Comparación de los estudios nuevos y el análisis de los estudios anteriores de la

The recognition that diverse cultures across the world live within very different cosmologies that have very different effects on the natural world is an important aspect of this work. An ecojustice framework emphasizes the ways that various communities and cultures around the world actively protect and revitalize their cultural and environmental commons (the social practices, traditions, and languages, as well as relationships with the land necessary to the sustainability of their communities). This includes listening carefully to the voices of North American

19 3 EcoJustice Education for Science Educators

indigenous peoples, for example, as they teach us about their ancient belief systems and practices as models of more sustainable ways of living (Longboat et al. 2009). It means that we introduce our students to a way of thinking about economics beyond the usual liberal ideologies and systems that dominate modernist cultural ways of knowing. Students learn to analyze the ecological consequences of differ- ent economic approaches, identifying ancient and existing economic ideologies and relationships that are operationalized by the specific needs of communities first, as opposed to those market liberal systems where the accumulative demands of the market rationalizes production and frames social life.

Further, and perhaps most important of all, ecojustice insists on reconnecting students and teachers to their own local communities: to the shared relationships and assets within neighborhoods, landscapes, and with the more than human crea- tures that often go unnoticed as primary sources of knowledge and life-sustaining support. In the analysis that follows, we use the “cultural and ecological commons” as concepts that can help us pay attention to the nonmonetized relationships and practices that diverse groups of people in our communities and across the world use to survive and take care of one another on a day-to-day basis. The “commons” is a concept that allows us to recognize both the interactions between cultural and ecological systems, and the ways that certain practices, beliefs, and relationships are oriented toward the future security of both. These include nonmoney-based economic and social exchanges including work-for-work, strong communitarian beliefs/practices/relationships, alternative forms and spaces of education, demo- cratic decision-making, and efforts to create more sustainable, ecologically sound relationships with natural systems. Aimed at protecting the ability of both human communities and natural systems to live well together into the future, these are the sorts of day-to-day relationships and practices that function to nurture the larger communicative system of intelligence – or Mind – to which Bateson refers as essential to life.

Two points are key to defining the commons: (1) They are not owned. They belong to everyone; and thus, (2) they do not require money to be accessed. Ecojustice scholars and teachers are interested in the ways the cultural and environ- mental commons intersect, and in this case, in the traditions, beliefs, and practices that are aimed at protecting the larger life systems (Martusewicz 2009). This includes an acknowledgment of the vital nature of each – human cultural practices and natural systems – as well as their mutual dependencies, and represents our attention to security, and to social and ecological well-being. The purpose of education within this context is thus systemic wisdom, where learning is oriented toward understanding of and acknowledging the ways in which we interact with, depend upon, and impact a larger system of intelligence.

The environmental commons are often easier to identify since they are desig- nated by our shared relationships to land, water, and air that we share in order to live. The cultural commons may include food cultivation and preparation, medici- nal practices, language and literacy practices, arts and aesthetic practices, games and entertainment, craft and building knowledge, decision-making practices, and so on. A particular practice, skill, or tradition has value in our estimation to the degree

20 R.A. Martusewicz et al. that it helps to maintain a healthy community of life, and thus has a smaller ecological footprint. For example, farmers who use manure to fertilize their fields instead of buying commercially produced chemical fertilizers are using an ancient, commons- based agricultural practice that is both a good way to dispose of animal waste, and helps to produce strong plants needed for good food. Or, in urban settings, the decision by some residents to use rain barrels to collect water used in gardens and yards instead of running sprinklers from the tap demonstrates the knowledge that water is a sacred resource to be conserved and protected.

The question before us here is how might science teachers, aware of the rich practices and knowledges – the assets – in local communities, involve their students in work that is focused on protecting interdependent relationships that are part of intricate living systems. What aspects of the local commons support living systems, and which aspects work to undermine living systems? What needs to be sustained? What needs to be limited or recognized as harmful and thus abolished? Here we want to emphasize that not all nonmonetized, commons-based activities or beliefs are beneficial. This should be clear from our discussion of the ways modern west- ern culture is built upon taken-for-granted value hierarchies and hegemonic centric thinking that lead to all sorts of domination. Racist, sexist, or anthropocentric beliefs or practices may be shared without monetary exchange and thus form part of the cultural commons, but they do not protect life. Learning to discern the difference in the effects or consequences of commonly shared practices is what it means to become ethically engaged in the local.

Of course, while practices and relationships that make up the commons continu- ally emerge and develop, most of the practices that we identify as having a smaller ecological footprint are generally very old. In our western culture, they date back to times when our economy was more community-based. For example, the practice of barter is ancient – but how we barter, and what we exchange, may be modern. For many of us in the West, these commons practices have been so eaten away by processes of commodification, that it may be difficult to identify them as still existing (Bowers 2006). The important point for science teachers is that communities comprise any number of strengths – assets – that can be brought to bear in solving all sorts of problems. Science ought to be approached as a way to both identify and address needs and problems in the community.