Student: Jordan McLuckie
Graduation date: May 2020
Type: Area of Interest (minor)
Date approved:
Go to concentration landing page
Summary
The outdoors has always been an important part of my life, and naturally, a desire to care for it. However, when I think of the current “green” movement and the climate change debate, I see the same issue re-occurring. There appears to be a disconnect between the scientists who research the data and draw conclusions about our environmental impact, and the citizens who are expected to act somehow upon that information. With so many different ideas on the severity of the situation, the actuality of the situation, and what kind of action is necessary, it seems unlikely we could ever come together in a successful effort to take care of our planet. A strengthening of the environmental education system, which would both empower citizens to critically think about our ecological situation, as well as standardize what has been scientifically found to be cold hard truth, seems to be our best hope.
When considering environmental education, I’m most interested in the way the language of the curriculum affects and inspires students. The education system of a particular place has a strong reflection on the environmental priorities of those people, and their abilities to transmit those priorities across generations (Dewey 2013). In such a multicultural, global world, we have an increasing need to balance the ideas presented by powerful groups through the education system with the perspectives of more marginalized peoples. James Banks discusses in his book the meaning of the phrase “citizenship education” and it’s definitional problems concerning those who are in the position to decide what is taught (Banks 1997). Within the education system, the way we present environmental dilemmas and the inherent bias we bring to the discussion also impact perception and action, which Andrew Stables discusses in his article and summarizes in the four categories of perception: the scientific realist, critical realist, postfoundationalist, and a relativist (Stables 2001).
With the young, multi-cultural urban atmosphere comes innovation, something that is relatively lacking in rural areas. These innovations have replaced some rural roles, such as farming and blue collar jobs outsourced to other countries. Education in rural areas is less comprehensive, there are fewer jobs to employ residents, access is limited, and the effects of urban sprawl into rural areas hinders the local government (Green, 2014). However, Paul Green also points out that rural residents are the holders of natural resources, thus an element not to be ignored (Green, 2014).
Because of the rural community I was raised in, I have a lot of thoughts on rural environmental education and awareness. Environmental education cannot be purely place-based. When the curriculum focuses exclusively on local ecology and climate effects, it shuts off discussion of our impact to the planet on a larger scale, and in doing so furthers the rural area bubble that already tends to exist. Somehow, education needs to be relevant on a local scale to be relatable to residents, but also translatable, and discussed on a global scale. Even residents of a village of 30 are members of a global society, and ignoring this detaches them from an actively anthropogenically changing planet.
In my mind, the carbon cycle presents an obvious entryway towards a solution to our climate problems. It is the biggest overarching dilemma permeating every other smaller climate issue we are faced with today — however, it is also a biogeochemical process the earth has undergone every second since life existed. Thus we are in a unique position, as modifiers of this natural process, to modify it once more, this time to the benefit of our planet. An article by ScienceMag.org discusses the fact that we currently have the technologies to help alleviate the carbon pressure we’ve put on the planet, “Humanity can solve the carbon and climate problem in the first half of this century simply by scaling up what we already know how to do” (Pacala, 2004). Essentially, the goal would be to stabilize the carbon output at a level below severely damaging to the planet, specifically 500ppm CO2. Though scientists would have to start researching as soon as possible how to maintain this concentration after the first 50 years, sequestering carbon in forest soils and sinks, as well as aggressively improving current green technologies already in place, we could significantly impact our climate in a short time (Pacala, 2004). Similarly, a report by the Dutch National Programme on Global Air Pollution and Climate Change also discusses carbon sequestration in the soil as a technique. In particular, the article focuses on best practice management for this technique, such as appropriate policies and environmental awareness when sequestering carbon (Batjes, 1999).
In Southeast Alaska, sustainable living with the luxury of modern accommodations is very difficult. Transporting fuel to power heating systems and equipment to improve infrastructure is costly and time-intensive. In rural areas, this problem is much worse. My community is only accessible by small bush plane or 3-hour ferry, both of which are subject to weather holds and cancellations frequently. Though many choose a subsistence lifestyle, hunting their own meat and picking berries from the copious bushes, a community of 800 would probably run dry the natural resources in the immediate area if everyone practiced subsistence exclusively, while maintaining the individualistic mindset of the average American. The cold and cloudy climate makes growing fruits and vegetables difficult, and the constant cold damp makes warm shelter a life-necessity. Environmental Education in rural areas is important to me as well because finding a sustainable solution for large-scale living in rural areas something we cannot ignore. It is much easier to power green energy in a city on a grid. In rural areas, however, it’s both easy to ignore the need to look towards green solutions and difficult to implement them.
In essence, I want my concentration to explore a different way of teaching environmental education in rural communities, where easier, traditional answers such as electric powered cars and LEED-certified buildings running on solar power don’t apply. I hope that alternative method includes a way for rural residents to think critically not just about their local ecological needs, but to continue to broaden that into a global context, understanding the impact of their actions on a larger scale.
References:
Banks, James A. 1997. Educating Citizens in a Multicultural Society. Multicultural Education Series. Teachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027 (paperback: ISBN-0-8077-3631-7; clothbound: ISBN-0-8077-3632-5).
Batjes, Niels. 1999. Management Options for Reducing CO2 Concentrations in the Atmosphere by Increasing Carbon Sequestration in the Soil.
Dewey, John. 2013. The School and Society and The Child and the Curriculum. University of Chicago Press.
Green, Gary Paul. 2013. “Sustainability and Rural Communities.” Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy 23:421–36.
Pacala, S., and R. Socolow. 2004. “Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem for the Next 50 Years with Current Technologies.” Science 305 (5686):968–72. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1100103.
Stables, Andrew. 2001. “Language and Meaning in Environmental Education: An Overview.” Environmental Education Research 7 (2):121–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504620123688.
Questions
Descriptive
- What does it mean to teach students environmental studies?
- What does it mean to use the geophysical qualities of the carbon cycle to our advantage?
Explanatory
- How does the prevalence of environmental education reflect the priorities of a particular society?
- How would rural communities influence environmental education curriculums?
Evaluative
- How should we adapt Environmental Education to Rural Regions?
- is it important and relevant that we use the carbon cycle as the content for Environmental Education in Rural Regions?
- How does the language of environmental education impact environmental action and perception?
Instrumental
- How do we make Environmental Education in Rural Regions translate to an impact outside of the local context?