New Education to Save the Old World

Richard Kahn states: “Just as there is now a socio-ecological crisis of serious proportions, there is also a crisis in environmental education over what must be done about it”(Kahn 5). In his intense manifesto titled “Toward Ecopedagogy” Kahn argues for the reeducation of the world because of humanity’s current incompetence to the Earth that they live on. The fact that 45 million Americans are confused as to what a source of freshwater is should be a telling statistic if any. Obviously there is not enough being done in the area of environmental education or at least it is not being done effectively. So the question must be asked: How do we properly teach later generations respect for the environment?

                It would begin at the basic most encapsulating of levels. Families need to be behind this teaching their children a basic respect for nature as they go through this entire process of education in a more traditional sense. This means courses for adults teaching the basic tenants of an ideal that protects the environment. Without good examples back home these later generations won’t have a reason to hold on to this new education. When these children start going to school they need to be given information from the very beginning on how the world around them works. And they don’t just need mindless repetition of facts they need to experience nature itself, in its purest of forms. Frequent camping trips to local areas like a river or a mountain will help to establish a connection to an area. The camping or day trips need to be chiefly for enjoyment because if the children can’t enjoy nature they will never feel an affinity towards it. Children should be taught in-class how aspects of nature work and given a task to complete that incorporates this knowledge on these trips as an exercise on how nature can be helpful.

                The content of these lessons should lean more towards the natural environment and how different professional disciplines interact with the earth opposed to the education of the politics and policies on nature that just see children remain in a more secluded thought on how nature works. Besides, government hasn’t really provided a good example of how to deal with nature up to this point anyway. But overall this sort of educational overhaul is what is necessary to perhaps save our plant from turning into a wasteland. 

a few more from gary snyder

In his poem “Front Lines” Gary Snyder describes the coming of industry to America and the damage it has wrought on the Earth. Words like “cancer,” “rot,” and “sick” describe how Snyder sees industrialization. The imagery created in to poem is to show how the land is raped and pillaged by humanity. And it closes with a group of people, drawing the line to protect parts of the earth so that they may survive. Attempts at bioregionalist communities for the betterment of nature.

                In “Magpie’s Song” a bird sit in the midst of humanity and longs for a clear blue sky that’s not interrupted by the buildings of humanity. Snyder uses the song as a warning that man’s current growth and resource depletion is not sustainable and that humanity might one day die off because of it. But there might also be a bright spot to the song that man might once again join with nature so that humanity and nature might be in harmony again.

                “Ethnobotany” opens with a comparison between a tree dying of natural causes and another being chopped down to be used as paper in a book to teach people. This is done to show the impact of a tree falling naturally as opposed to falling because of man. In nature all of the animals help to recycle the tree as it lay there rotting but when it is turned into paper only humans are able to use it and will probably never be able to reuse it as knowledge becomes outdated. 

Independence

Through much of Gary Snyder’s poetry I am beginning to see a trend or overall theme. The Earth, and nature, are fairly independent and would easily go on living without humanity as a part of it; whereas humanity is very dependent on the Earth and needs it to continue to survive, yet humanity ignores the needs and spirit of nature itself. “As for Poets” (pg 87) speaks to the beauty of the Earth that human poets attempt to grasp at with words that cannot be translated into such a crude medium. Nature does a perfectly good job of creating beautiful poetry independent of any human. “One Should Not Talk to a Skilled Hunter About What is Forbidden by the Buddha” (pg 66) brings to mind old Native American hunters who have just killed a fox and are gutting it. They take in every detail of the fox as to give proper respect for the spirit of the animal and recognize all of its minor characteristics. This reminds me of the knowledge and reverence the Native Americans had of every creature they ate, and how the world got along just fine when humans were hunter-gatherers. But this poem never revealed how this animal died until the very end. The secret of a piece of aluminum foil stuck inside this animal, poisoning it. Easily a metaphor for what the humans have done to the earth since they’ve begun to ignore nature. And finally “The Dazzle” (pg 65) gives us a sneak peek inside how nature works. How years of evolution have structured the symbiotic relationship between a plant and its pollinators, independent of human tampering. And this process would continue for forever and work smoothly until then without the tampering of human needs.

A Few Poems from Gary Snyder

Anasazi pg 3

It Pleases pg 44

Mother Earth: Her Whales pg 47

For nothing p34

                Just taking a brief first glance of a handful of Gary Snyder’s poems some themes jump out immediately. His overwhelming reverence for nature prevails through all of these examples. Snyder also talks about human’s interaction with nature in its varying degrees, as a part of nature or as its enemy or how much human things really matter in the end.                

                In his poem “Anasazi” he creates imagery that wraps you in nature. Pollen gets into your eyes as you wade through fields of grains up to your hips. He describes them as “Gods” to convey his respect and give the reader the feel of being in awe of this place called Anasazi tucked into “hidden canyons.” Snyder is trying to say that life will still go on with women still giving birth if a certain reverence is held for nature and humanity remains humble in the face of nature.

                “It Pleases” put you in the perspective of a bird flying high above the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., a place of power and respect throughout the world. However, this different perspective shows this place of power as a collection of white brick and blue suits. Snyder is doing this to bring awareness of how little some of our smallest problems are to nature. Snyder is setting up is argument that people need to worry more about something that matters (the Earth) than about silly ideas that create problems themselves.

                “Mother Earth: Her Whales” is Gary Snyder’s attack on how the world is treated by its “robotic” inhabitants. He contests that these hypocrites who used to have reverence, or pretend to have it, towards the earth are harming it to the point of no return as Brazil’s treasures are stripped from the land, Buddhist Japan goes down the path of harm for the environment and the sea. Snyder laments the many loses of nature through ignorance and greed throughout China and North America. Snyder also asks who should be the ones to represent the Earth and her problems because all of the representatives thus far have been false and not truly giving themselves for the environment.

                Lastly Snyder gives his warning of what is to come in “For Nothing” if current attitudes of the environment are not changed. Life is called a flower that is offered to this rock and if the flower is not taken care of this rock will again be dead and lifeless. Just this small series of poems taken from Turtle Island gives a stark picture of what has been given to this Earth and how humanity has quickly begun to spoil it. Gary Snyder calls for swift action by those who are in tune with nature to attempt to mend the wounds wrought by humanity.