A Land Ethic

This week during our work we were assigned to read Chapter 16 of Robertson's book Sustainability Principles and Practice. The concepts in this chapter focused on the need to revitalize and revamp the current system of education in our society. Shifting that focus from one that worked for an industrial society, to one that is now in the transition period to a sustainable one. A quote from the first section that speaks of how our current climate is destabilizing and we need to change our education to stress this came up during my reading. 

"As climate destabilization, fossil-fuel constraints, resource depletion, mass extinction, collapsing ecosystems, economic contraction, and social instability continue to rise in spite of the efforts of highly trained specialists, it seems clear that continuing with the same educational approaches can only lead to more of the same results." 

Robertson, M. (2017) p.317

There are so many multi-faceted important issues facing us as a result of not already having a sustainable world. Just the seven listed by Robertson are already quite scary all on their own, but once they all start happening at the same time should we realize we are too far behind already? Changes must be made in the educational system to engrain students with sustainability in mind. FGCU making Colloquium a mandatory class for graduation is a great start. I personally feel as though conservation and sustainability need to be taught at a much earlier age so that students can grow up with these ideas in mind. Once the seeds of sustainability are planted in a learners mind, per se, then once that person finishes school they are more likely to have a greater understanding of properly sustainable practices and is more likely to spread those on later in life, which will be great for conservation purposes.

The following quote I will be highlighting is from page 320 in the section Learning by Doing: Experiential Learning. 

"If students collect trash from a local stream, they are performing community volunteer work; if they collect trash from the stream, analyze water quality, determine the sources of pollution, examine the role of public policy, and share their find-ings with local residents, they are engaged in service learning."

Robertson, M. (2017) p.320

This quote bothered me a little bit when I reflected on my own service-learning experiences and the others of students here on campus. Many of the service-learning opportunities offered on campus seemingly don't align with what the book says the definition of service-learning opportunities really is. In my past, I have volunteered at the Naples Cat Alliance many times and had others with me as well, but we did not really get any of the other deeper-level examinations as to why we were doing it. I believe that for many more students to take away from their service-learning experiences, their community partners need to internalize how what they're making the students do is a real service-learning opportunity. Instead of just treating it as free labor for the community partner - which is how I think it is currently being used by many partners, make students feel like what they're doing is actually helpful for our local area and ask them to participate more in the service opportunity, even after the volunteer work is done.

My final quote is from the conclusion of the reading, in which Robertson quoted a Chinese collector Kuan-Tzu on one of their philosophies.

Kuan-Tzu, a collection of Chinese philosophical writings from the third century BCE, said: “If you are thinking a year ahead, sow seed. If you are thinking ten years ahead, plant a tree. If you are thinking a hundred years ahead, educate the people.”

Robertson, M. (2017) p.327 

This type of self-awareness is something many people nowadays need to internalize. Far too often now are people so quick to get immersed in their own struggles before realizing that our planet is dying and we need to step up sooner rather than later to take action. Kuan-Tzu says it best that to think about ourselves in one hundred years, we must educate the people so that they can take it into their hands and save the world from us.

Photo Credits: https://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2012/08/conservation-education
https://www.symbols.gov/index.html