DAY #11:
Complete assignment #6,

DAY #13:
Complete assignment #7,

DAY #15:
Complete assignment #8

DAY #17:
Complete assignment #9,

DAY #19:
Complete assignment #10,

DAY #21:
Complete assignment #11,

DAY #23:
Complete assignment #12,

SPECIAL NOTES AND INSTRUCTIONS

Students may progress through this course at a faster or slower pace, as appropriate for all with permission of the course instructor. The default schedule is recommended.

FACULTY CONTACT INFORMATION

Michael J. Cohen, Ed.D.
Director, Project NatureConnect
P. O. Box 1605
Friday Harbor, WA 98250 USA
Tel: (360) 378-6313
Email: nature@interisland.net
Website: www.ecopsych.com

Communications should take place during daytime working hours in the western time zone or by appointment.

Project NatureConnect
Institute of Global Education
Special NGO consultant to United Nations Economic and Social Council.
P.O. Box 1605 Friday Harbor WA 98250
(360) 378-6313
nature@pacificrim.net
www.ecopsych.com

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