Project workshops

The first of the joint events we undertook with our Norwegian partners from the University of Oslo (UiO) was an introductory visit, during which we mainly discussed extensively both the history and the current situation of environmental education in our countries, with particular reference to deep ecology, environmental philosophy and related field practices. We were surprised to find out how interesting and stimulating authors Norway harbours for exploring the relationship between man and nature (besides the well-known Arne Naess, for example, also Arne Johan Vetlesen, or Svein Anders Noer Lie), and we offered our own experiences with environmental education in our country as well as post-revolutionary authors dealing with natural philosophy (Zdeněk Neuabauer, Stanislav Komárek, Zdeněk Kratochvíl and others).

Very stimulating (and very beneficial for the conception of the Deep Ecology course as the main output of our project) was also the meeting at UiO, where we discussed similar topics with Nina Witoszek, Director of the Arne Naess Programme, in a special seminar dedicated to the focus of our project. It is not only the pedagogical methods that are important, but also the approach to students and the learning environment itself. (Our concept of education is still lacking something compared to the Norwegian one... 😊)

For potential visitors to Oslo, we recommend a walking tour along the Akerselva river.

In addition to the theoretical knowledge, we also had the opportunity to experience the Deep Time Walk masterfully performed by our key Norwegian collaborator Martin Lee Müller.

The main methodological part of our first meeting was a stay at the Small Earth Institute (an ecological training centre) in Skoppum, where we tested together selected methods of deep ecological practices, such as the Work That Reconnects method. The workshops took place both in the centre itself (including the preparation of a meal together and plenty of discussion during it) and during several pilgrimages into the countryside accompanied by a series of deep ecological exercises.

We had the opportunity to repay the hospitality of our Norwegian friends during the second joint camp, which took place in Mříč u Křemže, in a picturesque South Bohemian landscape perfect for our needs. At the previous meeting in Norway we managed to set up effective ways of cooperation, so it was an extremely productive meeting.

In addition to supplementing the information we brought back as "homework" from Norway (it was mainly useful authors, resources and practices that we undertook to track down), we have been testing, adapting and updating a number of practices, especially in the field of nature therapy and body therapy.

Our programme included the GAGA movement language (the purpose for us was to learn techniques for a deeper bodily perception of nature through the perception of our own bodies), a workshop on the Nordic Forest Mind technique (aiming similarly but oriented towards the external environment) a course on acoustic ecology, aimed at developing hearing and cultivating a relationship with soundscapes, and finally a pilot testing of the Deep Time Walk technique by all members of the project team.

What can we tell you - too bad you couldn't be there with us!

Since our original Norwegian partner left our team, we were forced to look for another one and as it happens - everything bad is good for something. We have managed to establish a collaboration with the University of South-Eastern Norway, where perhaps Arne Naess' most important student, Per Ingvar Haukeland, is based, thus enriching our team.

In addition to him, we also managed to arrange the external collaboration of one of the most important contemporary ecophilosophers, David Abram (at least in the form of a virtual presence), which made this workshop quite extraordinary both in terms of cast and content. David's extensive practice focuses on reviving the senses and renewing the animistic experience of the world.

The meeting was enhanced by the environment of Moravské Kopanice, where it took place in the first place (apart from a short but intense visit to the environment of the Centre of Ecological Activities Sluňákov, which is also a partner of the project). For six days we exchanged and tested another set of techniques that the participants had experience with. Introspective and experiential approaches, techniques for individual cultivation of the ecological self, as well as group activities and games that would be applicable in a university course were tested.

Morning and evening consultations with David, followed by daily testing of selected techniques, led to the development of a long series of pedagogical methods that would subsequently be used within the university course.

Something to look forward to! 😊

The most recent opportunity to work together with our Norwegian partners was mainly dedicated to the implementation of deep ecological methods and practices in a university setting. To say that the practice of university education at the University of South-Eastern Norway in Bø was revelatory for us would be highly inaccurate. A completely different pedagogical approach, based on the role of the lecturer as coach of a process in which students themselves not only seek answers to questions but co-create the agenda of the course, is indeed rarely practiced in our context (at least in universities).

We had the opportunity to observe the teaching of the changing history of European thinking about nature by walking through changing types of environments, then we shared the principles, practices and many methods of outdoor education and discussed their theory and methodology.

A rare opportunity was to meet an emeritus professor of environmental philosophy who uses the collaborative construction of traditional Norwegian sailing boats and their subsequent testing as a "gateway" to a physical experience with nature.

The workshop and this entire phase of the project concluded with a farewell ritual and picnic on the shores of the Nesoddtangen peninsula in the Oslo Fjord. May we be able to repay our Norwegian friends for their hospitality at the final conference of the project.