Some 13 years ago my world was filled with a wide variety of characters, many of whom I considered progressive thinkers, inspirational and ageless, with what seemed to me to be a shared vision for a common future. Since that time, my life experience has, of course, deepened, and so too my exposure to the hopes, dreams, fears, and strongly-held convictions of many more people from many more places—those typically "identified" as "Boomers", "Gen Xers", "Gen Yers / Millennials"—while I, concurrently, have sought to better understand myself and how I have changed, and will continue to change, with time. And while I may still wince at broad categorizations of any kind—particularly if such divisions are created or imposed by an entity other than the individuals themselves—I can no longer fail to notice frequent differences in attitudes and opinions between generations. Am I embracing a stereotype? No. But a recent post by Umair Haque gave me pause for thought. Here is an excerpt:  Dear Old People Who Run The World, My generation would like to break up with you. Everyday, I see a widening gap in how you and we understand the world—and what we want from it. I think we have irreconcilable differences. You wanted big, fat, lazy "business". We want small, responsive, micro-scale commerce. You turned politics into a dirty word. We want authentic, deep democracy—everywhere. You wanted financial fundamentalism. We want an economics that makes sense for people—not just banks. You wanted shareholder value—built by tough-guy CEOs. We want real value, built by people with character, dignity, and courage. You wanted an invisible hand—it became a digital hand. Today's markets are those where the majority of trades are done literally robotically. We want a visible handshake: to trust and to be trusted. You wanted growth—faster. We want to slow down—so we can become better. You didn't care which communities were capsized, or which lives were sunk. We want a rising tide that lifts all boats. You wanted to biggie size life: McMansions, Hummers, and McFood. We want to humanize life. You wanted exurbs, sprawl, and gated anti-communities. We want a society built on authentic community. You wanted more money, credit and leverage—to consume ravenously. We want to be great at doing stuff that matters. You sacrificed the meaningful for the material: you sold out the very things that made us great for trivial gewgaws, trinkets, and gadgets. We're not for sale: we're learning once again [to] do what is meaningful. My first reaction on reading this was a sad nod of agreement. On reflection, however, these differences of opinion need not be generational. While the philosophies portrayed in the first half of each couplet may, arguably, be more prevalent in my parents' generation, I still feel we have a long way to go before a more significant shift occurs to move us away from such attitudes in my own generation or in those some 20 years younger. And that, I believe, is Haque's point—to provocatively remind us to not doom ourselves to repeat these mistakes, but to create new role models, both for ourselves and those who follow. To better identify, connect, and collaborate with those individuals who share a more sustainable vision for our future, regardless of generation or however else society chooses to classify people. To understand divisions and differences and transcend them through our words but ultimately, and most importantly, through our actions. Garden notebook: Sunday, July 26 07/26/2009
 Spent most of the morning at the Devon Middle School vegetable garden, weeding and building trellises for the rapidly growing beans. Some reflections: • There is much joy to be found in wood, jute, and dirt. • It's refreshing to be reminded of the microcosm of life that exists at our feet and at a different scale from ourselves, and upon whose activities we utterly rely. • Having an earthworm break the surface of the soil and emerge vertically is enough to make a heart miss a beat while weeding on a quiet Sunday morning. • Jesu makes for excellent garden music (who knew?) and "Medicine" is a glorious track. • I continue to appreciate the polarity between the two main areas of the outdoor classroom at Devon: the structure and order of the vegetable garden and the frequent maintenance required to sustain it in this state, versus the untouched wildness of the wetland. Lots to learn here, and many lessons yet to be revealed. Trail building begins 06/24/2009
Thanks to the generosity of our local school district, the outdoor classroom at Devon Middle School now features a set of benches (with more to be added by the school at a later date), to enable students to gather and work around the wetland. A neighbour also contributed a table as an outdoor work space.  While we work to raise more funds for our summer projects — such as an interpretive sign and more wetland plants at Devon Middle School — it is also time to begin work on our next project: establishing a nature trail at Garden Creek School. Work began last week on clearing a narrow path through the vegetation...  ...using hand tools as much as possible to limit potential impacts from noise and pollution.  Once a path had been cleared, a class of Grade 4 students from the school helped plant out a variety of seedlings of native New Brunswick tree species, donated by the Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management at the University of New Brunswick.  These seedlings were planted along the sides of gullies to help protect them from further erosion caused by run-off water from the school grounds.  Due to shading from the tree canopy, a number of these gullies remain wet throughout the year, necessitating the installation of boardwalks where the trail crosses these areas.  Now that these boardwalks are in place, the next step is the formal establishment of the trail itself, using mulch and gravel generously donated by local businesses.  If you're in Fredericton and have some time during the day (9am–4pm) over the next 2–3 weeks, we'd love to have you join us and contribute to building the trail. If interested, please drop me a line — we have tools for up to 8 people at any time. It's a beautiful spot in which to work, and who never know what you might find...   Square foot gardening 06/08/2009
A busy week at the Devon Middle School outdoor classroom last week. To kick things off, Roger — one of our summer volunteers — and I worked with the students to help dig up and transplant two of the three nursery beds of trees (about 35 white spruce) into the berms around the edge of the wetland.  Once complete, the next step was to weed and double-dig the vacant beds in preparation for their conversion to a vegetable garden.  In order to make most use of our limited growing space, we adopted Mel Bartholomew's square foot gardening technique. An overview of the approach is provided in the video, below. As our beds are a little too large to allow one to comfortably reach into their centres, a wooden plank (along with some rocks) was positioned through the middle of each bed, allowing for easy access to either half.  We divided our planting area into squares and marked out a grid using jute twine. Then, following Mel's advice for planting density along with generally accepted guidelines for companion planting, we planned out our beds as shown in the diagram below.  [Numbers refer to plant density, i.e. the desired number of plants per square. Brown areas indicate the eventual location of trellises for climbing plants.]  Then, it was time to plant!  [All of our seed is from organically-grown sources, except for our onion and flower species.]  Nature's graffiti 05/28/2009
After the rain showers of the previous evening, Hana and I returned to the tree nurseries today to complete the weeding of the beds, this time in the sunshine.  The good weather made for a leisurely evening and we had an opportunity to speak with Barb, one of the school custodians, about the outdoor classroom summer projects. It's wonderful to have so much interest and support from members of the school community. One of the trees caught our attention: This tree, and only this one, had attracted dozens of ants to its upper branches. Any ideas as to why, foresters?  All of the white spruce are in great shape and have grown substantially since last fall — we even have a couple of alders that have sprouted, too.  Rain is forecast for the next few days, so we'll pick up again next week, planting out the trees from two of the beds around the constructed wetland, then turning the vacated beds into a vegetable garden in the weeks that follow. Have a great weekend, everyone! Preparing for summer field projects 05/20/2009
Now that Victoria Day has come and gone, spring is officially here — and it certainly feels like it! The sunny weather is quickly turning Fredericton a lush green, and today — May 20 — is our last frost day. Time to turn our attention to our summer field projects.  A quick glance into the water revealed that we already have a number of resident aquatic insects: water striders, water boatmen, and at least three families of water beetle, as well as the egg masses of some as yet unidentified organisms... Summer will see us planting within the wetland with aquatic plants 'rescued' from the City of Fredericton's retention ponds — plants that would otherwise be dredged and composted — as well as on the berms and around the fence; we hope to make the plantings both a school and community event. Finally, the installation of a set of class benches and some student-designed interpretive signage will help complete this outdoor classroom resource. Next is the creation of a low-impact interpretive nature trail at Garden Creek Elementary School. Unlike other schools where we are installing outdoor classrooms, Garden Creek Elementary School is fortunate to be adjacent to a piece of land that offers rich learning opportunities — including four distinct habitat types: forest, stream, grassland, and wetland — but the access is currently limited by steep slopes and lack of a defined trail. We plan to address this with the construction of a mulch/gravel trail and the installation of student-designed interpretive signage this summer.  Finally, later in the summer we'll be offering a weekend environmental education camp for Grade 6–7 students at Yoho Lake. We had originally planned to offer the camp last fall, but had to postpone it due to scheduling and funding constraints. Fingers crossed for this year!  Both Hana and I plan to field-test the camp curriculum during an upcoming overnight hike with staff and students of Nashwaaksis Middle School Hiking Club to Fundy National Park. I'll be sure to share any stories! Environmental studies radio station 01/19/2009
This afternoon, as an extension of our previous two classes on environmental history and values, I thought I'd try a little social experiment...  Day 2 of class and a showing of the National Film Board's "Suzuki Speaks"; the opening three minutes are shown below: 
Student definitions of "environment" 01/07/2009
Today was the first day of teaching for both Hana and I this winter term. Hana is teaching a first-year non-majors Biology class entitled, "Microbes: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly", and I'm teaching a second-year Environmental Studies course, "Understanding Environmental Issues".  A place in which a species lives where it takes advantage of all resources within the biosphere. Happy New Year! 01/01/2009
 Best wishes to everyone for a safe and joyful 2009. May our—and others'—food, shelter, and nesting needs be met! | About:This weblog exists as a tool for communication, teaching, and learning. Posts on these pages are collected under the following categories:
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