The Garden Classroom

The Garden Classroom, also known as Sustainable Schooling, is an innovative method of teaching children for the future. Goals of this method reach farther than merely surviving and trying not to make a degraded planet worse. Children learn to support healthy communities for present and future generations. Curriculum nurtures respect and honor for physical, emotional, intellectual, cultural, and spiritual diversity with recognition for the need of justice.
Smart by Nature, motto of the Center for Ecoliteracy predicates that Nature is our teacher and sustainability is a community practice. Co-founded by Fritjof Capra, physicist and systems thinker authored “The Web of Life” in which he defines life as the integrative actions of living organisms. By exposing children to more information about themselves, their peers and their environment, their integrative actions become more conscious with a greater reward for all. For students showing interest long-term projects are supervised by educators. As more students come to find interest in a project, say a chicken coop expansion, students can teach others thereby reinforcing their own knowledge and passing it on as equal and engaged learners.
Children learn science, math, english, social skills, culture and more using real life activities in and out of a classroom. Teachers create an atmosphere of meaningful conversation where creativity and problem solving can grow. Information retention is high because the learning environment is tailored to child development. Projects are phased in stages so that kids can learn to stick with projects until a stage is completed giving them the pride of accomplishment. Working together teaches patience, team work, understanding of people’s strengths and tolerance for difference, and due process.
A goal is the recognized need for justice. A system involving student run government, elected positions and case hearings have worked well. Student officers enforce the voted in laws and when they are broken cases are heard in front of an elected student jury and judge. There may be civil cases or criminal cases between students. Overseen by educators, the kids learn to respect authority and to become political participants in their world. What an inspiring way to reinvigorate patriotism in today’s youth.
Thousands of educators across the country are recognizing the benefits of this method of teaching. The quality of life is raised for the children, parents, faculty and neighbors. These methods bring people together strengthening the character and values of the community. For instance, an ongoing project to restore a watershed in Sonoma, California, brought students together with government and ranchers to be more accountable and take better care of the creek. Teachers, parents, ranch owners and politicians were in awe at the power of the children to bring about such profound change.
Change is something we can learn from the children who will be our future. It is important to nurture in them a strong sense of responsible stewardship toward each other, their community and their planet. What they achieve will be extraordinary.
Lauren Bell is a Green Consultant and the founder of GLOBellConsulting.com. Advocating for education, Lauren is working toward implementing these methods in our local schools.
References:
Capra, Fritjof. The Web of Life, A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems. Anchor Books, Doubleday. New York. 1996.
Co-founder of Center for EcoLiteracy. www.Ecoliteracy.org

Coastal Cleanup Day

The Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo County (ECOSLO) will once again coordinate the annual California Coastal Cleanup Day at twenty-three beaches throughout SLO County on Saturday, September 25, from 9 a.m. to noon at. This is the 26th annual and to reduce the amount of trash generated during the work efforts volunteers are being asked to B.Y.O. (Bring Your Own) bag, bucket, water bottle and gloves. Home Depot of San Luis Obispo has generously donated 150, five-gallon utility buckets for use at the larger beach and remote sites. 
Coastal Cleanup Day (CCD) removes marine debris from the state’s beaches and waterways, identifies its sources and implements education to support the change in behaviors that cause pollution. In 2009, SLO County had 1,425 volunteers pick up 4,129 pounds of debris. Volunteers are needed to gather and record the debris found. The data is entered into the Ocean Conservancy Database and that information assist in the development of Environmental Policy. Marine debris not only destroys oceans and beaches, but also creeks, streams and other waterways.
A new addition to the cleanup efforts is the removal of invasive species at one of the sites. Biological debris has been recognized as having a potential negative impact on the native coastal habitat.  If you are interested in invasive species removal, this site is by specific RSVP only. Contact ECOSLO directly.
Raffle tickets will be given to each participant who brings their own supplies. Local businesses have kindly donated prizes that will be raffled on the day of the event.
• Novo’s of SLO – Lunch for 2
• The Natural Café – 2 entrees
• Shore Cliff Lodge, Pismo– 1 night deluxe accommodations
• Shelter Cove Lodge, Pismo – 1 night deluxe accommodations
• Avila Lighthouse Suites, Avila – 1 night stay in a Master Suite
The first California Coastal Cleanup Day was in 1985 with 2,500 volunteers turning out statewide to help. Since then, the event has become International Coastal Cleanup Day. It’s the largest volunteer event of its kind in CA. Last year, 80,622 volunteers removed almost 1,387,541 million pounds of trash from the coast of California.
ECOSLO is still accepting financial support from the community. For more information contact Maria Kelly at 544-1777 or visit ECOSLO’s booth at Farmers Market on Thursday nights. A list of SLO County locations is available at www. ecoslo.org.

Save Water

Save Money

Interested in saving money on your water bills while having a lower impact on the environment?  One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is to stick to a reliable irrigation schedule. 

Rain is just one factor that is used to determine irrigation needs.  A factor less understood is the length of day.  Longer days not only produce warmer seasonal temperatures, they also increase transpiration (water loss) from plant leaves and evaporation from the soil – The more sun, the more water loss.  Now that September is here, and the days are shortening, you should be able to begin reducing your irrigation.  You may also notice the evenings beginning to cool.  A reliable irrigation schedule will help you through the maize of watering needs, because consideration for water demand is already factored into the schedule.  For San Luis Obispo and South County, the following link will lead you to a year-round schedule you can download and print:  http://www.slocity.org/utilities/savewater.asp
A schedule for North County can be downloaded at the following link:
http://templetoncsd.org/Library/Conservation/watering_schedule.pdf

Looking closely at the schedules, you will notice that beginning about mid November. The cooler weather and occasional rains should be enough to sustain your landscape, with practically no additional irrigation!   Rainy season dry spells that last for a few weeks may require that you water lawns for a total of only 5 minutes per week, otherwise, you should find that your landscape requires no supplemental water at all. 

 

BIONEERS

REVOLUTION FROM THE HEART OF NATURE

For the first time ever, the Bioneers Conference will be brought to the Central Coast October 15-17, 2010, at the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center Complex

Bioneers is inspiring a shift to live on Earth in ways that honor the web of life, each other, and future generations.  Bioneers has two keystone goals to help make this shift successfully: (1) connect people with solutions by popularizing breakthrough ideas and practices and (2) grow social capital by catalyzing, connecting, and strengthening strategic networks, including bioregional and community-based alliances

The Central Coast Bioneers Conference for San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Monterey Counties, a program of Ecologistics, Inc., will take place October 15-17.  It is not so much a conference as it is a Festival of Ideas, with eighteen local workshops, 15 plenary sessions, book signings, a marketplace of local merchants and organizations, a moving image festival, art and music.

The feeling of hope and connectedness following attendance at a Bioneers Conference is indescribable.  The two-and-a-half day event will feature workshops and panels on such topics as making family farms profitable, sustainable vocations, responding to political division in our communities, using virtual reality programs to foster civic engagement, ecoliteracy for families, rites of passage for girls and women and green advocacy, to name a few.  It will showcase local innovators from the Tri-County region and bring in new ideas from experts across the country. 

Beaming live from the International Bioneers Conference in Marin will be appearances by Jane Goodall, Andy Lipkis (founder of Tree People), John Warner (founder of Green Chemistry), Lynne Twist (founder of The Pachamama Alliance), and many others.

A pre-conference field tour and lecture to the LEED registered Oak Glen Pavilion at the San Luis Botanical Gardens will be led by sustainable design pioneers Ken Haggard, Polly Cooper and Richard Beller.  Free events, such as Laughter Yoga and The Dentures surf music dance band will be offered.  Local and sustainably grown organic food will be featured as created by Chef Corey King.

The public is invited to explore the forefront of positive change for a day or the whole weekend. Network with dynamic change makers and discover powerful opportunities and strategies for change in your work, life and community.

New information and updates will be posted frequently at www.centralcoastbioneers.org  or via Facebook and Twitter.

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