May 18, 2021
The Next Stage
With the more orthodox side of Circle of Life Rediscovery’s work being known to me, it was time to experience what makes this particular CIC all the more distinctive – the work led by Salvatore Gencarelle. Teaching the traditions of the Lakota people, one of the Transformative Learning courses that Sal leads allows the participation of the Rites of Passage or life-stage honouring; that is the ceremony of honouring the transition from one stage of
May 18, 2021
Beyond The Walls: My First Camp
Having joined the Circle of Life team on an internship, Marina and I agreed that the best way to truly understand the work that I would be promoting would be to submerse myself in it. With the first camp of summer fast approaching, it was decided that my latest camping experience since Cubs would be located in, hopefully-not ironically named, Battle. Memories of unassailable tents and chillingly awkward wash basins preoccupied my thoughts. Upon meeting the team,
May 18, 2021
Remember the rocks.
“Every atom in this body existed before organic life emerged 4000 million years ago. Remember our childhood as minerals, as lava, as rocks? Rocks contain the potentiality to weave themselves into such stuff as this. We are the rocks dancing. Why do we look down on them with such condescending air? It is they that are the immortal part of us.” John Seed from “We are the rocks dancing in Seed et al: Thinking like
May 18, 2021
Learning with Nature
In our time of fast-paced, exam-pressured, high-tech culture, where does learning with nature have a place? When adults are asked to recall a time in their youth when they were happiest, invariably they refer to times spent outdoors and with friends. Our clever screen world keeps us busy and on the go, but does not help us to communicate, feel loved, gain the satisfaction of the quiet mind, and relax. Time with others in nature
May 18, 2021
Economy built upon Ecology
“What would it be like, i wondered to live with that heightened sensitivity to the lives given for ours? To consider the tree in the Kleenex, the algae in the toothpaste, the oaks in the floor, the grapes in the wine; to follow back the thread of life in everything and pay it respect? Once you start, it’s hard to stop, and you begin to feel yourself awash in gifts”. R.W Kimmerer 2013 Our current
May 18, 2021
Transformative Learning into a new Paradigm
As a young woman of 19 years, I joined Friends of the Earth in Manchester in 1989 as joint Rainforest Group Coordinator. We had all the research about the link between the timber products on sale in our stores and the cutting down of the Forests. We were passionate, young, and had big dreams. It was an exciting and hopeful time, the first ever Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro was held in 1992, when
I have been working with young people outdoors since 1989. I have always been in awe of how visually beautiful the natural world is, and that it is impossible for a human to recreate this. Of all the things we are capable of, the natural diversity that this planet offers never fails to amaze me! I have been involved in ‘education’ in one way or another for a long time and have focused my career
May 18, 2021
Spring is on its way
Spring, Easter, Holiday. Lying down in the field enjoying the sun, longer days, barbecues, juicy fruits on their ways, salads, long walk on sunny days, runs during sunset, the smell of blossom in the air… What does your brain come up when spring is coming? The sunshine shining, bringing warm days, flowers and buds release the smell of spring. Everywhere green and other bright colours are slowly taking over the natural landscape. Winter has come