WHAT IS BIOCITIZEN? The word “biocitizen” is a contraction of “biotic citizen,” a term and idea conceived by Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) who is widely celebrated for conceiving the “land ethic.” A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise. A...Continue Reading
Claws camping trips take students 11-17 into wild places. We climb mountains, ford rivers and sea kayak. Students test their edges and boundaries as they learn skills needed to overcome challenges. We move through fascinating terrain and waters, having fun while practicing mindfulness. We gain the ability to control our thoughts and movements—like seal, fish...Continue Reading
This post is written by Sabrina Moore, who will assist Dr. Boyd Kynard in our innovative Living Rivers School, that lets middle and high school -aged students participate in conservation biology research that, when published and shared, increases public knowledge of the living systems that sustain us. When we know what sustains us, we take...Continue Reading
Biocitizen began in the forests of Cape Horn, when Kurt Heidinger, Francisca Massardo and Ricardo Rozzi developed Tracing Darwin’s Path, an interdisciplinary learning-adventure that immerses students in the biocultural history of that sublime portion of the earth. With others, they established the Omora Ethnobotanical Park as a Field Environmental Philosophy research and development “laboratory”. Their...Continue Reading
Kurt here—once upon a time (1998) I was invited by Ricardo Rozzi and Francisca Massardo to visit Navarino Island, where they were conducting conservation biology research. I am not a scientist, so while they were busy I freewalked the Dientes Range. In 2000, they invited me to be a co-founder of the Omora Ethnobotanical Park....Continue Reading
“Eco” means inhabition. “Semiotics” is the study of signs and symbols. Ecosemiotics is the study of how our inhabitations are constructed by signs and symbols—which is to say: the study of how we construct our “place” with signs and symbols. — Ecosemiotic study is a central activity of Field Environmental Philosophy. FEP “reads” the signs...Continue Reading
“In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what...Continue Reading
Weaving Beauty A few days ago, I had the privilege of walking with Julia Gonzalez, Yagán artisan, and one of the last direct descendants of her people, who is dedicated to the ancestral art of traditional basket weaving. We met with her, and students and professors involved in Tracing Darwin’s Path, at the mouth of the...Continue Reading
Below you’ll find texts and images that accompanied Kurt Heidinger’s lecture on “Re-Presenting Nonotuck: The Landscape Paintings of Hitchcock and Gloman” 1) The Hitchcock’s science was their religion: “geology and the Bible speak the same language” “The undevout geologist is mad” “it is in the facts of the natural world that most strikingly discover to...Continue Reading
