ECOLOGY AND ECO-PSYCHOLOGY

Q. Why do you emphasize the term eco-psychology? Is this more of your emphasis on placing children in nature? What about their human relationships?

A. Eco-psychology is a powerful term for this generation because of our appreciation for ecology in reference to planetary biomes. However, the term eco-psychology, coined about a decade ago, reaches deep into the inner terrains of children to include psychological, physiological and spiritual realities. The term “Deep Ecology”, offers a complementary reference to the power of Nature’s energetic blueprints—to this psychology that reaches deep into the hearts and minds of children.

We, as conscious guardians of childhood, have the power to squelch or free the energetic substrata that that births and sustains human life. When we work with nature, we can replicate the remarkable restorative powers of Nature’s energetic blueprint.

In 1986, 60,000 people in the Soviet Union were evacuated from the area surrounding the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant after a catastrophic explosion released large quantities of radioactivity into the atmosphere. Prior to this the society had leveled thousands of acres of forest to install farms, roads and buildings around this reactor.  Yet, less than three decades later a team of scientists has discovered a remarkable rebirth, a primeval forest teaming with life.  Wildlife including wolves, moose, bears, beavers and bison are thriving in the self-restoring ecosystem. Nature, freed from mankind’s controlling, leveling tendencies and destructive potentials, has restored a living profusion in realms of breathtaking beauty.

That same burgeoning life force seeks expression in the human family. Nature’s energetic substrata as expressed in our children reaches by way of emotional domains to the very heart and soul of the child. Systems that suppress exuberant self-expression tend to override innate potentials to produce tame, subdued versions of ourselves. Schools that promote thriving populations are more like eco-systems than institutions.

In the wild the individual flora and fauna thrive according to Nature’s energetic blueprints. Similarly, the nurtured human imagination envisions unique expressions of the prolific life-force within. The imagination, which tends to atrophy in homogenous regimes, is meant to flow from an unseen Source on currents of joy. Its purpose?—the creation of Beauty.

Eco-psychology bespeaks academic knowledge that rides on Nature’s currents of joy and blueprints for generativity (creativity/innovation). Our inviting challenge is to design organic, LIFE-affirming systems for learning. Once freed, restorative powers inherent in the human family, will reveal astonishing generative potentials, enabling future generations to flourish.