To learn more about 15 FREE Eco-Games and their matching virtual choice boards, and how to set them up in your learning environment, go to the Eco-Games page.
Eco-Inquiry presented “Wonderful Wildflowers” at Simcoe County District School Board’s “Spring Into Nature” on May 6th, 2023. It was a beautiful day of learning outdoors! Thank you to all who attended, and learned how to set up Eco-Games in their learning environment in schools and in their communities!
Eco-Inquiry is excited to be presenting at the Ontario Society of Environmental Educator’s (OSEE’s) annual Eco-links Conference. Click HERE to register.
Eco-Quest is a journey that leads towards an environmental ethic and eco-action. Stage 1: Connect, Care and Compassion, and Stage 2: Curiosity have DROPPED! To learn more about vital behaviours people apply which are making a true difference in the world, go to the Eco-Quest page.
Eco-inquiry has a new logo with the letters ECO in a nautilus shell design, an i in the middle for Inquiry and a little tail at the end for Q for Eco-Quest. It is the colour of sky blue set in black to remind us of Earth set in infinite space. The eye the colour of sunshine and hope in the middle could be you.
Eco-Games
To learn more about 15 FREE Eco-Games and their matching virtual choice boards, and how to set them up in your learning environment, go to the Eco-Games page.
Eco-Quest is a journey that leads towards an environmental ethic and eco-action. To learn more about vital behaviours people apply which are making a true difference in the world, go to the Eco-Quest page.
NEW EVENT!
Eco-Inquiry is presenting “Wonderful Wildflowers” at “Spring Into Nature” on Saturday May 6th at Springwater Park. This event is put on by Simcoe County District School Board.
Be sure to subscribe for updates on Eco-Games, Eco-Quest and events coming your way!
The purpose of this new chapter in Eco-inquiry’s journey is to examine the common components of an eco heroine’s journey (Blackie, 2019) in combination with vital behaviors (Grenny et al, 2013) that support a just transition to environmental sustainability. To be clear from the outset, Sharon Blackie, author of “If Women Rose Rooted”, suggests that the Eco-hero and Eco-heroine’s journey hold important differences, and because my experiences are female, my lens of writing comes from that of an eco-heroine’s journey perspective. This being said, my goal is to be as inclusive as possible, so I will refer to anyone’s journey towards adopting the vital behaviours that support a just transition to environmental sustainability, an Eco-Quest.
Throughout this blog, I will interweave my own story of an Eco-Quest with those of others in order to demonstrate that while the details of everyone’s quest is unique, there are common components that are combined with particular vital behaviors which can be highlighted and perhaps replicated to expedite environmental protection on Earth.
My own need for urgency comes from decades of academic study, teaching, activism and observation on the path that has led us to this point of waiting and hoping for the world to change. What is this change I speak of? Many have written about the impacts of colonization and extractive world views that have led to the wealth of a few in the wake of environmental destruction and subjugation of women, Indigenous communities, Black people and people of colour (Capra, 1990; Merchant, 1980; Thomas, 2022; Wilson, 1998) . This extractive way of being has left a few people on the planet holding power over resources and great wealth, and others in an unjust state of inequity. It is a great injustice to the millions of species on Earth, the air, water and soil, who do not have a voice to express their discontent in the state of the world that humans have now created: the era of anthropocene (Burtynsky, 2018).
Thirty years ago when I took a degree in Environmental Studies a Trent university, it was at the threshold of the Bruntland report, Our Common Future, (Bruntland, 1990). At that time, I realized then that it would not be the technological fix that stood in our collective way towards environmental sustainability, but rather it was a lack of will. Scientists have been shouting about climate change and loss of biodiversity for at least thirty years, and thirty years ago was the prudent time to have made serious political decisions based on their warnings! But profit and greed has stood in the way of implementing environmental solutions. If we’re looking for a “bad guy” in this narrative, we don’t have to look too far beyond corrupt politicians and business tycoons to point fingers. But rather than getting mired down in the muck of gloom and anger, I decided for the course of my life to take on the responsibility of hope and the service of action for change towards environmental sustainability. When I finished university in 1993, I decided to go into Environmental Education as an initial iteration of an influencer.
Now with social media and the internet, the capability for influencers to make a difference in sharing how they change their behaviors, and in doing so supporting others to do the same has grown exponentially. What we’re seeing is a new generation of environmental activists and social influencers who give me hope that indeed we have a brighter future ahead.
The environmental movement is for everyone on the planet we share; it needs to be an intersectional and inclusive environmental movement (Thomas, 2022).
So please join me in this journey of examining the diverse examples of peoples’ Eco-Quests, particularly the vital behaviours they exhibit, so that together we will explore a pathway on how to grow the collective social justice movement towards environmental sustainability on Earth.
The structure of the Eco-Quest will be dropped on Sunday, April 2nd at 2pm EST with a FREE virtual presentation in April to follow. Date and time TBA.
References
Blackie, S. (2019). If women rose rooted: A life-changing journey to authenticity and belonging. September Publishing.
Bruntland, G. H. (1990). Our common future. Oxford University Press.
Burtynsky, E., Baichwal, J., & Pencier, N. D. (2018). Anthropocene. Steidl.
Capra, F. (1990). The turning point: Science, society, and the rising culture. Fontana.
Grenny, J., & Patterson, K. (2013). Influencer: The power to change anything. McGraw-Hill Professional.
Merchant, C. (1980). The death of nature: Women, ecology, and the Scientific Revolution.
Thomas, L. (2022). The intersectional environmentalist: How to dismantle systems of oppression to protect people + planet. Voracious, Little, Brown and Company.
Eco-Games and Virtual Choice Boards 