In this article, I argue that anticolonial, antiracist, and antioppressive foundations for Ecotherapy and Nature-based Education (ENBE) are an ethical and moral imperative. I identify such critical approaches as often inadequately developed within ENBE, which perpetuates harm and limits ENBE's capacity to respond to the tremendous social and environmental challenges of our time. In this context, I am Calling in those engaged in ENBE to work and grow together, to struggle and dwell in discomfort together, to compassionately hold each other accountable, to center and uphold the voices of those who have been marginalized due to systems of oppression and to do the vital work needed to dismantle oppressive structures and work toward justice and well-being for all life. In this article, I offer a series of reflections that unpack nuances, complexities, and problematics associated with some ENBE approaches with the intention of providing critical analysis, opportunity for contemplation and insight. I then provide suggestions and recommendations in the areas of relationality, accountability, and coresistance, working across cultural contexts and centering justice. The goal of this article is to work toward improving and transforming ENBE frameworks, programs, and practices so that ENBE can be more effective and responsive to this critical moment in history.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AguilarO. M., McCannE. P., & LiddicoatK. (2017). Inclusive Education. In A. Russ & M. E. Krasny (eds.), Urban Environmental Education Review (1st ed., pp. 194–201). Cornell University Press
2.
AgyemanJ. (2003). “Under-participation” and ethnocentrism in environmental education research: Developing “culturally sensitive research approaches”. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education (CJEE), 8, 81–95.
AnthonyC. (1995). Ecopsychology and the deconstruction of whiteness. In T. Roszak, M. E. Gomes, & A. D. Kanner (eds.), Ecopsychology: Restoring the earth, healing the mind (pp. 263–278). Sierra Club Books
5.
Association for Experiential Education. (2023). Clearinghouse Information Project. Retrieved from https://www.aee.org/chip
6.
BangM., CurleyL., KesselA., MarinA., SuzukovichE. S., & StrackG. (2014). Muskrat theories, tobacco in the streets, and living Chicago as Indigenous land. Environmental Education Research, 20, 37–55.
BattisteM., & HendersonJ. (Sa'ke'j) Y. (2009). Naturalizing Indigenous Knowledge in Eurocentric education. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 32, 5–18.
9.
BinnemaT., & NiemiM. (2006). ‘Let the line be drawn now’: Wilderness, conservation, and the exclusion of aboriginal people from Banff National Park in Canada. Environmental History, 11, 724–750.
BlenkinsopS., & FettesM. (2020). Land, language and listening: The transformations that can flow from acknowledging Indigenous land. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 54, 1033–1046.
12.
BlenkinsopS., & FettesM. (2021). Living within the Earth's carrying capacity: Towards an education for eco-social-cultural change. Simon Fraser University: Burnaby, BC.
13.
BrightA., & GambrellJ. (2017). Calling in, not calling out: A critical race framework for nurturing cross-cultural alliances in teacher candidates. In Handbook of research on promoting cross-cultural competence and social justice in teacher education (pp. 217–235). IGI Global: Hershey, PA.
BrownT. (n.d.-b). Tom Brown Jr.'s Tracker School. Tracker School. Retrieved October 26, 2021, from https://www.trackerschool.com/
16.
BrownT. (1995). The way of the scout (Berkley trade paperback ed). Berkley Books: San Francisco, CA.
17.
CantyJ. M. (2014). Walking between worlds: Holding multiple worldviews as a key for ecological transformation. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 33, 15–26.
ChawlaL. (2020). Childhood nature connection and constructive hope: A review of research on connecting with nature and coping with environmental loss. People and Nature, 2, 619–642.
20.
DelaneyM. E. (2020). Nature is nurture: Counseling and the natural world. Oxford University Press: New York, NY.
21.
DelgadoR., & StefancicJ. (2017). Critical race theory: An introduction (Vol. 20). NYU Press: New York, NY.
22.
DeloriaV. (1988). Custer died for your sins: An Indian manifesto. University of Oklahoma Press: Norman, OK.
EyersP. (2015). Ancient spirit rising: Reclaiming our roots and restoring Earth community. Stone Circle Press: Peterborough, ON.
25.
FinneyC. (2014). Black faces, white spaces: Reimagining the relationship of African Americans to the great outdoors. The University of North Carolina Press: Chaple Hill, NC.
26.
FisherA. (2013a). Ecopsychology at the crossroads: Contesting the nature of a field. Ecopsychology, 5, 167–176.
27.
FisherA. (2013b). Radical ecopsychology: Psychology in the service of life. Sunny Press: Albany, NY.
28.
FisherA. (2019). Ecopsychology as decolonial praxis. Ecopsychology, 11, 145–155.
29.
FortierC. (2017). Unsettling the commons: Social movements within, against, and beyond settler colonialism. ARP Books: Oakland, CA.
30.
GonzalesP. (2020). Water-womb-land cosmologic: Protocols for traditional ecological knowledge. Ecopsychology, 12, 84–90.
31.
GrimesR. L. (2000). Deeply into the bone: Re-inventing rites of passage (Vol. 1). University of California Press: Oakland, CA.
32.
HarperN., RoseK., & SegalD. (2019). Nature-based therapy: A practitioner's guide to working outdoors with children, youth, and families. New Society Publishers: Gabriola Island, BC.
33.
HeaslipR. (2017). From Xwelítem ways towards practices of ethical being in Stó:lō Téméxw: A narrative approach to transforming intergenerational white settler subjectivities [Thesis, University of Victoria]. Retrieved from https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/handle/1828/8930
34.
HughesR., & GilesM. (2010). CRiT walking in higher education: Activating critical race theory in the academy. Race Ethnicity and Education, 13, 41–57.
35.
IPCC. (2022). Climate change 2022: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability (H. O. Pörtner, D. C. Roberts, E. S. Tignor, E. S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Landsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, & B. Rama, Eds.). Cambridge University Press
36.
JonesA. T., & SegalD. S. (2018). Unsettling ecopsychology: Addressing settler colonialism in ecopsychology practice. Ecopsychology, 10, 127–136.
37.
KahnP. H., & HasbachP. H. (2012). Ecopsychology: Science, totems, and the technological species. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA.
38.
KortewegL., & RootE. (2016). Witnessing Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug's strength and struggle: The affective education of reconciliation in environmental education. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education (CJEE), 21, 178–197.
39.
LewisS., & JamesK. (1995). Whose voice sets the agenda for environmental education? Misconceptions inhibiting racial and cultural diversity. The Journal of Environmental Education, 26, 5–12.
LynchB. D. (1993). The garden and the sea: US Latino environmental discourses and mainstream environmentalism. Social Problems, 40, 108–124.
42.
MacyJ., & BrownM. (2014). Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects (Revised ed. edition). New Society Publishers: Gabriola Island, BC.
43.
ManningC. M., & AmelE. L. (2014). No human left behind: Making a place for social and environmental justice within the field of ecopsychology. Ecopsychology, 6, 14–15.
44.
MawhinneyJ. L. (1998). Giving up the ghost: Disrupting the (re) production of White Privilege in anti-racist pedagogy and organizational change. University of Toronto: Toronto, ON.
45.
MezirowJ. (2000). Learning as transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in progress. Jossey-Bass: Hoboken, NJ.
46.
MillerH. K. (2018). Developing a critical consciousness of race in place-based environmental education: Franco's story. Environmental Education Research, 24, 845–858.
47.
MilnerH. R. (2007). Race, culture, and researcher positionality: Working through dangers seen, unseen, and unforeseen. Educational Researcher, 36, 388–400.
48.
MooreJ. W. (2016). The rise of cheap nature. In J. W. Moore (ed.), Anthropocene or Capitalocene?: Nature, History, and the Crisis of Capitalism. PM Press: Binghamton, NY.
49.
MooreJ. W. (2018). Confronting the popular Anthropocene: Toward an ecology of hope. In M. Gomez-Luque & G. Jafari (eds.), New Geographies 09: Posthuman. Actar: NY.
50.
MoustakasC. (1990). Heuristic research: Design, methodology, and applications. SAGE Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA.
NorrisJ. (2011). Crossing the threshold mindfully: Exploring rites of passage models in adventure therapy. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 11, 109–126.
OtteyD. (2018). Tying the threads of the past with the future: Rites of passage, social justice, and ancestral recovery. Ecopsychology Voices. Retrieved from https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=352451738645608&_rdr
PattonM. Q. (2015). Qualitative research & evaluation methods: Integrating theory and practice (Fourth edition.). SAGE Publications, Inc.: Thousand Oaks, CA.
57.
PavelM. P., & AnthonyC. (2015). Building just and resilient communities: New foundations for ecopsychology. Ecopsychology, 7, 251–257.
58.
PlotkinB. (2013). Wild mind: A field guide to the human psyche. New World Library: Novato, CA.
59.
PorteshawverS. (2021). That natural and the particular: New ways to explore the work of Bill Plotkin and Animas Valley Institute [Unpublished]. Depth Psychology. Pacifica Graduate Institute: Carpinteria, CA.
RobinsonD., HillK. J. C., RuffoA. G., CoutureS., & RavensbergenL. C. (2019). Rethinking the practice and performance of Indigenous land acknowledgement. Canadian Theatre Review, 177, 20–30.
62.
RomeroV. F., ForemanJ., StrangC., RodriguezL., PayanR., BaileyK. M., & OlsenS. (2022). Racial equity and inclusion in United States of America-based environmental education organizations: A critical examination of priorities and practices in the work environment. Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education, 25, 91–116.
RoszakT., GomesM. E., & KannerA. D. (eds.). (1995). Ecopsychology: Restoring the earth, healing the mind (pp. xxiii, 338). Sierra Club Books: San Francisco, CA.
66.
SeawrightG. (2014). Settler traditions of place: Making explicit the epistemological legacy of White supremacy and settler colonialism for place-based education. Educational Studies, 50, 554–572.
67.
ShahV. (2019). Calling in the self: Centering socially engaged Buddhism in critical pedagogy through personal narrative. The International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 10, Article 2
StapletonS. R. (2020). Toward critical environmental education: A standpoint analysis of race in the American environmental context. Environmental Education Research, 26, 155–170.
76.
SueD. W. (2015). Race talk and the conspiracy of silence: Understanding and facilitating difficult dialogues on race. Wiley: Hoboken, NJ.
77.
SueD. W., AlsaidiS., AwadM. N., GlaeserE., CalleC. Z., & MendezN. (2019). Disarming Racial Microaggressions: Microintervention Strategies for Targets, White Allies, and Bystanders. The American Psychologist, 74, 128–142.
78.
SultanN. (2019). Heuristic inquiry: Researching human experience holistically. SAGE Publications, Inc.: Thousand Oaks, CA.
79.
TejadaD. (2021). Calling In/Calling Out. In Encyclopedia of Queer Studies in Education (pp. 69–71). Brill: Leiden, ZH.
80.
TuckE., McKenzieM., & McCoyK. (2014). Land education: Indigenous, post-colonial, and decolonizing perspectives on place and environmental education research. Environmental Education Research, 20, 1–23.
81.
TuckE., & YangK. W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1, 1–40.
82.
TuckE., & YangW. (eds.). (2018). Toward what justice?: Describing diverse dreams of justice in education. Taylor and Francis: New York, NY.
83.
Van GennepA. (1960). The rites of passage (M. Vizedom & G. Caffee, Trans.). University of Chicago Press, 131, 1801–1802.
WellerF. (2015). The wild edge of sorrow: Rituals of renewal and the sacred work of grief. North Atlantic Books: Berkeley, CA.
88.
WeltonA. D., OwensD. R., & Zamani-GallaherE. M. (2018). Anti-racist change: A conceptual framework for educational institutions to take systemic action. Teachers College Record (1970), 120, 1–22.
89.
WilliamsL., & ClaxtonN. (2017). Recultivating Intergenerational Resilience: Possibilities for “Scaling DEEP” through Disruptive Pedagogies of Decolonization and Reconciliation. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 22, 58–79.
90.
WoodwardL. (2012). Ecopsychology and race: An exploratory study. Theses, Dissertations, and Projects. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses/
W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council. (n.d.). Resources for settlers. W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council. Retrieved July 5, 2023, from https://wsanec.com/learn-settlers/
93.
YbarraP. S. (2016). Writing the goodlife: Mexican American literature and the environment. University of Arizona Press: Tucson, AZ.
94.
YoungJ. (1996). Seeing through native eyes: A journey of connection (J. Gallagher, Ed.). Owlink Media: Duvall, WA.
95.
YoungJ., HassE., & McGownE. (2010). Coyote's guide to connecting with nature (2nd Edition). Owlink Media: Shelton, WA.
96.
Youth Passageways. (2015). Cross-Cultural Protocols in rites of passage: Guiding principles, themes and inquiry. Youth Passageways. Retrieved from https://youthpassageways.org/ccp/
