eco-: from the Latin oikos, meaning "household." As in ecology; as in economy; literally having knowledge or competence (from Webster's Collegiate Dictionary)

THE GLITCH

Ecoliteracy means, literally, having knowledge of or competence in one's household. A quick survey reveals some of the strife presently occurring throughout our planetary household: global warming, the loss of biodiversity, wars over resources, WalMart brand sprawl, the ubiquitous dinosaur-fueled isolation chamber, topsoil erosion, the twin epidemics of obesity and famine.

The question for proponents of eco-literacy, then, is whether or not all stages of education sufficiently address this mess and prepare students to create a healthier household. Luckily, there are folks who find our filthy household slightly unsightly, and are hard at work crafting another vision into a current reality.

THE GURU: David Orr

I told David Orr Chair of Oberlin College's Environmental Studies department, author of three books and 120 articles, the man described by one author as "a guru for students in the environmental movement" that I would refrain from referring to him in such a pedestal-putting-on way, since he told me there "aint no such thing." But after speaking with him, I really have no other choice.

According to Orr, who has devoted the past 35 years to combining his career as an educator and his passion for the natural world, change is happening. First, the disclaimer: "I don't want to be Pollyannaish about it," he said. Second, the hopeful report from the 50-plus campuses he visits yearly: "I think there's something that people maybe 150 years from now will look back on and say that that was an Ecological Enlightenment." Third, the kicker: "And I don't think George Bush and his people can stop it."

Think Orr's too optimistic? Here's what just a sampling of his students have done:

One graduate created the Green Coalition of Cleveland. Three others bought a whole downtown block and raised 15 to 20 million dollars to restore it, complete with a green building. Two years ago, his students developed a report to the administration detailing how to become climatically neutral in 20 years, and Orr estimates there are 100 to 200 other schools around the country also starting to work on this issue, one the federal government won't even touch (remember Kyoto?). In January, Oberlin's president agreed to purchase all the available green power that the local utility will sell.

Though Orr covers the standard "policy in Washington stuff," he said that "the main point of [the ecological design] class is to look at what we can do right here right now." So far, Orr and his students have built four green buildings, part of what he calls "the use of architecture as a kind of pedagogy." Their most acclaimed construction feat is the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies [see photo below and go to http://www.oberlin.edu/envs/ajlc/ for more details], a building which celebrated its third anniversary last January. After Orr raised $7.2 million, students worked with a team of architects and engineers, including the well-known environmental designer William McDonough, to refine their design plans [see the film "The Next Industrial Revolution" featuring McDonough's work being shown in SLO County].

Orr recalled his motivation behind this building. "I decided early on that this was going to be an educational venture," he said.

But just because the Center is three years old does not mean the education stops. Students monitor the photovoltaic array that currently supplies 56 per cent of the power (Orr said this will increase to 85 per cent within a couple of years). They harvest crops of summer veggies, tend the orchard of local apple and pear trees that is fed with collected roof-water runoff, and keep up the Living Machine, a student-created wetland that treats all wastewater from the building. Though Orr admits that change never happens as fast as he'd prefer, he is nevertheless hopeful about student-demanded change. "There is no building that will be built here on out [at Oberlin] in which the high-performance standards will be ignored," he said.

His greatest hope lies in organizing students and faculty, and as an educator, attempts to help students transition from "I know" to "I care" to "I'll do something." A big part of this movement towards a grand enough "I care" to necessitate action is the cultivation of a sense of wonder for the natural world.

Orr said he is powerless to cultivate such feelings for his students, as wonder is a seed that had to begin sprouting in childhood. But he can validate it for those who do possess it. "I can say to them, 'Hey, the culture around us doesn't much appreciate the sense of wonder it wants numbers, it wants quantities, it wants to show profit...You're not abnormal, to the contrary, that is very rational, very sane.'"

And hope and idealism and vision, which along with wonder are too often squashed by a despairing culture, are normal and sane, too, and apparently, thriving among several colleges around the world. Just ask David Orr, who, if not a guru, is surely a damn good visionary for the 21st century.

THE LOCAL: Mark DiMaggio

In September of 1993, Paso Robles High School got lucky.

Following a successful proposal to the administration, earth science and biology teacher Mark DiMaggio began GEO, an environmental studies class. "This big hammer came down from the sky," DiMaggio said, remembering his sense of urgency after the popular Earth Day 1990. "It took me a couple years to realize there's a niche and a need for a more advanced environmental science class."

Today, GEO stands as one of the startlingly few classes that offer any sort of environmental studies, even a simple ecology course, in county high schools. With an emphasis on understanding issues holistically, empowering students through real-world projects, and discovering the wonders of nature, DiMaggio, like David Orr, is creating an ecoliterate student body.

The curriculum for GEO is diverse and encompassing. Armed with knowledge and skills from spending the first quarter studying ecological principles and human demographics, the students are primed for a unit called "Solutions." First, they identify a social or environmental problem. Second, they research the issues, then design at least a partial solution. Lastly, the students leave the classroom, going out into the community and implementing the solution.

DiMaggio has supervised a variety of projects, from raising money to adopt African mountain gorillas to picking up trash. "I had a kid who worked at Albertsons and he saw all this food being thrown away. He worked out a program to get it to Loaves and Fishes, the local group that feeds the homeless," he remembered.

Ecological footprinting, which DiMaggio defined as "a technique to quantify the amount of quality land that is required to sustain a given person's lifestyle indefinitely," is another one of the more personally empowering units. "For a month they monitor every single thing that they buy, or eat, or consume in a month," DiMaggio said. Students objectively see what aspects of their lifestyle are ripe for reduction.

Come springtime, the GEO class begins a thorough lesson in outdoor education. First, students study wilderness survival skills: the use of a compass, topographic maps, route planning, following bearings, triangulation, trail etiquette, and food planning. This is followed by a "shakedown" weekend backpacking trip in Big Sur.

By June, students are well-prepared for a five-night trip under the cottonwoods and red rocks of Utah's Zion National Park. "It's really an excellent culminating experience for them because they learn...what they truly need," he said. "How much water do you really need in one day, not necessarily to drink but just to utilize? I mean, you can get clean with a quart of water, but people take 40 gallon showers."

Back in Paso Robles, DiMaggio reflected on the role of GEO in a high school education, nailing the primary difference between an environmental studies class and say, pre-calculus or memorizing grammar. He said, "Nobody ever asks why do we have to do this because it's so obvious why it's important."

THE VISION

Legendary wildlife manager Aldo Leopold wrote prophetically, over half a century ago, in The Land Ethic: "Perhaps the most serious obstacle impeding the evolution of a land ethic is the fact that our educational and economic system is headed away from, rather than towards, and intense consciousness of land." With educators like Orr and DiMaggio, maybe Leopold's grand hope that humans preserve the "integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community" before it's too late will indeed become a reality.

Students and faculty, administrators and PTA, college presidents and kindergarteners: The Ecological Enlightenment has begun.