Go to Earth Systems Journey Website
A major area of my work is the intersection of art and environmental education, in a practice called Earth Systems Journey. Earth Systems Journey is a curriculum framework for art-led, experiential, place-based environmental education about environmental flows, (such as water, air, energy or material) through a school building and grounds. This model was incubated in a project called: Downstream/Upstream: A Journey Through the Urban Water Cycle, which began on May 31, 2011, when 39 children, ages 4 to 6, began a journey from their school in Little Canada through the urban water cycle following the water infrastructure that connects the Mississippi River to their sink. After the two week field-based learning unit, they told their story of water using their own photographs and drawings in visual journals and through contributing their photographs to the 8-foot participatory map that had charted their path. They also helped to remember water through a participatory Water Marks site installation and planting native flowers for storm-water improvement. Since then, I’ve conducted Earth Systems Journeys at a high school, elementary classes, summer camps, and a teacher training. For more about Earth Systems Journey or to explore using its services, please see the website, www.EarthSystemsJourney.com