Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/environmental-kinship/5026474/
Kinship is rooted in a deep kind of knowing that includes, but goes beyond, cognitive understanding. Humans, like other living things, are social beings. We live in relationship to others, not just with other humans, but with the entire natural world. Our evolutionary roots are in nature. This rootedness is an essential part of our physical reality, but it’s also part of our emotional, psychological, and spiritual reality. We are ecological beings. Kinship recognizes this reality as being significant for all human beings.
While every person may not develop this profound understanding of kinship, it is our responsibility as educators and stewards of the Earth to create a learning environment where every child has the chance to do so. This is a time when it has never been more relevant and necessary.
How can we effectively inspire the next generation to care for the environment and practice sustainability? We created a group to weigh this challenge.
After 18 months of study and collaboration, we, the members of the Environmental Kinship International (EKI), are proposing that the central tenet of nature-based learning must be kinship. To understand why we have aligned our pedagogy around the concept of kinship and how we might ...