This three-week residential course examines the challenges of genetic engineering and biotechnologies and their effects on politics, economics, culture, food, farming, and biodiversity in general. It will consider the intended and unintended consequences of human attempts to restructure the nature of our world, which is resulting in the reduction of diversity. These issues will be explored in the context of both highly technological countries and the developing world, and participants will look at research into alternative and sustainable agriculture methods based on the way nature's ecosystems have maintained stability over millions of years. He was involved with negotiations for the Convention on Biological Diversity and is the African spokesperson in negotiations for a Biosafety Protocol. The short residential courses are led by thinkers and writers with an international reputation for the significance and originality of their work, such as Fritjof Capra, Stephanie Mills, Thomas Moore, Christine and Ernst von Weizsaecker, David Orr, Wes Jackson, Wangari Maathai, and Humberto Maturana.
Courses take place in a supportive learning community designed to live out ecological values.
Through interdisciplinary studies, Schumacher College aims to explore the foundations of the new world view. A unified residential education offering physical work, meditation, aesthetic experience and intellectual inquiry creates a sense of the wholeness of life. At the College, people find refreshment, and often new direction. They find that they have touched a source of inspiration and are reminded that there are others who share their deepest values about life and its meaning. Transferable Masters Level Credits are available on this course for those wishing to be assessed for their work.