Table Of Content

F eature Opening Doors, Hearts and Minds Compiled by Andrea Foster Insightful, enlightening and eye-opening. This Food security and planting things are a priority is what comes to mind when I reflect on the — hyperactive kids calm down when they panel discussion, “Opening Doors, Hearts and work with plants in the soil. It’s like there is a Minds,” hosted at the 2006 annual COEO spiritual connection between children and soil. conference. We were fortunate to have four dedicated Torontonians share how they interpret Most of our science curriculum at Umoja outdoor environmental education and Learning Circle is based on environmental environmental education in what they do and studies. We believe a forest is more than “just offer suggestions as to how we might integrate a bunch of trees,” and is a community of their work in diverse urban communities. magnificent complexity. Children are given hands-on experience in learning about Tafari Anyika is the founder of Umoja ecosystems, respecting nature and wildlife, Learning Circle, a community-based African- recycling and environmental conservation and centred school at Islington and Albion. Yuga preservation. The Toronto and Region Juma Onziga is the founder of the Conservation Authority granted Umoja Environmental Centre for New Canadians Learning Circle access to an area of five square (ECENECA) — a non-profit organization city blocks at Eglinton and Albion Roads in working to promote nature-based learning Toronto to restore and preserve the land and with indigenous peoples of the world. Eduardo trees on this property right outside our Garay is a board member of FutureWatch — a school’s backyard. non-profit organization devoted to providing support, training and hands-on experiential Some of the ways in which we have become learning to build capacity and sustain part of the solution are by proactively community efforts. And finally, Alison Neilson participating in reducing waste, reusing is a professor of Education at OISE, University material, recycling items and restoring parts of of Toronto, and Environmental Studies and the environment. We have created birdfeeders, Environmental Sociology at Queen’s University. bird houses, indoor vermicompost bins, a living machine for our guppies, and a What follows is a summary of the panelists’ terrarium. We have planted a total of 100 rich presentations. — Andrea Foster native species per year for the past five years. We maintain a recycling centre on the Tafari Anyika, Umoja Learning Circle premises, practice urban agriculture by growing an intergenerational community Umoja Learning Circle is a private elementary vegetable garden, grow aquatic plants indoors school for 13 African–Canadian children, ages to be planted in our backyard pond in the 4–11, and is open Monday–Friday, 10 am to 4 spring and water our indoor plants with water pm. We receive funding from various from a rain water barrel. foundations and York University student volunteers are assisting in the grant writing Through exploration, children develop an process so we can keep afloat. The school — appreciation and love for working with the S Y an old house — is divided into a classroom, Earth. They investigate the interrelationships A W kitchen, dining room, library, computer room, from field to table between people and the H music room (every child has his/her own food they eat, and finally how they dispose of T A djembe drum), play/exercise room, dress-up the waste. We stress “overstanding” the P room, and an impressive grow lab. responsibility of working with the Earth so that the children can gain a sense of protecting 7 the environment through the experience of gardening. Opening Doors, Hearts and Minds Yuga Juma Onziga, Environmental Centre The ultimate goals of learning programs for New Canadians (ECENECA) among youth should be • to transform negative and destructive For the most part, environmental education attitudes of high risk youth, and identify and educators tend to focus only on the pathways for self-assessment and physical environment: air, water and soil/land empowerment issues. These environmental education programs • to implant employability skills (including have largely failed to meet the needs of several exposure to computer use, tutoring on communities, including visible minorities, academic skills, mentoring, community new Canadians, new immigrants, urban services) communities, low income communities and • to promote nature-based learning with Native American communities. It is important indigenous people of the world that environmental education begins to • to enhance life skills and rituals so that address these communities for several reasons. youth can become contributing members of society Firstly, there is the fundamental ethical issue • to implant critical skills among high risk of equity and fairness. All people should have youth access to relevant and meaningful educational • to encourage healing of the spirit. programs. By understanding demographic issues as social issues, the importance of Eduardo Garay, FutureWatch informed and active citizens on every block underscores the need for environmental FutureWatch was founded in 1993 by two education to reach these communities. graduates of the Faculty of Environmental Wouldn’t it be great if environmental education Studies at York University in Toronto: Debra reflected the diversity of our population? Kosemetzky and Philip Lucima. They envisioned the possibility of bringing Secondly, these communities have much to community leaders together in partnerships to teach us about our environmental education, find solutions to complex social, environmental science, cultural ways of knowing and and economic problems. traditional ways of teaching and learning. To believe that our environmental education FutureWatch partners with community leaders programs, largely grounded in Western and groups, both domestically and abroad, to science, are the only ways to teach and learn, collaborate on grassroots-based projects is to miss the richness of all of the other ways focusing on sustainable environmental, of knowing nature. Traditional ways of cultural and economic development. It upholds knowing, recounted to us by elders in cultural the underlying principle that cross-cultural groups throughout the world, are just understanding and environmentally sustainable beginning to be appreciated. To solve our practices are needed to facilitate the growth multi-dimensional ecological and social issues and development of healthy communities. today, we are going to need multi-dimensional solutions, and those are at the heart of FutureWatch achieves its mission by traditional knowledge and culture. • creating opportunities for people of all ages in cross-cultural settings to learn Nature is the ultimate balance or harmony, from one another S Y and crime presents an imbalance to society. • coordinating projects to address complex A Kids should learn in all sorts of environments environmental, social and economic issues W H and seasons to restore a balance to society. • researching practical, realistic and T Wilderness or outdoor training is the activity measurable options in communities in A P that will reformat their minds. At the end of Canada and the developing world this reformatting, they will be ready for any • providing support, training and hands-on 8 challenges and will turn their minds away experiential learning to build capacity to from crime or being victims of crime. sustain community efforts. Opening Doors, Hearts and Minds Dr. Alison Neilson, Professor of fathers” (gender reference is deliberate), what Education, University of Toronto, and is outdoor education, where it happens and Sociology and Environmental Studies, whose voices speak about outdoor education. Queen’s University Before we can expect any other community educators/activists to be open to partner with Rather than look externally for the reasons outdoor educators, we need to explore how we why outdoor education is losing support (e.g., have created a system that excludes different outdoor education centres being closed, perspectives on what could be considered membership in outdoor education associations outdoor education. This is a messy process declining), perhaps it is time to look inward. If with no concrete answers, but the goal is not the people involved in outdoor education are to focus on blame or guilt. By exploring these not representative of the general public, i.e., processes and asking questions, we open the they appear to be from a narrower racial and door to the members of the broader socio-economic range, perhaps this narrowness community who may not have felt welcome in has affected the mainstream definition of the past. outdoor education and who can actually be part of it. Who else is doing outdoor education Becoming an ally. Rather than seeking other under a different guise? Is there something people to become supporters of outdoor about the way you or I define outdoor education education as we define it, or to become that excludes more diverse participation? members of our organizations, I suggest that the process of exploring power and our own I suggest that we ask these questions because privilege calls for us to become allies. I believe the calls to get more people involved have that this reflection suggests listening and been heard with little success for decades learning about the work that gets done in our within mainstream environmental education urban centres. This questioning and listening communities. I also know that there are a is key for us to be able to see and hear those myriad of organizations doing work that people and groups whose work complements involves the outdoors and environmental ours, but who we have not been open to concerns in important ways, but generally they seeing or hearing before. identify themselves as doing social justice work and they are not coming to these meetings or The term “allies” suggests an equal partnership joining outdoor education organizations. working together to meet the goals of each, Community health organizations and but if we’ve dominated and excluded in the community gardens/food security groups in past, the first part of creating an equal particular seem to be good candidates for partnership is for us to stop pushing for our partnering with in outdoor education. specific goals. If we truly become part of a larger community, won’t we also get more Exploring power. Living through a time support for our goals? Maybe our goals will when the provincial government removed change as we work in a broader community. environmental education from the formal Can we afford to shift our time and energy to school curriculum and when school boards focus on broader environmental health continue to close outdoor education centres, concerns when outdoor education centres are outdoor educators can easily feel being closed? Can we afford not to? marginalized. It is understandable that S outdoor educators would not automatically For more information on ECENECA, visit Y look toward their own power and privilege as www.eceneca.ca. For more information on A W part of the problem. But this is exactly what I FutureWatch, visit www.futurewatch.org. H am asking you to do. T A P I suggest that this power gets used throughout Andrea Foster mediated the above panel discussion the world of outdoor education. This power at the fall conference. She is COEO’s former 9 determines who is identified as “founding Project Coordinator.