Teaching As If Your Life Depends On It ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES AS A VEHICLE FOR SOCIETAL AND EDUCATIONAL TRANSFORMATION Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. Project Demonstrating Excellence in partial fulfillment for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The Union Institute College of Graduate Studies EarthWeaver, Seattle, WA © 2005 by Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved Please contact the author for permission to use, publish, and distribute this work. [email protected] this work is dedicated to Eve Athey Ray, ma, mfcc, a woman of great insight, power, grace, and compassion who has been my guide through the complex web of my transitions and transformations. Thank you Eve, for being there, for staying there, and for showing me the impor- tance of knowing and loving myself. Thank you, Eve and to Justin Forrest Giuliano My darling son, a sweet, shinning ray of beautiful light that lights up any soul that comes within his reach. I love you, my sweetie pie. Table of Contents Abstract...........................................................................................................................................6 Preface.............................................................................................................................................7 Acknowledgments...........................................................................................................................8 Introduction, Purpose and Scope.......................................................................................................9 Why Environmental Studies?..........................................................................................................10 What Is Environmental Studies?.....................................................................................................10 Statement of the Research Problem.................................................................................................11 How To Use This Book..................................................................................................................16 Where Does This Book Fit In?........................................................................................................17 What This Book Is Not..................................................................................................................17 The Use of Visuals in this Work.....................................................................................................18 Chapter 1 - The Need For A New Approach to Living and Learning...................22 I Foundations of My Approach to Teaching......................................................................................23 n t One: The approach to teaching the physical sciences embraced by the developed world is, in general, a r failure at showing the intricate connections that exist between systems......................................24 o d Two: It is vital that people understand that constant change is not something to be feared. In fact, the u systems of our Earth and the Universe as we currently understand them are constantly in a state of c t flux...........................................................................................................................................26 i o Three: “We have a terrible confusion about our place in nature.”.....................................................27 n Four: The basic assumptions that we have built our lives around need modification.........................36 Five: The absence of full representation of women and people of color in the development of our science and technology (and the world) have had a devastating impact on our culture and way of life............................................................................................................................................44 Six: Redefining and including spirituality in our lives and all fields of study is vital to our survival. We must learn to call the fruits and resources of the Earth “sacred.”...................................................49 Seven: We must understand what our obstacles are to living in community with each other and resist the urge to isolate and protect ourselves from our neighbors. We must understand the importance of developing a relationship with our “Place,” the region of the planet in which we live.............58 Chapter 2 - A Model for An Approach to Teaching Connectedness.....................71 Shallow or Deep............................................................................................................................. 72 Betrayal..........................................................................................................................................74 Obstacles........................................................................................................................................79 Something is Missing.....................................................................................................................81 Chapter 3 - Deep Teaching - The Process of Teaching Connections......................85 Responsibility.................................................................................................................................86 Recognize.......................................................................................................................................86 Scholarship.....................................................................................................................................86 Page 4 Doing Work - Meaningful Assignments.........................................................................................87 Critical Thinking............................................................................................................................87 Awareness.....................................................................................................................................87 Sense of Place.................................................................................................................................87 Experience......................................................................................................................................87 Activism........................................................................................................................................87 Creativity.......................................................................................................................................88 Reflection.......................................................................................................................................88 Reassessment..................................................................................................................................88 Change..........................................................................................................................................88 The Educator as Facilitator..............................................................................................................90 Critical Thinking as a Mode For Learning......................................................................................92 Myths and Fears of Learning..........................................................................................................93 Chapter 4 - Components of the Deep Teaching Process........................................98 Despairwork...................................................................................................................................98 Ecopsychology..............................................................................................................................102 I Ecofeminism.................................................................................................................................104 n A Feminist Critique of the Physical Sciences.................................................................................106 t r Confusion about Our Place in Nature...........................................................................................107 o d Deep and Spiritual Ecology...........................................................................................................108 u A Return to the Goddess..............................................................................................................108 c t Native American Awareness.......................................................................................................109 i o Astronomy and Cosmology..........................................................................................................111 n Chapter 5 - Coming Alive: Experiences for Learning.........................................114 Physical Settings for the Exercises..................................................................................................121 Dealing with the Feelings that will Surface...................................................................................122 Categories of Experiences..............................................................................................................123 Experiential Learning Activities for the Deep Teaching Process......................................................129 Appendix........................................................................................................178 Appendix 1 - Coursework for Connectedness...............................................................................178