by Richard Murphy, Ph.D.
A number of years ago, my kids went to camp in a beautiful forested
setting. I was excited they could have this experience — for them
and also for me. As a marine biologist, I had spent many hours with them
in the ocean — giving them a good understanding of coral reefs,
kelp beds, and other marine ecosystems, but terrestrial ecosystems were
not my specialty — and hoped they would return and give me some
insights to temperate forest ecology. After their camp experience, I
was pleased to learn that they had a fantastic time, were involved in
a variety of sports, had wonderful outings, and participated in valuable
team-building experiences. But to my astonishment, they could tell me
almost nothing about the ecology of the ecosystem where they had resided
for weeks. They knew the names of some species, but had no real understanding
of how the natural community actually worked. I thought this was a major
missed opportunity and began to think about what I would have liked them
to learn — appreciating the fact that this was not school but a
time to put the books aside and be enriched outside the walls of the
classroom.
So began my quest to create educational experiences for kids that don’t
feel like education at all. It wasn’t as though I had no experience.
In 1973, Jean-Michel Cousteau and I responded to an ocean of interest
from the public when he and his father, Jacques Cousteau, created the
Cousteau Society. Our new members volunteered in droves to join us on
expeditions as cooks, divers, doctors, etc. We realized that people wanted
to experience the ocean through the eyes of our expedition teams. Our
response was to create mini-expeditions for our members where we taught
them about the ocean, connections between land and sea, the wisdom embodied
in native culture, and responsible living. During the following twenty
years, we conducted programs in the Caribbean, Fiji, Papua New Guinea,
the Society Islands, and many other paradise destinations.
But who wanted to go to paradise with a bunch of environmentalists?
Only people who were already concerned about the environment and only
people who could afford to get to paradise. My kids’ experience
at camp caused me to rethink our educational programming. Shouldn’t
we be reaching out to people who do not know much about the environment
and who are not relatively wealthy? In fact, shouldn’t we be focusing
on the most important asset of our entire civilization — the next
generation?
From these musings, I began to design educational programs that would
give our children knowledge about and personal connections to the natural
world. It is this world of nature that keeps this planet habitable, and
it has many lessons to teach us about how we humans can create a sustainable
future for our species. Students need to learn from nature as much as
they are taught about nature.
Obviously, such educational experiences will be most effective if they
take place in a natural setting. The question was — where should
we create such experiences? The Santa Catalina Island Company introduced
me to the Horner family who operates Catalina Island Camps at Howlands
Landing. Their camp was not full during the school year, and there was
an opportunity to create programs during the fall and spring where I
might test these ideas. Camp became the perfect place to connect the
wonders of nature to the practical realities of living more gently on
the planet. I would like to share with you the foundation of Ambassadors
of the Environment and how you might implement such a program at your
camp.
Philosophy
Presently, the health and vitality of the planet itself are in jeopardy.
Sustainability and quality of life for humans are linked to the sustainability
and environmental quality of nature itself. Over-consumption, pollution,
the loss of species and habitats, and mismanagement of natural resources
are undermining global habitability. The sole cause of these problems
is us — our state of mind, worldview, beliefs, and behavior. The
ultimate solution is not to engage in an eternal mode of crisis management,
searching for quick fixes to each problem as it arises, but to avoid
the problems in the first place. This requires our embracing a completely
different perspective of humanity’s relationship to its surroundings.
This is far larger than a scientific search for new technology.
Ours is a crisis of the heart, not the head. Wisdom is knowledge run
through the heart. Our priorities too often are first the individual,
then the community, and finally the environment and earth. We need to
realize we are members of the earth’s living community. It is important
to understand the connections among various components of the biosphere
(land, sea, atmosphere), connections among people and the environment,
connections among ourselves and other human beings, and finally our connections
to the future as today’s decisions can have profound impacts on
future generations. If all humans understood their connection to the
planet and all life forms, we might discover there are more options for
sustainable living than we presently perceive. Bringing young people
into a nurturing environment and connecting them to nature will provide
a setting where real growth can take place and where the next generation
can realign themselves with their future in the most productive and inspirational
way.
Educational Approach
On the subject of science, I concur with Henri Poincare (1902), “Science
is built of facts the way a house is built of bricks; but an accumulation
of facts is no more science than a pile of bricks is a house.” We
approach science in a holistic context, to help our campers understand
nature and make sure that we use everyone’s natural curiosity to
drive our learning about and from nature.
Thus, the Ambassadors program is not dedicated to turning our campers
into scientists but rather to preparing them to be responsible stewards
of our planet through understanding the fundamental principles of ecology
and how they can be used to wisely manage nature and create more sustainable
human communities. This is conveyed through practical, hands-on activities
that involve campers working and learning as well as participating in
maintaining camp as a model sustainable community. Ultimately, the curriculum
and the extended periods of time campers are immersed in nature give
them a sense of connection to the natural world. In this way, we reach
the heart, affecting how each camper sees himself or herself in relation
to other species, the environment, and the future.
The curriculum is implemented through experiential learning. Understanding
what marine and terrestrial ecosystems are and how they function comes
from daily, instructor-guided dives and nature walks wherein campers
are shown how the organisms of these ecosystems survive and collectively
create functioning ecosystems. An important aspect of the program is
how people are trying to sustainably manage and protect the unique living
resources of the region in which the program is implemented. This is
emphasized through hands-on monitoring and restoration activities. Collaboration
with local institutions involved in such activities enables campers to
become part of current research projects by assisting in the collection
of data in a working partnership.
This working knowledge is then applied to the human domain as discussion
sessions focus on the similarities and differences between how nature
achieves sustainability and how our communities fall short. These principles
of sustainability are reinforced through campers’ daily activities
as they attend to their own survival, managing their energy, water, food,
and waste in a manner that is consistent with environmental responsibility.
Campers are challenged to deal with issues of development and environmental
protection. Finally, we conduct sessions and provide resources to empower
students to become Ambassadors of the Environment when they return to
their home communities. This training includes not only sessions with
an environmental-science focus but also with challenges that build the
camper’s confidence and ability to implement and share ideas with
others. This connection is maintained through our Web site, www.aote.org,
which offers a number of resources.
We intend to return young people to their daily lives with not only
the factual knowledge of life sciences and ecology, but with a deeper
understanding of themselves as participants in the planet’s living
system and with a willingness to strive for sustainability between humanity
and nature.
Goals
The goals of our program are:
- To give campers a positive view of themselves;
- To develop knowledge and respect for the outdoor world;
- To give campers life skills in communication, teamwork, responsibility,
and friendship building that will help them throughout life; and
- To inspire youth to live more sustainably and take responsibility
for their future.
More specifically, the Ambassadors program addresses the following general
areas:
Appreciation of Nature and Ecological
Connections
From an understanding of the basics of biology and ecology, we expand the learning
experience to consider our relationship with our surroundings. This goes beyond
the scientific and utilitarian perspective of the natural world to consider
the many dimensions of the statement, “Everything is connected.” In
addition to the connections between species, communities, and ecosystems and
our dependence and impact on them, we focus on issues relating to interactions
between people and the relationship of people to nature. This is where we hope
to affect the heart as much as the head.
As a species, we are connected to all other species through the constant
flow of energy, matter, and life. Although our outer forms may appear
different, we are all made of the same stuff and share a common evolutionary
heritage. People do not exist outside the domain of nature but are part
of it and inseparable from it. Our well-being is linked to the health
of our environment. We create a learning environment in which campers
can experience and internalize these connections at the most fundamental
level. In addition, self-esteem and team-building exercises help campers
connect with their own inner selves and connect with others in their
immediate community.
Principles of Sustainability
With an understanding of the life sciences and of the many ways that humans
are connected to the natural world, we focus on the fundamental principles
of sustainability, which apply to both humanity and nature. These principles
relate to energy, matter, biodiversity, and integration at the community
level. We explore how these principles can be used as guidelines in society’s
search for sustainability. From these, we can apply general concepts to the
unique environmental and cultural characteristics of these different settings.
This involves using these environments to better understand how marine and
terrestrial ecosystems function, how our camp operates, and how a student’s
community back home functions.
Solutions
The first component of the solutions section is direct involvement in protecting
and managing habitats and biodiversity. Our monitoring and restoration activities
show how an individual can make a difference and encourage personal empowerment
to take action.
From a broader perspective, there are existing solutions for many of
society’s problems and, remarkably, they are not as drastic or
painful as people might expect. Living sustainably requires the use of
renewable energy, consuming less, reducing waste, and recycling more.
We believe that the free services of nature can provide for much of our
needs, as passive and active solar collectors provide power, as living
machines treat our wastes, and as edible landscapes provide food and
products. Our exploration of solutions focuses on how the camp can operate
more environmentally and then on what individuals can do in their own
communities to make them more sustainable.
It is our intent to create a sustainable, model community where we
use the latest and most appropriate technology to demonstrate how we
can live more gently on the planet. We use photovoltaic cells for electricity,
solar water heating, a solar still for fresh water, composting toilets,
composting areas for kitchen waste that will be used to fertilize our
gardens, and, in general, create an integrated system where resources
are used efficiently and wastes are recycled within the community. Benefits
are both educational and economic.
An important part of this aspect of the program is guiding campers
through a process of introspection to think about what an individual’s
responsibility is and how one person can make a difference. Resources
on our Web site are designed to enable students to become Ambassadors
of the Environment:
- A unique slide show that can be downloaded and used to share with
others in the community and, particularly, to help our ambassadors
mentor other campers
- Case studies of what other young people have done to make a difference
in their lives and in their communities
- Information that can help students compost, recycle, have greater
energy efficiency, get involved in community action, and use literature
and Web resources
We encourage students to develop personal goals and skills to live
a productive and fulfilled life.
Educational Relevance
Relevance to the educational curri-cula in the United States and the
State Department of Education is an integral part of the program, ensuring
that campers will have an opportunity to receive credit from the educational
experience of the program. We are aware that schools already have obligations
to existing educational standards and thus must focus field trips on
these subject requirements. We have designed our educational program
to include subjects in national and state curriculum guidelines.
Implementation
Presently, we have one program on Catalina (Catalina Environmental Leadership
Program — CELP) that has been running for five years, one being implemented
in Kona, Hawaii, and another at the Marin Headlands, just north of San Francisco,
California. Other sites under discussion include the Cayman Islands, British
Virgin Islands, Santa Barbara, France, and Spain.
Our approach is to create partnerships with existing organizations
that share our goal and then work together in creating Ambassadors programs
uniquely tailored to each region’s culture and ecology. In adapting
the core Ambassadors program, we need to work very closely with the educational
community to insure we meet the national and regional educational curriculum
standards.
From teacher, administrator, and student feedback, we know that the
Ambassadors of the Environment program is effective in reaching its goal
of engaging youth in the issues relevant to developing a sustainable
living ethic. In addition, the program has proven profitable for camps
and an excellent resource for schools to give their students a new experience
in learning. The challenges we face today are expanding the program to
have significant impact so that more young people will have the knowledge,
tools, and motivation to create the kind of future they want.
Richard Murphy, Ph.D., is the director of Science
and Education, at the Ocean Futures Society. Read more about the author
in the sidebar on this page. For more information about Ambassadors of
the Environment, e-mail the author at rmurphy000@aol.com.
Originally published
in the 2004 January/February issue of Camping Magazine. |
