"I've always believed that how you treat animals, and how you treat the land, is how you’ll treat people. I've noticed that either you have lots of respect, have it in spades, or you generally don't have it at all."
Rick Bass- Creatures of the Dictator
"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body".
I Corinthians 12:12
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Teaching "civic environmentalism" (term used by William Shutkin in "The Land that could be") is one of the main components of sboth the Viata and Impact programs. Through youth-led activities and projects, youth experientially learn to be better citizens and stewards that serve their communities and environment.
Most environmental approaches have focused directly ons issues such as wilderness preservation and endangered species protection. Yet the need for developing democratic competencies in regards to environmental issues, especially in post-communist societies, is equally important. Civic apathy and the lack of democratic/civic competencies leads to environmental degradation through the erosion of care for the common good ("nobody else cares about littering, why should I") and the destruction of civil society. Civic and environmental apathy are two sides of the same worthless coin. To be more successful at the grassroots level, environmentalism must embrace a more democratic process and engage everyday citizens in building and protecting their own communities from the bottom up; not just imposing policies from the top down that have little chance of implementation without citizen interest and accountability. New Horizons views environmental stewardship through the larger lens of citizen capacity building—helping this next generation effectively participate in the decisions that affect their lives. |
