SOIL--Giver of Life--Happy Earth Day 2015

"Healthy soil brings vigorous plants, stronger and smarter people, cultural empowerment, and the wealth of a nation. Bad soil, in short, threatens civilization. We cannot have good food- healthy, sustainable or delicious-without soil filled with life." pg 77 The Third Plate by Dan Barber  

photo/text by Janice McGuigan

There is no single element of greater importance to overall well being than our soil, yet we ignore and destroy it as readily as we do air and water. Have we forgotten our utter dependence on these elements for our survival? What of the countless number of silent species which also require clean air, clean water and living soil for life as well?

April 22 is Earth Day and 2015 is the International Year of Soils as declared by the UN. We are  midway through a Provincial Election on an Island of tremendous potential but are currently experiencing a social, environmental and economic downturn of epic proportions. What demands can we bring to our politicians to ensure that our topsoil be allowed to regenerate itself? That our waters not be condemned to ever increasing levels of pollution? That clean air becomes a real priority?  That all Islanders have a right to a healthy environment?

We all play a role in shaping where we live. Choices we make in our daily lives impact the world as a whole and are intimately reflected in our local environment. How we make use of our land and waters will impact those elements either positively or negatively. The quality of soil is directly related to how it is fed. We as a people are no different. The well being of a civilization  is intimately tied to the health of the natural environment that supports that civilization. Why can we not see this? We would do well to look to the Wheat Belt in the US to see what wrath a lack of understanding of the importance of bio-diverse soil has on culture.

"...biological complexity has direct implications for social and cultural robustness...the Wheat Belt's cultural decline is a reflection of its denuded landscape- the product of  'what nature has made of us and what we have made of nature.'" pg 51 The Third Plate by Dan Barber

Prince Edward Island has many gifts yet we do not honour them. As Island historian David Weale has pointed out, we have lost our sense of ourselves and with that we have forgotten our interconnectedness with each other and with all things. I ask, how else could we have allowed our Island to reach a state where fish kills are normalized as something that happens after heavy rains, where topsoil is allowed to be blown to kingdom come in windstorms, where alarmingly high levels of nitrates in our well waters is quietly accepted as an aspect of rural living? How could we have become food insecure in a land that should be able to feed us all without question and why are we seeing the exodus of young Islanders  in droves to try and earn a living elsewhere? Our vitality as Islanders depends upon our reacquainting ourselves with a deep sense of our own identity as well as a respect for the well being of our land and waters.

   "Our vitality as Islanders depends upon our reacquainting ourselves with a deep sense of our own identity as well as a respect for the well being of our land and waters."

Be willing to ask  difficult questions. What is our precious land being used for? Those French fries that North Americans, many Islanders included, so readily eat? GMO crops whose long term safety is still in question? What choices do we make in our daily lives that support such systems of farming? Why, despite our knowing better, are we still swayed by agri-business and the land development interests of corporations? High capacity water wells, hydraulic fracturing, storm water runoff, the burning and burying of our household waste products and chemical spraying of our land are all things that impact the well being of both our soil and waters and issues that all Islanders should be deeply concerned about. We must create a new way of thinking about and relating to our natural environment. We must speak for the silent majority; those microorganisms that inhabit the very ground beneath our feet and upon which the well being of so much depends.

 "We must speak for the silent majority; those microorganisms that inhabit the very ground beneath our feet and upon which the well being of so much depends." 

Revitalization is not only possible, it is our only hope. But it requires that we be courageous enough to step outside the parameters of how we have been governing things for the past very long while. We must safeguard our land and waters through the implementation of good process in order to achieve comprehensive laws which ensure their long term well being. And we must act as watchdogs of those laws we help to formulate such as the upcoming development of a comprehensive Water Act to govern how Islanders utilize this vital resource.

Solutions are all around us but they require that we move away from idle chatter and return to  listening to the land. The Earth has a language too (pg 57 The Third Plate by Dan Barber) and our Island soil  and waters have much to say to a willing listener. It's time we all became better listeners and advocates for these silent elements of our Island. One way to do this is to use  your hard earned money to support those whose farming methods promote a living soil, clean air and water. Another way is to engage in meaningful dialogue with local farmers to hear their concerns and express your thoughts to your local candidate for MLA, and/or converse with fellow Islanders such as those involved with formulating a new Vision for PEI, called Vision PEI.

After all, we have come from soil and to soil we shall return. We must act now for the well being of future generations of life on this Island.

"Land then, is not merely soil; it is a fountain of  energy flowing through a circuit of soils, plants and animals...." pg 104 The Sacred Balance by David Suzuki 

Happy Earth Day 2015 --Love the Earth

Sincerely,                                                                                                                

Jill MacCormack

IMAGINE--Cultivating A Culture of Learning on PEI

IMAGINE

Imagine learning that has not been institutionalized—imagination running free, curiosity encouraged, smiling, chatting, motion and doodling allowed. Imagine facilitators encouraging exploration, questioning, the process of trial and error, figuring things out for yourself combined with learning from the mistakes and wisdom of our elders.

Imagine an environment that allows you to take your time with things, to mull things over, to move away from something when you are stuck and come back to it after a healthy break. One in which there is room for mental sorting, space to learn at your own pace, allowing each to learn in the way best suited to their own personal learning style.

Imagine heart centered learning; training our children in paying attention to their intuitiveness and cultivating their own wisdom. Imagine how highly respectful of children such an environment could be; respectful of children’s keen need to move their  bodies, to dance, to sing, to be quiet, to spend time outdoors by themselves or in small groups.

Imagine an education system that grants children exposure to the many wonderful things of this world and lets them choose to pursue learning in areas where their own interest lies. Imagine a learning environment that allows kids to honour the curiosities and enthusiasm innate to childhood: their deep sense of wonder, their insatiable need to know, their desire to run and scream when the first snowflake falls or the first butterfly of spring flutters by.

Imagine a learning environment that teaches life skills, and values kindness, sharing and gentleness over competition. One which naturally encourages a holistic approach to well being and reverence for life!

Imagine a culture that recognizes that we are all learners and teachers both at any given point in our lives. Imagine a world in which pursuing your innate desire to learn about those things in which you are keenly interested and which are meaningful to you is prized! Imagine a system where no one is graded but instead all recognize that the greatest reward is learning itself! Imagine the possibilities!  Imagine if…

Jill MacCormack

First published on Vision PEI facebook page April 13, 2015

An Alternative Approach to Education--Imagine if...

First written in March 2015--

Yesterday was the 12th day off from school on PEI this school year due to inclement weather and/ or unsafe road conditions. There's been considerable media attention given to missed instructional time for students and teachers. There has also been media attention given to the Vision Initiative, a local, non-partisan group of Islanders looking towards new ways of living for Prince Edward Islander's, including a new way of educating Island children.

As a parent of three school aged children, and a mother who was involved in her children's formal education (as a parent volunteer from preschool days to sixth grade) and a current practitioner of homeschooling, I am given to the belief that the current education system is highly disrespectful of our children's innate curiosity and natural energies and enthusiasms.

In North America far too many children are suffering from inactivity, disconnection from the natural world and boredom. I am inclined to see a strong correlation between children being forced to sit indoors and learn in ways that are not designed to suit each student and the problems modern children face.

Every child has the ability to shine in something but our current model of education stifles and squeezes much of what is innate to childhood out of our kids by highly emphasizing academic achievement based on a time focused, linear model that simply doesn't match the myriad of ways in which children's minds develop. (Children in mainstream schooling must learn according to grade level expectations based on age and not on individual needs of each child...and the children's abilities to keep pace are accordingly graded). Ouch! We no longer measure a child's intelligence by the age they say their first word or take their first steps...we know that these things can successfully occur within a window of time, so why are we forcing this model on our school aged children?

I continue to be grateful for the many wonderful teachers our kids came in contact with as well as the caring and  sensitivity they showed to  the children they worked with, but I remain troubled by the tremendous pressures classroom teachers face due to increased class size and the high needs of many of their students.

Two years ago my family and I made the choice to live a lifestyle that allows one parent to be at home facilitating the education of our three kids. That said, it has taken me the better part of the past two years to sort out the learning styles best suited to each of our three children, and I am their parent! How on earth could a classroom teacher be expected to discern and cater to the individual styles of twenty to thirty young people along with teach and manage a busy classroom?

Any person who studies early childhood development recognizes that small children are little sponges well designed to learn through manipulation of and immersion in their environment. New studies in neural plasticity demonstrate that our brains are hard wired to continue to grow and learn throughout life. The most challenging thing I've faced as a homeschooling parent is knowing when to just step back and let my kids natural curiosity lead their learning. Yet every time I do, we've all been deeply rewarded by the results. Perhaps I've been the slow learner?

Yesterday was a great example. We decided that even though the mainstream kids were not in school that we would, as we do on many " mainstream days off", still get in some structured school time. Canadian curriculum reading comprehension and math workbooks were in order. This was both preceded and followed by several kid led activities: shoveling out the neighbour's condos (a paid gig for our two older children) helping with a major clean out of our house, gym time with my youngest at our local town center--  In addition to this, our youngest also took up hand stitching a little flower to celebrate spring (inspired by her grandmother) as well as spending some much needed time outdoors playing in the snow which inspired her to compose a moving ode to the sunset on a wintry night.   There was also piano playing by our oldest, as well as working on a piece of short fiction she plans to submit to our local literary awards. Our middle child practiced painting snow laden evergreens in his sketchbook and translated this to a large canvas. He also took part in online correspondence with a group of Island bird watchers and  went for a midday walk in the woods. I asked the kids to do essentially none of these things. They just did them because they wanted to. Well, I might have reminded about the shoveling and encouraged our youngest to play in the snow but that was basically it.

If I had asked them to do the fiction and poetry writing or to figure out how to mix paints to find the right green for beneath the snow on evergreen trees I would have been met with groans and disinterest (as I was with the workbooks). This is contrasted with anything that the kids do that is interest led. Their interest led learning absorbs them to such an extent that hours can pass and they can forget to eat and drink. They work with an intensity rarely matched by any school children in a classroom because they are provided with a learning environment which both encourages and allows this.

I do not fault  teachers for dreary faced kids. As a homeschool parent I've seen my share of my own children's dreary faces. And them, mine. Rather, I fault a system that fails to understand and respect the many, varied ways that children learn. Children require long periods of uninterrupted time to explore and discover what might interest them. This allows for the specific type of brain development that engages the innovative and creative elements of children's minds. Researchers have discovered a link between this kind of playful uninterrupted learning and the ability to innovate in adulthood (as we've witnessed through watching our kids engage in endless hours of creating a lego town fueled by an ongoing storyline and the later creation of comic book writing, art and music). This type of creative learning is not possible in any type of institutional environment. At the end of play time in early childhood centers the instruments of play must be cleaned up. And play is not encouraged much past kindergarten classes in mainstream school. Elements of this type of play still develop on the playground where kids, when left to their own devices string together ongoing dramatic story lines and engage in role playing because it is innate in kids to do this.  Any child who from a young age has been given the daytime and evening hours to pursue their own interests will seem precocious when compared to those children forced to follow the drill of mainstream school.

I seriously doubt that children would be faced with the dilemma of what to do with their lives if they have been allowed from an early age to explore and consider both the natural and constructed environments around them. Imagine the innovations, imagine the possibilities, imagine the learning that could happen. Imagine how we adults would learn from the children. Just imagine if!


Check out this article written by a classroom teacher after spending two days as a student. It was sent to me this morning and prompted me to revisit this post which was in my draft folder:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/10/24/teacher-spends-two-days-as-a-student-and-is-shocked-at-what-she-learned/


Jill MacCormack