Our place in the natural world

[Boyd Roberts]

On a recent trip to northern India I was fortunate to be able to visit the Ranthambore National Park – famous for its population of tigers (No, I didn’t get to spot one). Formerly the hunting ground of the Maharajah of Jaipur, the park now acts as a reserve for wildlife, although regularly visited by the many local and foreign tourists. Right up to the edge of the reserve the land is developed for agriculture and habitation. The tigers hang in there in a (comparatively) small pocket of undeveloped land – with natural vegetation and other wildlife.

 

This got me thinking.

 

A global citizen needs to develop an awareness of their place as a human being in the world. This includes considering our interactions with other people, our impact on the environment, but also the place on this planet of other forms of life. There is much talk about sustainability, and the arguments for reducing consumption with an ever-growing human population hungry and increasingly competing for limited resources. There is also talk about biodiversity – often in the context of how humans can
use and exploit other organisms and how it’s important to keep the diversity as we don’t know which animals or plants may be useful to eat, help us destroy our waste or contain a substance that may help to cure our ills. These arguments relate to the “head” – and they are important. But what about the “heart”?  Our compassion for other peop le comes from the heart, and a respect for other living organisms and for their right to continue to exist on earth also comes from the heart – often stemming from personal contact with animals and plants in the wild – or in some cases in captivity or
cultivation. 

How important is it that we as global citizens - and the young global citizens we are working with – develop a respect for and appreciation of the importance of other species on earth?

This would be not simply for their usefulness to humans , but because of their own right to exist in their own space. Should we, then, be trying to give young people an experience of or encounter with “the wild” – with the natural world -in some meaningful way? This would help give them a greater sense of world and its qualities and beauty and of their place in it.

 

And could or should this come into the ordinary work of schools? Or of the IGC Award?

 

More generally, as more and more of the world’s population moves into cities – and it’s now more than half of us living in a city – how do we retain a connection with the biological world that feeds and clothes us? Those of us who grow vegetables will know the pleasure and satisfaction this can bring – as well as the awareness that we are dealing with other organisms that need to be looked after, watered etc. It develops a sense of connection with the earth. 

 

Could or should developing this awareness be part of our ordinary work in schools? Or of the IGC award?

 

We are working in very different schools and contexts and some of this may already be going on in your school. Or perhaps things seem different from where you are.

 

Please share any views or what is already happening in your school.