The theme of this year’s conference is the Global Politics of Food and Water, and on Saturday, February 22, eight Unity College students, together with students from the College of the Atlantic and the University of Maine at Orono, will take part in a student-led World Café event entitled “Local Politics of Food & Water: The Global Connections”.

Unity College has previous ties with the Camden Conference through Professors John Zavodny and Doug Fox, both of whom have served the conference in various ways throughout the years. This year however is the first time that the College has been asked to be an active participant in the event, and Unity is pleased to be able to take an active role.

Organizers of the Camden Conference saw the need for more involvement of college students, and this year faculty and students from Unity College, College of the Atlantic, and the University of Maine at Orono will facilitate conversations about the implications of our local practices on the global politics of food and water in a World Café setting.

Participants in the discussions will take what they learned from the conference and offer responses to several themes including: thoughts on the future of food and water; important aspects of the politics of food and water; and what ideas and actions can we take on both local and global levels that could diminish the current inequalities of food, wealth and governance. The final question of this World Café session will be “Where do we go from here?” which will certainly open up to a lively dialogue.

Crista Straub, Unity College Assistant Professor of Human Ecology, is the representative faculty member for the College serving on the Camden Conference Education Committee.

“This is an amazing opportunity for Unity students to be involved with an internationally recognized organization that offers a forum for important discourse on global and local issues,” said Crista Straub. “It is a chance for them to actively participate in a very relevant and critical conversation about the sustainability of two of our basic needs for living: food and water. Our students will come away from the event with the invaluable experience of offering their own ideas as well as learning about other methods on how we can work together on potential solutions for issues of sustainability.”

About the World Café

The World Café methodology is a simple, effective, and flexible format for hosting large group dialogue. It is a powerful social technology for engaging people in conversations that matter, offering an effective antidote to the fast-paced fragmentation and lack of connection in today’s world. Based on the understanding that conversation is the core process that drives personal, business, and organizational life, the World Café is more than a method, a process, or technique – it’s a way of thinking and being together sourced in a philosophy of conversational leadership.

(source: theworldcafe.com)

Local Politics of Food & Water: The Global Connections takes place from 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm in The Pilgrim Room at the Camden Congregational Church, located at 55 Elm Street in Camden. For more information, please visit the Camden Conference website.