Why Rewild?
We need to thrive, to be curious, to learn and to belong. As firmly as we are connected to our world, we begin to meet these essential needs.
Thrive
Grow. Enjoy. Dream.
As we flourish, we grow physically, emotionally and intellectually. We get ourselves, our thoughts, senses and attention tuned to the natural world. We gulp fresh air, good questions, thoughtful ideas and simple sensations, for all the kind of wellness that time spent on the land for can bring.
Educating Earthlings come to know physical wellness that gains vitality, affective health that happily extends to others, and an inner mental life that eagerly runs to dreams and hopes, then plans and goals.
Learn
Seek wisdom. Take notes. Share.
Educating Earthlings proposes the natural world at our fingertips as innately wise, having limitless potential for observation, inquiry and ultimately deep attachment. As we know more of ourselves and the world, we are intrigued and find our surroundings to be more interesting. Let’s make the outdoor world as important to our learning as the more traditional pillars of schools already aim to be.
By seeking wisdom we more fully occupy our lives; by taking notes we build a body of knowledge and imagination; by sharing we help to educate fellow Earthlings.
Be Curious
Keep watch. Ask questions, Think clearly.
Consider curiosity as a quality of living a meaningful life, a valuable habit of mind, and a strength of character. Good education then, is built of purposeful reasons to observe and ask, to reach, to imagine, to hypothesize and investigate. We plan for schoolwork that values unknowns and mysteries as surely as facts and solutions.
As we keep watch, we align our attention to the pace of natural systems; as we ask questions we make our own motivation to know more; when we think clearly we grow and learn well.
Belong
Be wild. Be grounded. Contribute.
Imagine the possibility that doing schoolwork could embed wild places in us, and us in them. As many Earthlings have a visceral connection to a particular green corner of a certain yard, a favourite tree, or the scene from a summer-camp dock, these are places of identity and connection, wild places. To be native to a place is to recognize and extend the needs and gifts that we share with all our relations; this is wild belonging.
We intend to be considerate attentive participants, to be humble, grateful and responsible community members, to recognize our impact, and improve our surroundings in concert with our fellow Earthlings.