By bbuck92
Work with the Valpo Surf Project has taken a serious academic turn as I make headway with my research project. With many hours of readings done and hours spent with the project volunteering I have focused on connecting the my academic work with my experiences with the NGO. After reading much on the subject of what constitutes nature and stewardship, themes that have much to do with the VSP experience I zeroed in on the subject of environmental citizenship. While the VSP promotes "stewardship" in general what I hope to suggest in my project is that the VSP becomes advocates of environmental citizenship. Just what constitutes an environmental citizen? According to the author John Barry, within the understanding of republican citizenship, that is active citizenry, an environmental citizen is an advocate for preservation, conservation, and sustainability, in all his or her civic activities. Most interestingly this citizen practices resistance.
It sounds odd for an upstanding "citizen" to be subversive and resist, but that is exactly what Barry proposes is the duty of an Environmental citizen.Due to structures in place in which current governments and companies reject sustainable ideas and development, all in pursuit of a culture of consumerism, and environmental citizen must "resist" these constructions and promote alternatives. This means alternatives in government, alternatives in business, and especially alternatives in development. The most important part of forming the conscience of an environmental citizen is education, due to the republican notion of citizenry as being made not born into. This is where the VSP comes in. While it is not currently part of the curriculum, nor vocabulary of the VSP I believe the VSP implicitly instills the fundamental values of environmental citizenship in its students. The Table below (in Spanish) demonstrates the overlap I have observed in my time with the VSP.
Observaciones del VSP (visita Terreno):
| Tabla A | Ciudadano Sostenible | Alumno de VSP |
| Servicio Mandatorio | X | X |
| Resistencia ciudadana | X | |
| Educación del Medio Ambiente | X | .5 |
| Experiencia del medio Ambiente | X | X |
The VSP implicitly teaches these values to its students. I would argue that there is room for improvement in environmental education and explaining the value of "resistance" but acts such as mandatory beach cleans demonstrate the implicit message of republican environmental citizenry ingrained in the VSP identity. utilization of time such of English class during the week could prove useful and effective in moving from a general narrative of environmental stewardship, to a clearer practice of molding young environmental citizens.