Education and our Responsibility to Children and the Earth

Talk by Craig Holdrege

The question of how to facilitate meaning-filled direct encounters with the world becomes ever more important in age in which daily experience is increasingly mediated by technologies. What experiences are truly nurturing and allow children to become rooted in themselves and in the world? What experiences forge a connection between us and the wisdom that is at work in the natural world? Can education stimulate students to engage in the world around them — to perceive, to probe, to question, to be astounded by the intricacy of the nature — and to later take responsibility for the way humanity affects nature? Craig Holdrege will address these questions through many practical examples.
 
Craig Holdrege, Ph.D., is co-founder and director of The Nature Institute in Ghent, NY (natureinstitute.org). He is deeply interested in the interconnected nature of things and how we can understand life in truly living ways as a basis for responsible human action. His studies of plants and animals, as well as his commentaries scientific thinking and new developments in the biological sciences, aim to stimulate a transformation in human thinking and perception and a deep respect for our fellow creatures. He was a Waldorf high school science teacher for 21 years and is active in teacher education programs. Craig is the author of books, monographs and many articles. His most recent books are Seeing the Animal Whole and Why It Matters and Thinking Like a Plant: A Living Science for Life.