In 1976, McGregor
Smith Jr. presented the seed of an idea to the (then) MDCC Board of
Trustees with the vision that it could grow into a self-supporting
Environmental Demonstration Center.
In 1978 a group of us
broke ground and planted that seed. From that ground on the west
side of Kendall Campus the Environmental Demonstration Center
sprouted up. The EDC was a Wolfson Campus program but it was
located adjacent to Kendall Campus.
Over the following ten
years, the Center grew, developed and evolved into a unique tree
with branches for an Owner-Builder Center, a Landscape Center, a
Tropical Lifestyle Center, and a Nature Center. In addition to
these, by 1989 Mac Smith and Norma Watkins had established the
Environmental Ethics Institute that offered credit and non-credit
courses in Earth Literacy. And by that time, the Institute’s roots
had already spread beyond Miami Dade College, to St. Thomas
University in Miami, to Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas,
and to the Highlands Center in North Carolina.
About that time, Mac
also came to know Miriam MacGillis. Miriam
and the Dominican Sisters of Caldwell, NJ had
founded Genesis Farm in
1980. Well-rooted in the work of Thomas Berry, Miriam had begun her
own work in Earth literacy creating the Cosmic Walk, a ritual that
brings knowledge, of the 14-billion-year-Universe-process, from
one’s head to one’s heart. Miriam further grounded the
Environmental Ethics Institute in Earth Literacy; and Genesis
Farm became part of the Earth Literacy Network.
Bill Nickle, devoting
decades to Earthwork with children and adults, founded the Narrow
Ridge Center in TN in the late 1970’s. When Bill attended a seminar
in North Carolina where Mac presented his ideas on Earth Literacy,
Mac’s message resonated with him, and as a result, Narrow Ridge came
into the Earth Literacy Network.
By 1990, Mac had raised
funds for a million-dollar endowment to the Miami Dade College
Foundation, to sustain the Environmental Ethics Institute.
The EEI Advisory Board
was established to oversee the EEI endowment; the Institute’s annual
activities; to make recommendations to the College Leadership about
the functioning of the Institute; and to ensure that its mission was
being realized. The original board included
McGregor Smith Jr.,
Norma Watkins, Tim McGuril, Miriam MacGillis, Ross McCluney, Joe
Iannone, Dan Daniel, Bill Nickle and Jon Villamil
Then in 1992, Hurricane
Andrew caused sufficient damage to the Environmental Demonstration
Center, that the College decided to raze the building. EDC programs
were displaced, and the Environmental Ethics Institute established
an office on Wolfson Campus.
The Institute’s focus
shifted from student-based programs, to a faculty-based program,
with the idea that Earth literate faculty were needed in order to
teach students in ways that would prepare them for an Ecozoic Age.
In order to accomplish
this, the Institute’s Co-Directors, Norma Watkins and Tim McGuirl,
began a faculty training program in Earth Literacy using Thomas
Berry’s The Dream of the Earth, as a text. This first group
of faculty produced a multi-disciplinary resource called EDGE
(Environmental Dimensions in General Education.)
That first group of
faculty included Phyllis Baker from Social Science; Paul Dirks from
Math; Paul George from History; Marilyn Gottlieb-Roberts from Art
and Humanities; Michael Hettich from English; Brad Stocker from ESL;
and John Villamil from Natural Science – along with Norma and Tim.
But EEI didn’t limit its
focus on faculty for long.
In 1995,
the Institute launched its Eco-Urban program with 20 honors students
living at the Miami River Inn. The unique program provided an
intensive year in a learning community that taught Earth literacy,
and how to live more sustainably in an urban setting. The program
was the brain-child of Norma Watkins and Deena Blazejack, and along
with Joyce DiBenedetto-Colton, this teaching team began an
astounding six-year journey.
In 1997, Dr. Leslie
Roberts stepped into the EEI Director’s position, and served as
resident faculty for the Eco-Urban program, relieving Deena of that
duty.
That same year (1997),
Mac’s book “Now That You Know: A Journey Toward Earth Literacy” was
published by EarthKnows Publications, the Narrow Ridge Center’s
imprint.
In 1999, the same year
Thomas Berry’s book The Great Work was published, the College
hired Sandra Schuh as the EEI Director. This was a year in which the
Institute reexamined its direction, and its place within the
College.
In 2000, Joyce
DiBenedetto-Colton served as Interim Director for the Institute.
This was the year that
final negotiations were taking place to establish a faculty union at
the College. And, despite the difficulties inherent in the emergence
of a faculty union, and amid the loss of the Miami River Inn
as the site for the Eco-Urban program, the Institute grew a group of
dedicated Core Faculty that collaborated in developing the first
Green Studies Workshops approved for professional development
credit.
The Eco-Urban program
transitioned to an on-campus honors program at Wolfson, being
renamed the Environmental Fellowship program.
In 2001 the Institute
was blessed to find its next Director in Sr.Patricia Siemen. I say
blessed, because September 11th brought an unprecedented
shift in consciousness and values, and we were fortunate to have
Pat, whose strength kept EEI grounded during the storm of both inner
and outer turmoil. Pat and the Core Faculty remained rooted, and
over the next three years we added Immersion workshops to the
Green Studies offerings – and a full-time assistant position was
finally approved, making more programming possible.
As the Environmental
Ethics Institute gained more attention at the College, we found we
were often being confused with the Environmental Science program at
North Campus, and the Environmental Center at Kendal Campus.
Additionally, the term “environmental” was typically used in fields
of environmental management – often at odds with the natural-world’s
systems, non-human life-forms, and Earth jurisprudence.
It was decided that the
purpose and mission of the Institute would be more accurately
conveyed by changing its name to “Earth Ethics Institute.”
In 2004, Colleen Ahern-Hettich
became the Director of the Earth Ethics institute. Under her
directorship, the Institute continues to flourish at the College.
