Education
As an Educator I am in a continuous process of learning from the field
The city as a class room
Most of my life I lived and worked in vibrant cities such as São Paulo, New York, London, Paris, Edinburgh and experienced cities with their unique rhetoric as places of self-discovery and transformation.
I have seen cities grow and become innovative as well as dysfunctional in their blurred boundaries between the natural and built environment. As urban planner & practitioner I support cities to become environmentally benign organisms through circular processes and sustainable trajectories.
Migration as catalyst for emancipatory scenarios
One of my passions is working with women towards emancipatory scenarios which can transform oppressive matrices of structural power in an evolving, complex web of localised relations. During migration, possibilities and choices increase.
UN system alignment
I am a UNITAR Fellow and have served as CEO of CIFAL Findhorn/Scotland - a UNITAR Associated Training Center for a decade.
We hosted over 100 seminars addressing policy development and technical issues related to climate change, renewable energies, biodiversity, low-carbon housing, SDGs, circular economy, green jobs, transition towns, local food systems, hydrogen economy, sustainable islands and other themes.
Explore inspiring presentations which were ahead of its time.
Education for a living planet
Together with 23 ecovillage educators, social workers, economists and ecological designers I founded Gaia Education and served the organisation for many years of my professional life. Gaia Education works today with over 100 partner organisations in 55 countries.
Acceptance speech by May East upon receiving the Women of the Decade in Sustainability and Leadership Award at the Women Economic Forum
Learning as a social experience
While developing my competencies as educator, I have adopted Paulo Freire’s critique of the ‘banking’ model of education, which regards students as mere receivers of cognitive knowledge, devoid of creative impetus.
Creating participatory learning environments became my field of investigation and expertise. Classes are designed to ignite the fire of curiosity and learning happens as a social meaning-making exercise.