By Aaron Hill
Correspondent, Depoe Bay Beacon

In an effort described as eco-learning, curriculum is being developed for elementary and high school students in Lincoln City, Oregon in the hopes of fostering a new generation of environmentalists.

It is being developed with assistance from the Sustainable Oregon Schools Initiative, a program of a group called the Zero Waste Alliance, www.zerowaste.org, which is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and with self-described “curriculum designer” Peter Donaldson of Mercer Island, Washington as a paid consultant. His web site, www.peterdonaldson.net, is a treasure trove of nuggets from a radical environmentalist who has eaten one too many mushrooms from the pristine forest floor.

According to the Zero Waste web site, “The goal of the Sustainable Oregon Schools (SOS) Initiative is to move Oregon’s K-12… schools toward a comprehensive state of sustainability, guided internally by a system for its implementation and management, and supported externally by… a permanent statewide program.”

Donaldson’s one-man show—called Salmonpeople—played to a crowded theater at the Lincoln City Cultural Center in October. Donaldson said he enjoyed “spawning Salmonpeople projects each fall.”

“A coalition of local entities unites to co-produce Salmonpeople as a civic centerpiece for catalytic change. The shared goal is to awaken stewardship behavior in an ever-widening circle of citizens. The Salmonpeople performance catalyzes a host of events expanding those arenas of action where mission overlap is greatest,” Donaldson said.

After seeing Salmonpeople Canadian Jennifer Sutherst explained a near-religious experience.

"Nothing compares to the journey I experienced attending a performance. It is through [this] story that we can begin to explore our own personal connections to the watersheds that surround us, and begin to understand the lesson that salmon have to teach us. The manner in which it is presented serves as a powerful catalyst for a deeper dialogue on the concepts of stewardship and sustainability," she said.

Supporters include activist groups such as the Environmental Education Association of Oregon, Oregon Environmental Council, Oregon Green Schools Association, Oregon Natural Step Network and Oregon Coast Sustain and individuals ranging from Democratic politicians to college professors, counting former Governor John A. Kitzhaber and current Secretary of State Bill Bradbury as leaders within the movement. Bradbury also serves as the chairman of the Oregon Sustainability Board.

The Zero Waste Alliance web site noted that the SOS Initiative “aims to prepare the coming generation to successfully manage and even reverse current trends, while helping schools to better manage these priorities now.”

For children at Oceanlake Elementary School, Principal Jack Nickerson wants to “to mold the minds of the young.” Nickerson hopes Donaldson will participate in a summer program for teachers to devise more ways of linking students’ lessons to environmentalist themes. This new initiative will work environmentalism into the curriculum at every grade level, he said.

"For first steps, we want to do things that kids can grab hold of right away," said Nickerson.

With little input from parents thus far, Nickerson does not foresee any major problems, except doing nothing.

"This is not something they can learn later," he said. "They have to learn and do now."

For students up to the third grade, the first step will be setting up worm bins within the school to reduce the amount of food that ends as garbage. Students will “explore green ways of thinking,” he said.

An energy audit will be the responsibility of grades four and above. They will analyze the school’s use of power and look for any possible savings. Lincoln County School District officials have reached an agreement where any money saved from changes due to the audit, whether electricity, water or waste, will be returned to the Oceanlake building budget.

Nickerson said the new curriculum would eventually allocate a particular area of responsibility to each grade, with ideas for further modules including green building, animals and habitat and the role of citizenship.

In the long-term, Nickerson envisions an environmentally friendly elementary school building, possibly certified under the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program (LEED).

A LEED certified building would meet standards regarding building materials, water and power use and indoor air quality and could itself serve as a valuable teaching tool—demonstrating sustainable concepts in the real world.

"The idea is for the kids to start designing that building," said Nickerson who would like to see students present their ideas directly to the school district board.

”The kids should be driving the adults,” he added. “The adults are there to help and guide.”

Upon graduation at the end of sixth grade, students moving on from Oceanlake’s program will be able to continue in “environmental education” indoctrination via a new marine ecology course being developed at Taft High School.

This represents the beginnings of a coherent curriculum covering such crucial topics as climate change, pollution and conservation that will extend through a child’s school life from the day they enter kindergarten to the day they graduate from high school, Nickerson said.

“These things are always being done in schools, but it has always been isolated things, driven by a person with a passion or interest,” he said. “It's evident that everyone needs awareness and passion for this now because this is what we are going to have to deal with.”

"We have about 780 kids between the two schools," he said. Although the number continues to drop at Oceanlake Elementary, perhaps to 600 within a year or two, the SOS Initiative and its advocates hope to convert enough children to sustain the modern-day environmental movement.

I encourage concerned citizens, especially Oregonians and parents of scholl-age children, write letters of concern to the school district and also letters to the editor of your local newspaper.

Lincoln County Schools, http://www.lincoln.k12.or.us
Oceanlake Elementary, http://www.lincoln.k12.or.us/SectionIndex.asp?SectionID=114