Welcome to my website dedicated to understanding Mother Earth as the original and essential Democracy.
earth language
Earth Language is the process of learning to live responsibly among the infinite, interdependent, patterned layers of a naturally occurring democracy: Mother Earth.
an introduction
This site is an introduction to the thinking, skills, activities, and relationships designed for teaching and learning with young children and their families about our responsibilities as human beings in relationship with the Natural World.
human beings
Human beings are a part of a democratic root system so sophisticated that the operating parts seem to sustain life magically. The magic is in the ever-connected, balancing parts - microscopic parts, expansive parts, and the infinite in-between parts.
inspiration
The approach is inspired by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and Kayanerenkó:wa (the Great Law of Peace), Alice and John Dewey, Octavia Butler, "Captain Jane", the Reggio Emilia Approach, Jean Sinor, Carlina Rinaldi, Frances and David Hawkins, Gregory Bateson, Mary Catherine Bateson, Jane Goodall, Maria Montessori, my students, their families, my colleagues, my teachers, and most of all my experience as part of a family of three - Jon, Andy, and Meredith.
learning democracy
My interest in the ecology of democracies began at an early age.
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1975: Me, my mom, and dad in front of the U.S. Capitol. Documents the beginning of my dad's fifty years of scholarship on American Congress. He strove to illuminate the "invisible" parts and processes within Congress accountable for giving life to the agreed upon legislation governing U.S. Democracy.
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1977: I started school with a smile and butterflies. The school garden eased homesickness with joy and wonder. Honeysuckle blossoms showed us how ants relate to its sweet parts.
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2023: An outing in a new landscape is a gift for unlearning and responding to what was once thought known.
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We are all ancestral stardust. Collections of experiences. Energetic relationships with time.