Just four months into teaching a subject that I really love, the reality of constraints posed by our curriculum and the lack of time have set in squarely in my face. It is pretty astonishing how quickly I got disinterested in the physical geography I was bringing into the classroom. I'd gotten so disgruntled and bored by the content that I saw it as a hindrance more than a tool to relating with my students. All the complaints and struggles often lamented by experienced teachers were beginning to surface in my own classroom life. I now feel foolish for being so naive as to have judged them for not trying hard enough. It is tough keeping a sense of amazement going.
Moreover, it became clear to me that I struggled not simply with the must-knows of a physical geography curriculum, but also with values education and problem-based learning classes that deal with general environmental issues. These issues have been a raging topic of concern and discussion (that is sadly also commodified). It is clear how crucial and important they are, given the amount of resources governments, non-profit and profit organizations alike have poured into them.
However, I have to admit that the onslaught of environmental issues I've been hearing about for more than half my lifetime have degenerated to a mere cliche. Don't get me wrong - I'm not cold towards environmental needs. In fact, I understand the weight of our environmental problems, and I do my part to reduce personal consumption and waste. I know that there is something urgent about this all. Yet, the unsettling thing is that no matter how hard I tried to muster a drop of passion, I couldn't find anything that struck a deep and genuine chord. It is one thing to find something interesting, but another to have a drive and be actively engaged with it.
My desire is for the latter, which is the reason for the huge discomfort towards my own attitude. I don't know whether this desire is born out of my identity has a geographer and a teacher of our environment. And it isn't that I am not trying to get there.
At this juncture, I'm more than thankful for a break in normal curriculum classes (examinations are here!) that allow me some space to rethink my attitude towards the geography content, my vision as a geography teacher to hundreds of students, and my personal relationship with our environment.
A friend bought me a book "God Doesn't Do Waste" by Dave Bookless (quite certain this author's had a mountain of jokes on the irony of his surname) a week ago and this cannot be any more timely. I saw a glimpse of God's heart toward His creation and its caretakers. It broadened my understanding of God's redemptive purposes and critiqued my man-centered belief about Creation.
God loves His creation and all that is in it. He loves every plant and animal - on land or in the deep sea, whether known or unknown to man - as much as He loves us. His redemption for all doesn't stop at the redemption of desolate human souls, but also the redemption of our desolate wastelands... restoring it to its original glory as it was when Adam and Eve first saw the earth.
When Adam and Eve were first placed in the perfect garden of Eden, they were created in relation with God's creation of wildlife, to tend and to care for it. Stewards, that's what we are.
Beyond saving our planet for the future sustainability of human life - to meet our needs and lifestyles, a heart for the environment and a desire for conservation and restoration is so pertinent to Christian life is because of its intrinsic value to God - whether or not they have souls. He loves them.
Practically, it provides for us in uncountable ways - you can't think of anything that didn't originate form a natural material. Spiritually, our natural world is God's way of revealing his reality and power to human souls. I hadn't realized that God pours His love into everything He touches. I'd forgotten the sanctity that extends to everything that originates from God. Reading about the Bookless family's journey has reminded me of how God often uses the natural world to speak to me. He'd used it first to ignite a hunger for something deeper and beyond what my eyes could grasp; He'd used it as a firm declaration of His existence as a Creator God when I was searching and confused; He uses it time and time again as a reflection of His beauty, stirring an inexplicable sense of praise and wonder.
Our misuse has destroyed this sanctity.
The Bookless family and the A Rocha vision have also modeled how a godly care and love for the environment can be put into a practical reality. There are a few lessons that can be drawn from their experience:
Firstly, we have to do something about the disconnect between our lives and nature. When we lose this contact, it is an impoverishment that extends spiritually.
Secondly, environmental care can hardly work as a table-top exercise. It has to be practiced and lived out. A hands-on and really tangible engagement with environmental care is crucial.
Thirdly, it would be great as a community-based engagement. If environmental care is something to be practiced, ur own backyards would be a great place to start. Doing this at the scale of a local community or even smaller would be very relevant.
Fourthly, it is a great opportunity for people to come into direct contact with God and develop a sense of wonder through his Creation (human and non-human!)
There are many many more lessons, but this is where I'd like to start. It has set me thinking - what can I do in my own communities - at home, at church and in school? It was God's purpose to have me as a geography teacher in my school today. What is it that He wants me to do with the reach that He's placed me in with a few hundred students passing through my geography classroom each week.
This is a time to start pressing in for a renewed vision and for tangible ways to transform our geography classroom into one that engages the teacher and students with the environment beyond its four walls. And mostly importantly, to invite God into every nook and crook of classroom life.
Moreover, it became clear to me that I struggled not simply with the must-knows of a physical geography curriculum, but also with values education and problem-based learning classes that deal with general environmental issues. These issues have been a raging topic of concern and discussion (that is sadly also commodified). It is clear how crucial and important they are, given the amount of resources governments, non-profit and profit organizations alike have poured into them.
However, I have to admit that the onslaught of environmental issues I've been hearing about for more than half my lifetime have degenerated to a mere cliche. Don't get me wrong - I'm not cold towards environmental needs. In fact, I understand the weight of our environmental problems, and I do my part to reduce personal consumption and waste. I know that there is something urgent about this all. Yet, the unsettling thing is that no matter how hard I tried to muster a drop of passion, I couldn't find anything that struck a deep and genuine chord. It is one thing to find something interesting, but another to have a drive and be actively engaged with it.
My desire is for the latter, which is the reason for the huge discomfort towards my own attitude. I don't know whether this desire is born out of my identity has a geographer and a teacher of our environment. And it isn't that I am not trying to get there.
At this juncture, I'm more than thankful for a break in normal curriculum classes (examinations are here!) that allow me some space to rethink my attitude towards the geography content, my vision as a geography teacher to hundreds of students, and my personal relationship with our environment.
A friend bought me a book "God Doesn't Do Waste" by Dave Bookless (quite certain this author's had a mountain of jokes on the irony of his surname) a week ago and this cannot be any more timely. I saw a glimpse of God's heart toward His creation and its caretakers. It broadened my understanding of God's redemptive purposes and critiqued my man-centered belief about Creation.
God loves His creation and all that is in it. He loves every plant and animal - on land or in the deep sea, whether known or unknown to man - as much as He loves us. His redemption for all doesn't stop at the redemption of desolate human souls, but also the redemption of our desolate wastelands... restoring it to its original glory as it was when Adam and Eve first saw the earth.
When Adam and Eve were first placed in the perfect garden of Eden, they were created in relation with God's creation of wildlife, to tend and to care for it. Stewards, that's what we are.
Beyond saving our planet for the future sustainability of human life - to meet our needs and lifestyles, a heart for the environment and a desire for conservation and restoration is so pertinent to Christian life is because of its intrinsic value to God - whether or not they have souls. He loves them.
Practically, it provides for us in uncountable ways - you can't think of anything that didn't originate form a natural material. Spiritually, our natural world is God's way of revealing his reality and power to human souls. I hadn't realized that God pours His love into everything He touches. I'd forgotten the sanctity that extends to everything that originates from God. Reading about the Bookless family's journey has reminded me of how God often uses the natural world to speak to me. He'd used it first to ignite a hunger for something deeper and beyond what my eyes could grasp; He'd used it as a firm declaration of His existence as a Creator God when I was searching and confused; He uses it time and time again as a reflection of His beauty, stirring an inexplicable sense of praise and wonder.
Our misuse has destroyed this sanctity.
The Bookless family and the A Rocha vision have also modeled how a godly care and love for the environment can be put into a practical reality. There are a few lessons that can be drawn from their experience:
Firstly, we have to do something about the disconnect between our lives and nature. When we lose this contact, it is an impoverishment that extends spiritually.
Secondly, environmental care can hardly work as a table-top exercise. It has to be practiced and lived out. A hands-on and really tangible engagement with environmental care is crucial.
Thirdly, it would be great as a community-based engagement. If environmental care is something to be practiced, ur own backyards would be a great place to start. Doing this at the scale of a local community or even smaller would be very relevant.
Fourthly, it is a great opportunity for people to come into direct contact with God and develop a sense of wonder through his Creation (human and non-human!)
There are many many more lessons, but this is where I'd like to start. It has set me thinking - what can I do in my own communities - at home, at church and in school? It was God's purpose to have me as a geography teacher in my school today. What is it that He wants me to do with the reach that He's placed me in with a few hundred students passing through my geography classroom each week.
This is a time to start pressing in for a renewed vision and for tangible ways to transform our geography classroom into one that engages the teacher and students with the environment beyond its four walls. And mostly importantly, to invite God into every nook and crook of classroom life.
