Teaching Sustainability Through Alternative Education: A Case Study

We all have ideas about what to do with modern education systems, so how might we know what is right to teach and how? The Kroka Expeditions New Hampshire-Vermont Semester Program of 2009 facilitated a journey in which 12 students, 15-20 years old, traveled 300 miles in the middle of winter by cross-country ski through the Green Mountains of Vermont. They then built a canoe, carved paddles and paddled back down the Connecticut River for another 300 miles in the spring. The trials and tribulations were great. The stories of joy were even greater. This project used a case study in order to explore how this particular unique, localized educational program informed two main research questions: What is the importance of alternative education, specifically wilderness education, in promoting sustainability? In what ways do we overtly and covertly teach our youth through our education systems? By exploring the most prevalent learning in the semester through student writings, teacher observations and theatrical presentations, it became clear that wilderness education, for its inescapably localized nature, can be essential in bringing about the learning that will help guide our students, our children and ourselves into a future of hope and true ecological sustainability