The State of our State and the World it's within

If you were to read every blog I've written (not counting those angsty livejournal pages from High school), you would note a clear shift from environmentalist to doomsdayer. It's becoming increasingly difficult to put down my "Oh-shit, we're fucked" mindset and focus on the joys of nagging people to recycle one bottle at a time...especially in our current world. If you don't know what I'm taking about, pick up any newspaper.

The EPA being sued for violating clean air policy 
Massive Oil Spill in Indonesia

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These are just a couple headlines in the last few weeks.

I am fortunate in some ways to get to spend the Spring away from technology and news, hiking in remote public and private lands of Northwestern New Mexico with local students, sharing with them an appreciation for the Earth beneath their feet, and trying with all my might to instill a sense of wonder at this wholly-connected world we live in.
Despite my very full-time job leading and organizing camping trips, I have had some unique opportunities so far this year, to travel beyond those trips and gather beta on the depressing (my opinion) state of our future generations.

Some students on an adventure-focused trek 

REI's latest ad campaign states that Americans spend an average of 95% of their lives INDOORS. Despite constant evidence that, as animals, we are designed to be in and connect with nature, we seem to be increasingly ignoring this connection, and even causing harm to it. This is both promising and discouraging-- even heart-wrenching. Working in a field that promotes environmental literacy, there is a sort of capitalistic promise in that we are making positions like mine, and the knowledge I possess more scarce. But it won't matter how marketable my skills are when our mono-crops have failed, we've destroyed 25% of the Earth's diversity, and billions of people are fighting over privately owned water sources. See-- sustainability and politics/the hope of our future freedoms are more hand in hand that most of America believes, it seems.

Outside Magazine's most recent issue has an article explaining the pollution and mismanagement of Mt Everest. I think this is a beautifully horrifying metaphor for our use of the outdoors. Mt Everest is a microcosm of our use of nature. Find the biggest/baddest and conquer it, giving little thought to the impact of you doing so.  In the same magazine as the REI ad and the Mt. Everest article, there's a review of the movie Mountain. With our decreasing understanding of the Earth and how it's working, and the slow stripping away of our public lands, romantic places to relax and unwind will so soon be full of people and pollution.

This weekend I led a presentation for the Association of Experiential Education conference here in Albuqeurque. My topic was how to engrain Environmental Education into Outdoor Education because it came to my attention at the international conference in November, that they aren't the same thing. There are currently people earning degrees in Outdoor Leadership and Adventure Learning that don't have biology, ecology or environmental studies as a required course. They take students into the wilderness for days or weeks at a time, and don't know of the incredible contentedness of the ecology they're existing in. This is a huge problem.

I attended two education conferences this winter. At SXSW EDU in Austin last month, I stood in a room full of ways to connect students to new technologies, to teach circuit building and robotics. One company teaches through holograms-- allowing kids to "experience" new things. We are clearly on the verge of a futuristic world that I honestly don't want to live in. I was one of three organizations there that offered travel experiences, and the only one that does so unplugged. We are so obsessed with ensuring kids have the abilities to be 'connected' we have forgotten to connect them first with the earth beneath their feet.

My booth at SXSW

At the Montessori Conference in Denver, I was a little more enlightened. Inspired by the Rachel Carson quote,

 "If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adults who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in."

I was reminded that Montessori educators value nature, above most things, and students lucky enough to receive a Montessori education have greater environmental literacy than most. The conference was concurrent with the rallies for stricter gun control, which was inspiring to see. It is my understanding that most of what they are asking for is already in play in our legal system...but it was encouraging to see the turnout of families and adults and children of all ages.

Every day, I am grateful that I followed my heart toward a degree in Environmental Studies. And every day I am enraged that the people who make political decisions, educate our youth, and affect our daily lives did not obtain the same simple education. I am working HARD to ensure that everyone, at least in New Mexico, has some environmental awareness. But this fight is taking too long. At this rate, there will be little of our Mother Earth to fight for by the time we win. I am honestly afraid of what is to come. All I can do in the meantime is smell the flowers and wonder for how many years they will be able to bloom.

Want to test your "Environmental Literacy"? Here's a quiz with some basic questions EVERYONE should know.

That's what she said.

One of the daily rewards of my career is the insight into the unfiltered, curious and sometimes socially unaware brains of children. At the most stressful times they let slip a witty remark, an endearing observation, or just about anything inbetween. Unfortunately, I'm usually too deep in whatever task I'm doing to write them down, but here are a few of the gem's I've either taken time to note, or remembered through retellings. 

• [A Classic from when I worked at High Trails Outdoor Science School]
  Child: "Do you do this for the money, or because you love children?"
  I think I answered honestly, "Neither"
  
• After returning from the bathroom where he went to wash the mud off his hands, pre-k kid says: 

"I washed them like Bieber!"
"What?!"
His teacher interjects-- "like a Beaver- he was splashing like a beaver's tail.
Bummer, I wish he washed like Bieber. 

• Our speech about the rules and guidelines on our Base Camp property concludes with, 

"If you find a creature like a lizard, you're welcome to catch it and hold it, just be respectful of it, and put it back where you found it when you're done."

Second grade kid asks:

"If I find a Bobcat, I can hold it?"

Group leader: "If you catch a Bobcat, YES you can hold it"

• Me: "Rules of the Van- 1. Always have your seatbelt buckled. 2. No eating in the vans. 3. No screaming.
  Colton the Comedian: Rule 4. No Purple!
  Me: Um, yeah.
  Colton: and NO dark BLUE!
  Me: Um...YEAH!

•  Me: "What else does a mammal have all over it's body?"
  Child: "MEAT!"

On my last trip, though, a curious high-schooler asked a question that has stayed in my mind for weeks. 

I can't remember the exact words, but the gist was:

What made you choose to work outside? Instead of inside? Where most women work?

I was just so struck by this. Despite the fact that we were standing on the edge of a canyon looking down on a river below, having just hiked a mile to this look-out point, he seemed unfamiliar with this foreign "outside" world. I guess it struck me because his world seemed so binary: Inside = safe, familiar, fun; Outside=scary, dangerous, foreign, boring. I guess I've never thought of the world like that, or if I have, it's the total opposite. Inside= depression, complications, electricity, buzzing, confinement; Outside= simplicity, beauty, calm, discovery. 

The other part of his question struck me equally. He seemed amazed that as a woman I would brave the outdoors. I acknowledged the generalization of his question, but commented with my own sweeping generalization. "Actually, most of the people who work in my organization are women. It seems that where education and the environment are concerned, women (and white women at that) usually fit the bill. There are many men as well (usually white...), but men interested in the environment tend toward different jobs than education, it seems. 

So why am I a woman working outdoors? For the money? or the children? I work outdoors because it's fulfilling. Because I've never seen anyone in this line of work suffer from depression, or feel unfulfilled. Because I can get PAID to summit mountains and kayak, and teach people along the way. Because I can learn every single day (and I'm rewarded for that). Because I get to work with like-minded people, who are optimistic about the future, but concerned as well. Because I get to hang out with other people's children, teach them my values and beliefs in a fun way, and then give them back. Because my job makes me happy, and I would do it even if I didn't get paid (which is sometimes sort of true). 

Sitting in on a sit-up contest. 

I truly wonder what this generation is going to be like, as we transition into an "inside" culture. I overheard a woman telling her friend that this summer, she made her kids go outside for 15 minutes a day. The other mom responded that she kicks them out and locks the doors and they're lucky if they get to come in for dinner. But what are those kids doing? Not playing in the pond by their house, or exploring the deep recesses of woods in the back of the neighborhood. Because the pond is now a parking lot and those words are a home depot. They probably just walked to their friends house where they can sit on the couch playing video games about going outside. 

In a lot of futuristic movies, there are sky-rise apartments and flying cars. Whenever I see these, I wonder if there are any parks to visit...or what the world below looks like. I'm starting to worry that those futuristic scenes aren't so far off.