Solutions to human-caused climate change necessitate better climate literacy. We believe a key aspect of being knowledgeable includes direct personal experience, observation, and a felt connection with the natural world. Mindful engagement is a conduit for preparing and cultivating the next generation of environmental stewards. Without felt, personally relevant, and meaningful experiences in nature, the likelihood of a strong conviction and commitment to environmental stewardship and advocacy is diminished.
The cornerstone for observing changes in the moment and over time is mindfulness. The genesis for nature connectedness is being mindfully awake and attentive to one’s surroundings, existence, and interaction with nature in the present moment. How easily we can fall into a mindless routine. Our hurried and overstimulated lives limit our ability to slow down, notice, and be fully present. Alas, the opportunity and capacity to connect in meaningful ways assume an attentive consciousness and presence for the current moment amidst a culture so prone to mindlessness and routine. These consequences are particularly problematic for children.
[M]erely exposing children to nature is often not enough. Their abilities to calm down, to focus, to clear their consciousness, to compassionately notice and care are also in need of cultivation, as are the abilities for respect and intrinsic valuation of nature. Without such abilities whatever experiences there are run the risk of dissolving into the continuous flux of “one thing after another” that characterise so much of modern life. (Pulkki et al. 2017, p. 216)
This current reality, coupled with limited opportunities for access to nature and a compromised ability to “be here now,” accentuates the value, need, and distinct opportunity for robust environmental education programs. This has motivated the implementation of mindfulness into our educational programs at The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment. We have current interpreter training programs, educational activities, and research and data collection opportunities in place. We utilize and explore mindfulness as a philosophy and methodology for connecting people to nature and enlivening the inner self as a site for environmental education.
Specifically, we offer educational activities that immerse children in extended nature exploration. The starting point is breathing exercises and centering as prerequisites for making keen observations. Included in the observations is a survey of one’s own body. How are you feeling physiologically and emotionally at the moment? We explore our sensory capabilities and engage our senses by understanding and appreciating animals’ dominant senses within our ecosystem – right here at Spring Lake. We try on our “owl eyes” and “deer ears” and enjoy the delicacy and dexterity of “raccoon touch.” With new awareness and skills, children find answers to research questions, understanding that their bodies and instincts can lead them to remarkable discoveries. Discoveries are captured through direct experience and are given salience and meaning by sharing and discussing their photographs, drawings, writing, and stories.
Human-caused climate change is happening. Understanding and experiencing it in our own lives and community is accentuated by honing our abilities to notice, nonjudgmentally, right now. Awareness that those changes are also personal, in so many ways, is a powerful pathway to cultivating engaged stewardship.
References:
Pulkkli, J., Dahlin, B., & Varri, V. M. (2017). Environmental education as a lived-body practice? A contemplative pedagogy perspective. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 51(1), 214−229.
Recommended resource:
Young, J., Haas, E., McGown, E., & Louv, R. (2010). Coyote’s guide to connecting with nature (2nd ed.). Owllink Media Corp.