120 people from 24 countries met, connected, and smiled in the first adventurous online seminar experience of IES. The virtual seminar entrance hall was a tropical forest, in honor of what was supposed to be the headquarters of the 2021 conference scheduled in Brazil.
The engagement was dynamic as it brought together students from the 8 IES schools active in Europe and South America, people interested in Ecopsychology, and people from different geographical and professional backgrounds. All participants were united by a vision that reconnects earth and sky, the work of personal growth, and that of social and environmental commitment. The conference especially attracted people who share trust in a new profession, born in the context of IES: the Ecotuner – a facilitator of the reconnection with nature.
By working with self-knowledge and cultivating ecological relationships in groups, the conditions are set for recognizing oneself as part of a wider network of interconnections; accompanying to attend and feel nature as something alive, the doors of the deeper perception of oneself and one’s neighbor, human and non-human, are opened.
This is the very broad framework in which the ecotuner operates, with all its pre-existing professionalism, creativity and intuition, to respond to the call received. “Nature speaks through the most sensitive among us”, says ecopsychologist Sara Conn.
Let’s go back to our online conference; at the beginning we all had a moment of disorientation, before understanding how to enter, where to go, how to connect the audio with the voice of the translators, but after a while we did it and the three big trees directed each one to the desired goal: the majestic samauma, the shining ipè and the fascinating jacaranda, three typical trees of the tropical habitat in which we would have preferred to find ourselves in person. But it is also true that not everyone could have faced the actual journey and the online edition has allowed a large turnout from many different countries.
It was a complex challenge, that of the realization of this conference which actually involves participants of 4 different languages and not always, in this first edition, we were able to give prominence and translation to everyone. It was a first time for us too!
If you are already an ies member you will receive via email the link and instructions to enter and see or review the different moments of the conference. Here you will find the link to the program so you will know at which tree to find what you are looking for; https://ies.bio/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Program-ENG.pdf
If you are not yet an IES member we propose that you join “now” for 2022 – it is a special offer this year – so that you can enter the conference platform which will be active until mid-November 2021. You can associate from this link and this quota will also be valid for all of 2022: https://ies.bio/membership/
Welcome to the Community, the Earth needs you and you need the Earth!
