EARTH and The Sustainability Lab create community action plan for Martina Bustos

Filed Under: EARTH News
Date: September 14th, 2015
Community members, GSF students and EARTH staff worked together to create a community action plan for Martina Bustos.

Community members, GSF students and EARTH staff worked together to create a community action plan for Martina Bustos.

In August, 10 students from the Global Sustainability Fellowship (GSF) returned to EARTH-La Flor in Guanacaste to complete a sustainable development plan for the Martina Bustos community. Their visit marks the final phase of the pilot program for this graduate-level course designed by The Sustainability Laboratory, a US-based non-profit organization dedicated to researching, developing, demonstrating and facilitating the adoption of breakthrough sustainability practices.

Led by Lab founder Dr. Michael Ben-Eli, EARTH University faculty members and GSF students from 10 countries worked with leaders from Martina Bustos, an informal settlement of approximately 2,000 people that faces significant social, civic and environmental challenges, yet has many individuals with a strong commitment to building a better future. After performing both regional and community diagnostics, generating a detailed database and facilitating in-depth dialogue sessions, a comprehensive long-term initiative entitled “Project Transition” was presented to and adopted by the community.

In the following years, Project Transition will continue to receive support from local NGOs, EARTH University and GSF students.

GSF Fellows hard at work on Project Transition.

GSF Fellows hard at work on Project Transition.

About the Global Sustainability Fellows Program

The Global Sustainability Fellows Program is designed to inspire, inform and mobilize future generations of leaders who are committed to adding an in-depth exposure to sustainability issues to studies in their chosen disciplines. Integrating a rigorous theoretical orientation with experience-based learning, international exposure and cross-discipline work, the program imparts the core competencies required to effectively tackle urgent sustainability challenges on a local, regional and planetary scale.

For more information: http://new.sustainabilitylabs.org/gsf/home/

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