War and the Environment:
Online Course April 10 – May 22, 2023
World BEYOND War
Start: Monday, April 10, 2023 • 9:00 AM
• Eastern Daylight Time (US & Canada) (GMT-04:00)
End: Monday, May 22, 2023 • 9:00 AM
• Eastern Daylight Time (US & Canada) (GMT-04:00)
Host Contact Info:
Phill: education@worldbeyondwar.org
(April 3, 2023) — Our new online course begins on April 10 and runs through May 22. You can do it on your own schedule, but need to get signed up. Learn all about it and register here.
Course fee: $100 (Pay less if you have to, more if you can.) There will be a limit of 150 tickets sold for this course. We’ve lined up an amazing collection of facilitators for each week of the course. Learn all about them here.
Grounded in research on peace and ecological security, this course focusses on the relationship between two existential threats: war and environmental catastrophe. We will cover:
- Where wars happen and why.
• What wars do to the earth.
• What imperial militaries do to the earth back home.
• What nuclear weapons have done and could do to people and the planet.
• How this horror is hidden and maintained.
• What can be done.
This course is 100% online and interactions are not live or scheduled, so you can take part whenever works for you.
Week 1: Where Wars Happen and Why, April 10-16, 2023
Facilitator:
Daniel Selwyn is a geography teacher and an educator with the London Mining Network, an alliance of more than 30 organizations working to expose human rights abuses and environmental crimes committed by mining companies based in London, and campaigning for social justice and the ecological integrity of the planet. His research focuses on British military and extractive imperialism, and the intersections between mining and the global arms trade.
Week 2: What Wars Do to the Earth, April 17-23, 2023
Facilitator:
Al Mytty has been actively involved with World BEYOND War since 2016. He completed the “War and the Environment” class and has created and conducted numerous presentations on the horrendous environmental impact of war and militarism. He has served as the Coordinator of the World BEYOND War chapter in Florida and is working with others to create an Illinois chapter of World BEYOND War. He has been involved in a variety of social justice programs including Pax Christi and the Florida Peace & Justice Alliance.
Al fulfilled a high school dream of receiving an appointment to the U.S. Air Force Academy. As a Cadet, he became disillusioned about the morality and effectiveness of war and U.S. militarism and received an Honorable Discharge from the Academy. He completed a Master of Social Work degree and spent his working career as a founder and executive with local health plans. He resides with his wife in Illinois. Their four adult children and spouses and ten grandchildren keep Al and his wife busy and traveling.
Week 3: What Imperial Militaries Do to the Earth Back Home, April 24-30, 2023
Facilitator:
Andreas Riemann is a Peace and Conflict Consultant, certified by the Akademie für Konflikttransformation in Germany, a place of learning for international professional peace and conflict work. He is also a Restorative Practices Facilitator and Trauma Consultant. He has a master’s degree in Peace and Reconciliation Studies from Coventry University (United Kingdom) and 25 years of professional experience in non-formal education, development, peace, conflict, and social work.
He is also a Rotary Peace Fellow (Chulalongkorn University: Peace and Conflict Resolution Diploma in Bangkok, Thailand) and a member of the various organizations including European Forum for Restorative Justice, Mediators Beyond Borders International, and Restorative Justice For All – International Institute.
Week 4: What Nuclear Weapons Have Done and Could Do, May 1-7, 2023
Facilitator:
John Reuwer is Treasurer and a Member of the Board of Directors of World BEYOND War. He is a retired emergency physician whose practice convinced him of a crying need for alternatives to violence for resolving tough conflicts. This led him to the informal study and teaching of nonviolence for the last 35 years, with peace team field experience in Haiti, Colombia, Central America, Palestine/Israel, and several US inner cities.
He worked in South Sudan with the Nonviolent Peaceforce, one of the few organizations practicing professional unarmed civilian peacekeeping. He also serves on the Committee to Abolish Nuclear Weapons with Physicians for Social Responsibility educating the public and politicians about the threat from nuclear weapons, which he sees as the ultimate expression of the insanity of modern warfare, so blatantly displayed in the current war in Ukraine. John has been a facilitator for World BEYOND War’s online courses “War Abolition 201” and “Leaving World War II Behind.”
Week 5: How This Horror Is Hidden and Maintained, May 8-14, 2023
Facilitator:
Nina Koevoets has been involved in nonviolence and conflict resolution for more than a decade. She was born in The Netherlands and lives in Greece. She got a masters in Conflict Resolution in 2007, after which she joined a training program with the Metta Center for Nonviolence in the USA. She worked several months in India and Israel-Palestine. These experiences gave her new perspectives and ideas about the challenges and potential of nonviolent action. She earned a second master degree in Global Studies in Sweden, started a PhD in Portugal, but didn’t complete it in order to become an independent trainer.
In 2015, she implemented her first training course in The Netherlands and has organized several since then in different European countries. Visit peace-power.org to learn more about her work. She is also the co-author of “Engaging Nonviolence Activating Non Violent Change in our Lives and Our Work” and developed two cooperative games for a more peaceful and sustainable world.
Week 6: What Can Be Done, May 15-21, 2023
Facilitator:
Liz Remmerswaal is Vice President of the Board of Directors of World BEYOND War, and national coordinator for WBW Aotearoa/New Zealand. She is a former Vice President of the NZ Womens’ International League for Peace and Freedom and in 2017 won the Sonja Davies Peace Award, enabling her to study peace literacy with the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in California.
She is a member of the NZ Peace Foundation’s International Affairs and Disarmament committee and co-convenor of the Pacific Peace Network. Liz runs a radio show called ‘Peace Witness’, works with the CODEPINK ‘China is not our enemy’ campaign and is instrumental in planting peace poles all around her district.
This course is 100% online and interactions are not live or scheduled, so you can take part whenever works for you. Weekly content includes a mix of text, images, video, and audio. Instructors and students utilize online discussion forums to go over each week’s content, as well as to provide feedback on optional assignment submissions.
The course also includes three 1-hour optional zoom calls that are designed to facilitate a more interactive and real-time learning experience.
- Zoom Call #1: Introductions
Tuesday, April 18, 2023 • 9:00 AM • Eastern Daylight Time (US & Canada) (GMT-04:00)
- Zoom Call #2: Reflections on the course thus far
Wednesday, May 3, 2023 • 12:00 PM • Eastern Daylight Time (US & Canada) (GMT-04:00)
- Zoom Call #3: Course Reflections. What next?
Thursday, May 18, 2023 • 5:00 PM • Eastern Daylight Time (US & Canada) (GMT-04:00)
World BEYOND War Education Director Phill Gittins and other World BEYOND War staff, board members, and partners will be online throughout the six weeks helping to facilitate.
Time Commitment/Expectations:
How much time you spend and how deeply you engage is up to you. At a minimum, you can expect to spend between 1-2 hours a week if you only review the weekly content (text and videos). We hope, however, you’ll want to engage in the online dialogue with peers and experts. This is where the real richness of the learning occurs, where we have the opportunity to explore new ideas, strategies, and visions for building a more peaceful world.
Depending on your level of engagement with the online discussion you can expect to add another 1-3 hours a week.
Finally, all participants are encouraged to complete optional assignments (required to earn a certificate). This is an opportunity to deepen and apply the ideas explored each week to practical possibilities. Expect another 2 hours a week if you pursue these options.
Accessing the Course.
Prior to the start date, you will be sent instructions for how to access the course.
Earn a Certificate.
To earn a certificate, participants must also complete optional weekly written assignments. Instructors will return the assignment to the student with detailed feedback. Submissions and feedback can be shared with everyone taking the course or kept private between a student and the instructor, at the student’s choice. Submissions must be completed by the conclusion of the course.
The cost of the course is the same for someone completing all, some, or none of the assignments.
Questions? Contact: phill@worldbeyondwar.org
To register by check,
Email Phill and tell him. 2. Make the check out to World BEYOND War and send it to World BEYOND War 513 E Main St #1484 Charlottesville VA 22902 USA. Registrations are not refundable.
