I finished Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer last month and she really inspired me to think differently about the way we approach environmentalism:
“When my students learn about the latest environmental threat, they are quick to spread the word. They say, “If people only knew that snow leopards are going extinct, if people only knew that rivers are dying, if people only knew…” Then they would what? Stop? I honor their faith in people, but so far, the if-then formula isn’t working. People do know the consequences of our collective damage. They do know the wages of an extractive economy, but they don’t stop. They get very sad, they get very quiet, so quiet that protection of the environment that enables them to eat, to breathe and imagine a future for their children doesn’t even make it on a list of their top ten concerns.”
So I wonder have we approached this all wrong? How can we help our students change their perspectives about caring for the natural world around them and their relationship with the environment? Do we need to be doing something different about how we look at climate change and the protection of our environment?
