Dukakis Center hosts Ruth Sutton of InCommOn for presentation on circular economy and urban community building

Ruth Sutton taught English and Civil Society at ACT from 2008-2017.  In this capacity she was a leading force at the Dukakis Center, overseeing two major projects in 2009-10 and 2010-11, the Recycle Monster and Street Kid to School Kid.

After departing from ACT she returned to her previous vocation in civil society, and has just recently been part of a team that launched a new civil society organization, InCommOn (Innovative Communities Onwards -- https://incommon.gr/). Despite the hardships caused by the national lockdown throughout much of 2020 and 2021, Ms Sutton and her colleagues have piloted three local projects, which she presented to ACT students via Google Meet on June 2.

One project aims to collect brewed coffee grinds from coffeehouses in the Anopoli neighborhood of Thessaloniki and in Kilkis, and transform the grinds into a kind of fuel which can be burned efficiently. A second project helps residents in local urban communities collect and process food waste as compost. Both projects combine community building, a circular economy, and environmental sensibilities.

InCommOn will welcome student volunteers once the lockdown has been fully lifted. Interested parties may communicate with Dr Wisner at the Dukakis Center.

This was the second seminar series presentation via teleconference of the spring 2021 term. Retired American diplomat spoke on his experience in Romania in the 1989 revolution on February 19.