0 Comments
I would like to create a program that creates an environmental (and perhaps ecological is a better term) culture within our youth, that will be able extend from the private schools to their rural counterparts in a manner that has a profound impact on each and every learner.
I have trialed a number of my ideas over the past few years through our various camps and the outdoor program that runs daily at the College, and I have found (not surprizingly) that students respond to the experiential and the concrete, not the abstract. For instance, showing footage or garbage island or statistics about our carbon footprint have very little impact because the children do not experience it first hand. Unless they wallow in the effects of a non-sustainable lifestyle, picking up litter is just not on their radar. It matters to them, but just not enough to be an ongoing, niggling bugbear. And this is difficult because we tend to compartmentalize things at schools when in fact, they are each connected. Hence my reference to ecology in my opening. The definition of ecology in Dr Ian McCallum's book, Ecological Intelligence is premised on relationships and this is the key to everything. Community service, for instance, has become the "buzz word" over the last ten years, and they foster the human relationship, but what is the ripple effect into other areas: the environment, economics, culture, etc? We cannot focus on the human imperative to the exclusion of everything else, because we are connected to everything else, and our individual and collective decisions have repercussions elsewhere. The problem is drawing awareness to all of this. Aligned with this is the ideal of students actioning conservation, as long as someone lights a fire under them. Students are not yet cynical; they have boundless energy and they feel like they can change the world. So I would like to provide the direction and guidance for them to do so. In this space, there must be a possibility for enabling students to be more involved in research. At the same time, the schooling system tends to be student-centred, instead of empowering students to use their knowledge and enthusiasm in a sphere that is greater than their own lives. Schools also have the privilege of longevity, which means that projects can be a legacy from one student to the next and possibly even one school to the next, with a huge body of awareness (and more importantly action) being built up over time. That could be immensely beneficial. Even if it is only for a brief moment, being able to contribute to our understanding of an ecological picture is humbling, because humanity does not know everything, and it is enriching because students will have a relationship in nurturing the future of their earth. This in itself is hugely impactful. Take something as for granted as the birds in Sandton. When my father grew up here, Grey Louries were unusual, and subsequently in my youth in the same areas, we did not see Cape Glossy Starlings. Now I have noticed an influx of Bronze Mannequins. Why? Is it because of climate change, habitat loss, Sandton alien forest or any number of factors. This example, albeit a very basic one, could answer many questions and create others of which we are unaware, because as long the project focusses on micro, macro, inter and intra relationships, knowledge and insight could be the end product. Imagine students with a culture of ecological awareness that fosters an ingrained and deep-seeded conviction to collaborate with the natural world. Students who tread like butterflies with sore feet because they understand their impact on their relationships with others and the environment. Imaging a space where tolerance is extended from person to person and person to nature. I came across this short documentary last night and I feel that it is something that deserves discussion.
We live in a society that encourages ego and isolation and personally, the environment is sometimes a priority, but one that exists at the back of my mind too often, where it should be foregrounding. I think that as a species, people do not realise the potential and influence of their interconnectedness. We segregate people, politics and the environment where we should be understanding that all of these form a global ecological fabric. Our decisions and indeed the actions of every species on the planet reverberates with repercussions, most of which we are oblivious. The documentary starts with an overview of the state of African Elephants, driven by Mike Chase (who I was lucky enough to meet a few times). In my conversations with him, trying to be devil’s advocate, I asked why we need to preserve these or any species. His response was because we know so little of their true value and the impact that their absence would have on us and on the globe. There are reasons for every creatures existence, and a ‘pay-it-forward’ effect on every other relationship in a universal scale. Examine rain forests, which produce so much moisture that they are responsible for a large portion of the globe’s weather. For them to exist, each species needs to do their part an occupy their own niche and for those species to exist, the ones just outside the rain forests need to occupy their ecological role and so forth. We disrupt these connections. So, enough rambling from me. Please watch this clip. Share it. Perhaps we can begin to foster a sense of relationship between us and our environment. Perhaps we could foster an ecological tolerance. Perhaps we could understand that ecology is not just about plants and animals, but about every single living and non-living thing. Perhaps we could enable our community to understand the repercussions of their actions so that they can tread lightly like butterflies with sore feet: http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2017/01/24/vanishing-sixth-mass-extinction-documentary-orig.cnn |
ContentSome thoughts about things, sometimes philosophical, sometimes just musings. The world through my eyes... Archives
March 2023
Categories
All
|