Just went to "authorfest" at UBC and saw Robert Bateman among others. The interesting thing is, Robert didn't talk about his books, and he didn't even talk that much about his paintings (the nature paintings many love to hate). Mostly he spoke about his experience as a teacher (he taught highschool geography and then art for 20 years) and what his nearly 80 years on this planet have taught him (he looks great for his age BTW, must be all the fresh air). He spoke about how we need to get kids outside interacting with nature and learning to find their sense of place in it. I was so surprised to hear someone I had no particular expectations for saying all the things I have been wanting to hear someone say. Things like "Either we limit economic growth or it will limit us", "we have to save children from nature deficit disorder", with reference to video games he stated "violence should never be fun. It should elicit horror and pity". He called our culture "instant pudding world because it's slick, smooth, sweet, convenient and comes in a variety of artificial flavours...", he quoted Chief Seattle who reportedly said in 1854 that "Man did not weave the web of life - he is merely a strand in it, Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself." He quoted Magaret Mead who said "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." he spoke of Rachel Carson, art history, and the nature school in the Bahamas where his son worked for some time.
In short Robert Bateman is the ranting environmental Grandfather I never had. le sigh.
to watch a video he made about the dangers of oil spills click here.
To check out Robert's "get to know program" click here.
To go staight to the teacher resources he provides on his site, click here.
He's an exceptional painter and an inspirational naturalist and a beacon for me, and I am so glad that my entire cohort, hundreds of future teachers just got an earful of his kind of learning. It's about time.
No comments:
Post a Comment