In all of our programs, we are simultaneously committed to education that cultivates earth intimacy and interrupts the socialization of dominant, oppressive systems that have caused many of the social, ecological, and existential crises we face today. We do this work in service to our vision of a world deeply rooted in interrelationship, respect for life, and shared protection of the planet upon which we all depend.
We organize our approach to nature-based education into four interrelated pillars:
EARTH INTIMACY CO-LIBERATION EMBODIMENT PRAYERFUL ACTION
How does this relate to childhood education?
We begin to learn the rules of society from a very young age. The fancy word for this is “socialization.” With each passing year, socialization becomes harder to undo — Imagine you’re a salmon swimming upstream, and each year the current becomes stronger. The earlier we can start the process, the less there is to unlearn.
We believe that a better society — one in which all people are free to be themselves without retribution — depends on educating youth about these topics from the get-go. We also believe that Earth Intimacy is accompanied by a responsibility to understand the history of the land and how that history shapes the present. The nation called the United States is not and never has been a land of equal opportunity. We live in a society that is rooted in colonization, white supremacy, cis-heteropatriarchy, and many other forms of dominance. The “land of the free” has never been free for those who are targets of these systems.
There is no denying that the world is complex. It can also be overwhelming and dangerous. We wish that we lived in a world in which all children were safe and protected from the dangers of the world. Sadly, that isn’t so. But our deepest hope is that this approach to education — which is fundamentally rooted in and supported by nature — can prepare young people to face the challenges and joys of their lives with poise and purpose.
With care and an age-appropriate curriculum, we can lay foundations that support critical thinking, honest conversations, and behavior change, which we hope will add up to stopping the inheritance of injustice from being passed down any further.
To learn more about our approach to nature-based education, click here: Core Curriculum