Students all around the world spend a huge chunk of their youth in school. 

Rote learning pointless information, test-scores, uniforms, sit in rows shut inside a classroom, social-media, friendship challenges, an uncertain future, climate change, pollution, inequality, gender-bias, racial prejudice, advertising that tells you what to buy to be happy, tired and overworked teachers, body image, puberty, first love, hormones … the school bell rings … (phew!) – but then it’s time for homework.

I’m sorry, but you could think the current education model has been designed to create mental health issues for our youth, not address them. 

What chance do they have?

Schools need to realise the potential life-long scarring from a system outdated and mismatched for our children – and a system that only helps address mental health issues after they arise, rather than trying to prevent them. Schools should be a part of the solution – not a big part of the problem.

Green School Bali is not a perfect school. The campus is rugged, the jungle is hot and sweaty, our learning program is always evolving – we are open to the challenges in the real world. Our students still have tests and quizzes. Our students still do some homework. But there is so much more to a school experience than standardised testing and pointless homework for the sake of homework. At Green School we want school to be fun, not depressing. 

A foundation of our Green School pedagogy is building relationships; relationships with others, fostering ecophilia by building a relationship with nature, creating opportunities to connect learning with the real world. Building relationships within and around the individual is important for positive mental health.

We know that school needs to teach more than just knowledge acquisition and when we talk about educating for skills and values – creative thinking, collaboration, critical thinking, communication, empathy, community, peace, sustainability (as just a few examples) – we know that these skills and values help our learners build adaptability. Skills and values build resilience.

Projects that are born from student passions, the art and music, our mindfulness practices, our community celebrations, the genuine care of our educators, the animals on campus that are a part of the community, the sport we play together, the thematic learning that helps students connect learning to the real world, the beautiful bamboo classrooms, the all-surrounding gardens and jungle, our respectful connections with the beautiful Indonesian and Balinese people and culture … There is so much to the Green School experience that promotes healthy mindsets because we believe that’s what schools should do.

Let’s shine the light on Mental Health on October 10 – in schools, in the community and in our homes – let’s do a better job of supporting our young people through an increasingly complex youth, towards an increasingly challenging future. But let’s also remind ourselves, that mental health can’t be a once-a-year conversation, it can’t be something schools just ‘treat’; schools should be ‘proactive and preventative’ by having a central focus on it. Mental Health needs to be ‘the How, the What, and the Why’ of schools in the future. 

Student wellbeing is THE key to a better world – it is crucially important to a sustainable future.

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These are big questions, and questions we, at Green School, can answer in many ways. 

One of those answers is: ‘BioBus’

Green School Bali sets the bar high with its mission: A community of learners making our world sustainable. To move towards this mission, we have created a new model of what a school can look like, what a school can do, and how we learn – our school has ‘Impact’ as a learning outcome. This isn’t an experiment. This is a school educating for the future, where our students – and, really, our whole community – make a difference in their lives and in the world, now and into the future, as part of their learning journey. How do we do that?

The BioBus program started in 2014 after data from a student-led sustainability audit shed light on our community transport footprint. Our community had to get to school from three different areas in Bali – too many cars were adding to our carbon footprint.

Students and teachers in High School – with parents and other experts – took this as a challenge. Our students researched bio-fuels and (one of the many ‘light-bulb’ moments) realised we could be running a school bus network on refined used cooking oil. The ‘light bulb’ almost popped when more research showed the positive impact of taking dirty, over-used, unhealthy cooking oil out of the kitchens and drains of Bali. A ‘win-win’ situation. Actually, there’s more wins than two.

From the lightbulbs came a school bus service (7 buses in total) that our community uses to get to and from school, and around Bali on our various learning adventures – created through a learning programme design (not a separate side-project) and embedded in the experiences of being at Green School Bali for a cross-section of our community.

The BioBus mission is to provide sustainable transport services to GS and the local communities by offering sustainable transportation, solutions to health and waste problems around used cooking oil by converting it into biodiesel, and deliver real-world, integrated learning to the youth.

Each month the BioBus fleet saves 7 tons of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere. More than 40 entities (including hotels, restaurants, schools, and households) around Bali donate their used cooking oil, with the student team, called ‘The Grease Police,’  collecting around 2,000 litres per month.  

So what are the learning outcomes from the BioBus project, you must be thinking? One of the most beautiful things about thematic, project-based learning is the abundance of integrated learning experiences that are a part of a single project, and BioBus is no different. The learning outcomes include: project design and implementation, marketing and public relations and social media, donor business management, geology, fuel and future energy generation systems (leading to mechanical engineering), organic chemistry all the way to transesterification labs, a partnership with a refinery, more experiments and business activation using byproducts (BioSoaps and more), finance Mathematics and data analysis, web design and App coding, written and spoken presentations (local to global) and community-service. 

Let’s be more innovative and aware of the purpose of education with ‘student learning outcomes’. Real life-long learning outcomes are based on skill development and value manifestation. Real learning is about thinking critically, thinking creatively, thinking in systems, solving problems, adapting, being aware, collaborating, activating, and communicating. And the foundation to this learning is living into values – doing the right thing to make something better – community, responsibility, integrity, equity, empathy, sustainability.

Real learning on so many levels – learning that makes the world a better place. 

The BioBus program is now part of a bigger carbon reduction movement with the school. Projects across transport, recycling and composting have been complemented by carbon capture initiatives including the regeneration of a mangrove sanctuary and bamboo planting. Each project is complex and challenging. Each project is impactful and measurable. We lean into this and learn as we go.  

Now think ‘Big Picture’. The BioBus program is a regeneration tool. At Green School we believe education is one of the most – if not the most – important levers for a sustainable future. A subject or project, a learning experience, at school can be a mechanism for transformational impact. This should be the central focus of schools. The BioBus is just one example from Green School Bali where the learning programme has been designed to create that transformation impact on our communities and our world.

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But – of course – we all know that people learn more effectively when they are playing. Right?

I read recently that neuroscientists have found that it takes approximately 400 repetitions to create a new neuronal connection (that is, to learn something new) – except when playing, when it only takes 20 repetitions. 

Wow … think about it.

As educators, why would we create experiences that weren’t fun and playful?

I do lunchtime duty every Thursday in the Early Years. It is, without doubt, the favourite calendar reminder I get. I’m serious about health and safety, and our pre-K and Kindy students push it to the limit. The swings, the pond, the bamboo pirate ship, the hose (water, water, everywhere (!)) – our Early Years Wonderland is awesome. It is set up for students to play. And I see so much learning. Whilst our students play I see them learning life-skills – collaboration, problem-solving, critical and creative thinking, communication; I see them build mindsets – empathy, integrity, trust, community. When I talk to the Early Years teachers about it, they tell me that the playground is just an extension of ‘classroom time’ – and that students are ‘always playing’ throughout the whole day.

Our Early Years learners feeling the muddy earth squish between their toes

Many pre-K programs are play-based and we are happy to have ‘play time’ be the normal mode of learning. But then, somewhere along the way, people start to separate play time from learning time. Somehow, the academic outcomes and achievement standards become so important that some schools/teachers think it is more important to sit in rows, at desks, doing repetitive and boring activities to hardwire new learning. And play time becomes something that happens when students get a break from learning. 

When I taught Middle School Maths, a quarter of my weekly class time was spent playing games. Our Middle School Thematics often turned into role-play game-style units. Students in elective art classes designed and built their own games. These opportunities gave students a chance to learn through play.

I know there’s limitations to how far a play-based pedagogy can go. But, we need to keep providing opportunities to play for our older students. And for us as adults, too. So let’s not stamp out the joyful, real-learning moments of play. Let’s not put ‘Learning’ into a separate category to having fun and playing. 

If we truly want our students to learn, then let them play.

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Schools should be places where we learn, share and celebrate – and there’s probably nothing more important to celebrate than our little blue and green rock in space. At Green School Bali, celebrating our connection to Earth is important across the school year; from Green Studies programs, growing and cooking food from our gardens, Environmental Science units, thematics classes based on SDGs, student and class projects that have a positive impact on the environment, the animals that we care for on campus, our commitments to using less energy and generating less waste, the Bio Bus program (school buses that run on used cooking oils), our oceans programs, the High School service trips (all around Indonesia) … the list goes on and on.

Our Early Years students leading a trash walk out the front of campus, showing us the way in keeping our neighbourhood clean and green

Whole school curricula could be designed based on our connection with nature. 

This connection isn’t something we should need to focus on – humans ARE nature. Unfortunately, in the concrete cities and in the cyber-worlds we have created, there is a need to reconnect with our natural environments. And, that’s our responsibility as educators.

Days, like Earth Day, are important to bring the spotlight on what is important to us. We do a Peace Walk on International Day of Peace. We hold an ‘Oceans Festival’ at the beach on World Oceans Day. On International Women’s Day, our High School students (alongside teachers and parents) create and perform a production called ‘Voices’. Just as everyday is Earth Day, every day should also be Peace day, Oceans day, Social Justice day, Diversity and Inclusion day.

Our High School student, Fynn and Green School parent, Wayan, took the initiative of leading a “Bike Bus” cycling group to school, for two locations here in Bali: Canggu & Ubud 

A big component of our new model of education is the concept to educate for more than just ‘about’ Earth – we aren’t just educating about sustainability, we need to educate for sustainability, And the same goes for our learning and celebrations (across this awesome week at GSB) for Earth Day. Yes – it’s important to learn about Earth. But it is more important to educate for the Earth and be active global citizens who want to make the world better. 

How does your school educate for the Earth?

How is your own personal life impacting Earth?

I believe schools should be places where people make the world a better place. And, although April 22 Earth Day is an important day to celebrate this beautiful planet, I know that (just like our song says) “everyday is Earth day – we are going to make a difference – that’s why we came here”.

Why did you go to school today? Footnote: As I woke up this morning, I saw Neil deGrasse Tyson tweeting a line from our Green School song. To be fair, more than a song’s lyrics, it’s a message to the whole world to celebrate each and every day as Earth Day and not just reduce it to one day of the year.

Yes, we agree with you Neil!

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The point of education is to make the world a better place. There, I said it.

Who could argue with that? At the very least, we can all agree that education isn’t meant to make the world a worse place.

Our Green School Bali mission – ‘A community of learners making the world sustainable’ – is a big call. Yes, mission statements are supposed to be impressive, but the Green School Bali mission is a challenge we set for ourselves, individually and as a community. It says: we believe education needs to play an important role in how we create the future.

Let’s quickly clarify the word ‘sustainable’. I’m very well aware of the need for us to be creating regenerative systems. I know that sustaining our current ways of living isn’t enough. We need to do more. The challenge now is to find regenerative solutions that enable us to live sustainably. A sustainable future – that should be our collective goal.

I’m fortunate to have opportunities to talk through our Green School Bali model of education (and specifically, our mission statement) with a wide range of people; students, parents, teachers, entrepreneurs, business leaders, activists, artists, and I’m always happy to make a stand that this little school in the jungle, as a community, is helping make our world sustainable.

I see it every day.

I see it in our pre-K and Kindy program as our youngest learners ignite their love and fascination with nature.

I see it in our Primary assemblies (what a party!) – with students sharing their learning and the community celebrating together.

Our Middle School thematics, with strong connections to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, provide opportunities for our students to activate real-world skills and values-based learning.

I see it in our High School community with student projects (big and small) making a difference in their lives and in their communities.

I can see education systems changing – even traditional education models are realising that the divide between the learning experiences that schools create and the real world is fast widening. At Green School Bali, over the past 13 years, we have had an opportunity to redefine the purpose of education, the point of education. The reason we send our children to school for twelve-plus years MUST connect with the needs of the real world. A challenge within that ‘need’ is knowing that this fast-changing world isn’t slowing down. 

By educating for a sustainable future – by simply stating that, as educators, as parents, as students, we believe that the point of education is to make the world a better place – we have been able to create a model for education that is relevant to the real world now and in the future. 

We are a community of learners making our world sustainable. Will you join us?

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Students work with parents to harvest organic rice as part of a ‘Green Studies’ subject

What is the purpose of a School? 

Answers to this question normally include words like: knowledge, life-skills (like creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking), values (like social responsibility, community, kindness), happiness and success in life. I offer another way to think about it: the purpose of education is to build culture. Our culture is our ‘Way of Life’ (or as a wise friend says: “How we do things around here”) – and our education systems, all the way to the micro-level of individual student experience, curate that culture. Schools aren’t separate from communities, they are central to them. A school is the hub of its community – schools have a massive impact on ‘how we do things around here’..

We (that’s the big ‘Human We’) are responsible to ensure our education systems not just fit the purpose, but are designed to ensure they build ‘good culture’. Head in the sand, it’s got nothing to do with me – obviously hasn’t worked in our favour. As a direct result, we have a disconnection between the purpose of education and the system designed to achieve that purpose. A big part of this is the disconnection between what is happening inside schools with what happens in the ‘real world’ – underlying this is the lost ideal that schools are a crucial part of our culture. We need to change this.

Green School students, parents, and teachers stand in solidarity to end all gender-based violence during the annual V-Day event

Changing cultural norms and perceptions ABOUT schools sounds like a huge mountain to climb. But the actions required are entwined with how schools can change cultures from within. Here’s a few points to help you take action:

Students collect used cooking oil (UC) from local restaurants for the school BioBus that runs on 100% biodiesel from UCO

1. Schools should be places that make the world a better place.

Building a culture of learning towards a sustainable future requires schools to rethink curriculum and pedagogy – learning (that common denominator of every school) has to be relevant to the real-world and impactful now. How do you do this? Answer: bring the real world into your school and learning program. Outcome: changing the culture IN and ABOUT schools.

Students perform Balinese traditional dance during the Saraswati Day ceremony, in homage to the Goddess of Knowledge and Wisdom in Balinese Culture

2. Schools should be Learning and Celebration centers in their community 

By finding opportunities to learn and celebrate together, within a school and by opening the doors to the community to share these celebrations, we not only widen the impact of the experience, but we also start changing the culture IN and ABOUT schools.

Green School alumna, Melati Wijsen, founder of Bye Bye Plastic Bags and Youthtopia, advocates to ban single-use plastic bags in Bali

3. Create meaningful, real-world learning experiences that impact the school and wider community

When school provides opportunities for students to activate and create impact with their learning – and when this impact is seen and felt in our wider community – not only do we see real learning, and that awesome spark of lifetime learning in each individual student, but this activated learning experienced in the community can change the culture IN and ABOUT schools.

Green School Students connect with and help tutor at a local school

4. Focus on Building Relationships

Nothing new here – knowing your students and building strong learner-relationships is standard good classroom practice. But it’s just as important to build relationships outside of the classroom; to the natural environment, to local organisations, global communities. Being explicit with the relationships we build, with empathy, intelligence, creativity and collaboration – this helps build culture IN and ABOUT schools.

There’s nothing more important to the future of the planet than accepting and meeting education’s obligation to build culture. Whether the purpose of education is defined as culture-building or not, this is the reality: Education systems create our cultures. For us to move forward in creating meaningful learning experiences for our students, educators are tasked with the responsibility to build culture IN their classroom and IN their school – this is crucial if we are ever going to change the culture in society ABOUT school.

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Some of my best friends are places and Green School Bali is one of those places. This blog is not about my connection with the beautiful jungle-campus, community, and general vibe that is the magical Green School. But I remember the first time I came to campus, it was a ‘love at first sight’ moment.

Humans have awesome friend-making potential. Our ability to empathize, to care, to communicate in different ways, and to connect, opens the door to one of the coolest things in life… friendship. My best friends make me laugh, support me when I’m down, they challenge me – when I’m with them, I’m my best me. But not all my best friends are people; some of them are places.

The way I see it is simple: I’m a living organism, made up of different levels of energy. And I move through a living and non-living world full of energy. My energy defines every awake and sleeping moment – it curates my thoughts, actions, health and relationships. Just as I connect with certain people, I also feel strongly connected to certain places. Call it ‘energy’, ‘feelings’, ‘love’ – we all have special places in our lives.

My childhood farm – when I go there I’m automatically ‘home’ regardless of all the other homes I’ve had. Being in the bowl that is the Annapurna Base Camp – that was a quick but powerful friendship. A quiet beach I lived on for two months in south India – I actually cried when I said goodbye to that place. On the ocean, far away from land – that instant friendship amazed this little ‘boy from the bush’. There’s Redwood forests, farmhouse verandahs, a big ‘Magic Far-Away’ tree, sandy deserts, chaotic old cities, roads through jungles … so many friendships with places that have changed my life.

I have chosen to be mindful of my special places on this beautiful rock in space – to actively notice and respect, learn with and from, help to make better – not because these places are separate to me, but because they are part of me.

What I’m talking about here is called ‘Place Attachment’ – research shows that the benefits of being friends with physical spaces include: positive memories, sense of belonging, relaxation, positive emotions, activity support, comfort-security, personal growth, freedom, entertainment, connection to nature, privacy, and aesthetics. Somehow, those benefits don’t fully describe how I feel about my special places.

There’s nothing like that feeling of ‘being home’ – it’s a pity to limit it to one place. In education, a massive part of the learning experience is the learning spaces we create for our students. At Green School Bali, with our beautiful wall-less bamboo classrooms nestled into the gardens and jungle, we are able to create learning spaces that connect us to our environment. Across the school our aim is for our students to become friends with their learning spaces and with the natural environment. 

I wonder how many of us warm-glow reminisce about the schools we went to? I don’t. I was lucky to enjoy my formal education – but it had nothing to do with the sterile cement buildings and add-on gardens. People all around the world trudge to school (or work every day), reluctantly dragging themselves to another day in an unfriendly environment. They go there because they are forced to. Schools, regardless of where they are and what they are built of, should be places where the students, teachers and parents form a special relationship, a friendship that they value and talk about for years to come.

I’m happy to say that some of my best friends are places … and the Green School Bali campus is definitely one of them.

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Be grateful – if you’re graduating then you’re lucky (ie. not one of the 300 million children who don’t have access to education).

Education systems all around the world reflect similar structures – schedules, curriculum, etc etc. Nothing much has changed since I went to school (unless you’re lucky enough to come to a school like Green School). The underlying foundation of most schools is: students learn from teachers. The youngest learners are closely instructed through their school life – basically told what to learn, when to learn, how to learn – with teachers leading students through every step of the way. But, as students get older, good teachers in good schools start to loosen their grip on controlling the learner experience. This makes sense, as you get older your teachers become mentors and learning facilitators, guides. 

Be respectful – now is the time to pay gratitude to your mentors and guides. Again … you’re lucky to have such awesome people in your life. Respect your mentors. Respect your privilege. 

From the day you were born to now, through countless learning experiences, challenges, opportunities, highs and lows, friendships, conflicts, loves and hates – through all of your special lives, you’ve had other people helping guide your learning. And as you let go and move on, find good people to learn from, respect them, respect the privilege and opportunities you will have, and share your learning and your gifts generously with others. As you leave this tribe – your teachers and your school community, you truly become the masters of your own learning. You have sole responsibility (or ‘Soul Responsibility’?) for your own learning. This is a big deal. 

Be aware – what you do, what impact you have, what you learn – this is all now up to you. It’s time to give yourself an education.

I have confidence in the future … because I have confidence in you. And, this confidence in you is because of the innovation, compassion, creativity, honesty, awareness and activation in your Green School community. I’ve seen you grow and learn, through this year, and for some, over a period of eight years. I’ve seen you solve problems, be kind, be creative, adapt and think critically. I’ve seen you fall down and get back up on your own. I’ve seen you ready yourself for this big leap out of school. You have left this School a better place. Now go leave this world a better place. Graduates of 2021, you are ready.

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I was born and raised on a farm near two small towns. It was a nice area with good people but ‘diversity’ wasn’t a community attribute. It was a mono-ethnic, gender-traditional, single-religion community. It was like many small communities – shut off from the rest of the world with little or no need to even contemplate diversity. 

When I think about diversity, I celebrate the massive range of human differences – race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, social class, physical attributes and ability, and religious, ethical values and political beliefs. When we think about diversity, we should be exclusively inclusive with our mindsets and behaviours because diversity defines us as humans. In fact, being different is the only thing we have in common. 

Diversity is the biological trait that has kept us alive and evolving. Culturally, it’s obvious that our collectively diverse modes of thinking were the catalysts for who we have become as a species and the civilisations we have created. Diversity in the natural environment keeps it healthy – the same goes for diversity in our cultures. 

I value, respect, and learn with and from all people – not regardless of their differences but because of their differences. It’s all or nothing. Celebrating diversity can’t be when we feel like it – or when it suits our own set of values and beliefs. We either celebrate all diversity – knowing that it comes with challenges for individuals and for communities – or we don’t. 

With all this beautiful diversity around us, and it being all-defining in who we are, how did we get to the point where we need to even discuss diversity and inclusion? Is it just easier to manage populations by putting them into designated and differentiated boxes? Our human differences have been turned from a celebration of humanity to a mode of keeping us in line – notice the ‘divide and conquer’ mentality? Obviously the ‘Have’s’ never wanted to include the ‘Have Not’s’ because greed brought fear that there wouldn’t be enough for everyone. We somehow moved out of the jungle (where we were just a part of a diverse natural environment and where diversity was our strength) into different domino-civilisations that used ‘diversity’ to keep us in line by manifesting mindsets based on the exclusion of the ‘Other’. 

Inclusion isn’t about just accepting the differences – we need to move past that. Being ‘exclusively inclusive’ means we learn, share, grow and celebrate from ALL of our differences.

Living in Indonesia (ie. a real set of data points – and not what my Australian home-country media dishes up) has taught me more about diversity than I could have imagined. My first memory of a road-trip through Muslim Lombok was to wait on the side of the road for a Balinese Hindu procession to pass us by. I’m also touched every time that a local Balinese friend invites me to a ceremony in their home or at the local temple. We celebrate diversity with every ‘Om Swastiastu’ and ‘Assalamualaikum’. Here, in Bali, me being different (specifically, not a Balinese Hindu) doesn’t shut me out from witnessing and learning from their beautiful celebrations. Here in Indonesia, where I am the odd one out, I feel included in both the Muslim and Hindu worlds – and then, with that inclusion, I have learned and grown so much.

Let’s move away from my own personal ‘dream world’ experiences and get ‘real’. In a world where 95% of CEOs are white men, then it’s obvious that diversity has not been celebrated. Societies have been structured in a way that has turned diversity against people. ‘They are different’ and ‘Different is wrong’. It’s ‘Us versus Them’. We are only just beginning to unpack the damage to our cultural identity, to the very essence of who we have become as a species, that this evil-spin of diversity has created. Race, gender, sexuality, politics, religion, physical traits – if you change the mindset from ‘different is wrong’ to ‘diversity is awesome’, we might have a chance of righting (and learning from) so many mistakes that stain our history.

At Green School Bali (with a ‘CoVid’ student number of 350), fifty-two countries are represented in our student body. This doesn’t automatically solve the diversity problem – but it’s the foundation of an opportunity to respect, learn, and celebrate diversity. Our GSB students not only understand their role in our diverse natural environment (read “Climate Love” or “Learning As, With, In, About, and For Nature” blog entries), but have innovative values-based diversity-focused learning opportunities integrated into the learning program. Like all values-based learning programs ‘diversity education’ is action-based – we need to experience being a member of a diverse population in a diverse natural environment. Whether it is learning about and celebrating Balinese ceremonies, ‘Access to Education SDG’ Thematics, service-learning experiences, community projects, a ‘Gender Theme’ in our High School program, our whole community ‘Bamboopalooza’ event (that celebrates the multicultural diversity of our community) – the list goes on.

Our Green School iRESPECT values  – Integrity, Responsibility, Equity, Sustainability, Peace, Empathy, Community, Trust – align in our values-based learning experiences (for our whole community) and connect directly to our focus learning about and celebrating diversity in our local and global communities.

At Green School Bali we are not perfect. In fact, when you open up to ‘Diversity’ as an issue, you open yourself to challenges – and those, in turn, can be opportunities for growth and learning. But at GSB we are moving in the right direction in terms of providing real-world learning experiences that help us collectively recalibrate the mindset of diversity being a beautiful and all-defining part of life.

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Not good enough.

Let’s be really (REALLY) clear about something: we are just a tiny part of a beautiful, complex, now threatened natural world. We are just one small cog in the natural machine of the universe. We aren’t separate in any way – we may have built walls around us, cemented over the environment, and unjustifiably thought we were ‘better’ (or at least different) from nature. But we are not. You, me, trees, water, air, fish (etc, etc) – we are nature. We are a species of animals. Learning about nature is learning about life. Nature-based learning is pure student-centred learning because it is learning about us, as individuals, as communities, and as a species.

I see it often with visitors to our Green School jungle-campus – it’s like some families are experiencing the natural environment for the first time. If you were born and raised in a city, went to school and worked in urban environments (where even the parks and playgrounds are manufactured with concrete paths and steps and fences), then a walk around the rugged Green School is going to feel like a Tough Mudder event. We need to redirect focus from ‘experiencing nature’ – although, that’s a good place to start – to ‘experiencing being a part of nature.’

We are talking about extreme separation of our natural bodies from the natural environment – are we more connected to our phones and laptops, are we more comfortable on synthetically coated non-slip surfaces, are we only at ease in the AC?

But we aren’t ‘just another animal’. We are a species with huge potential to think creatively, collaborate, communicate, to be compassionate and to love, to adapt and thrive. Note: these are not human-skills, as we see them all through the natural world; however, we are a jackpot species in terms of the genetic skills-mix we’ve been given. You might even say our species has had the advantage – unfortunately, we haven’t used that advantage to benefit our connection to the natural world (queue: species extinction, deforestation, habitat loss, pollution, climate change, etc etc). It’s not surprising.

Nature-based learning can’t be a tokenistic addition of sustainability lessons, it can’t be the one-week school-camp, or a World Earth Day event, or the annual cross-country competition, it can’t be an hour or two students spend creating a school garden – it needs to be all of these and so much more. We need to integrate the learning experiences across our schools so as to reflect our foundational connection to the natural world – not reinforce society’s detachment from it. Put a systems-thinking lens to the existing structure and outcomes of what is taught at schools and reimagine a lesson or a unit (or a school itself … YES PLEASE!) with a focus on nature.

For too long, schools haven’t focused on the most important part of being human – our connection to nature. There are innovations to learning programs that include nature-based learning, but these initiatives can’t simply focus on learning ‘about nature’. We need to provide our students with opportunities to experience their own personal life AS part of nature (not something separate), WITH and IN the flora and fauna (not in videos and from sporadic outdoor activities), ABOUT the natural world (and the impact we have within it), and FOR the natural world, to allow us to make a positive impact now (not as some superficial concept in the possible future).

For educators to start teaching ‘as, with, in, about and for’ nature, we need a mindset shift. We need to re-establish the innate connection between our human existence with the natural world to the point that it’s more than a connection – we are Nature. We need a mindset shift of our educators (and the administrative bodies that govern curriculum and pedagogy) – or do we wait until our access to the beautiful, clean, diverse natural world is limited to YouTube videos and memories of what used to be?

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