Newsletter

Spring 2002

Au Sable-Everglades: Au Sable & ECHO Establish Partnership
By Ed Brown, COO

Au Sable - Everglades will soon join Great Lakes, Pacific Rim, India and Africa as the newest Au Sable program. In partnership with Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO) of Fort Myers, Florida, Au Sable-Everglades will offer courses in tropical and subtropical ecology and horticulture, appropriate technologies, and agricultural missions.

Beginning in June 2003, Au Sable-Everglades will offer three-week courses at ECHO in Florida. The courses will take advantage of ECHO's extensive collection of horticultural specimens, including an 'edible landscape' and new twelve acre Global Village training farm.

This partnership joins two organizations at the vanguard of the Christian earthkeeping movement. ECHO's mission is to network with community leaders in developing countries to seek hunger solutions for families growing food under difficult conditions. ECHO has significant expertise and research in tropical and subtropical horticulture and appropriate technology development.

Au Sable's mission is the integration of knowledge of the Creation with biblical principles for a better understanding of the Creator and the stewardship of God's Creation. Au Sable has relevant and academically sound courses for students across a network of 58 Christian colleges and universities.

The two organizations also represent different, but complementary constituencies. Au Sable students are undergraduates seeking to develop skills which they can use to make a difference in the healing of the biosphere. ECHO maintains a network of Christian missionaries and development workers around the globe who are looking to upgrade their skills, but who also have a wealth of practical knowledge to share. A goal of the Au Sable-Everglades partnership is to prepare a new generation of leaders with skills that can be used to reverse the effects of environmental degradation.

Au Sable - Everglades information and courses will be available for enrollment on the Au Sable website (ausable.org) early this fall. More information about ECHO can be found at www.echonet.org.

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