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Science, analogy, and ecoliteracy

5/9/2009

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The use of analogies in language can often act as scaffolding to a better understanding of other new ideas. Biological analogies, in particular, have often proven useful to convey ideas in other disciplines. For example: Lokta-Volterra equations of predator-prey and population dynamics applied to economic growth; Alan AtKisson's "amoeba of culture" model of social change; and the "state as living organism" in Plato's "Republic".

Recently, my attention was drawn to an article by Stan Stalnaker in the Harvard Business Review. In it, Stalnaker outlines a model for sustainable economies using cells as a biological analogy. It's a wonderful and inspiring piece that calls for a much-needed shift in our economic thinking, akin to a reframing of Schumacher's "Small is Beautiful".

As a wake-up call and economic model, I applaud it: we desperately need more thinking (and application of such thinking) like this. However, from an environmental science perspective, the analogy doesn't quite work for me, which is unfortunate as it, arguably, undermines somewhat the scaffolding Stalnaker has constructed on which to hang his ideas, while presenting a strained application of biological principles — something I assume the author of an environmental economic model would wish to avoid.

For example, do the "cells" represent individual businesses and the "body" the larger economy, or is the body a business and each cell a surrogate for one of the various desirable qualities pursued by a business — "sustainable" growth, skills development, product or service diversity? The terminology here is unclear to me.

The analogy falls apart when cycles and waste reduction are brought into the picture.

At the ecosystem or community scale, this is fine — wastes get recycled by decomposer organisms into the building blocks for a new generation of plants and animals. But Stalnaker's cellular analogy is at the wrong scale: the operation of cells and organisms is essentially linear: food in, waste out. The materials loop is not closed until one considers the larger scale of the biological community or ecosystem — these are the scales at which sustainability starts to become possible, and why the cellular analogy is such an awkward one. An ecosystem analogy for economics is more appropriate in this instance and has already proven both popular and useful.

So, are analogical flaws a concern? Seung Sahn would go as far as to say, "Open mouth, already big mistake!" Certainly the message is what is ultimately important — agreed; but, from an education perspective, how we get there — the process of constructing understanding, the language we use — is vitally important, too.

If we are to communicate, we should do so in a way in which understanding is furthered, but not at the expense of understanding elsewhere.

At a time when biological imagery and principles are (mis)appropriated to sell any number of goods and services, when poor scientific understanding leads to the perpetuation of dangerous myths, and when levels of ecological literacy are considered inadequate, then yes, how we deliver messages is important.

Analogies are useful tools, but we have to make sure they are sound. To not do so undermines their usefulness and risks unnecessary misunderstanding. They may get stretched a little to make a point, but their author should be aware of their limits. In Stalnaker's model, a change of scale is all that is needed: the same welcome economic blueprint he presents is left intact, the biological analogy is not distorted, and a teachable moment on the principles of ecology — and sound business — is provided: the purpose of the insightful model all along. 
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Interpretive signage for school greening projects

21/8/2009

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Our signs arrived this week for our projects at Devon Middle and Garden Creek schools. The team at Jack Rabbit Signs did a great job! We plan to install these at the schools over the coming weeks.

Click on each sign to see a high-resolution version:
 
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Interpretive sign for the Devon Middle School outdoor classroom.
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Trailhead sign for the Garden Creek School nature trail.
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Interpretive sign for the forest habitat at Garden Creek School.
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Interpretive sign for the creek habitat at Garden Creek School.
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Interpretive sign for the grassland habitat at Garden Creek School.
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Interpretive sign for the wetland habitat at Garden Creek School.
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A fresh look at left/right-brain reasoning

12/8/2009

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Sir Ken Robinson, in his excellent TED talk, makes the following statement:
Nobody has a clue […] what the world will look like in five years time, and yet we're meant to be educating [people] for it.
Dan Pink thinks he has the answer and, in his book "A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future", speaks of the increasing need to complement "left-brain" reasoning with "right-brain" skills for success in the approaching worlds of work and education. Not groundbreaking, perhaps, but his identification of six critical right-brain aptitudes is interesting:
1. Not just function but also DESIGN. It's no longer sufficient to create a product, a service, an experience, or a lifestyle that's merely functional. Today it's economically crucial and personally rewarding to create something that is also beautiful, whimsical, or emotionally engaging.

2. Not just argument but also STORY. When our lives are brimming with information and data, it's not enough to marshal an effective argument. Someone somewhere will inevitably track down a counterpoint to rebut your point. The essence of persuasion, communication, and self-understanding has become the ability also to fashion a compelling narrative.

3. Not just focus but also SYMPHONY. Much of the Industrial and Information Ages required focus and specialization. But as white-collar work gets routed to Asia and reduced to software, there's a new premium on the opposite aptitude: putting the pieces together, or what I call Symphony. What's in greatest demand today isn't analysis but synthesis—seeing the big picture, crossing the boundaries, and being able to combine disparate pieces into an arresting new whole.

4. Not just logic but also EMPATHY. The capacity for logical thought is one of the things that makes us human. But in a world of ubiquitous information and advanced analytic tools, logic alone won't do. What will distinguish those who thrive will be their ability to understand what makes their fellow woman or man tick, to forge relationships, and to care for others.

5. Not just seriousness but also PLAY. Ample evidence points to the enormous health and professional benefits of laughter, lightheartedness, games, and humor. There is a time to be serious, of course. But too much sobriety can be bad for your career and worse for your general well-being. In the Conceptual Age, in work and in life, we all need to play.

6. Not just accumulation but also MEANING. We live in a world of breathtaking material plenty. That has freed hundreds of millions of people from day-to-day struggles and liberated us to pursue more significant desires: purpose, transcendence, and spiritual fulfillment.
As educators — as people — how many of these qualities can we identify in ourselves, and in what ways can we foster more holistic ways of thinking, learning, and being in our lives and in our classrooms?
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Fredericton's "Landless Gardeners"

2/8/2009

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Both yesterday and today I had the good fortune to connect with Fredericton's Landless Gardeners, a group of individuals developing yard sharing and food growing opportunities within the community.

It's exciting and inspiring to see initiatives like this take root — literally! — in the city, not only as occasions for education and skills development associated with methods of local food production, but also as catalysts for deeper community connection and discussions concerning food security and land stewardship.

As Jay Griffiths commented in her wonderful recent essay in Orion Magazine:

How big am I? As an individual, five foot two and whistling. At a government level, I find I've shrunk, smaller than the X on my ballot paper. But at a community level, I can breathe in five river-sources and breathe out three miles of green valleys.

Scale matters.
The Landless Gardeners are an energetic and dynamic group and it is always refreshing to encounter manners of problem solving that are not prescriptive, where alternative pathways to a solution are encouraged — a vital approach even in small scale food production where 'simple' gardens remain complex ecosystems, albeit in miniature. As David Holmgren, the co-orginator of the permaculture concept, states:
The map is not the territory.
— meaning that, in a systems approach, the creative application of basic principles is to be welcomed, not discouraged. Further:
Complex systems that work tend to evolve from simple ones that work, so finding the appropriate pattern for that design is more important than understanding all of the details of the elements of the system.
Again, from Jay Griffiths:
The process is "so creative and so chaotic," says Giangrande. "Let it unfold—allow it—the key is not to direct it but to encourage it. We've developed the A to C of transition. The D to Z is still to come." Brave, this, and very attractive. It is catalytic, emergent, and dynamic, facing forward with a vivid vitality but backlit with another kind of ancient sunlight: human, social energy.
To contact the Landless Gardeners or for further information, see their website and Facebook group.
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School greening projects — update

1/8/2009

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There have been a number of exciting developments since I last wrote about activity at the Devon Middle School outdoor classroom a month ago.

First, thanks to the mix of sun and showers over the preceding few weeks, the wetland landscape is much more lush and green — good news for berm soil stability as well as rich habitat for many insects.
 
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All kinds of critters have started to make the wetland their home, including frogs and at least three species of dragonfly. The first photo below shows a female dragonfly ovipositing (laying eggs) on the underside of a water lily leaf:
 
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The vegetable garden, too, is making good progress, particularly given our late start and planting all vegetables from seed.
 
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Earlier this week, I was joined at the wetland by representatives of the Giant Tiger store here in Devon. Thanks to the strong community focus of manager Wayne Gallant and his team, the store successfully raised over $1,000 in customer donations over just three weeks.
 
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Left to right: Wayne Gallant, myself, Irene Jewett, Kim Babineau, Stephanie Dugan.

These funds will help provide much needed interpretive signage at the site as well as purchase marginal and water plant species for the wetland, such as arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia), spearwort (Ranunculus lingua grandiflora), pickerel rush (Pontederia cordata), and water lily (Nymphaea albatros).

Work has also continued on the Garden Creek School nature trail, with the laying of mulch and gravel successfully completed last week.

Although we initially began transporting material down to the trail using wheelbarrows, this quickly became tiring and difficult to manoeuvre, and was replaced by filling backpacks with mulch and gravel and walking them along the trail to where the material was needed.
 
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Over the coming weeks we hope to install a number of interpretive signs, an observation platform along the creek, and a second platform under a large tree in the grassland habitat to function as a gathering space for storytelling circles.

All of this work has been made possible thanks to funding from Evergreen and the New Brunswick Wildlife Trust Fund, the City of Fredericton's Adopt-A-Lot program, the generous donations of materials from local businesses, and volunteer time and muscle power. Many thanks to everyone for their help and support thus far!
 
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Todd Horncastle
 
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Hana Kucera, Meghann Bruce, Bridgette Clarkston
 
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Kerri Krawec
 
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Justin Ancheta (with Hana Kucera)
 
Many thanks, also, to Valerie Hillier of the Daily Gleaner for her "Green Matters" article on our school greening projects which appeared in today's edition:
 
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Four mindful reflections

1/8/2009

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Chris Corrigan's powerful and poetic re-visioning for group facilitation of Joseph Goldstein's "four reflections" mindfulness practice:
1. Be aware of possibility. What is possible right now? What is the gift of the present moment? If we were to think about what we could do right now, what would be the most valuable thing we could do?

2. 
Everything changes. What we are experiencing right now will pass. We cannot know what will come, so we must prepare to be agile rather than prepare to be stable. Can we be as flexible as the changing nature of the world around us? If no, we risk being locked in an old operating system.

3. 
Action brings results. And in a complex system, cause and effect cannot be isolated. Therefore what matters is awareness, and consciousness about what we are doing in every given moment. What are the things we do habitually that get us into trouble? If I intervene in a group now, what effect might that have over the long term? Be aware of motivations and try to stop acting habitually.

4. 
We keep ourselves locked in repeating patterns. What are the patterns and behaviours we need to let go of to free us up for creativity, innovation or real change? What are the things we are doing now that limit us from doing anything differently?
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"Green Creek"

1/8/2009

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To get right down to Yellow Flower River
I often follow the waters of Green Creek.
They wind around the mountains endlessly--
A path straight there would run a few score miles.

There are sounds of water crashing on tumbled stones;
Scenes of silence deep within the pines.
Water chestnut and water fringe float on the ripples;
Still limpid waters mirror the reeds.

My mind is unencumbered, at its ease now.
Clear and tranquil, as the river is.
Come, stay a while, rest here upon this stone--
Cast out a fishing line and let things be.
—Wang Wei
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"Don't just do something, stand there!"

1/8/2009

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A quote from Euan Semple:
I am less interested in coercing people into moving towards a new way of doing things so much as stripping some of the crap away to let what has always been there thrive and survive.
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Some thoughts on Haque's "Generation M Manifesto"

30/7/2009

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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.
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Garden notebook: Sunday, July 26

26/7/2009

4 Comments

 
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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.
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