From the Editor - Winter 2025
This year, ETFO’s winter issue of Voice is is our environment issue, exploring resources and classroom practices to teach the next generation of activists to take care of the Earth and live more sustainably. On the heels of his participation in COP30 as part of the Education International delegation, President David Mastin writes, “In classrooms across Ontario, the climate crisis is not a theory – it is our students’ lived reality. They breathe it in the haze of wildfire smoke and carry it as anxiety about a future that feels increasingly unstable. Our duty as educators is to not only share what we know, but to teach the critical thinking skills and inspire the hope needed to navigate this challenge.”
In The Land as Science, Community and Connection, Gina Marucci writes about immersing her students in nature to teach the Science curriculum and in order to help them understand how nature relates to their lives. “To witness a tiny living being stretch its antennae to touch a student’s hand is to see connection come alive; a moment of pure respect, curiosity and shared life between child and creature. These experiences remind us of the deep connections that the outdoors can foster.”
In Critically Thinking About Sustainability, Sarah Lowes introduces The Sustainability LENSE, a tool designed to help us pause, ask sharper questions and weigh the systems behind each decision we make. “The Sustainability LENSE isn’t about finding perfect answers,” Lowes writes, “it’s about developing the habit of sustainable thinking.” In a related article, Jen Reid reflects on teaching her grade 4/5 students to use design thinking to imagine and create a sustainable future community that relies on renewable energy.
In this issue’s interview, Meagan Perry speaks with Dr. Maria Vamvalis about AI, education and regenerative futures. “I talk about regeneration as opposed to sustainability,” Vamvalis says, “because we don’t want to be sustaining the current systems. We need to regenerate ecosystems using a lens of healing, repair, and restoring relationships. Sustainability doesn’t capture that.”
These features, along with a curriculum resource that explores environmental racism and a themed crossword, highlight some excellent resources and approaches for thinking about the environment.
– Izida Zorde
