Earth Education is a response to the Earth's environmental crisis.
It is about:
- enriching our lives through getting closer to nature,
- using the intellect, the senses, and the emotions to develop, discover and express our own relationship to the earth
- creating an educational, and social space in which these things are given great value
- removing the layers of disguise which hide our impacts on the earth
- and developing sustainable life styles informed and inspired by nature
It is not funded by corporations or moulded by governments.
Earth Education UK website:
http://www.earthed.org.uk/
This is from the above web site:
Earth Education is….
…the process of helping people to live
more harmoniously with the natural world by…
- Understanding how ecosystems work
- Developing a long lasting love and respect for the Earth and its life-forms
- Reducing their own impact on its natural resources
…a carefully crafted series of learning experiences which …
- Motivate and pull the learners in
- Emphasise major ecological understandings
- Involve exciting tasks that are both 'hands on' and 'minds on'
- Weave activities together with a clear, easily remembered formula to aid comprehension and retention
- Transfer the learning tasks to both school and home by developing good environmental habits.
According to Steve Van Matre who began the Earth Education movement, teaching environmental responsibility should be akin to teaching literacy. We do not leave literacy to chance. It is a skill we want the learner to acquire because it empowers him or her to function in society. So we methodically, make sure it happens. (Ideally, literacy and numeracy should not be taught not too young, in my opinion, and there are more and less progressive ways of doing it.)
The same should apply to our understanding of the earth's life support systems, and how we interact with them, and how we can measure and account for our own impacts, and how we can live more sustainably.
This should be a core part of the curriculum,
It should be conveyed, experienced, and discovered by the learner, through carefully thought-through sequential learning stages.
Sadly it is not. It depends greatly on the interest and motivation of teachers.
These things can be learnt at any age. Perhaps their greatest power is with adult learners.
We should ask that people understand certain very basic things about how the earth works. In Earth Education they are are conveyed in a very fun and hands on way, through physical participatory modelling of processes. An example of this would be when the children act as chlorophyll spies to see inside the 'leaf factory', in order to understand photosynthesis.
These are some of the basics that we should all know, in order that we can see the reasons for decisions that are sustainable. For example, having a concept of molecules and carbon dioxide, gives us a clearer idea of how and why to reduce carbon emissions.
Some of the basics of how life works that Earth Ed conveys are as follows:
- Sunlight energy powers life: Having been captured by photosynthesis in the leaves of plants it 'flows' along a food chain, when eaten by herbivores, and from them to carnivores as they in turn are eaten.
- All the matter that life uses is recycled over and over again: the materials of life are broken back down into their constituents. These atoms and molecules last forever. The same ones that were in dinosaurs are in us.
- All living things and the materials of the earth are connected through food chains, cycles and evolutionary inheritance. That is why we are in an interconnected world, it has been this way for several billion years. Processes in one area can affect the entire system. Nothing is isolated.
- These connections sustain life, for example by providing the air we breath, by forming networks of roots in bogs and forests that retain water and soil.
- Our actions affect these processes, especially now that there are 7 billion of us. We can only expect the life support systems to continue if we act in ways that nurture those systems.
'Earth Ed' (as it is known) has become a community of practitioners across the world, that belong to the Institute for Earth Education.
It was initiated by Steve Van Matre in the USA in the 1970's.
I have been involved on and off since 1992, when I went on my first Sunship Earth camp.
Sunship Earth:
Spirit
A spiritual relationship to the earth is very important in my view. By that I mean the sense of wonder, mystery, and awe in something larger than ourselves, yet which we are a part of. I do not mean anything beyond that in terms of deities, or different faiths. But for some people it can be an extension of their faith as a celebration of |God's creation.
But in Earth Education we do not refer to spiritual or mystical aspects. These can be brought alive by the individual in their own time, having been inspired by earth education activities that bring them closer to nature, and hence themselves. It is best not to be explicit as this can alienate people, who do not wish that to be part of it, or see a threat to their own beliefs.
Science
But at the same time, I feel the need to root our practical conclusions in the realm of evidence, that is achieved through agreed methods, shared in a community of practitioners who are dedicated to being honest, truthful and fair. This community is the scientific community. However, science can be easily lead astray, people are drawn to funding streams that are dictated by powerful interests. Therefore, science is not value free. It is full of values. Therefore they should be stated. An ethic needs to be drawn up to show the values that motivate the scientist.
Science and Spirit as one
The connection between these two things, is important. The motivation that makes someone study the details of dragonfly behaviour, or the dance of sub-atomic particles, is surely a huge sense of awe and wonder at our universe. The purpose of scientific enquiry, as expressed by Goethe was to get closer to nature. I love that definition of science. Never mind the utilitarian aspects, this is an act of worship, of celebration.
I like the tone of Goethe on science. He sought to bring art and science together.
I feel that he would also see the negative aspects of some scientific work, even though they were not evident in his age. Take for example, genetic engineering, which has consequences we are not yet sure of. Anyone who loves the planet we live on will surely say, that the precautionary principle is vital. If there is a chance that we could unleash a problem, then let us 'hold our horses'. At the same time there is a problem with the massive use of resources, into an an area of science, like the large hadron accelerator, or exploring Mars, when we have massive sustainability and justice problems on the earth. Surely an ethical scientist (such as David King) will say: we need to direct science to solving these problems, or we cannot even hope to have a future on this planet.
I have had some adverse responses when I mention Earth Ed: such as:
- ''It's out there'' - meaning 'way out' I suppose,
- '' It is against naming individual species'' - Well, not quite. What it proposes is that the old fashioned nature walk, in which the guide reals off a list of names, as you progress, is counter productive. Names can be alienating, especially Latin names. Names should be used when learners want to know the name of something, when relevant, and alongside observation, description, interaction.
Names can be part of the relationship between the person and the creature, of course; but it is exactly that meaningful relationship that we are building. The role of the creature, how it excites us, are crucial. The name is just a part of that, but it then provides a 'hook' to hang all these experiences on. The species list with which a conservationist describes a site is but a short hand for a hugely complex relationship that the expert has with the environment. She hangs a whole world of knowledge and experiences onto the hook that is the name. But with young leaners and the non specialist, we have to nurture and build that relationship. They have nothing to go on the hook yet, so it is no good just giving them that.
- ''Earth Ed is environmental games isn't it?'' Firstly we don't call the activities games, as that makes them seem less serious. Games in the natural environment are great of course. But Earth Ed uses activities sequentially to build a complex experience. They are carefully planned and thought through.
- ''Earth Education is too prescriptive. It does not allow for much time being individually creative.''
Well, earth ed does not propose to be a complete educational package , like steiner or montessori education. It aims to lay a ground work in respect of the workings of the biosphere, whilst further time in art and exploration of the world, can be pursued afterwards. Earth ed programmes are quite short: a day, or three at the most.
in which we experience nature more personally and closely, and gives us a foundation of the large concepts about life processes. It is possible to develop concepts, which are a framework, and to later fill that framework, as knowledge grows, with the details. It is also possible to have intense and close knowledge of nature without knowing some of the bigger picture. For example a hunter gatherer has the most detailed knowledge of their bio region, but will not have a concept of cycles on a global level, say. I think we need both such
- '' Earth Education focuses on concepts that are too difficult for learners to grasp with the level of knowledge and experience they have of the world.''
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