Ecological Identity: Becoming a Reflective Environmentalist - Hardcover

Thomashow, Mitchell

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262201003 ISBN 13: 9780262201001

Publisher: Mit Pr, 1995

Synopsis

Mitchell Thomashow, a preeminent educator, shows how environmental studies can be taught from different perspective, one that is deeply informed by personal reflection. Through theoretical discussion as well as hands-on participatory learning approaches, Thomashow provides concerned citizens, teachers, and students with the tools needed to become reflective environmentalists. What do I know about the place where I live? Where do things come from? How do I connect to the earth? What is my purpose as a human being? These are the questions that Thomashow identifies as being at the heart of environmental education. Developing a profound sense of oneself in relationship to natural and social ecosystems is necessary grounding for the difficult work of environmental advocacy. In this book he provides a clear and accessible guide to the learning experiences that accompany the construction of an "ecological identity": using the direct experience of nature as a framework for personal decisions, professional choices, political action, and spiritual inquiry. Ecological Identity covers the different types of environmental thought and activism (using John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, and Rachel Carson as environmental archetypes, but branching out into ecofeminism and bioregionalism), issues of personal property and consumption, political identity and citizenship, and integrating ecological identity work into environmental studies programs. Each chapter has accompanying learning activities such as the Sense of Place Map, a Community Network Map, and the Political Genogram, most of which can be carried out on an individual basis. Although people from diverse backgrounds become environmental activists and enroll in environmental studies programs, they are rarely encouraged to examine their own history, motivations, and aspirations. Thomashow's approach is to reveal the depth of personal experience that underlies contemporary environmentalism and to explore, interpret, and nurture the learning spaces made possible when people are moved to contemplate their experience of nature.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

The author shows how environmental studies can be taught from a perspective that is deeply informed by personal reflection. Through theoretical discussion as well as hands-on participatory learning, Thomashow provides concerned citizens, teachers, and students with the tools needed to become reflective environmentalists

About the Author:

Mitchell Thomashow is a writer, educator, and former college executive who has devoted his career to implementing innovative environmental studies programs and curricula. From 2006 to 2011 he was President of Unity College, Maine, and from 1976 to 2006 he was Chair of the Environmental Studies Department at Antioch University New England. He is the author of Ecological Identity, Bringing the Biosphere Home, and The Nine Elements of a Sustainable Campus, all published by The MIT Press.

About this edition

• Publisher: Mit Pr
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0262201003
• ISBN 13: 9780262201001
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 248