​This talk discusses and defines Earth Literacy and its role in the Earth Ethics Institute mission as well as the Global Sustainability and Earth Literacy Studies (GSELS) learning network at Miami Dade College.  Connections will be made to the Southeast Florida bioregion and the Everglades in particular as the concepts embedded in Earth Literacy are illustrated by examples from our own backyard.  

Mike Matthews is an environmental educator interested in how human society and culture interface with and affect the natural world.  He has an M.S. in Environmental Studies from Florida International University and his thesis research looked at the efficacy of experiential teaching techniques as used in environmental education.  Other areas of study include environmental ethics, ecology, environmental policy and sustainable development. Matthews has held a visiting instructor position at Florida Gulf Coast University where he taught Environmental Biology, Global Environment and Society, Deep Ecology, and FGCU’s University Colloquium (which focuses on sustainability issues, educational reform, and the Earth Charter).  He has also taught for Florida International University’s Department of Earth and Environment, Johnson & Wales University, and worked as a naturalist at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center in Crandon Park.  Matthews has sat on the executive committee of the Sierra Club’s Miami Group and is currently with the Earth Ethics Institute at Miami Dade College where he serves as the campus representative at InterAmerican Campus, coordinates the Global Sustainability and Earth Literacy Studies learning network, is co-advisor to the YES! Club, co-chair of the campus Green Team, oversees the campus Zen Garden, develops and runs professional development workshops for faculty, and explores other ways to integrate environmental sustainability into the Miami Dade College curricula.

www.earthethicsinstitute.org  
www.facebook.com/MDCEarthEthics

Kahina: a tangled root explores the sustainability, water and the intersectionality of the Black Female  Body. The work is inspired by the North African Queen, Warrior and religious Leader, DIHYA KAHINA, who lived during the 7th Century.  She was a Berber and of Jewish Religion but also was known as an animist. The work generates a conscious awareness and expanded knowledge of self and collective identity of the community.  The performance will “un-earth’ significant historical, economical, philosophical and cultural contributions of the Black Female Body utilizing Ancestral Memory, story, song, text, collective memory, pictures and film with an exploration of the landscape of the individual body.  The work explores stories of the notions of giving, sacrifice, warrior, birth, re-birth and erasure.  What is it to be a Black Female in the 21st century?  How does/has the Black Female Body extend itself into the continuum? How has the phenomenology of time effected and affected the embodied knowledge of the Black Female Body in America? The original work is a story of displacement, migration, reciprocity, sustainability, and exile to freedom.

Choreography: Michelle Grant-Murray
Performer:  Michelle Grant-Murray
Music:  Prince Aderele

Water quality impacts everything in the Everglades ecosystem, which includes vegetation, wildlife, and humans. The Miccosukee Water Resources Department is dedicated to studying and monitoring water quality, and addressing pollution concerns in Tribal wetlands and waterbodies. One of the most effective ways to reduce pollution is to prevent it from entering our waters via surface runoff. Managing the resources in a large area requires collaboration and partnerships between the Tribe, government agencies as well as the greater Florida community. Using the best available scientific information, we as a community must develop a deeper understanding of the causes of pollution in the Everglades in order to protect the water, and provide safe and clean habitat for a thriving ecosystem.

Julian Douglas is an environmentalist and advocate for conservation of wildlife and marine life. He is an Environmental Specialist in the Water Resources Department for the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida.  He received a B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology from the University of Vermont, and he received an M.S. in Coastal Zone Management from Nova Southeastern University. He strongly believes in the power of education and stewardship of natural resources.