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TEACHING FOR THE EARTH: PROJECT-BASED LEARNING IN A CLIMATE EMERGENCY

Terry Hermsen, Jubiliado*

*Jubilado = Spanish for someone who has retired

 [see also: Jubilación = retirement; Jubiloso = jubilant] [and Jubilar = to retire; to put out to grass; to discard; to rejoice… you choose]

“The plain fact is that the planet doesn’t need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of all kinds. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane.”  

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— David W. Orr, Earth In Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect (Washington D.C.: Island Press, 1994 – p. 22)

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Higher Education Collaborative
Central Ohio Otterbein / Denison / OWU / Kenyon /OSU-Marion

Proposal: A Higher Education Collaborative for Climate Change Action (via ROAR) Mission: We propose to address the emerging climate crisis through the establishment of a mutually-funded office to incubate, promote and establish collective and significant action. Our goal is to engender cross-regional projects, along with concrete, small experiments that our institutions/communities can try out, implement quickly, and share. We envision the pooling of resources, research, community connections and collective buying power toward visible impact which will reach beyond what any of our campuses can accomplish alone.

1. Food Systems Aggregation 

  • Leverage collective buying power to support local farmers regionally. 

  • Develop food hubs to increase growing capacity and allow for specialization. 

  • Assist in access to equipment and reduction of small farmers’ costs. 

  • Foster buy-in with local school systems, hospitals, other high-volume buyers. 

  • Work with area health districts to increase accessibility to low cost fresh food. 

  • Tap into and support “new farmer training programs”. 

2. Clean Energy Procurement 

  • As above, pool our buying power by committing to clear, regional, collective clean energy goals, increasing confidence amongst investors.

  • Tap into SMART COLUMBUS ENERGY buying and production program – with means for all our campuses to produce or produce 100% renewable energy, saving costs through collective buying

3. Institutional Support for Cross-Campus Curricular Programs

  • For starters: Establish a ROAR ACADEMY of summer interns to work in a common territory, apply bioregional principles, get to know each other’s sites, and work toward long-range, interconnected hands-on learning projects across the region.

    • Beta-Test Summer: 2021, June 4 – July 27. Visited and worked at these sites:

      • Kenyon Farm

      • Otterbein Community Garden

      • Glass Rooster Cannery

      • Franklinton Farms (urban center)

      • MTSO Seminary Hill Farm / Stratford Ecological Center

​Course Offerings

FYE: Life Place / Projects for Applying Semiotics to the Climate Crisis –
A Sampling

  • GROUP A – Developed a slide show to teach semiotics to others, showing how the “signs we value” can contribute to the climate crisis

  • GROUP C – Developed plans for a clothing exchange for Otterbein students, and researched the ecological footprint of discarded clothing

  • GROUP B – Outlined six ways that Otterbein as a university could “buy local,” thus keep dollars within the community

  • GROUP D (Individual – Expanded her efforts to make her horse farm and horse showing business more sustainable and less wasteful. Developed a website to promote such practices to others.

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Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition Town Movement, researched people and organizations around the planet who are “using imagination to make real ecological change,” as in:

 

Closing off streets to create community gathering places & play spaces for kids

 

Schools and communities finding ways to de-pressurize kids’ days, giving them more time for connecting to the earth

 

Creating three-day work weeks!

 

Among many interviews, he sites Paolo Lugari, founder of the Columbian sustainable living experiment Las Gaviotas: “We are not confronting an energy crisis, but one of imagination and enthusiasm.”

INST 2604: INTERPRETING ART – The Fate of the Planet: What Can We Do?

Planets

An Educational Debate on the Green New Deal


Presented by INST 2604 /
Dr. Terry Hermsen/ Spring 2019)

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Riley Auditorium

 

Tuesday, April 16

1:05 – 2:25pm

Premises

  1. That we as a country (and a planet) are in deep need of working directly and substantially to address the climate crisis.

  2. That the IPCC Report (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) is correct in saying we have till 2030 to avoid the worst effects of global warming.

  3. That very little is happening, globally or nationally, to create the kind of major shifts needed to address Premises 1 & 2

  4. That the Green New Deal Proposal is at the least worth considering, researching, fleshing out into actual legislation.

  5. And that once what is now a proposal is designed in full, it will be worth debating in Congress—and in communities all around the country.

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A Note on the Four Sides

There are four positions being taken here:

  1. YES!  This side will argue that we embrace the Green New Deal proposal as a country and begin creating a full-scale set of laws to implement it.

  2. YES, BUT…  This side will promote the merits of the proposal, but raise some objections.

  3. NO!   This side will show the main reasons why the proposal should not be developed further.

  4. NO, BUT…  This side will emphasize its weaknesses, but draw out some of its strengths as well.

FOUR RESEARCH TERRITORIES --> Toward GREEN NEW DEAL Debate

A/ MAJOR EFFORT TO ADDRESS THE CLIMATE CRISIS

At its best, what might the Green New Deal accomplish to address the Climate Crisis?

  1. How much would the Green New Deal “fix”?

  2. How might it head off the worst of the effects of the climate crisis?

  3. How would it function?

  4. What legislation would it put in place?

  5. Why might all that be necessary—in the eyes of its proponents?

  6. Given that the Green New Deal will be massive in scope, why is all of this “worth it”—in the eyes of its proponents?

  7. Given the massive climate crisis ahead of us, what do we lose if we DON’T go ahead with this?

  8. What’s the biggest hope here?

  9. Under its best scenario, what’s the vision?

  10. In what ways does it resemble the original “New Deal” -and in what ways is it different?

C/ STUMBLING BLOCKS/OBJECTIONS

For its critics, what are the bad sides to all this?

  1. Why would anyone be against this?

  2. Who are those critics—and what is their overall point of viewà on either the Climate Crisis or the Economic side?

  3. What is their “base case”? Is there a “reasoned argument”?

  4. Do they mainly object to “more government spending”?

  5. Can you find someone who is really thinking it through and has something more to say than “it’s too expensive” – or is just lambasting it as “too cockeyed”?

  6. If they object, what do THEY plan to do about the climate crisis?

  7. That is, is there anyone who admits the climate crisis but still thinks this is not necessary?

  8. Politically, does it have a ghost of a chance?

  9. Is Congress just to ideologically split to take this seriously?

What role might the “youth vote” play – could it tip the scale?

B/ THE ECONOMIC SIDE OF THE DEAL

At its best, what might it do in terms of shifting the economy for those who have been suffering the most after the last Great Recession?

  1. That is: what’s the economic case for the Green New Deal?

  2. Who would it help? And how?

  3. For its proponents, WHY is this needed?

  4. Again, what programs would its proponents set in place—and what would they be trying to accomplish?

  5. What’s the “case” that there’s way more economic suffering out there than some of us realize?

  6. Are we talking about “under-employment”—given that the “jobs numbers” have been sounding pretty good?

  7. How would the Green New Deal programs help small, struggling cities like Zanesville or Springfield?

  8. Is there any way that it could be more than a “government program”? That is, how would businesses be involved?

  9. What’s the link between the ECONOMY part and the CLIMATE ACTION part?

  10. What was the history of the New Deal? When did it start? How did it evolve? What did it accomplish?

D/ THE COST OF THE PROGRAM(S)

As the likely objection—for those who don’t write it off entirely from the start—is that it will cost too much, what answers or options are there?

  1. Is there a “best guess” estimate for what it might cost?

  2. If you break that down over a 10 year period, what is the cost?

  3. What do its proponents say about this cost?

  4. What do its opponents say about this cost?

  5. Do they agree on the numbers? What discrepancies?

  6. Are there ways around those costs? As in: recognizing savings that would kick in over time?

  7. Is the main cost-argument that we NEED to do this—so we should find a way?

  8. Has anyone compared the cost of the massive climate-driven disasters (floods, increased hurricanes, wildfires) vs the cost of shifting away from fossil fuels? Are those numbers available?

  9. What would it do to transform the economies of various struggling cities (again, places like Youngstown, Marion, Zanesville, Springfield)—and is there an eventual cost savings there?

How would the Green New Deal propose to pay for job re-training, as in auto workers or coal miners attaining them new careers?

MAY TERM CLASS: THE TONIC OF WILDERNESS – Applying Thoreau’s Idea of “Living Deliberately”

A sampling of projects:

  1. Built a jump course for her horses out of found & recycled material (saved over $1000).

  2. Started a teaching garden for kids at his mother’s preschool.

  3. Volunteered at a foodbank, involving her kids and her parenting co-op.

  4. Learned to cook for the first time, vs. popping stuff in the microwave. Made healthy meal plans.

  5. Enhanced her calligraphy skills in Arabic writing to make a piece of art, which she donated to a local mosque.

  6. Took over her mother’s garden when her mother lost her sight. Learned to use traditional plants she’d never had much interest in.

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ENGLISH 3000: ENVIRONMENTAL LITERATURE

Scoping Out the Project: Options and Resources  

[Environmental Literature/Fall 2020]

  1. Read natural writers who were also ACTIVISTS – John Muir, Aldo Leopold, Louise Gibbs (Love Canal), Rachel Carson, Bill McKibben (editor of AMERICAN EARTH… but also founder of 350.org, a premier Climate Crisis action group of OUR time

  2. Brainstormed: what kind of project could WE take on

  3. Decided on trees, since we’d read THE HIDDEN LIFE OF TREES

  4. Researched options – met with Bruce Mandeville – focused on the Equine Center

  5. Organized an INST Tree Event – to promote our ideas

  6. Considered “Tree Farm,” “Outdoor Classroom,” Windbreak

  7. One student wrote a Student Life Grant for $1750.00

  8. Got help from Jeff Lehman – located best species

  9. Ordered trees, shovels, fencing

  10. Held an EARTH DAY tree planting event – with 40+ volunteers!!

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POSSIBLE AREAS OF FOCUS FOR OTTERBEIN (AND OTHERS)

Tree Campaign

Expand tree planting on campus, esp. at Equine Center. Potential 1800 free native hardwood species available for spring of 2022. As well as other locations.

Climate Justice

Bring awareness to the campus on the links between the climate crisis and racial equity, poverty. Create projects to address these issues.

Land Plan

Work on/revisit an overall Land Plan for various locations. How can we best envision the whole framework of our land use? Is mulch the only way to garden?

Foster Students Involvement

Students are so busy! Develop ways to give credit for this work, via Health credits, etc.

Conservation Corridor

Work with RAPID 5 plan from MORPC to develop a wildlife/ecological corridor along Alum Creek. Seek city partners.

Regional Focus

Link with other colleges via the Higher Education Collaborative to leverage buying power on local food procurement, solar energy, etc.

“Amid all the doom-laden exhortations to change our ways, let us remember that we are striving to create a more beautiful world, and not sustain, with growing sacrifice, the current one. We are not just seeking to survive. We are not just facing doom; we are facing a glorious possibility. We are offering people not a world of less, not world of sacrifice, not a world where you are just going to have to enjoy less and suffer more --, no, we are offering a world of more beauty, more joy, more connection, more love, more fulfilment, more exuberance., more leisure, more music, more dancing, and more celebration. The most inspiring glimpse you’ve ever had about what life can be – that’s what we are offering.”  

— Charles Eisenstein, The More Beautiful  World Our Hearts Know Is Possible (North Atlantic Books, 2013)

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© 2023 Terry Hermsen

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