Leadership for the
ECOZOIC
About Leadership for the Ecozoic
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Leadership for the Ecozoic (L4E), currently based at the University of Vermont and McGill University, is a growing network of institutions committed to working towards a vision of the Ecozoic by:
(1) Advancing transdisciplinary scholarship in select doctoral programs to educate and empower new leaders for the Ecozoic.
(2) Co-creating a research-to-action network to imagine and prefigure
new human systems that heal and restore the flourishing of the community of life.
(3) Mobilizing and focusing higher education resources and communications towards systematically addressing multi-faceted, human-induced, planetary declines in life support capacity for all species, and developing systems of economics, governance, and ethics that promote cooperation, participation and collective well-being.
L4E PhD Fellows are central to L4E activities. The university-based Network Strategy Centers (NSCs) in L4E partner in delivering joint courses in a core L4E curriculum, linking L4E campuses with high quality web-based platforms. Required L4E courses currently include:
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Three or more full-term courses in the first year, on the foundations of the transition to the Ecozoic;
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An intensive two-week summer field course led by one or more NSCs on a predetermined theme (e.g. water, food systems, energy systems); and
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Student-led, second year seminar on topics related to the L4E vision, mission and guiding principles.
A key benefit for L4E PhD Fellows is access to a global network of academic scholars and other holders of knowledge for advice and support for their research. This network is also a source of potential internships and placements. To enhance their scholarship, L4E Fellows can also engaged in L4E's strategic communications and advocacy work, including L4E events.
Through its university-based Network Strategy Centers, L4E works to offer a constructive and compelling alternative in higher education whereby higher education can empower students toward a positive future in harmony with the rest of earthly life. The L4E community is working to realize this new vision with and through its work with PhD Fellows. For its PhD students and the wider community, L4E hopes to offer a means to unleash pent-up and stifled momentum to create new options and systems that support the flourishing of all life.
HISTORY
The Leadership for the Ecozoic (L4E) project was initiated in 2018 with the first cohort of fellows based at the University of Vermont and McGill University. L4E was build upon the success of its precursor, Economics for the Anthropocene (E4A) . Introducing a new broader transdisciplinary approach, L4E’s educational and research intent is specifically focused on work to usher in the Ecozoic Era.
L4E employs a cohort model with joint courses, extensive enrichment, seminars and research projects. From its initial start at UVM and McGill, L4E is working towards establishing a network of closely affiliated partners, bringing together an expanded community to envision, inform, and implement justice-based new pathways towards the Ecozoic. The growing L4E community of practice concentrates on imaging, testing, prefiguring, communicating and advocating for paradigm shift outcomes through internships, action-research projects, long-term partnerships and strategic communications.
ABOUT OUR LOGO: THE DANDELION
The dandelion illustrates many of the aspects of
L4E's endeavors, including: paradigm shift,
mutual enhancement, resilience, dissemination of
new ideas, and wonder. To learn how the
dandelion demonstrates these characteristics of
our work, click here.