Tag / ecology
-
Biocitizen’s Chilean Roots
Biocitizen has substantial roots in Chile that began growing in 1999 with the collaboration of biocultural conservationists Ricardo Rozzi and (advisory board member!) Francisca Massardo with Kurt Heidinger and others to create the Omora Ethnobotanical Park. The Omora Park was the impetus for the creation of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve and a whole slew of…
-
freewalk, freewalker, freewalking
A path makes decisions for us. Walking off path forces us to us make decisions (strengthening our decision-making powers). Freewalk: to walk off path, without (feeling anxiety about) getting lost or hurt, or being disrupted. Freewalkers use whole terrains as paths, creating the path most interesting and delightful, without being destructive (by crushing delicate lives)…
-
Biocitizen welcomes Samuel Rode, Our Place teacher!!
Biocitizen is so pleased to welcome Samuel Rode to the Our Place Summerschool senior staff! Samuel is a W Mass native (Heath) who attends the Commonwealth Honors College at UMass Amherst, majoring in Environmental Science and Natural Resource Conservation. An avid trail runner, rock climber, hiker, kayaker, and skier, he’s worked as a camp counselor, zip…
-
“Why I want to be a CIT”
Hard to believe but Biocitizen is 10 years old now! One of the deepest joys I (Kurt the director) have experienced is derived from witnessing our students develop from little kids, into adolescents and then into young adults. The school’s CIT program and our junior staff is made of Wings who became Sharpshins and then…
-
FLOOD WALK!
After weeks of freezing, our river ice is melting—and it’s time to witness the tumult and power of FLOOD! 1000’s of tons of car-sized bergs are beginning to dislodge and tumble down watercourses, hitting boulders like bowling pins, slamming into trees, shuddering the earth, and re-arranging entire valleys. Imagine a runaway freight train crashing down…
-
Playing with Fire: Permaculture Gardening with Invasive Species
1) The problem: what invasives are, botanically and culturally Weeds are plants that grow where we don’t want them to, and invasives are weeds we spread without control, altering ecosystems to such an extent that, sometimes, native species are crowded out and go extinct. Invasives are expressions of our colonial culture; we bring them—and cats,…
-
Now Voyager 2018
Now Voyager is the most amazing Field Environmental Philosophy study-abroad program in the world— This year we’ll be in the field for 3 weeks from January 2 to 21st—starting in Valpariaso, a gritty Pacific coast city known for its graffiti, poetry and food, then we’ll head south to surf paradise Pichilemu, and from there head…