Fall issue of Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives magazine launched at York

Tor Sandberg, a master’s student in environmental studies at York, will this week launch the fall 2009 issue of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives quarterly publication Our Schools/Our Selves, in which he challenges the current thinking about environmental education.

Co-editor of the issue, titled “Divided We Stand, United We Fall”, along with Erika Shaker, Sandberg writes: “The time for grand messages from ‘grand’ men is over, and this issue of Our Schools/Our Selves explores that realization through the lens of environmental education.” Sandberg is the online communications officer at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and is rabbletv program director at the alternative online news centre rabble.ca.

The launch will take place Thursday, Nov. 26, at 6:30pm at 140 Health Nursing & Environmental Studies Building and will feature a panel discussion with contributors from the publication, including Faculty of Environmental Science (FES) Professor Leesa Fawcett , FES Associate Dean Anders Sandberg and Hannah Lewis, a York master in environmental studies student.

Sandberg has lined up numerous contributors for the issue, including Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada, who looks at “A Practical Environmental Education: Shrinking Ecological Footprints, Expanding Political Ones”.

Right: Tor Sandberg

Stephen Lewis, former leader of the Ontario NDP who now heads the Stephen Lewis Foundation supporting community-based organizations that are turning the tide of HIV/AIDS in Africa, writes about the health impact of global climate change.

Anders Sandberg discusses “Promoting Environmental Education at the University: The Campus as a Sticky Wicket”, while Hannah Lewis looks at "Stories About Place: Community Mapping is a Powerful Tool for Environmental Education". Fawcett explores "Environmental Education in Ontario: To Be or Not to Be."

Other contributors in this issue tackle environmental education in the context of sustainability, the implications for First Nations peoples, the school curricula, community collaboration, as well as corporate greenwashing.

For more information about the current issue of Our Schools/Our Selves, visit the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Web site.