Springtime Pondering
April is here, bringing
the long awaited warmth and the smell of wild flowers. With the
opening
of each
bud, there
also seems to be
a collective opening of the hearts and souls of those around
me who have endured winter's icy grasp. Walking through the hardwood
forests of Petersham, Massachusettes, on my way to the Global
Classroom office (created in the back of an abandoned camp
built in the twenties) I notice the sagging foundation, the listing
windows,
the peeling paint and missing trim.
I have noticed these signs of aging in the past with a carpenters
dread, but today the bowing roof line and the rounded thresholds
flow nicely within the wilds in which it sits. How is it
that we have come to create dwellings and buildings so rigid
and linear,
when all around us nature shows herself in flowing streams, swaying
limbs and rolling hillsides? Perhaps it is our attempt
to create order out of chaos. Hmm, perhaps I
will put off jacking up this sagging foundation for another season.
Surrounded by trees on an old country road in New England it
is hard to imagine the sound of chain saws, the massive
burnings, and the smoldering stumps left behind. The destruction
of one hundred
million year old rainforests in just a few hours is an awesome
and disturbing sight, a true testimony to our ability to create "order" out
of chaos. One must witness these things to really appreciate
or fear them. I recall the words of an Aboriginal elder
from Australia as we sat around a fire eating various roots and
berries. "As
a child your mother speaks to you of fire, this is information.
Only when you crawl to it and touch it's flames does it becomes
knowledge." His
point hit deeply, and struck chords I had not allowed to ring
aloud for sometime.
Learning through experience is "the way" living in
the bush. I suddenly realized a majority of my education was
handed
to me as information. It was not until I started traveling that
my learning
curve began cresting in all areas of my life.
Today, our youth can wander through lush rainforests tracking
jaguars and discover new species of orchid. Then with mud caked
feet, soaked
to the skin and exhausted from hours of exploring, they can pull
off the goggles, flick a switch and their virtual reality jungle
hike is complete.
We are now hurdling down the information highway at gigabyte
speeds, the guardrails of experiential learning becoming the
proverbial picket
fence. But at least there will be no mud on the carpet!
Tracking the Jaguar Awesome/ adj. (1598)
a: inspiring awe b: terrific
c: Extraordinary Buzz words come and buzz words go. Working and volunteering
with teens for over 15 years I have heard a lot of them. Some, like
awesome, were used so often that I began thinking how awesome
it would be if I never heard it again. Well, if I am
going to venture into this newsletter any farther I find I
cannot do
it without this adjective so please bear with me.
Five years ago I was crawling through the dripping rainforest
in the mountains of Costa Rica tracking Jaguar (Pantera
Onca ) when I heard it: a faint, almost inaudible rustle in
the thin
litter of leaves scattered about the forest floor. I moved
forward, painfully slow, to peer over a small rise. With
heart racing and camera ready, I knew I was about to photograph
the elusive Jaguar. I slithered on my belly to the crest of the
rise with heart pounding and sweaty palms. It was then, as I
lay in the impenetrable thickets of tropical greenness,
right there, only three feet away, was a cloven hoof!!!!
A cow!! A black and white, knobby kneed cow.
It seems to me cows are not known for their outstanding IQ's,
or grace for that matter. Now I am not knocking cows, mind you.
I
think they are splendid creatures when they are left to their
cowness and allowed to do cow like things.
As I was thinking about cow IQ's, ole Bessy decides to take another
step forward, landing only inches from my face. This situation
left me in a bit of a dilemma. The grass I am in is over eight
feet tall and unbelievably thick and this cow does not know I
am laying amongst it's spindly legs and cleaver like feet.
To stay still may bestow upon me a heavy foot or worse. If I
move
quickly I could instantly become the perpetrator and victim of
a massive cow coronary.
Just then I see the deciding factor in this equation. Two feet
over and four feet above me there is movement. The miracle of
mammalian muscular locomotion. One of rising tail and relaxing
muscles. That's
it, I'm out of here. I quickly rolled to the left, up on my feet
and hit the dirt running. Like a horse out of the gate that cow
spiraled, went vertical and hit warp speed in the finest spectacle
of bovine ballet I have ever seen. The sights and sounds
of that cow making tracks while completing it's tail raising
ritual confirmed I had done the right thing. The experience was,
well,
Awesome.
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A Brief History
On a more serious note, as you may already know,
the central hub of The Global Classroom Project consists of a large
plot of land in Costa Rica that we are hoping to purchase to protect
it from being clear cut for cattle, or worse yet, hotels.
(A few acres have already been cut for grazing purposes).
Our Friend Don Luis Vargas, who owns this land, has been very
supportive and patient as we attempt to raise these funds. I
met with Don Luis to discuss different options. He agreed to keep
cattle out of the pasture for one year. In return,
we would have one year to raise half of the total needed funds. He
would then give us another year to secure the final payment. The
down payment would allow us immediate use of the land for
various projects, and all cattle would be removed.
A year has past since that visit and we are sorry to say we fell
short of our goal. About three
months after our deadline we received a fax from Don Luis, who,
having suffering financial difficulties, apologetically notified
us that
he must re-clear his pasture and open up more area. This
area is to be rented for grazing. |
The Death of an Old One
In December
I visited the property with my friend and tireless
Global Classroom volunteer, Pam Hurley. (Pam had put in countless
volunteer hours in the last year and finally she would see
the land she had worked so hard to protect.) Following the
Rio Negro (one of many streams on the property) for several hundred
meters, we finally reached the steep ridge that would bring us up
and over the final rise. A few more meters and we would exit the
dense forest and enter the towering grasses next to my favorite tree.
But it was gone. The giant Zapote tree was gone! I stood for
a moment in silence. There in front of me, close to seven feet
across, it lay in a twisted mass of broken limbs and dislodged epiphytes. Sawdust
from the chainsaw lay at it's base. As I looked around I could
see 15-20 of the fallen giants laying about. The deep red colors
of their
tropical wood glistening in the rain like freshly sliced beef.
As I ran my fingers across the still seeping wound of the stump,
I felt
un-easy, I felt a sense of global urgency. |
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$450 Buys an Acre
The Global Classroom is raising
money to purchase rainforest land at only $450 an acre.
Brocket deer, howler monkeys, peccary, ocelot and jaguar are just
a few of the mammals found in the rainforests of Costa Rica. Due
to the success of Monteverde Reserve and other tourist destinations
within Costa Rica, remote areas like this are being developed at
an alarming rate. Please help us raise the remaining funds
needed to secure this land. We have the students and the
volunteers, we just need your help!
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The Global
Classroom project includes the following:
• Low or no cost education for all ages
• Identification of rare and
endangered species within the rainforest
• Interactive web sites
available to students world wide
• Self-directed learning
• Promotion of world peace and greater understanding
of self and others through home stays and cross cultural experiences
• Implementation
of alternative energy (solar and wind) and other eco-alternatives |
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