The book I wrote about in my last post, Braiding Sweetgrass, is a call to ecological and sustainable awareness and practices.  12 years ago, when we first opened our school, I was learning about the Cloud Institute Sustainability Standards for Education.  These standards are rooted in helping students develop a sense of place, history, and connection to their neighborhoods, communities, and environment.   As we develop this awareness, we can nurture a sense of responsibility to the community and the earth. One chapter in Braiding Sweetgrass that I am reading over and over again is the chapter on what it means to be indigenous to a place.  For Robin Wall Kimmerer, the author, being indigenous to a place requires one to have a sense of history and a “soul-deep fusion with the land.”  As a nation of immigrants steeped in an economic philosophy of consuming, we have some serious work to do if we want to really belong to the place we call home.  Our teachers are constantly thinking about and learning how to better foster a sense of belonging to our communities, neighborhood, and environments in order to nurture the wonder and gratitude needed to care for our earth.

 I often neglect to attend to the fact that we are in a “green” school building despite our dismal “grade” of D on electricity usage. (We are working on it!)  One of the green features that I do appreciate daily is the natural light we have in our rooms and the views of the harbor.  This connection to the earth that I see each day is one way that I hold on to my own sense of wonder and gratitude for our environment and the history and legacy of our community. Working with children is another way that I connect to our world and hold on to my values of sustainability. I feel an obligation to leave the world slightly better for them than it is today — cleaner, kinder, and more just for all.