Keywords
Activism, empowerment, perspective, trickster, spirituality, sense of connection
Document Type
Speech
Abstract
Environmental education (EE) promises to facilitate the transformation of attitudes and behavior on a broad scale. Yet the field has not fulfilled its potential. This article takes an auto-ethnographical approach in considering the reluctance of environmental educators to discuss environmental problems. How is the discipline weakened by equating critical thinking and ecologically motivated despair with a negative attitude rather than honestly acknowledging the grief and promoting resiliency and empowerment instead? Through the lens of a professional waitress, this article argues that the service industry offers a privileged though overlooked venue for EE. Rather than framing EE as an isolated event in the faraway, vaulted wilderness, practitioners should take advantage of non-formal, frequent opportunities to re-contextualize nature as part of the experience of everyday life.
Genre/Form
personal narratives
Recommended Citation
Renz, K. (2016). Rare or Well Done? A Waitress Wonders How to Best Serve Environmental Education. Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays, 1(1), 1-18. Retrieved from https://cedar.wwu.edu/s2ss/vol1/iss1/1
Subjects - Topical (LCSH)
Environmental education; Green movement; Critical pedagogy; Waitresses
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Type
Text
Included in
Civic and Community Engagement Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Educational Sociology Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Theory and Philosophy Commons
