Dave Oakes

Dave (and his wife Sue) are the co-founders and co-directors of the Center for Ecological Living and Learning (CELL) – a program that offers life-changing sustainability education programs for students who believe that they can make a difference in the world: students who would like to play an active role in creating long-term solutions to problems facing our local and global communities and environment. The purpose of any CELL experience is to ignite a life-long commitment to living sustainably and to giving and receiving support for this commitment through community. During the course of a semester program, students learn about the concepts of sustainability and peace while living in eco-villages and learning from internationally recognized partners who are modeling how a “small group of committed people” can make a big difference in achieving local and global sustainability and peace. At the end of a CELL semester abroad program, students develop action plans that empower them to return home and employ what they have learned in their own lives and through implementing sustainability and peace initiatives in their own communities. This individual and collective action is at the heart of what CELL is all about!

Our desire to form CELL arose from a yearning to see a global mobilization toward systemic solutions to our planet’s problems and our work in Africa – where we saw the successes and failures of various environmental and development programs. Most importantly we learned what can happen when people are inspired to imagine infinite possibilities. Dave’s background includes a doctorate in environmental education, college teaching experience, and CEO experience leading several non profit organizations. Dave lives in Hope, Maine with his wife Sue and three wild-eyed offspring (Kateland, Sarah, and Jonathan) who want to inherit a healthy, peaceful, and anything is possible world.