Stories of environmental Hope in Action

The following examples showcase how being outdoors and moving outdoors can invoke a sense of hope and opportunity, particularly for marginalized communities. 

“Knowing that being outside and doing physical hands-on experiential learning gives them positive experiences. Better, emotionally positive for them, to help them remember the content and keep the students–no matter where they are academically–highly engaged in what they’re doing. So it gives them all an entry point into whatever the curriculum expectation is that we’re looking at. Just being outside in nature, especially for kids who are inner city…is a valuable experience for them, right? Because they don’t normally have access to that. Then once you layer on a high quality program that’s connected to natural science or math or whatever…they have this amazing experience that’s emotionally resonant for them that they’ll remember for a long time.” –Barry, grade 6 teacher 

By helping students take action on an environmental project with a specific solution, these teachers could see the hope and empowerment carry forward in their students over the years.

“...There’s an action project through Journey North, which tracks climate change in the most loveliest age appropriate way ever. Which is, you follow certain specifications for planting a tulip garden and you plant them at a certain time and in a certain place and a certain species, which the kids love. They love getting in the garden and having their own tulip bulb...and then they’re waiting for these tulips to come up in the summer and our job as citizen scientists is to report back to the organization of when our tulips emerged because that helps them track climate change, believe it or not, based on the time that they emerge…so that’s pretty empowering for kids…they even look for tulips the next year if they’re not in my class anymore.”-Julie, grade 2 teacher

“So every day in the cafeteria there would be multiple bags full of styrofoam. The nutrition specialist was like ‘if I had a better dishwasher, then I could wash plates more effectively’. So the Eco Club fundraised …for this industrial strength dishwasher and Parent Council was inspired by what they saw so they matched it and that was enough to buy the dishwasher. We were all pretty thrilled with ourselves and Ecoclubbers counted that as a major victory and it still is. We still talk about it…and that kind of success really pushes students forward to not only learn more and care more about larger environmental issues, but it arms them with the know-how to, and the willingness to stand up to problems that they see going on around them and to figure out a way to do something about it.”-Barry, Eco-Club lead teacher

These teachers helped release the imagination and creativity within their students in order to fuel environmental hope. Embodying arts-based, creative processes is one of the best ways to create the magic of possibility and vice versa. 

" ...in terms of hope, I think a lot of us think in terms of the climate crisis right now and that’s a harder one because the kids know it’s big and they know that right now people who are in control are not doing enough. So we try to give them bite size pieces that they can actually manage, right? Like we can make a difference here...And any kids I work with love plants…you grow something, it’s just like magic and it’s still true for high school students. ” –Lisa, high school teacher

“So I start off the school year doing a groundswell…I have a friend who’s an artist…she did this collaborative kind of art piece where she asked all these people from around the world to…lay down on the ground at the same time…you were supposed to take a picture of what you saw where you were laying…so I started doing this with my students constantly…”-Tina, grade 4 teacher

These quotes demonstrate the power of community. They emphasize that when everyone works together, young people can feel empowered because they trust that they are supported. 

“I think the most empowering initiatives have always been the partnerships with community groups…we just started a project…it’s designed for students and seniors working in partnership to plant tree lots…the kids were working outside with community elders, and it’s pretty neat to see them working with the seniors…it was a couple kilometers away, so it was a new space for them. It was a sustained project. We had 3 different planting areas we were doing. So I think that was meaningful. Those kinds of projects are really important for them.”

-Lisa, high school teacher

“...I arrived at school in the morning, and half the school was on Dufferin, honest like, with all of this support. And just, you know, ‘honk for love, not for hate’. It was…it was so wonderful.” –Roger, K teacher

This teacher helped her students think outside of the boundaries of their current environment into an imagined future. The result? Inspiration, creativity and unleashed potential. 

“I felt really inspired with some of the really cool ideas kids have come up with. The project about animals and species at risk ended up going into another science unit about building and they decided to build green roofs on top of little structures and they came up with all sorts of great ideas. Like, if there wasn’t enough habitat, where could we put it? And that’s a very fragmented approach to habitat rehabilitation; that’s not adequate for a caribou. But it was really inspiring that they could see potential in the environment that they were in. Like this is a downtown urban environment, not a ton of green space. But they had seen something that sparked their curiosity and their interest…it was really creative.” 

–Julie, grade 2 teacher 

These quotes remind us that hope in climate change education is not always positive or linear. It requires that we look at issues critically, step outside of our comfort zones and build resiliency. 

“...there’ve been some setbacks…somebody stole the sign…people will litter in the garden the kids have planted and they get upset about that. There's like built-in resiliency to any kind of project that you are maintaining in the real world…or built-in maintenance, and that maintenance can breed resiliency.”

-Julie, grade 2 teacher

“…don’t be afraid to make mistakes…learn alongside the kids, be vulnerable… I think somebody that looks like me probably needs to be more uncomfortable more often, because we’ve been comfortable for a very long time.”

-Joe, Outdoor Education Specialist

“...here’s a 13 year old, same age as them and I think that’s what really gets them. That she’s 13 and she’s fighting for water in the story. She’s knocking on the doors of the privileged group, which are white and they have access…” –Delores, grade 8 teacher

Decolonizing education is an ongoing practice, which these teachers demonstrate through their intentional connection to the Land. 

“...in the last 5 years, I’ve really made it a point to have a focus on either environmental education specifically, or First Nations Education…I always start off the school year with this idea of thanking the Land.”-Tina, grade 4 teacher 

“...you’ve got classes of 33 or 34, so if you think of the divergent layers of your student profile. It’s so diverse. There’s not one lesson, so how do you capture their attention? I find when we connect to First Nation, Metis and Inuit, the speakers are very connected to the Land. And the kids really enjoy that. They’re captivated, you know. Here’s an Elder. Think of it as a grandmother that’s talking to them. They’re captivated. All kids are good, right? You may have some children that need more of your attention but they’re all very good deep inside. So connect to a grandmother figure, you are listening, both ears open...kids are engaged. They’re in it. Doesn’t matter how many profiles you have. ”-Delores, grade 8 teacher