Jane Goodall in Greenland

10/12/2009

Learning with loose parts encourages children to explore, experiment, design, create, and construct. It gives them the opportunity to figure out that there are different ways of doing things.
Carla Gull

Recently, I had the great pleasure of attending a lecture by Jane Goodall sponsored by the International Child Resource Institute. One point in her lecture, which as always was inspiring in many ways, especially caught my attention. She talked with great sadness about standing with kalaallit elders (the indigenous Greenland community), looking out over the landscape and seeing the barren earth that had been covered in ice since the Ice Age. Greenland is the first place in the world where the dramatic impact of global warming is being felt. The changing environment is already threatening the existence of many species in the animal and plant kingdoms that have existed safely for centuries. And the livelihood of the kalaallit people is being threatened as well.

Jane Goodall (wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Goodall) just celebrated her 75th birthday and yet travels around the world over 300 days a year promoting the respect for the animal kingdom, for the environment, and for peace. As we work through the World Forum Foundation to promote these same causes, we are humbled by the tireless and effective commitment of Goodall to all the inhabitants of this planet.

Great Resources on Environments at Exchange

Exchange has a wide variety of resources on environments that can be purchased separately on altogether at a discounted price in our Environments Tool Kit. Exchange environmental resources in the kit include...

Books:

Caring Spaces, Learning Places: Children's Environments That Work
Natural Playscapes: Creating Outdoor Play Environments for the Soul
Learning With Nature Idea Book: Creating Nurturing Outdoor Spaces for Children

Beginning Workshop Units:

Environments for Special Needs
Environments
Nature and Young Children
Outdoor Environments
Space
Science, Using the Outdoors
Learning Materials

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For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.