This document summarizes a talk on teaching at the intersection of diversity, social justice, and ecojustice. It discusses several topics: (1) the relationship between poor environmental conditions and marginalized groups; (2) the clash between European/American and indigenous/West African worldviews and resulting domination/genocide; (3) Christianity's shift away from nature-based spirituality; (4) methods for disrupting anthropocentric thinking and exploring mindsets through place-based learning. The talk promotes an ecojustice pedagogy of investigating intersections between cultural values and ecology.

1. Brown Bag Talk:
Teaching at the Intersection of
Diversity, Social Justice, and
Ecojustice
Kurt Love, Ph.D.
Central Connecticut State University
11/13/13
Marcus White Living Room

2. Eco-racism
Eco-racism - the relationship between poor environmental
conditions and peoples of color and lower socioeconomic
classes disproportionately living in those conditions.
Peoples of third-world nations
Environmental conditions of poor neighborhoods in cities
(Kozol, 1991, 2005)

3. European Colonizers &
American Indians
Clash of two peoples with two
different “ecological selves”
European Colonizers: Nature for
profit, land ownership, enclosure,
capitalist mindset/values
American Indians: Nurturance,
reciprocity, sustainable mindset/
values
Genocide: From up to 18 million in
1490’s to 190,000 in 1890, up to 200
million Indians died in the Americas
Land Domination

4. European Colonizers &
West Africans
Clash of two peoples with two
different “ecological selves”
European Colonizers: Nature for
profit, land ownership, enclosure,
capitalist mindset/values
West Africans: Nurturance, reciprocity,
sustainable mindset/values
Slavery: About 12 million captured
and shipped to the Americas, 645,000
brought to the U.S., nearly 4 million
slaves in the 1860 census
Domination for profit via capitalism

5. Christians &
Earth-Based Spiritualities
Movement out of nature and into
“Human” as separate from nature
Nature is where Satan resides
Technology is Godly & righteous
Christian missionaries with indigenous
peoples globally, views on nudity
Killing of at least tens of thousands of
“witches” from 1400s-1600s
Continued persecution of paganism,
neopaganism, and Wicca

6. Shift Away From
Valuing Nature
Joseph Campbell
stated that we can
see the movements
of a society based
on the highest
buildings in an area.

7. Shift Away FromValuing Nature
Gods and
Goddesses
communicate
through the
actions of nature
in the forests
Gods and
Goddesses
communicate
through the
actions of nature
and in growth/
harvest of crops
God (no
Goddess) &
salvation are
found only
through Jesus.
The Devil resides
in nature.

8. Shift Away FromValuing Nature

9. Shift Away FromValuing Nature
Transcontinental corporations heavily
influence governments and national policies
through trade agreements creating the
greatest negative impact on the global
environment
Government provides
policies of morality
aimed solely at rights of
humans

10. Shift Away FromValuing Nature

11. Aloha & Haole
Aloha
“Together, we breathe the sacred breath”
A consciousness that we are inescapably interwoven with
each other and the earth.
What we do to each other and the earth, we do to ourselves.

12. Aloha & Haole
Haole
“One who is without sacred breath”
A consciousness that does not include an awareness that we are
inescapably interwoven with each other and the earth.
A consciousness only of self and an ignorance of one’s energetic and
spiritual impact. Often comes with little or no understanding of
spirituality or the purpose of one’s soul (soul loss).

13. A Vision

14. ECOJUSTICE
PEDAGOGY

15. Disrupting a Mindset of
Anthropocentrism
Thick Description includes:
Questioning “root metaphors” in language
Questioning human domination over nature practices
Exposing “technology as our ecology” in curriculum
Analyzing history through an anti-anthropocentric lens

16. Ecojustice Teaching Methods
Exploring the intersections of
cultural value system and ecology
1.
Teacher-as-Mediator
Aiming for thick description
(relationships and tensions)
2.
Investigating Mindsets
Disrupting anthropocentric thinking
and language
3.
Commons-Based Learning
Using the cultural commons as placebased learning experiences
4.
Ecological Selves
Deconstructing our technological/
ecological selves

17. Ecojustice Teaching Methods
Exploring the intersections of
cultural value system and ecology
5.
Sustainable Feast
Making dishes with foods that are
in season and from within 100
miles away
6.
Community Mapping
Investigating the surroundings of
an area including its buildings,
natural areas, types of land usage
7.
Earth-Walking
Knowing the mythological and
practical significances of the
natural area