“We shall never achieve harmony with land, any more than we
shall achieve absolute justice or liberty for people. In these higher
aspirations the important thing is not to achieve, but to strive.”~Aldo Leopold
Part I of this story began almost 20 years ago. I was teaching an environmental unit with my middle
school science students called “Mission:
New Earth”. We decorated the
room, had guest speakers, worked in teams, and recorded video commercials to
promote starting over on a new planet after ours was left desolate and
depleted. It was Project Based Learning
before I even knew what I was doing; back then we called it interdisciplinary
learning. I truly enjoyed teaching the unit and had it published in Science
Scope in 1997.
After teaching that project for four years, I moved to a
different middle school and conducted field trips to a local watershed with my
seventh grade science students. In 1998,
Gary Endsley and I started the Environmental Technology Camps with Texas Parks
and Wildlife and I became involved with River Basins Institute. We conducted
the camps for five years and they were very successful. During that time, I also taught High School Biology and
Environmental Science in Queen City and even started an outdoor learning
center.
The summer camps featured field trips and science activities
in the morning and technology applications in the afternoon. We offered day camps for middle school and
elementary students, including Creepy Crawley Critters, Archaeology Academy,
and Junior Master Gardener. We learned
about forestry and tested water and took field trips to local water treatment
plants and the Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens. The highlight of the summer was a three-day
trip to Caddo Lake, where we met with Wildlife Biologists, took boat rides,
tested water, and stayed in cabins.
The camps eventually lost their funding and my time at River
Basins Institute ended, but my love for nature never did. Gary and I got busy
with other interests and I began working on a lifelong dream of getting my
doctorate and teaching at the college level. Now that I am settled into a job
preparing science and math teachers, my love for nature and environmental
science has been rekindled. I am currently working on strengthening a
partnership between UTeach and River Legacy Living Science Center in Arlington.
I will also attend an environmental camp this summer sponsored by Luminant
Energy.
As I walked today on a local nature trail in DFW, I was
struck with the connections between man and his local environment. On my left side was the Trinity River,
wetlands, and fields of wildflowers. I
could hear the chirping of birds, saw a turtle getting warm on a log, watched a
majestic Great Blue Heron take wing, and saw a long garter snake race across
the sidewalk. On my right, I could hear
the roar of cars and diesels moving across George Bush Tollway (Hwy 161). It seemed like such a contrast. Some would
think it is sad that man has encroached on nature and taken away the luster of
the natural world. But I see it differently. I am blessed that I can experience
a place where people recognize the eternal interplay between man and
nature. It is not an either/or scenario. It will always be a balance between the needs
of mankind (transportation, housing, etc.) and the magnificence of nature. I
want to teach students that we must create harmony between the two. But we must also teach our children the importance
of nature and let them see its value, beauty, and necessity.
I hope I can instill a wonder for nature and a love for the
environment in my future teachers. It is
not a distraction, but a necessity if we hope to protect this wondrous world
that we have been given, as we gently pass it to the next generation.
No comments:
Post a Comment