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Teaching children about sustainability
http://www.schumachercollege.org.uk/learning-resources/teaching-children-abou...
all out of date but just putting this here as part of my collection on educating children about sustainability
Teaching Children About Sustainability
SCHUMACHER COLLEGE An International Centre for Ecological Studies TEACHING CHILDREN ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY Caroline Walker, who taught (and cooked) for years at the Small School, Hartland and facilitated the first Roots of Learning course and wrote of her experiences. Listening to participants at the introductory session, I became aware of the range of experiences, ages and backgrounds being brought together – teachers from private schools, from referral units, from urban primaries and rural secondaries, and artists working in the community; experienced educators alongside teachers in training and the newly-qualified. I felt keenly the responsibility of helping each person get what they wanted from the course and ensuring coherence and continuity between the learning experiences offered by the various tutors. Little did I know that my most difficult challenge would be getting participants to tear themselves away from their animated conversations at coffee breaks! Our first day saw us outside most of the time, with Jon Cree from Bishopswood. An experienced practitioner of Earth Education, Jon took us through a series of activities in the grounds and woodland around Schumacher College. We walked with our eyes in the sky, made up a poem about a tree, we showed each other pictures in a stunning natural ‘gallery’. Later that day we walked up to Park School, where we saw how they use their grounds to enhance the children’s learning. Sue Clifford on day 2 talked of the work of Common Ground, an organisation which celebrates local distinctiveness. In a beautiful series of images she convinced us of how precious are the, in a sense, ordinary things people value about the place they live. Common Ground invented Apple Day, when communities can raise awareness of local varieties of apple – and other fruit – and help to keep traditional skills and knowledge alive. Schools can play a vital role in this and Common Ground has encouraged many schools and local communities to plant apple trees and care for them. Fired by Sue’s enthusiasm we went off after lunch to plan Apple Days at our various places of work. Participants had the chance to talk about their work each evening and also to do a short presentation at the morning meeting. Perhaps the most effective of these was Ganesh’s demonstration of how to make a flower holder/bird feeder out of willow. He had thoughtfully brought a bundle of willow and some jigs, and we watched spellbound as he transformed five willow wands into a thing of beauty; immediately everyone wanted to try. From then on at almost any time during the course someone was sitting in the hall weaving willow. A perfect example of teaching and learning at its best. Prue Leith arrived preceded by her reputation as a great cook and campaigner for good food in schools. She told us about the RSA’s Focus on Food campaign, informed us about an innovative scheme to get children to eat more fruit and vegetables (check out the Food Dudes) – and then made us cook. Twenty-five teachers all trying to make fresh pasta and foccaccia dough in the Schumacher dining room was a sight to see, and some of us were too faint hearted to venture into the kitchen itself where sharp knives flashed and soup, sauce and salads materialised as if by magic. Mary Tasker (chair of the Human Scale Education Movement) came on Day 4 to underpin our learning with a very necessary academic framework. Unless we know where our modern worldview comes from, how can we understand the power of the modern (and post modern) paradigms that shape (or will shape) our lives? Mary also explained to us the Reggio Emilia system of nursery teaching that has impressed so many educators around the world. Another fine afternoon drew us to work outside in groups on putting principles into practice. On the final morning, Wendy gave us a proverb which neatly mirrored the themes of our days to take away – “if you want to invest for a year, plant rice; if you want to invest for ten years, plant an orchard; if you want to invest for a hundred years, invest in education”. Caroline Walker April 2002 Courses in 2002/3 : THE ROOTS OF LEARNING: EDUCATION, ECOLOGY AND IMAGINATION Lindsay Clarke & John Moat October 27-November 1, 2002 Although we live in a time when education seems to be all about imparting information, it is actually through the imagination that children and adults perceive and interpret our world. This course examines the vital role of the imagination in educating both the self and others for a whole sense of life. Through writing and other creative forms of expression, participants will develop their own capacity to work with the imagination in ways which open up on wider educational and ecological concerns. This course follows a TANDEM model (the Teachers and Artists Alliance), providing an opportunity for teachers to work with experienced artists within the context of Schumacher College’s ecological perspective. Lindsay Clarke is author of The Chymical Wedding and most recently Parzival and the Stone from Heaven. He was a teacher for 18 years, is Associate Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Cardiff, and runs writing workshops in Bath and London. John Moat is a poet and novelist, and was one of the co-founders of the Arvon Foundation. He also helped set up, and teaches for, TANDEM (the Teachers and Artists Alliance). THE ROOTS OF LEARNING: DESIGNING A SUSTAINABLE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT Eileen Adams, Matt Dunwell, Peter Harper & Mark Letcher April 12-17, 2003 A bewildering array of technologies and techniques are now available to make buildings and grounds function more ecologically – from windmills to living machines, permaculture gardens to solar panels. This course brings together experts in the areas of alternative technologies, sustainable energy systems, and landscape design to discuss ways that schools can apply these methodologies in ways that are affordable, practical and educationally valuable. Eileen Adams is an educational consultant who works with Learning through Landscapes www.ltl.org.uk and specialises in helping involve all school members in the design process. Matt Dunwell is one of the leading permaculture designers in the UK. He founded Ragmans Lane Farm www.ragmans.co.uk, an established permaculture farm which has been used as a teaching venue for nine years, and has been developed to demonstrate a wide range of permaculture systems. Peter Harper was originator of the term “alternative technology” and is Head of Research and Innovation at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales www.cat.org.uk Mark Letcher is Manager of Research and Implementations at the Centre for Sustainable Energy in Bristol www.cse.org.uk, a nationally recognised centre of excellence for sustainable energy policy and practice. For more information about Schumacher College and its courses, please contact : The Administrator, Schumacher College, The Old Postern, Dartington, Totnes, Devon, TQ9 6EA. Tel : +44 (0)1803 865934 Fax : +44 (0)1803 866899 Email : admin@schumachercollege.org.uk Website : www.schumachercollege.org.ukFavourite Photographers: Yann Arthus-Bertrand
Everyone likes this one. He's been documenting our planet and people for years and his photos are life-affirming, shocking, breath-taking.He also founded a not-for-profit organisation devoted to sustainability.
http://www.goodplanet.org/en/
www.yannarthusbertrand.org
The carbon footprint of the art world's Biennale industry
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As I work on a project about Venice's Art Biennale, I'm thinking about what a massive carbon footprint it has. For those not in the know, the art biennale which happens every 2 years in Venice is the world's oldest, and has spawned a whole industry of biennales all over the world - Istanbul, Manifesta, Documenta, being just some. Thousands of art lovers and critics and artists and Venice lovers from all over the world converge on the water-logged city, planeload after planeload, private jets galore; and of course let us not forget the environmental impact of the transportation of the artworks themselves.
To get to the Venice biennale, particularly in the stressful-sounding opening week when you just HAVE to be seen at all the parties, is arguably the hottest ticket in the art world's calendar. Millions of pounds gets pumped into these exhibitions, and the spectacular nature of the event is fueled by the stage within which it exists - Venice itself, cultural crossroads of the globe, steeped in centuries of cutting-edge art, architecture and historical significance. The media go wild. But it all feels a bit exclusive and elitist. Who really goes? What proportion of the world is actually helped by spending all this money and creating all these carbon emissions?
Traditionally organised by national pavilions, the number of countries exhibiting this year is around 77, many of which have no designated pavilion in which to exhibit. These are the later entrants to the art scene - forced to exhibit elsewhere in a spare palazzo in a far flung corner of Venice rather than in the coveted Giardini or Arsenale. Sometimes they end up lucky - the Comorros Islands, represented by Italian artist Paolo Tamburella (an old friend of mine from Rome incidentally), couldn't even get a patch on land to exhibit, but was allotted a patch of water - which is right next to the Giardini entrance. Paolo catches the eye of the visitor immediately drawing attention to their exclusion, with a crumbling Comorros old boat, banned by Comoros authorities in favour of modernisation - on which rests a modern cargo container. So the Comorros Islands get some attention. But what if all this money was instead spent on the poorer countries to help local artists and galleries? It might get spread around a little better.
The jostling for exhibition space by competing nations, around Venice, just shows how significant these countries think it is to be included in the Venice Biennale, which demonstrates the globalisation of the art world in many ways.
The Biennale's strength is that it breaks the dominance of the western European and American art scene so that we hear and see a more diverse range of voices, in turn bringing a new range of political, social and economic issues to the world's attention. But the negative is perhaps that it ain't cheap, and perhaps fosters gentrification, it is an industry like any other with certain political and economic imperatives, and of course my original point - the environmental impacts are gi-normous.
Children's books on climate change
I'm interested in how the kids are being taught about climate change through story-telling and tales, so I'm looking out for any books coming out on the market. I haven't got any time to devote to this but I'm going to start collecting a list here when I come across any:(with reviews or synopsises if I find them)
1) "‘Hope and the Super Green Highway’ is Helen Moore’s brilliant page turning sequel to ‘Hope and the Magic Martian’. The author cleverly weaves together evocative facts about Nature from around the world with the web-surfing lifestyle of today’s children. The appearance of an exotic tropical tree frog in a box of bananas sets Hope off on a quest to learn more. The efforts of her internet pen pal, Cloud Boy, to protect his tropical rainforest inspire her and her grandmother to take steps to look after their own local, badly littered and dangerous wood. By setting this gripping story in a time when carbon is traded with ‘Ice Caps’, Helen Moore gives a glimpse of how life could be when fuel is rationed and the cost of food reflects the miles it’s travelled. Warm, intelligent, inspiring and thought provoking, this story is ideal for children from 8 to 12. It should be in every primary school. The meaning of this tale is in the heroine’s name. This is a story that gives hope, something that we all need right now."
review by- Eric Maddern, storyteller and children's author
2) a teenage fiction book called 'The Carbon Diaries 2015' by Saci Lloyd.
What struck me as a strong point of this book is that it gives a glimpse of what would happen if the government suddenly imposed carbon rationing upon people who had previously not made any of their own journeys into Transition. There are those who believe that carbon reductions should all be done at government level and then implemented downwards (the 'they will solve it' way of thinking). This book really highlights why that will not work, and although the book chronicles hard times as the characters all adapt with having to get by with less of everything, it is ultimately not cynical and hopeless. (Jane - member at Transition Network)





