RETRACE meeting @ IUB

Last week,  The Environmental Demography Network team welcomed our RETRACE Project collaborators from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and Université Paris-Saclay to Indiana University Bloomington. We spent two days in meetings on campus, focusing on how to build local and cultural resilience into decision-support tools for Arctic and Pacific communities.

Following the meetings, we took the team on a field trip to Orange County to see rural resilience in practice, sponsored by the Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement. Our hosts, Bob and Debbie Turner, put together a rich itinerary focused on rural economic development and food systems. A few highlights from the trip:

• Learning about the community partnerships behind Liberty Gardens from Ashley Frank.
• Visiting with the Schwartzentrubers Amish community to understand their farming, woodworking, and way of life.
• Discussing rural self-sufficiency over lunch at the Lost River Co-op (https://lnkd.in/ghhB8hZP).
• Walking through the Paoli community gardens and touring the historic West Baden Springs Hotel (https://lnkd.in/gN7TZT4K).

It was a great week connecting our international research with local community practices right here in Indiana.
Project details: https://lnkd.in/gbX6yHzV