New Website on Community Ecotherapy "best practices"

Ecopsychologist Craig Chalquist, Ph.D., who teaches at Sonoma State and John F. Kennedy Universities, has started a new website (www.terrapsych.com/opuspax.html) to collect community ecotherapy “best practices” for future survival:

“With all the urgent talk about peak oil and a post-carbon future, we hear very little addressing the social or psychological implications of living in such a world. And yet what point survival if we don't survive whole?

”I have created a Web page to begin collecting "best practices" that foster mental well-being and community harmony. My thought is that rather than waiting around for the empire to fall, or spending a fortune stockpiling bullets and dried apricots, why not see all this as an opportunity to experiment with practices that have been used the world over by people in peaceful communities: conflict resolution, the practice of council, clear communications skills, indigenous ways of knowing, town hall democracy, practical psychology, restorative justice, etc.

"The site is here: http://www.terrapsych.com/opuspax.html -- "Opus Pax" because living together as fully realized human beings must be a responsible work of peace. The goal is a downloadable free catalog of best practices and wisdoms culled from many places and cultures.

”I have just started on this and am looking for resources, topics, contributions, and other kinds of relevant information to post at the site. With teaching to do and a book coming out, I hope to eventually turn this project over to interested students. Some funding would also be nice. For now, however, I will continue to watch over this and hope it will draw the sort of knowledge that could help people face a highly uncertain future and maybe encourage a bit of practical utopic dreaming.”