Lisa Marie's blog

             Environmental education is an effort to teach how natural environments function and the ways people can change their habits and behavior in order to live more sustainably. This form of education aims to foster more ecological intelligence, environmental consciousness, and more caring of the earth. One issue with environmental education, though, is that it often calls for “providing more positive opportunities for contact with nature among children and adults as an integral part of everyday life” (159). By limiting the scope to connecting students to “nature” or to wildscapes free from pollution, skyscrapers, and waste, students from cities who lack access to these outdoor spaces are inhibited from getting the “environmental education” experience. There is a bias in environmental education toward natural, pristine spaces, when in actuality students should be learning about their own communities; the environments they live in, breathe in, and attend school in. This issue of access to untouched outdoor spaces is especially the case in Washington D.C. where certain neighborhoods have disproportionately high rates of pollution compared with other parts of the city. Students who do not have access to “nature” as well as those who live in communities that deal with environmental racism, should learn more about their natural surroundings as well as means of action they can take to address environmental racism.

Unfortunately, I had to miss class yesterday, but reading over the course notes, I am sure there was a very interesting discussion on different stories and perspectives on Camden. I was one of the many people who reacted negatively to Taibbi's article on Camden. What really frustrated me about the piece was that it seemed to provide a very narrow perspective on Camden--solely focusing on the high crime rates and claiming that "in Camden, NJ, pretty much everyone you talk to has just gotten his or her ass kicked". After spending time in Camden, and seeing a much more positive side, I was dissappointed that the story felt so one-sided, so one dimensional--and was written in a very hopeless tone. Going back through to read some of my classmate's comments--jo, Agatha Basia, and Kelsey's in particular--reveals that we also have a single story experience of Camden. Who should tell the story of Camden? Is there one cohesive, accurate picture? Have our experiences in Camden also been one-sided? It's important to keep in mind that individuals' stories and lived experiences in Camden are significiantly classed, racialized, gendered, and sexualized--so there can be many different stories and perspectives. I believe that each place, each city carries many different stories--people can lead very different lives even when living one mile apart. What we have to keep in mind though, is to be careful of letting the assumptions articulated in Taibbi's article shape our interactions with people in Camden.

Like many of my classmates, I was also taken aback by the Apocalypse, New Jersey: A Dispatch From America’s Most Desperate Town article written by Matt Taibbi. Taibbi painted an extremely dark and negative picture of Camden through his writing, describing the city as "an un-fantasy Island of extreme poverty and violence where the police just a few years ago essentially surrendered the city of 77,000". Taibbi continually others Camden, comparing its violence and crime rates to places like Somalia, Honduras, and Iraq. While he incorporates some of the obstacles the city has had to face such as detrimental budget cuts, which were especially to the police force, he fails to address many of the issues Camden faces that we have learned about from visiting the city and hearing more about its history from Michael. This is an incredible example of how powerful and problematic the single story is. As I was reading this essay, I kept thinking about my friends who had been surprised that the 360 was visiting Camden. "Isn't it too dangerous to be there? why would you go there?" many of them had asked me. If any of my friends who asked me these questions had read this article, the image and stereotype of the city would only be reaffirmed. Luckily, this whole 360 class has had positive, enlightening, and fun experiences in Camden, which keep us from supporting the assumptions that Taibbi puts forth, but there are many who haven't had such experiences. 

On Friday, my 360 friends and I had the opportunity of learning from and teaching a fifth grade class in Camden. We were met by the fifth grade students at the Center; their energy was infectious. Starting out the session with a dancing name game activity set the stage for a fun day and allowed everyone to loosen up and get comfortable with another. After introductions, I paired up with two of the fifth graders, Evan and Jason, to begin planting seeds. Jason told me that he wanted to grow french fries, and I replied by saying that sounded good, but we had to grow a certain vegetable first. We then decided that if we could, we would grow potatoes and carrots. Lori, an intern at the Center handed us two different kinds of tomatoes, so we planted those instead. We were instructed to divide up the tray into two parts--half of it would be used for the Nepal Tomatoes and the other half would be for the Berry Wine tomatoes--and two seeds would go into each individual section. The boys gave me directions on how to plant the seeds and planted two full trays. They were a little bit nervous about accidently putting more than two seeds into each section, so they poked holes in the parts of the tray that had no seeds, keeping them on track of where they had planted seeds. After finishing up planting seeds in two trays, we all took a lunch break. As we were heading inside, Jason talked about how much he wanted a burger from McDonalds.

The Hunger Games is a 2008 science fiction novel written by Suzanne Collins. Set in the future, this story is narrated by 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen. Katniss, her mother, and her sister, Primrose reside in the poor twelfth district of the nation Panem.  Panem consists of twelve districts and the Capitol, which exercises political control over all the districts. In order to maintain its political legitimacy and to punish the twelve districts for a past rebellion, the Capitol hosts the “Hunger Games” each year. At “the Reaping” one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district are selected by lottery to participate in this event. In the Hunger Games, the contestants or “tributes” must fight to the death until one remains in an outdoor arena controlled by “Gamemakers” at the Capitol. This event is highly televised so people from all the districts and the Capitol are able to watch everything that goes on in the arena.

 In the 74th annual Hunger Games, Primrose Everdeen is selected to be tribute in the Hunger Games, but Katniss immediately steps up to take the place of her sister. The male tribute from District 12 is Peeta Mallark, a former classmate of Katniss. A past Hunger Games victor from District 12, Haymitch Abernathy, mentors Peeta and Katniss as they prepare for the event. Throughout the Hunger Games, Katniss utilizes her hunting and survival skills and forms an alliance with Rue, a 12 year old from District 11, as well as with Peeta, her fellow District 12 tribute. 

Hi everyone, 

I wasn't able to talk about my art project & artistic response to the Shonibare exhibit in class yesterday, so I'm posting my thoughts here. Like Sarah, I had a harder time thinking of an artistic response to the Shonibare exhibit. I really enjoyed it but was stuck on thinking of an isolated artistic response to it, so I decided to use my reflections & thoughts to build on the project I began thinking of after the trip to Tinicum. I walked away from the class after Tinicum not only as an Eco-Warrior but feeling very good about my project as well as the feedback and suggestions I received. Just a reminder, last week I talked about making a mosaic/collage using the photos I had taken at the wildlife refuge. 

Something that I was really struck by at the Magic Ladders exhibit was the way books were incorporated. I kept thinking about how books informed colonizing leaders, how books and what Shonibare read may have informed the way he designed this exhibit, and how what I've read throughout the different 360 classes is informing how I perceive and experience the different places we've visited. So, that gets me to my next point of continuing to work on my mosaic, adding photographs from the different places I go, but also quotes from different texts that have particularly resonated with me and have shaped my experiences in Camden, at the Wildlife Refuge, and at the Barnes Magic Ladders exhibit. 

So, here are some of the quotes I plan on weaving into my final mosaic project: 

Shonibare's Magic Ladders exhibit at the Barnes Foundation was incredible, interesting, and thought provoking. I was particularly struck by the way books from Albert Barnes' own collection were incorporated in the exhibit--especially how they were used as rungs on the ladder. I was thinking about colonialism and education, and how perhaps the books on the ladder represented the fact that it takes a certain kind (Western/colonial style) of education and specific books for someone to be deemed educated & enlighened. It was also interesting how the books were also on the desks where headless mannequins were sitting. What does this say about the adults who receive the Westernized/colonial education? 

When reading Chapter 4 of Urban Wildscapes, I kept reflecting on my own childhood and how I was socialized in an environment that mostly restricted play in the industrial ruins. Even when reading about the industrial ruins, I was thinking about the picture I had of what that looked like and how for much of my life, playing or even spending time in that type of space did not seem appealing as they "allow wide scope for activities prohibited or frowned upon in other urban public spaces" (66). However, as I was thinking more deeply about this, I recalled how as children, my brother and I played in a construction site behind our back yard that was composed of many mounds of dirt, some foundations, loose nails--it was certainly an unregulated space and could be charactierized as an industrial ruin. David and I created a make believe town which we invited our other neighbors to play in. We claimed this space as our own and together all of us played games and took on roles and characters of townspeople in this place. While this construction site was not as clean, colorful, regulated, and supervised as the park a few blocks from our house, it did allow us to put more of our own stamp on how we navigated and managed the space, as well as how we were able to use our imaginations. 

Reading Morton's introduction to his text "The Ecological Thought", I was especially struck by the fact that he kept referring to this way of thinking as "Dark Ecology" or an infection or virus that ultimately " affects all aspects of life, culture, and society" (11). Morton also mentions that "a truly ecological reading practice would think the environment beyond rigid conceptual categories--it would include as much as possible of the radical openness of the ecological thought" (11). I believe this relates to what he says on later in the text--"Fixation on place impedes a truly ecological view" (26). It is important to cosider the fact the ecological thought is all encompassing of different areas of thinking as well as interactions between people and between people and their environment. Reading this text reminded me of a comment that Michael made in Camden "the environment is all around us". How can we get people to care about holding a truly ecological thought and taking care of the environment when it is "not in their backyard?" One quote by Abraham Joshua Heschel that has always resonated with me is that "few are quilty, but all are responsible". Perhaps, having more people acknowledge the ecological thought will get them to understand the role they have in protecting the environment.