Teaching Perception of Global Change
Friday, October 6th, 2006A majority of scientists studying the changes in species diversity have concluded that we are in the early stages of the sixth “mega-extinction†– a massive die off of species that will radically transform life on earth. Over the last 550 million years, we know of only five other large scale mass extinctions. Evidently, we live in interesting times. The surprising thing is that we don’t seem to know it.
How can we be living through a mass extinction and not be aware of it? Bringing the Biosphere Home is Mitch Thomashow’s exploration of this question and of its implications for education. In this slim but important book, he asks what we can do to provide young people with tools that enable them to perceive global change. In this essay I look at Thomashow’s book as well as its implications for teaching about global change here at Schoodic.