Furman University
ER-12: Sustainability Immersive Experience

Furman offers three-week immersive May Experiences each year. These programs may differ each year, but two example sustainability-oriented programs over the past two years include (titles and course descriptions): -Slow Food, Italian Style. On-campus study of contemporary food production and consumption, as well as principles and practices of the Slow Food movement, followed by stay on an organic farm in Italy, to observe and participate in traditional food production and preparation. -Hispanic Cuisine and Culture. Exploration of difference aspects of food production and consumption as they relate to Spanish and Spanish American cultures. Through readings, discussions, small field trips to local markets and restaurants and the act of shopping for and preparing authentic Spanish and Spanish American dishes we will explore the complex web of connections between crops, ecology, farming life, politics and what have come to be called fast or slow food cultures. Conducted entirely in Spanish, a culinary study trip to Guatemala is typically required. In May 2011, several May Experience travel courses will be offered that focus on sustainability. -China: In Search of Sustainability: China's rapid economic growth has exacerbated disparities in wealth and environmental degradation. Students will study how the Chinese government is attempting to cope with rapid urbanization, pressures on natural resources, and social inequalities. Students will explore these issues in four of China's wealthiest cities and poorest rural areas in Shanghai, Suzhou, Beijing, and Guizhou. -Global Sustainability in Guatemala: Students will improve and expand their ideas of Global Sustainability through participation in two environmental sustainability programs in Guatemala. During the days the students will provide hands on help with a variety of projects which will range from improving rural potable water supply to participating in a fair trade, shade grown coffee cooperative. Students will learn, through on the job training, how some of the world's best coffee is produced from seed to the grinds. Local guest speakers, including former guerrilla leaders and the national candidate for vice-president, will provide insight into project purposes and rural development. Weekend visits may include a world famous Monarch butterfly breeding grounds, a climb up an active volcano, Mayan ruins, and a swim in hot springs in a crater lake. -Working Toward a Sustainable New Orleans: In this experience the students will examine the city of New Orleans as text, with special attention to its sustainable rebuilding after its recent Gulf-coast catastrophes (2005’s Hurricane Katrina and 2010’s BP oil spill). Students will consider the city’s re-birth as a metaphor for the processes of writing, deep learning, and meaningful change as they work beside the people of New Orleans and engage in 3 service learning projects highlighting cultural, political, and historical context. -Furman Tribe Wanted – Sustainability in Fiji: This May Experience course is designed to examine and explore the environmental, social, and economic sustainability of the “Tribe Wanted Project” on Vorovoro, Fiji. “Tribe Wanted” is a sustainable development experiment that meshes sustainable living with community building and cultural adventure on a made-to-order castaway isle off the coast of Fiji. Specifically, the course is designed to critically assess the success of the ‘Tribe Wanted’ project with an emphasis on sustainability. Through a combination of lectures, readings, group projects, individual research projects, and collaboration and interaction with the native Fijian tribe that lives on the island as well as with the Tribe Wanted staff, students will learn to understand the impact of humans on the natural environment in an island community and the challenges that sustainable living presents.