Editorial Issue 126, Winter 2021


General Editor Ian Shanahan


Editorial Assistant Sofia Vargas Nessi


Editing Ian Shanahan and Devin Therien


Regional Editors Canada


Gareth Thomson Laurelei Primeau Bob Adamson Raissa Marks Craig White Janet Barlow


Barbara Hanbidge Remy Rodden


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Design and Production Cover photo from Karen Lai


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‘Tis the season for “of the year” lists as we enter the final week of the solar-cycle-based Gregorian calendar year. For the editorially-inclined, “words of the year” are always fun to ponder. “Pandemic” is the low- hanging fruit for 2020, perhaps followed closely by “pivot.” In terms of phrases, “social distancing” (or is it “physical distancing”?) surely tops the list. Within many fields — environmental education very much included — “stronger together” or “better together” have also been preva- lent. On that theme, we decided around March that our guiding phrase for the year would be “raise all the boats.”


More than ever, we have sought collaborations that would be mutually


beneficial, and this approach has been enthusiastically embraced by the many, many individuals and organizations we’ve interacted with over the past 10+ months.


Connecting with Karen Lai, the writer of our cover story about inclu-


sion of people with disabilities in the outdoors, arose from our strength- ening partnerships with the Columbia Basin Environmental Education Network, Take Me Outside, and Classrooms to Communities. Our four organizations are working with Karen again for a webinar in February about Opportunities, Barriers, Strategies towards Inclusion.


A series of video chats with staff at the


Commission for Environmental Cooperation resulted in their article about shrinking food waste.


Our longstanding relationship with the


innovative Project Dragonfly at Miami Univer- sity in Oxford, Ohio continuously provides us with articles featuring cutting-edge practices in the EE field, while giving new graduates broader exposure for their research and work.


Back in the spring, I received an email from Jared Goodykoontz titled


“Join forces?” and that set in motion a multi-part discussion that veered into the fascinating territory of the search for common ground among seemingly opposed ways of thinking and interpreting the world. Much of the ideas from those enriching chats are reflected in Jared’s piece as well as a joint project that we’ll be launching very shortly.


Forgive me if I stray a bit from the main plot here for a moment, but


there’s a thorn that’s been nagging at my side for some time now. Why is it that so much of what we hear on both social and mainstream media these days seems to be about what divides us? Perhaps it’s a function of the bottomless need for fresh content in the 24-hour news cycle. Perhaps it’s because divisions suggest controversy and controversy drives clicks on provocative headlines or tweets. Undoubtedly, it’s a nuanced issue, and it’s also entirely possibly that many of the perceived divisions are just that — perceptions. Maybe we’re actually more united than we feel we are.


Regardless, I would like to dedicate this issue to the spirit of finding


common ground, which happens to be inherent in the “raise all the boats” mantra that has guided us through 2020 and will continue to be front and center in our work as the calendar flips to 2021. We are grateful to our partners and collaborators and we wish everyone a peaceful and healthy holiday season!


-Ian Shanahan Page 2 Green Teacher 126


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