Four-Day Summer Intensive

On Tuesday, July 31 - Friday, August 3, The Agora Foundation held its first four-day Summer Intensive - Humanity's Place in the Natural World.

Read the Tuesday, July 31, lecture - Humanity's Place in the Natural World by Andy Gilman

The Stewardship in the Ojai Valley Panel - Live Streamed on Thursday, August 2nd.

Readings:
1) Book Six of On the Nature of Things by Lucretius
2) Preface and Aphorisms I - LXV of The New Organon: or True Directions Concerning the Interpretation of Nature by Francis Bacon
3) Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson
4) Walking by Henry David Thoreau
5) Introduction and The Nobility of Sight from The Phenomenon of Life by Hans Jonas
6) Selected writing from Blue Iris by Mary Oliver:
Black Oaks, The Roses, Rice, Morning at Blackwater, Poppies, October

Tutors:
Patricia Locke of St. John's College

Andy Gilman of The Agora Foundation

Location:
The Ojai Retreat and Inn
160 Besant Road
Ojai, California 93023

Humanity's Place in the Natural World

Four-Day Summer Intensive
Tuesday, July 31 - Friday, August 3, 2018

Do we belong to the world, are we wholly made of the world, or are we a part of it and also alien to it? What is our responsibility to the world? Are we stewards? These four days will include seminars, lectures, nature walks, astronomy, and panels. We hope you will join the exploration.

Schedule:

Tuesday evening, July 31
3:00-6:00PM - Check in at The Ojai Retreat and Inn
6:30 - 7:30PM - Welcome wine and dinner
7:30 - 8:30PM - Opening Lecture - Humanity’s Place in the Natural World by Andy Gilman
9:00PM - Optional night walk and guided star gazing

Wednesday, August 1
7:30-8:30AM - Optional mild, guided hike and Herb Walk in the Ventura River Preserve by Lanny Kaufer.
8:30 - 9:30AM - Breakfast
10:00AM - 12:00PM - Seminar one
12:00 - 2:00PM - Lunch and break
2:00 - 4:00PM - Seminar two
4:00 - 6:00PM - Break for Ojai excursions
6:00 - 9:00PM - Dinner at Azu Restaurant with lecture by Brian Stafford, MD, MPH, - The Nature-based Tasks of Human Development and Eco-awakening

Thursday, August 2
7:30-8:30AM - Optional guided hike within the Besant Meadow with Brian Stafford
8:30 - 9:30AM - Breakfast
10:00AM - 12:00PM - Seminar three
12:00 - 2:00PM - Lunch and break
2:00 - 4:00PM - Seminar four
4:00 - 5:00PM - Break
5:00 - 6:30PM - A free public panel conversation with Ojai’s environmental non-profits Stewardship in the Ojai Valley.

The Panelists were:

Caryn Bosson - Executive Director of The CREW (Concerned Resource and Environmental Workers)
Peter Cantle - President of the Ojai Valley Defense Fund
Tod Cossairt - Executive Director of the Ojai Valley Green Coalition
Jeff Kuyper - Executive Director of Los Padres Forest Watch
Kimberly Rivers - Executive Director of CFROG (Citizens for Responsible Oil and Gas)
Brendan Taylor - Stewardship Director from the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy