Tag: Brendan

By bbuck92

This week my volunteer work with the Valpo Surf Project came to an end. One of my last acts was leading a found object activity with the students. In our lunchtime discussion, after surfing in the morning, we presented our objects and our stories about the environment. Some objects included a mint leaf from the garden, trash we had picked up from the beach, and a pot of natural Chilean honey. Using these various objects as a springboard for conversation we talked about what we felt defined the environment and the role of the VSP in respect to that environment. Overall, our conclusion was that the VSP is a vehicle to organize to protect the environment, an environment that not only included the beach where we surf but also the neighborhoods where we work in Valparaiso.

This conclusion had much to do with my research for the semester. I was able to incorporate these definitions into my investigation of environmental citizenship, and explored in which ways the VSP promoted stewardship though molding young active environmental citizens.  While I suggested that the VSP has room to grow by explicitly incorporating a program of environmental citizenship rather than implicitly supporting it, I also recognized the successes of the VSP in instilling the values of responsibility and obligation in its students through activities such as trash collection each surf session. I hope to continue to study the ways of promoting active and responsible individuals committed to sustainability be it in a citizenship setting or otherwise. George Washington University offers a unique opportunity to present these ideals to a new group of “citizens” within a different community. ...continue reading "y todos deben cuidarlo!"

By bbuck92

A Challenge in my project, which talks extensively about stewardship and caring for the environment, has been the simple act of defining the "environment" or "nature" that the Valpo Surf Project seeks to protect. In the search for such a definition I turned to an activity I read about during my research for the project.

In the introduction to “In Search of Nature” writer William Cronon describes an activity which helped him and his co-writers to work toward an an understanding of nature in its many forms. This “Found Object” activity, in which every participant brought an object or memory to the discussion which to them best represented “Nature,”  gave Cronon and his roundtable points of reference to the various understandings and preconceptions of nature that the group held. ...continue reading "Defining “Environment” in the Valpo Surf Project"

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. ...continue reading "From Environmental Stewardship to Environmental Citizenship"

By bbuck92

In Valparaiso, a city comprised of homes built on the hills surrounding an industrial port, there is a disconnect between its youthful inhabitants and the ocean. The Valpo Surf Project (VSP) was in part inspired by that disconnect and the need to repair it. VSP explains it’s founding as thus, “Although most see the ocean everyday of their lives, many of the city’s youth have never had the opportunity to experience the Pacific Ocean and Chile’s beaches. We wanted to create a way that Valparaiso’s disconnected youth could learn to engage with and protect the local marine environment. The resulting idea evolved into the Valpo Surf Project, a community organization that engages its young participants with the surrounding marine environment through weekly surf outings and focus on fostering three distinct components: personal character development, environmental consciousness, and English language education.” The program works with children ages 7-16 from various organizations within Valparaiso, including the neighborhood organization of Cerro Mariposa and SENAME.

...continue reading "Surfing and Stewardship of the Environment with The Valpo Surf Project"