Bio: Sean Steele is a writer, educator, musician, and academic. He holds an MA in the humanities from York University and a BA in philosophy and history from Concordia University. He is currently writing a PhD thesis that explores the emergence of the sacred within the context of secular music festivals. His scholarly writing has appeared in Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, The American Studies Journal, and The Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Learning. Sean works as the research lead for Seedlings Forest Education, an organization that provides outdoor educational programs for children. He is an outdoor enthusiast who loves to camp, hike and climb in the forests and mountains of Vancouver Island.
Land-Based Learning & Nature Education - Journeying into Miyawaki Forests - Blog Post 5
Sean Steele • Mar 02, 2024
Above: Children helping to plant a Miyawaki forest as part of an IVN Nature Education program - Image source
A new Earth Stories Blog exploring Miyawaki Forests
Blog Post #5 with Outdoor Educator Sean Steele
In my last post, I talked about the organization Boomforest and their ongoing efforts to transform small urban spaces throughout France into Miyawaki forests. Boomforest is an organization committed to making positive changes in their communities so that future generations can have opportunities to interact with wild spaces in their everyday environments. Closely aligned with Boomforest’s mission, IVN Nature Education is a Dutch organization that works directly with these future generations.
Led by Daan Bleichrodt, IVN Nature Education collaborates with schools and community organizations to guide children to prepare, plant, and care for Miyawaki forests. Inspired by the creation of soccer fields and other recreational green spaces around schools in the Netherlands, Bleichrodt wondered what other kinds of green spaces could be created for children, parents, and educators. Like me, Bleichrodt stumbled across Shubhendu Sharma’s TED talk about Miyawaki forests. Interested in Sharma’s talk, he learned more about this approach to planting mini-forests. He then started gathering a group of like-minded people and, in May 2015, planted Holland’s first Miyawaki forest in the city of Haarlem. Since then, IVN Nature Educator has planted dozens of Miyawaki forests throughout the Netherlands.
I learned about Bleichrodt’s work with IVN Nature Education in Hannah Lewis’ recent book on Miyawaki forests, where I also learned about Boomforest. In a video chat with Lewis, Bleichrodt said:
“So many kids grow up without nature. That’s scary to me because we have all these big challenges—like climate change, loss of biodiversity, and the plastic soup. Will you protect nature as an adult if you didn’t grow up with it? In 2050, today’s kids will be at least thirty years old, and we need to be carbon neutral by then. So there’s a great urgency to connect kids to nature” (Lewis, 2022, p. 61).
I agree with Bleichrodt’s sentiment. Children today who grow up in urban environments may not be connecting with natural, wild spaces, simply because they do not have access to them. By giving children access to wild spaces, we can open the possibility that they will form a deep and lasting connection to the natural world.
When I was working as an outdoor educator, my goal was to help foster these kinds of connections between children and nature. In the fall we collected leaves on a scavenger hunt of colour. In the winter we built fires to stay warm. In the spring we watched the flowers bloom and created art inspired by these bright colours. These simple activities were in service of having children spend time learning and growing together in a natural environment.
Before I had learned about the approach IVN Nature Education was taking, I was already motivated by the same idea that, as Bleichrodt says, “we know from experience and from research if you manage to forge a connection with nature before the age of twelve years, you will be connected for life” (Lewis, 2022, p. 65). These life-long connections foster an ecological mindset that offer new ways of listening, learning, and growing.
Children helping to plant a Miyawaki forest as part of an IVN Nature Education program - Image source
Last week I attended a virtual conference on Communication Ethics. Facilitated by Royal Roads University in Victoria, the event focused on different ways of listening, communicating, and learning. The final conversation of the conference, titled “Professional Communication in Indigenous Contexts,” brought together Indigenous scholars, journalists, and educators. Their conversation was far-reaching, but at several points it touched on the concept of land-based education. After doing a bit of research, I realized that this was another way to help children foster a life-long connection with their natural environment.
Inspired by IVN Nature Education’s efforts, and encouraged by my experiences spending time in nature with children, I began to explore other ways that I can encourage future generations to feel connected to nature.
Land-based learning is an approach to education rooted in place and focused on traditional methods of understanding our relationship to the land. As defined in a publication by the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness, a Canadian “think-and-do-tank” founded in 2017, “Land-based learning typically uses an Indigenized and environmentally-focused approach to education by first recognizing the deep, physical, mental, and spiritual connection to the land that is a part of Indigenous cultures.” The Samuel Centre adds that “Each land-based learning program is unique, and therefore some may use different titles, or may not focus on Indigenous knowledge at all.” One of the guiding ideas behind land-based learning is that “learning in an outdoor environment has mental health benefits, improves understanding for active learners, and can help students to develop environmental awareness and a connection to the land.”
This closely parallels my approach as an outdoor educator. It also aligns with the approach taken by IVN Nature Education. Miyawaki forest projects involving children, their families, teachers, and community volunteers offer one small way of activating such land-based learning. Although I have much to learn about this approach, and am still in the early stages of exploring the rich cultural history of many Indigenous groups in Western Canada, I am inspired by helping to create new expressions of land-based learning so that future generations can feel connected to nature. It is this sense of deep connection and communication between people and the land that can foster a sense of stewardship in those who will one day grow up to become leaders and educators themselves.
Resources
Lewis, Hannah. (2022). Mini-Forest Revolution: Using the Miyawaki Method to Rapidly Rewild the World.
White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing.
For the latest blog submissions to Earth Stories from Sean, as he documents his Miyawaki Forest Journey (and how you might do the same in your 'backyard'), check our Earth Stories Blog every couple weeks and / or subscribe to the Programs in Earth Literacies Newsletter where new articles will be posted and delivered via email.
A new Earth Stories Blog exploring Miyawaki Forests Blog Post #6 with Outdoor Educator Sean Steele
A new Earth Stories Blog exploring Miyawaki Forests Blog Post #4 with Outdoor Educator Sean Steele
Earth Literacies presents a new Earth Stories (blog) series exploring Miyawaki Forests
When I found out that the organization I was helping to support didn’t get the grant to fund a Miyawaki forest on a small plot of land adjacent to a city park, I initially felt somewhat discouraged. But, almost immediately, I realized that this kind of news wasn’t about to take the wind out of my sails...
Earth Literacies presents a new Earth Stories (blog) series exploring Miyawaki Forests. "It all started with a blank slate. Or, in this case, an empty patch of soil beside a park. As a research lead with Seedlings Forest Education, an organization in Victoria, BC that facilitates nature-based learning for children, it was my job to help the leadership team think about what they could do with a new parcel of land."
CLICK THE VIDEO ABOVE TO PLAY I am sure you have all heard that we are made from stardust. The calcium in our bones and the iron in our blood was created in the dust of an exploding star. Over time the dust cools and gathers itself into planets on which life can emerge. You’ve seen images of enduring stars, you’ve seen images of exploding stars (supernovae), and you’ve seen images of steadfast planets. But have you ever seen virgin dust gushing out of a star getting ready to explode? The James Webb Space Telescope just obliged us with such an image (see image above) and it’s an amazing vista to behold! In this first-of-a-kind image, shimmering purple eddies of dust are being cast off in all directions by a very bright star (WR 124) at the center. This swirling dust holds the potential to become the rocks on a planet’s surface, the water in its oceans and the air in its atmosphere. Given enough time, it can become the flesh, bones, and blood of a living organism. With yet more time the organism can develop sentience to build telescopes powerful enough to catch stardust in the act of its cosmic emergence. What we are witnessing is the ultimate generosity of a star that through its last few laboured breaths is scattering the seeds of life into the fecund emptiness of its mother’s womb. These cosmic seeds, forged out of the fire in its core and nurtured for millions of years in its belly, are ready to put down roots in other parts of the galactic expanse. Together with the gas in which they swirl, these proliferous seeds will grow into families of planets and stars, ready to evoke the sacred process of life if conditions permit. Such is the bequest of the stars to the story of cosmogenesis, a glorious pilgrimage our universe is in the midst of undertaking. Sarbmeet Kanwal, PhD Click Here to view our next Earth Literacies program Quantum Wisdom: Second Pillar of the New Cosmology with Sarbmeet Kanwal, Ph.D
Programs in Earth Literacies team member, Parker Cook, captured the excitement of a 10-hour day of forest planting and community building in a delightful 1-minute timelapse video. You’ll want to watch it over and over – seeing different things each time. Below is a quick guide with 5 scenes to help you track the range of people and chores that resulted in this bioregion specific community of plants that will grow 10 times faster, with 20 times more diversity into a 30 times denser than typical multi-strata breathing machine! Scene 1 (below) You’re looking North, with the L-shaped school on the Eastern side. Three ‘sections’ of the forest bed have been prepared with a meter deep mix of soil and humus and a topping of straw. At the top of the pic there are two red tents. In front of them are 400 plants identified by species and arranged in tree/shrub/ground cover categories.
Meet today’s – and tomorrow’s – earth protectors
Richmond School District (in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada adjacent to Vancouver) established an Environmental Stewardship Policy in 1998 which states:
“As a result of our shared guardianship of this planet, implementation of this policy shall be the joint responsibility of the Board, students and staff in collaboration with parents and our community.”The Green Team at Richmond Secondary School has wasted no time taking up their part in this work.
In 2020, RSS was one of 10 schools nation-wide to win $20,000 from Staples in the “Superpower Your School” contest which invited students to address environmental challenges with new technologies. The Richmond team’s project was the installation of solar panels at the school, producing electricity that is added to the school’s power grid making its carbon footprint lower than other schools. A TV located in the foyer details the daily energy consumption so that all students can see their impact.
Betsey Crawford, a colleague of Gertie’s (yes, our Gertie Jocksch who leads the Earth Literacies Team) from The Deeptime Network, is an artist, photographer, seeker and storyteller. On her inspiring website, she shares her exploration of the world identifying and understanding the powers of the universe that are at work in all she experiences:
The Soul of the Earth Website: https://thesouloftheearth.com/powers-of-the-universe/
This is a rich resource for understanding the epic beginnings of the universe, our origins, and our possible futures. It’s a great companion to the deep study of the individual powers of the Universe as explained by Brian Swimme, and explored in the ongoing Programs in Earth Literacies sessions with Bernice Vetter and Margie Gillis, Wednesday from Feb 2 to 16, 2022 - click here to learn more or sign up for the next session.
It seems pretty obvious that we love and care for the members of our family. Many of us hold extended family and neighbours in our circles of care and concern. We include our geographical location in our sense of identity – “I’m from Saskatoon”, or “I was born in Montreal”. And recently, we have made beginning efforts to acknowledge and respect the original families on the land that we currently call our home. In his January, 2022 webinar, “The Call to Become Spiritual Earthlings”, Diarmuid O’Murchu directed our attention to our place in the history of the cosmos, to our location in/of the earth, and to the acknowledgement of the kin with whom we share our home. O’Murchu expanded on the concept of a bioregion as “a natural ecological community with characteristic flora, fauna and environmental conditions.” He distinguished between this naturally bounded place and the artificial construct of the nation state. If we are to live as responsible spiritual earthlings, we need to meet and care for the other members of our local, natural communities – our kin. Bringing it home! In June, 2020, The Nature Conservancy of Canada published Ours to Save, a catalogue of 308 different plant and animal species that live in Canada and nowhere else on Earth. Many of these elements of the evolutionary cosmos are threatened with extinction, and it is our neighbourly responsibility to protect them. Check out your Canadian bioregion and your kin at natureconservancy.ca/ourstosave . Study your home. Here are two bioregion audits you can use to check how well you know your kin, and your neighbourhood. The first was written by Leonard Charles, Jim Dodge, Lynn Milliman and Victoria Stockley for the Coevolution Quarterly, Winter, 1981. https://dces.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/128/2013/08/Where-You-At-Quiz.pdf The second is Tina Fields’ expansion on the 1981 list of questions, divided into categories to allow for deeper inquiry. https://indigenize.wordpress.com/2013/03/21/bioregional-quiz/ Ecolibrium3, an organization committed to building resilient communities in the Duluth, Minnesota area, give us many examples of actions directed at living well within a bioregion. https://www.ecolibrium3.org/duluthclimateaction/communityinitiatives/ Share your ideas Explore your bioregion. Who are your neighbours? Your kin? Who is healthy and thriving? Who needs care? What action have you taken/could you take to live as a spiritual earthling? Tell your neighbours … send suggestions to Programs In Earth Literacies in the comments below!