The study of islands begins at home, but it clearly doesn’t end there.  Vashon College has become a partner in the Global Islands Network (GIN), a consortium of several hundred small islands of the world.  The purpose of the consortium is to understand internationally what it means to live on an island.

The Global Island Network operates as a collaboration of many organizations interested in the welfare of small islands.  Sponsoring agencies include the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (keeper of the endangered species list), UNESCO,The United Nations Environment Program, and a number of worldwide universities that pursue research into small island cultures and environments.  Annual conferences of island representatives are held to study and respond to the special issues common to small islands.  Further information is available at the GIN website, globalislands.net.

Most small islands have problems like those facing Vashon.  Water is scarce and must be carefully managed.  Energy must be husbanded sustainably.  Transportation of goods and people is expensive and inconvenient.  Governance and policies are determined by mainland agencies with little understanding of island needs.

Environmental and wildlife issues are a focus of GIN. Over the past four hundred years, ninety percent of the birds that have become extinct were species native to islands. Figures for mammals and plants are similar.  Small islands are fragile environments, and their creatures live at high risk of disappearing.  The United Nations Environment Program has recognized this problem, and is one of Vashon’s partners in GIN addressing the issue of global island extinctions.

Vashon Island has an opportunity to become one of fifty “Green Islands” recognized by GIN and the UN.  In order to qualify, Vashon must complete a case study of ecological sustainability on our island.  Vashon College will offer a research seminar on Island Studies in the Spring of 2009 to begin this work.  A description of the seminar is available on the Vashon College website at vashoncollege.org.

Faculty for the Vashon College seminar on Island Studies will be Joseph Meeker and Glenda Pearson.  Meeker is a human ecologist and a 25-year resident on Vashon who holds a Ph.D. in comparative literature with a master’s and postdoctoral studies in wildlife ecology and comparative animal and human behavior.  Glenda Pearson is a librarian with a Master’s in Library Science.  She is head of the Microfilm and Newspaper Collections at the University of Washington Libraries and is the UW Subject Librarian for Cinema Studies, Comparative Literature, Hellenic Studies and Human Rights.

By partnering with GIN, Vashon Island is now part of a worldwide effort to understand and to protect the special features of island life.  Although it is now global in scope, our work will begin here at home.  Islanders are welcome to participate in this effort by contacting Vashon College.