COS 13-2 - CANCELLED - Liberation ecology field course: ecology training for research and personal resilience

Abstract: Ecological field courses are an essential for training and retaining minoritized people in environmental fields. Diversity is essential to addressing the climate crisis-- we can't do business as usual. Yet the majority of field courses are designed and taught by White, straight, men. They overlook Black, brown, and Indigenous peoples' histories and ecological knowledge. No field course today addresses the role of oppression-- colonization, slavery, pollution injustice-- in shaping global ecological change. We aim to address each of these gaps and inequities, creating a new model for field ecology education.

The Liberation Ecology Field Course merges advanced training in ecology and personal development to decolonize environmental leadership. This program is offered to individuals ages 21-35 who self- identify as Black, Indigenous, or a person of color, at no cost to participants. The course designers are lead by the director and founder of the Critical Ecology Lab whom is a forest ecologist and soil biogeochemist, along with a diverse team of science educators, plant and soil ecologists, and state parks stewards and seed savers. Guest educators will be California tribal educators and land stewards, BIPOC researchers, and local environmental justice organizers.

We used the Understanding by Design framework to write curricula that met the following Transfer Goals: 1) Develop and pursue questions that unite BIPOC experiences with ecology to dismantle colonial structures, 2) Seek ways to be good ancestors and descendants in the face of social and planetary crisis, 3) Heal from ecological trauma and reclaim a relationship with nature that is a foundation for personal, environmental, epistemic, and political transformation. We identified three Enduring Understandings for each goal. We then identified the knowledge and skills that each participant needs to reach these Enduring Understandings.

We will conduct the field course over six Saturdays starting April 29 and end on June 10, 2023. The participants and facilitators will visit six sites in the San Francisco Bay Area where participants will learn from important habitats in the landscapes of the Ohlone-- the original relatives of the San Francisco Bay Area landscape. Weekly personal journaling prompts and virtual guided yoga and meditation will bridge the gap between visionary ecological thinking and personal wellness and development. Participants will self- report their learning through weekly evaluation surveys. A capstone project at the end of the course will transition participants from students to practitioners, setting a template for work that they will conduct beyond the program.