On being part of an ecological community

Relational ways of being and classroom dialogue as foundations for ecological sensitivity and response-ability

Abstract

This paper explores how ecological ways of being – through careful listening, relationality and dialogue – can have a foundation in everyday classroom practices.  Beginning with the question of what it means to be an educated person in the way that our planet and local ecologies currently need, and countering assumptions about more instrumental and economic purposes of becoming educated, I propose that ecological practices begin in the very ways in which we relate to each other in contexts of learning and the culture we create in our classrooms.  This work is spurred in part by an experience of speaking out for the preservation of a neighbourhood wildlife corridor, only to be met with instrumental views of the land.  Exploring ontological questions around what kind of human being we want to educate for in a time of ecological necessity, I make a claim for dialogical and relational practices as foundations for developing ecological sensitivity and response-ability.  Since the context of any class is itself an ecology, it offers an invaluable opportunity to develop qualities of ecological responsiveness, sensitivity, empathy, and caring while being part of an interconnected web.  Thus, I look toward how classroom culture might take on perspectives closer to the kinship views needed to make possible the flourishing of human and more-than-human community members alike.  While my context is that of undergraduate education, the practices are relevant to any context of learning.