Keating_Nature_Propelled



Community outreach and education starting at the elementary level are key to developing societies that embrace the knowledge to help bring them and their children into the future. Most of the changes in regards to sustainability we see are fed by small communities adopting sustainable practices, and then working towards forcing state-wide changes by exploiting their success and demands. What is the most difficult adaptation to sustainable practices is the adoption of nationwide and global initiatives via legislature or governmental action because of the matrix of connections that exist, so why not start small? If the people adopt change and start demanding it from higher powers within their communities, then their counties, and then their states, then we can only hope that it’s bound to happen when their voices come together and begin to ask for a movement towards change at the highest governmental levels. Currently there are already numerous programs established for integrating sustainability into the curriculum of K-12 grades, as well as higher education and summer camps. Even just starting at the elementary level by introducing basic cycles that exist on our planet followed by the adaptations and problems those cycles experience when they are disrupted, and how they can be disrupted, are examples of how to start of students’ understanding of what’s going on around them. Then, programs can go further in-depth as students mature to global effects and possible solutions that exist, as well as have them explore and think of their own way to help work against problems on a personal level, community level, and engineering level where they design their own solution. And these educational programs are not only to boost the children’s awareness of the world around them, but to also sanction them with the reality that they have the education and creativity to help fix this problem, working towards their future and the future of the world. Taking away the burden of finding a solution quickly and empowering them with their capabilities and supporting their confidence in helping to fix the world are the ways that we should be targeting our youth’s generations. However, this process must be a balance between confidence in their understanding and actions, as well as not pressuring them to feel the burden of fixing the problem their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents had a hand in. Creating an atmosphere that enriches creativity while combining such serious concepts with fun is a challenge, but completely possible. The following is an example of how awareness can be initiated in light-atmosphere of creativity if public education hasn’t been implemented into the school curriculum. The impact that educational examples like the Elements Tour have on its audiences are a great springboard into promoting awareness in communities to call for more education, especially in their school system. Individual efforts can be made, but the more education that parents and students have in addressing the sustainability problems that surround us is only positive in our adoption of solutions. The actions of the Elements Tour are also widely versatile: the audiences addressed and topics covered can only spread in complexity from this first area of renewable energy. When both community education and academic programs run in tandem, further change is bound to happen. Seth Warren’s first adventure with promoting renewable energy sources is described in his film “Oil + Water” which actually began as a kayaking expedition from Alaska to Argentina with his buddy Tyler Bradt. When planning their trip, the main problem they came across was fuel cost, so opted to find out more about the hidden world of renewable energy to fuel their expedition. They managed to convert a Japanese fire truck to run off of natural oils (vegetable, salmon, etc.), and collected these on stops along the way. Unbeknown to them, the journey ended up evolving into a trip that gained attention for the impact they had on communities, not just with their eye-catching vehicle, but in promoting petrol-free resources when they stopped in to ‘refuel.’ The trip’s success fed the re-fitting of their vehicle to what is now known as ‘Baby,’ which became a traveling classroom and home to athletes and educators alike on the KAVU Elements tour [1,2,5,6]. The tour’s mission was to follow the cycles of sun, wind, and water in association with nature-propelled sports to promote renewable energy to the youth and communities as a whole [2]. The tour wasn’t aimed at only targeting impressionable students with the awe-inspiring vehicle they traveled in, but large groups of people who could learn from the tour’s two objectives: 1. “Demonstrat[ing] how to create renewable energy by using elements of nature and how to store this energy for future daily use” 2. “Demonstrat[ing] how the elements provide a platform for nature-propelled outdoor sports like kayaking, surfing, skiing, and hang gliding” [2] The tour began in August of 2008 and ran for 1 year as ‘Baby’ carried activists, educators, and athletes to a total of 42 cities throughout western Mexico and the US, making 70 stops including 40 schools/universities [2,5]. ‘Baby’ was outfitted with a wind turbine that feeds energy to their freezer, a pull-out tent, a stage, and many other features that capitalize on renewable resources and compartmentalization. Also, the versatility of ‘Baby’ made it possible for the tour to make stops at multiple venues like ski areas, public libraries, concerts, etc. to give tours of the vehicle, answer questions about renewable energy, and share the tour’s message [2]. As depicted in the film, “Nature Propelled,” the tour followed the water cycle from the ocean to the river, mountain, air, and back to the ocean. Renewable energy forms like sun, hydro, wind, ocean, biomass, and geothermal were also discussed in correlation sustainable solutions and to the ways that ‘Baby’ actually used them on their journey [2]. What I feel made this tour and film most successful was that the material was made suitable for kids, but also gave them ways to make changes themselves, thus bringing changes to their families. This ‘mobile classroom’ was best depicted as ‘…a rolling party with a purpose to educate and inspire…’ [5]. The tour wasn’t just about the innovativeness of ‘Baby,’ but rather was inspired by her previous journey and newest qualities, making the tour possible to address audiences of all ages in numerous locations. The Elements Tour is just one example of how education can be brought to students and communities alike, promoting the awareness not only of the issues at hand, but the lack of education provided in the school systems in addressing the future of our planet. Educators’ first priority it to inspire their students to learn, be creative, and find themselves as they grow and mature age-wise and educationally. Implementation of this traveling classroom encompasses all the qualities that engage learning and information promotion. I’m not supporting we have a fleet of vehicles like ‘Baby’ traveling the US, but creative solutions to addressing the problems and promoting awareness and application to what should be applied in our educational systems should be a major focus of the near future. No knowledge of problems and changes that may be enacted produces no results. We say that the children of today are the leaders of tomorrow, so why not educate and empower them with the knowledge that they need to get us and our world through the future? //References: // 1. Nature Propelled - A Film by Seth Warren; [] ; Copyright 2010. 2. Elements: Nature Propelled; [] ; Copyright 2010. 3. KAVU; Busy Livin' blog; [] ; Copyright 2010. 4. United States Energy Information Administration; Energy Kids; [] ; Copyright 2010. 5. Carkonen, Shawn; "Driving Toward Sustainability: Set Warren of the KAVU Elements Tour is working towards a sustainable future - on kid at a time;" Five magazine; [] <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">; May 2009. <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> //<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Other sustainability education resources: // <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">6. Oil + Water - A Film by Seth Warren; <span style="color: #531092; font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">[] <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">; Copyright 2010. <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">7. Tofino Sustainability Camps for Youth; <span style="color: #531092; font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">[] <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">; Copyright 2010. <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">8. Burlington, VT Sustainability Academy; <span style="color: #531092; font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">[] <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">; Copyright 2010. <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">9. Vermont Education for Sustainability; <span style="color: #531092; font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">[] <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">; Copyright 2010. <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">10. The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education; <span style="color: #531092; font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">[] <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">; Copyright 2010. <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">11. American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment; <span style="color: #531092; font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">[] <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">; Copyright 2010. <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Picture references: photographs taken from various blog entries at <span style="color: #531092; font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">[].
 * Community outreach and incorporating sustainability education **
 * But where can students get this information? **
 * “Oil + Water” adventure from Alaska to Argentina **
 * “Nature Propelled:” a recap of the KAVU Elements tour **
 * Conclusion **