|
Back to Previous Page
Core Faculty, Center for Creative Change
Summary of Education and Relevant Experience
A.A.S., Montgomery County Community College of Pennsylvania; B.A., West Chester University; M.S.W., University of Pittsburgh; Ph.D., University of Tennessee.
Scherch's background is as diverse as his current pursuits. He is a returned Peace Corps volunteer (Jamaica, 1991–93) with graduate degrees in social work and career experience in clinical counseling and therapy, child protective services, social justice advocacy and activism and community organizing. His current work focuses on themes of social and environmental justice, ecological design and sustainable community development. Visit his website at www.designtrek.net.
Core faculty at AUS since 1998 and former Director and Chair of the Environment and Community program, Scherch's earlier work focused on studies of bioregionalism and related social, economic and environmental contexts. More recently, his work leads around the world — into Tibetan refugee settlements in India, into bamboo forests in China and into slum communities in Bangladesh. In 2006-07, he completed a 7-month sabbatical in China, teaching and conducting collaborative inquiries on bamboo resource systems for sustainable development at Zhejiang Forestry University. Click here and listen to an interview on his research in China. 
He presently directs the development of Pacific Bamboo Resources, an institute involvinginternational collaborators, AUS students and graduates, and interns focusing on innovations for emerging bamboo economies in the Pacific Northwest and internationally, that advance carbon ethics and climate recovery, ecological restoration, and sustainable livelihoods. Scherch and his PBR team were finalists for the prestigious 2009 Buckminster Fuller Challenge.
For a decade or more, Scherch has taught annual Permaculture and Sustainable Systems Design courses for urban and rural communities in the Pacific Northwest and internationally. Students learn and apply their robust, integral designs for sustainable living at their homes and in their communities. Having designed and installed his solar electric PV system at home, along with rainwater harvesting, food gardens and other features, Scherch shares  with students his experiences at practicing what he teaches. Scherch's home was a site for the 2009 ASES National Solar Home Tour hosted by Solar Washington.
Read about Scherch's travel to India
(pictured right) in July 2009 at the invitation of the Tibet Government-in-Exile to analyze the state of organic farming in the refugee settlements.
 Left: Scherch works with students during a recent "rooftop buildshop" on the development of space-efficient, portable grow boxes for easy urban gardening.
Building on interests of appropriate technologies and social adaptations, Scherch is also a licensed Extra-Class amateur radio operator (KK7PW), an Accredited Volunteer Examiner for new license testing, and a volunteer for the Auxiliary Communications Service (www.seattleacs.com), within the City of Seattle's Department of Emergency Management.
Affiliations
- Program Vice President, Society for Ecological Restoration, Northwest
- Member, Northwest Ecobuilding Guild
- Member, Solar Washington
- Member, American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association
- Affiliate, International Network for Bamboo and Rattan
- Member, International Organization for Biotechnology & Bioengineering
- Member, Auxiliary Communications Service, City of Seattle,
Emergency Management
- Member, Seattle/Western Cascade Tree Fruit Society
- Founding member, Board of Directors, Climate Solutions
- Former board president, Sustainable Pierce County
- Former board president, Tahoma Food Systems
Recent Publications
Scherch, J. (forthcoming). Sustainability in Exile: Tibetan Refugees Pioneering Food and Farming Futures. Video documentary portraying collaboration on sustainable agriculture innovations with Tibetan government-in-exile and refugee settlement communities. Online: www.sustainabilityinexile.org
Scherch, J. (2011). "Getting the Word Out on Sustainability Innovations – via Amateur Radio Communications." In Christopher Mare & Max Lindegger’s (Eds.) Designing Ecological Habitats: Creating A Sense of Place. Hampshire, UK: Permanent Publications. ISBN: 978-185623-061-2.
Scherch, J. (2009). "Whither Our Embrace of Bamboo: Observations from Forest, Farm, and Factory." International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability, 5(4).
Scherch, J. (2008). Poverty Alleviation and Urban | Rural Reciprocities: Designing, Learning, Collaborating for Eco-City Dhaka, Bangladesh. For EcoCity World Summit 2008, San Francisco, CA, April.
Scherch, J. (2008, 2004, 2000). Riverton: Envisioning a Sustainable Community. In D. Fauri, S. Wernet & F.E. Netting's (Eds.) Cases in Social Work Macro Practice, 3rd Edition. New York: Allyn & Bacon. ISBN: 0-205-49847-5.
Scherch, J. (2006). From Rhizome to Renaissance: Engaging Integral Bamboo Systems for Sustainable Development. International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability, 2(4). Paper presented at Annual Conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, January, 2006.
Scherch, J. (2005). Sustainability in Exile: Envisioning Permanent Culture in Tibetan Refugee Settlements. International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability, 1(1). Paper presented at Annual Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, February, 2005.
Scherch, J., Fraser, T., Lee Bradley, A. & Nolt, J. (2005). "Models of Sustainability." In John Nolt's (Ed.) A Land Imperiled: The Declining Ecological Health of Southern Appalachia. Knoxville University of Tennessee Press. ISBN: 1-572-33326-X.
Professional Interests
- At-risk and environmental refugee populations
- Climate change, peak oil transitions and implications for Social Work
- Integrated resource systems and appropriate technologies
(i.e., food security, renewable energies, green building design, etc.)
- Interdisciplinary education and curriculum design
On Interest Area
"I aspire to do what R. Buckminster Fuller envisioned: 'To make the world work for 100 percent of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.'"
On Teaching at Antioch
"Like my Peace Corps experience, 'the toughest job you'll ever love.' An enterprise of rigorous and vigorous fun."
Contact Information
Center for Creative Change
206-268-4908
Jonathan Scherch
206-268-4710
E-mail
|
