Final Thoughts Blog 10

I first heard of Colloquium during FGCU’s orientation for new and incoming students. University Colloquium is an interdisciplinary environmental education course designed to explore the concept of sustainability and ecological literacy.  Within my first semester I had heard so many negative comments related to Colloquium, I too began to develop a jaded perception of the course and the reasoning behind it.  Why was I being forced to pay and take a course that was not related to my concentration of study? As a result I had pushed off taking the Colloquium as long as I could and opted to take it during the summer since I knew it would be a short six weeks of what I thought would be an unenjoyably experience.

Upon our first class meeting I arrived at the off-campus location and quickly questioned what I was thinking. The parking was limited, the room was small and crowded and the chairs were uncomfortable. However By the third class meeting my attitude and perception quickly began to change for the better, I actually started to enjoy and relate to the class. I realized that over the years I have become so focused on my career and school that I have lost the connection with nature that I once had. My life has been driven by an almost selfish pursuit of degree and career goals, with the assurance that I will be accomplished and successful if I focus all my attention on school. It was during this class that I remember just how important the environment is and much we take it for granted.

As David Orr advocates “all education is environmental education.  By what is included or excluded, emphasized or ignored, students learn that they are a part of or apart from the natural world.  Through all education we inculcate the ideas of careful stewardship or carelessness” (Orr, 1992). Colloquium has taught me that effective environmental education requires changing the modern curriculum and changing our current mindset, encouraging innate biophilia, a land-ethic and a sense of place, fostering ecological intelligence and literacy, and developing the analytical and practical skills required to love the life we have and thus fight to preserve it.