Experiential Learning

My explorations in Iceland have been much more than just touring around and sightseeing. The CELL group has engaged academically by reading "This Changes Everything," by Naomi Klein as well as individual books exploring various perspecitves on environmentalism and sustainability, ranging from "Reinventing Fire," forwarded by Shell Oil company, to "The World is Blue," by Silvia Earle. I read a book called "The Upcycle," by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. It not only described creative ways of cutting back on unsustainable technologies and fuel use, but also provided innovative solutions to optimizing technology, business productivity, and the human experience, all while actively benefiting the state of the natural world. It gave a perspective on contributing "more good" in addition to preforming "less bad." We all gave presentations on our books and shared analysis as well as how the ideas we came across could benefit our lives and communities. Currently, several of us are passing around the book "Ishmael," by Daniel Quinn, for pleasure reading and to engage our minds in paradigm shifting ideas. I'm currently only a couple chapters in, but I'm to say that I'm enjoying it so far is an understatement.

We've been working to contribute to Sólheimar's community and sustainability as well. We've picked, sorted, and packaged in the organic greenhouse here, which is Iceland's largest greenhouse. We've contributed to the building and maintenance of the community garden, helped remove an invasive plant species in the area, cleaned up and maintained the vermicomposting (worm-aided composting) shed, and aided in various other projects. We've split up into groups based on interest and all have long-term projects to help improve Sólheimar's sustainability, ranging from economic sustainability, to revamping and improving the composting system, to creating a design for an aquaponics fish production system that will help feed the community. These projects have brought us to a greater understanding of Sólheimar's inner workings and closer to the people who contribute to the success of this wonderful place. To figure out how to improve and implement our ideas, we've bounced from working with and talking to dozens of people in the Sólheimar community, who all have incredible insight, creativity, and new perspectives to share. We're learning how to live more sustainably AND how to open our minds and hearts to people, ideas, and appreciation of all kinds.

CELL has also been reading weekly Northwestern Earth Institute (NWEI) articles about community, sustainability, denial, ecological principles, intersectionality, and various other topics. We take turns facilitating discussions on these fascinating articles, which are culminations of writings from dozens of different journalists and authors to represent an array of their perspectives and evidence. Our other academic material has included journal assignments that urge deep introspection, connection with the world around us, and effort to make attainable goals for the future.