Writing About Nature

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 23.02.05

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Demographics
  2. Rationale
  3. Why Must Students Appreciate Nature and its Forest
  4. The Impact of International Travel: Teachers and Students Testify
  5. Philanthropic Dollars Make Dreams Realities
  6. Justice Scholars: University Collaboration
  7. Activities
  8. Appendix on Implementing District Standards
  9. Notes

Creating First-Class Experiences for Forgotten Schools: Why Not Us?

Sean Means

Published September 2023

Tools for this Unit:

Why Must Students Appreciate Nature and its Forest

For children who live in urban settings, their experience with animals is often limited to domestic dogs and cats or wild animals in zoos. To most students from the city, wild animals are only found in zoos or TikTok videos. Furthermore, the plants they've seen are usually in their local parks and Home Depot.By experiencing nature in its rawest form, students can gain respect for its power and begin to think about what could happen if it no longer exists. According to National Geographic, the Rainforest is Earth's longest-lasting ecosystem. According to Rainforest Concern, tropical forests contain over 30 million species and animals, which represents half of the earth's entire wildlife population and two-thirds of the plant species that exist on the planet (10). "These forests are extremely dense. Walking through a rainforest, one may encounter a 10-square-kilometer (four-square-mile) patch that can contain as many as 1,500 flowering plants, 750 species of trees, 400 species of birds, and 150 species of butterflies.” (11)

Another reason children must understand and appreciate the rainforest is its ability to regulate the earth's temperature. In Paulo Artaxo's "Tropical Forests are Crucial in Regulating the Climate of the Earth," it states that "forests are responsible for much of the carbon removal by terrestrial ecosystems, removing about 29% of annual CO2 emissions or 15.6 gigatons of CO2 each year. Tropical forests have a critical role in supporting biodiversity, storing carbon, regulating the water cycle, influencing the radiation balance via albedo, and having an important role in human well-being." (12) In other words, the forest represents a filtration system to consume, filter and clean up the carbon in the atmosphere.

Although the benefits of rainforests are well documented by scientists across the globe, these natural purification systems are under constant threat by developing nations and capitalistic economies. Paulo Aratox explains, "Protection, expansion, and improved management of the world's forests are important initiatives to keep global warming below 2 degrees. Tropical deforestation leads to strong net global warming because of CO2 emissions and biophysical effects (albedo, evapotranspiration, and canopy roughness). Models show that completely deforesting the tropics could result in global warming equivalent to that caused by the burning of fossil fuels since 1850, with more warming and considerable drying in the tropics, with Amazonia responding more strongly than Southeast Asia or Central Africa. Besides the commitments of several countries to achieve zero deforestation, tropical forests are still cut down at a high rate, especially in Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Indonesia. According to the Guardian, Brazil is dealing with a crisis connected to the economic gains of foreign nations. In February of 2023, its Amazon rainforest had a record-high month in the number of trees cut down, as shown by government satellite evidence. According to the Guardian, this is an increase of 62% compared to last year. Much of Brazil's rainforest deregulation is a consequence of the nation's inability to maintain a strong central government. During his administration, Jair Bolsonaro, the nation's previous leader, did not prioritize rainforest conservation. A Greenpeace spokesman, Romulo Batista, explained that "addressing the crisis will require rebuilding of human resources of environmental agencies that were gutted by the far-right populist, a process which cannot happen overnight.” (13) While Brazil's efforts for a new government that prioritizes its natural resources are in the works, the process needs to speed up before the nation loses its most valuable asset.

Another forest in Central America is that of the Dominican Republic, home to Los Haitises National Park. When students visit the park, they will be surrounded by over 700 plant species, 17 endemic to this region alone. The park also is home to 110 species of birds, one-third of the entire bird population in the nation. (14) The rainforest has hundreds of rivers, streams, and cliffs for anyone willing to take on the journey. Students benefit from these types of experiences because it takes them out of their comfort zone. There phones don’t work, so GPS can no longer direct them, although there are modern accommodations in some town, many times students are faced with an opportunity to live on and off the land in ways they’d never experienced. Penny Whitehouse said, "Do not wait until your child's school understands how important green time is for their growing minds. Today, leave the homework untouched in favor of outdoor play and real-world learning”(14). As a teacher, this is the appropriate approach to learning both in and out of the classroom. We cannot wait for systems to create these experiences. Instead, we must do it ourselves.

Prior to the COVID years, our neighboring schools, both in and out of our district, have taken their students to other nations annually. I have spoken to these teachers, and they have taken their children to South America, Central America, China, Europe, and Canada. On the trips to South and Central America, the students could visit the rainforest and become one with nature. They have been able to make such a trip every single year. Our school has been less fortunate.

I am not a Spanish teacher. My proficiency in the language is limited to just a few words, such as "Hola" and "Mucho Gusto." However, I believe in the power of exposure and worked with my colleagues to create experiences for our children. At Pittsburgh Westinghouse, our school has organized one trip abroad, to Costa Rica since I’ve been there. I was one of two teachers on that trip, and I remember its impact on our students and how their appreciation for nature grew from that experience. I was not the main teacher when we took our kids to Costa Rica. Instead, I acted as a chaperone and documentary photographer, providing support in any way possible. The financial planning for the trip involved a lot of effort, such as winning a grant and fundraising locally. The parents could have contributed more financially. There were some delays due to district-level procedures, but finally, the students could board the plane. Some students felt anxious while flying above the clouds and sought comfort from us during a layover at the Houston airport. After arriving in Costa Rica, we quickly got into a van and drove for three hours until we reached a riverside with canoes, which would take us to our living arrangements in the rainforest.

The students entered a world untouched by humans as they boarded the canoes. They saw trees they had never encountered in their science books. The canoes had small motors for upstream progress, but the men with paddles were the main source of movement. These men didn't speak English, have access to GPS, but knew the water and the way. On our journey to the campsite, the group saw various animals, such as monkeys, snakes, frogs, turtles, and more. After arriving, the students didn't have cell phones to distract them (what a blessing) so they focused on the ecosystem and culture around them instead. During our stay we our students walked down different trails daily, and their tour guide told them that although the ground was hard under their feet now, it had been marshland thirty years ago. This was an eye-opening experience to the impact of global warming, a consequence of the combusting of fossil fuels, warming of oceans and the melting of glaciers. Seeing the direct impact of human actions outside their local area was a unique experience for students who’d only understood the theory found in their books.

In addition, our students could enjoy the locally sourced food from the community. The chicken that roamed around in the morning was on our dinner plates. A local teacher would teach us about their customs each day, and although they struggled at times, our kids tried to understand. Our students made coffee from local plants. They used bows and arrows and screamed at night when spiders would enter the cabin to say hello. We also played a soccer game with the locals, most of whom had no shoes, but they crushed us. We were winded and down ten to zero within just a few minutes. By the end of our time, our kids learned the different names of the plants along the people in the village and the plants along the trails. Students helped take rocks back and forth to help build a school and cut down trees for wood. Our cohort gained an appreciation for the community and its ecosystem that would not have been attainable if we had never made the trip.

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