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Human ecology, sustainability,
ecological economics, teaching
Envirothon
2007: Slideshow on how to build this wind turbine with your students download
here |
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Sustainability Activities Blog Building a Straw Bale House in Maine The current Womerlippi Homestead An analysis of our household energy use Editorial: Climate Change Policy |
Introduction
and biography
You
have arrived at the web site of Mick (short for Michael) Womersley,
pronounced Wumm-ers-lea, preferably with a Yorkshire
accent. I'm British, from Sheffield, England, but have lived in America since
1986, and have been studying and teaching ecology and economics since 1989. My
May 2002 PhD from the Maryland School of Public Policy was for a dissertation
on sustainability and religious environmentalism. I was awarded the MS degree
in resource conservation from the University of Montana Forestry School in
May 1996 for a thesis on sustainable development in the Highlands and Islands
of Scotland. I also have a basic
biology undergraduate degree from the University of Montana, where I focused
on conservation biology and related human socio-political systems. My first
careers were in military aircraft engineering and mountain rescue, as a
member of the Royal Air Force, 1978-1985. Trained as one of the RAF’s famous “engine
fitters,” I use my engineering and shop-instruction skills a good deal in my
work with renewable energy. I am also a self-taught builder and small farmer. Here
at Unity College I teach courses in
human ecology and environmental sustainability, in economics, and in
environmental policy, and perform basic and applied research and service work
in the related fields of energy efficiency, renewable energy, climate change
mitigation, regional economics and planning. As
the world unfolds in the 21st century, climate change is shaping
up to be the preeminent sustainability problem, while renewable energy and
energy efficiency are the obvious solution. As can be seen from the photo
above, I am very interested in renewable energy and energy efficiency and so
are a lot of my students. All students who take our basic class in
environmental sustainability learn about these things. Many students go on to
work in sustainability after they graduate. My
teaching aim is to instill an awareness of the theories of ecology (applied
to humans), sustainability, and ecological economics and their consequences
in my students; also to encourage actions to make the US economy more
sustainable and the world a better place. My personal hope is that students
will go on to make a difference. The
main purpose of this web site is to allow students in my classes to access
the various handouts and other documents for each course, hopefully saving
paper in the process. Links are also provided to web pages that are
interesting or helpful to the courses. If it pleases, you can also look at
some of my not-so-scientific essays and other odd musings. My partner Aimee Phillippi, also a Unity College
faculty member, and I have a very small farm, and if you like small farms,
there are pictures if you follow the links to the left. I
am also the faculty advisor for the Unity College Search and Rescue Team, and
occasionally I post rescue-related newsletters, bulletins, or pictures here
on the team blog. You can also
access our college sustainability homepage
here. |
