Hard to believe but Biocitizen is 10 years old now! One of the deepest joys I (Kurt the director) have experienced is derived from witnessing our students develop from little kids, into adolescents and then into young adults. The school’s CIT program and our junior staff is made of Wings who became Sharpshins and then...Continue Reading
After weeks of freezing, our river ice is melting—and it’s time to witness the tumult and power of FLOOD! 1000’s of tons of car-sized bergs are beginning to dislodge and tumble down watercourses, hitting boulders like bowling pins, slamming into trees, shuddering the earth, and re-arranging entire valleys. Imagine a runaway freight train crashing down...Continue Reading
After several weeks of unusually cold weather our biome has become unusually beautiful—especially in the Westfield River watershed. The river has frozen over, allowing us to go places we are normally prevented from going. Our non-hibernating mammal neighbors are crossing rivers and brooks, moreover, giving us a chance to gauge the vitality of the biome,...Continue Reading
Now Voyager Four Corners Sun.-Sun. March 11-18 and Sun.-Sun. March 18-25 Expeditions to Utah’s Grand Staircase and Bears Ears National Monuments Explore a wilderness that might vanish— More information. Continue Reading
1) The problem: what invasives are, botanically and culturally Weeds are plants that grow where we don’t want them to, and invasives are weeds we spread without control, altering ecosystems to such an extent that, sometimes, native species are crowded out and go extinct. Invasives are expressions of our colonial culture; we bring them—and cats,...Continue Reading
Field: This word comes from ecology, and the term “field study.” It is based on the distinction between research done indoors, in the lab, and research done outdoors, in the field. Environmental: “environment” means that which encloses. Philosophy: means love (philo) of wisdom (sophy). Field Environmental Philosophy (FEP) is a pedagogy that takes students outdoors...Continue Reading
Our Place Summer School is designed to “unplug” your child by bringing them into direct contact with the creatures, geologies, hydrologies and infrastructures of the Nonotuck biome and the Westfield River watershed. For five six-hour days, we roam our place—the valley and the hilltowns—investigating our natural and cultural history with all of our senses, and...Continue Reading
We fancy that industry supports us, forgetting what supports industry. —Aldo Leopold THE Problem: We are experiencing a paradigm shift precipitated by anthrogenic global warming. Many of the things we have been taught and teach need to be reassessed, re-understood and revised—around the pressing fact that our present way of living is out of synch with the...Continue Reading
Now Voyager Tuition and Logistics From December 27, 2016 to January 6, 2017, Now Voyager takes college students (& 18+ year olds) on an ecstatic journey through South-Central Chile, following the path of water from the Pacific Ocean in Pichilemu across the Central Range, the agricultural Central Valley, and onto the high Andean peaks of...Continue Reading
Happy! Biocitizen School is teaming with Superfun Chile to run Now Voyager, an 11-day field environmental philosophy (FEP) expedición for college students who want to learn to teach FEP. Departing from and returning to Santiago, Chile, we’ll journey from surf-paradise Pichilemu to the Andean peaks of the Tinguiririca range— While I was in Pichilemu developing Now Voyager curricula,...Continue Reading
