That hopeless, tired feeling: Mitigating green fatigue in the classroom

A recurring theme in my biology class is how we can incorporate environmental education into our lessons. Today's "hook" was a TED video by Capt. Charles Moore on the seas of plastic garbage that are finding their way into our oceans and the bodies of marine animals everywhere.

This is an important message, and one that, as a former scuba instructor having dived in some of the world's most remarkable marine environments, is not only dear to my heart, but one that I once preached regularly.

However.

The problem with these types of messages isn't just that people don't want to hear them, though of course no one wants to hear (again and again) just how much we've raped and pillaged the planet (especially when they've paid thousands of dollars to be whisked off to a tropical island with sugary white beaches and gently swaying palm trees, surrounded by a blue pancake of an ocean as far as the eye can see, with someone to polish your sunglasses as you sip your second mojito on the balcony of your over-water villa. Not a good time to preach sustainability...). The problem is that we consistently expose youth to these messages as the prelude to and reason for the small environmental actions that we can take to supposedly mitigate the impact of all the negative things we're doing as a species to our home.

I'm not denying the value of taking whatever small steps we can to improve the state of our environment, but I think we're being dishonest if we try to convince ourselves, and especially our youth, that bringing reusable bags to the grocery store will have any measurable short- or medium-term effect on the growing plastic tide in our oceans when multinational corporations the world over are increasing, not decreasing, their production and use of entire documents worth of unpronounceable environmental pollutants. The only effect that these individual actions have is on increasing our overall environmental awareness (for whatever that's worth), and of automatizing positive environmental habits so that when the youth we're educating today finally find themselves at the heads of those same international conglomerates and in a position to take far-reaching decisions, they will do so in a way that is more sustainable for humans and the environment. Which is great, but that's a long time to ask a six-year-old to wait.

Meanwhile, youth are increasingly frustrated at their inability to do positive things now that are on the same scale as the negative things being done by others around them. They get tired of hearing the same old messages of loss and destruction. So they become increasingly despairing and begin to give up. Everyone else is still killing the planet, so what does it matter what they do? 

Perhaps the problem is simply the order in which we present the information. Instead of showing students how destructive we're being, show them how they can support our environment, and give them reasons to want to. This should form the bulk of our environmental education, at least until students are mature enough to be able to process the more negative environmental impacts our species is having in a way that won't completely shock, depress and paralyze them.
 
Environmental marketing agency Futerra released the video "Love, Not Loss" a few years ago along with it's report Branding Biodiversity: The New Nature Message. The report aims to "kill the extinction message" and challenges environmental communicators to pull back on negative messaging about environmental destruction and inspire people to act on conservation based on their love of nature, not their fear of loss. 

This video was recently relaunched at the IUCN World Summit in Korea in September, 2012 as part of the IUCN's "Love, Not Loss" campaign. This campaign aims to rekindle the love affair between humans and nature by getting us to remember what it is we loved about it in the first place. Though not aimed specifically at teachers, there are some funny videos about conservation mis-communication, which science and environment teachers could use to lead students into developing their own videos or other products aimed at reminding us of our love, awe and appreciation for the natural world.

On a related note, the Canadian Wildlife Federation provides information about how to make your own Hinterland Who's Who video — they will even provide the HWW logo, classic flute music and a sample script. It's a great multimedia activity that teachers can use as a sneaky way of getting students to learn about a species or habitat, all under the much more entertaining guise of making a video. The instructions are also available as a PDF at WILDEducation.ca, CWF's education division.

I expect that today's generation of youth will be the ones who will have have the critical mix of awareness, power and technology to make real progress on our environmental issues. If we do nothing but instill messages of despair rather than hope, they will suffer from activism fatigue before they even have the chance to be activists — and then what hope do we have?

Plan B, F-bombs and open classes: the challenges of teaching high school phys ed

They say that those who can’t teach, teach phys ed. But media portrayals aside, it’s not as simple as you might think. Here are a few things I learned about teaching physical and health education in my three weeks of practice teaching at a small, rural high school:

• When it comes to class space, phys ed teachers are incredibly accommodating. It’s not just because they’re nice people — they really don’t have any choice about it. Besides being the place where phys ed usually happens, high school gymnasia are treated like common real-estate within the school and often repurposed for a variety of school-wide functions: photo day, photo re-take day, school assemblies, awards ceremonies, blood donation drives… This happened twice in the three weeks I was on placement. In spring and fall, this isn’t much of a problem since most classes are outside anyway, or can easily be moved outdoors. In winter, though, it takes a little more creative problem-solving. It’s hard to imagine how a music, drama, science, geography or English teacher would handle being told that their classroom just wasn’t going to be available to them for the day, but phys ed teachers are just expected to accept this and make alternative arrangements. And they do, because they really are nice people.


• Teaching phys ed is like dancing a carefully choreographed ballet with the other phys ed teachers in the school. Because there were three phys ed classes running at any given time during the day and only one gym, all three phys ed teachers had to plan out the order and timing of their semesters together. When one class was in the gym, another would be in the fitness room, and the third in the classroom. (Sometimes the gym would be bisected and two classes would share it, but there’s only so many activities you can do with 20 kids in half a gym.) All three classes were coordinated to finish any given unit on the same day (units were typically seven days), so they could rotate together into the next space. Think your class needs an extra day or two in the classroom to finish your sex ed unit because your students took longer to understand the menstrual cycle than you thought they would? You’ll have to negotiate that with the teacher who’s waiting behind you to get into the classroom, or do your condom demo from the gym floor, or just not teach it at all and move into your next activity unit. I can’t think of any other subjects where teachers have to coordinate their use of space so carefully.


• Phys ed, like drama, visual arts, business, tech, parenting courses and the like, are “open”. This means that students from any stream, whether they are workplace, college or university bound, take these courses together. While there are lots of reasons why this is socially beneficial, this is particularly challenging to the teacher. (Yes, I recognize that this type of open classroom is what elementary teachers deal with every day; I still reserve the right to find it challenging.) I love that phys ed’s activity-based curriculum can let our beleaguered kinesthetic learners and struggling academics shine, but this has the effect of masking a lot of learning differences until the first health unit assignment or test gets turned in. This isn’t an insurmountable challenge, but one that I’d never considered before, and I haven't yet figured out how to handle it to my satisfaction.


• Compounding differences in academic ability is the fact that many health units cover topics that elementary school teachers find either difficult or unimportant to teach — like sexual and reproductive health, nutrition, fitness, mental health, drugs and addiction. This poses a particular challenge with grade 9s, who come with a wide range of prior knowledge, despite the fact that they are supposed to have covered these topics in elementary school. It’s hard to cover an entire unit in seven days when you spend the first two shoring up prior-learning knowledge gaps.


• There are also some issues around language. The first is profanity. Take two parts physical exertion and one part competitiveness, combine with a jigger of adolescent hormones, and you’ve got yourself an F-bomb cocktail. I think that putting a complete ban on profanity in phys ed class is a losing battle — there are many more constructive ways to use my energy — but I’m baffled by the lack of internal filters in so many students. It’s one thing to drop an F-bomb when you miss an easy goal or take a hockey stick in the shins, but to let them rip in everyday speech is another. Don’t get me wrong, I can swear like a sailor, but I never would have used that kind of language in the classroom, and certainly not within earshot of a teacher or parent. How have language standards changed so much for today’s teens? As adults, they will have to filter profanity from their speech — most of them can expect it to be disallowed in their eventual workplaces. Now would be a good time to start practicing, even if they can see no other reason for self-censoring. 
  


• Finally, given that there are a lot of balls and sticks in phys ed, it can be incredibly hard to talk about basic sporting equipment without having someone turn it into a dirty joke. Navigating the line between funny ha-ha and funny-awkward isn’t hard, but teenagers just never get tired of it. As an adult, on the other hand (Jason Segel’s balls notwithstanding), I… no, wait, nevermind, jokes about balls are always funny.

Tampax as teacher: The corporatization of sex ed in schools

I’m beginning the third and final week of my initial teaching placement tomorrow, and I’m going to be teaching a unit on sexual and reproductive health to a Grade 9 girls phys ed class. Sex and sexuality — particularly as it pertains to women — has always been a pet topic of mine, so I’m really looking forward to getting to teach this for the first time.

In addition to the textbook the school uses for the health units (written by a teacher from the Toronto District School Board) my associate teacher gave me a copy of the Vibrant Faces Co-Ed student guide, published by the Ontario Physical and Health Educators Association (OPHEA) and Physical and Health Education Canada. Though it’s intended for Grade 7-8 students, we will give a copy of this guide to the Grade 9s and, says my AT, it’s almost guaranteed they’ll read it cover to cover.

Vibrant Faces includes some solid information. The first third of the booklet is on the importance of being physically active and fit, eating a healthy, balanced diet, and dealing with stress, emotions, cyber-bullying and body image issues. Most of the remaining two-thirds of the booklet is on puberty and sexual and reproductive health, divided into separate sections for males and females. The stages of puberty are covered, and the male and female reproductive systems are well diagrammed and explained.

The six pages on the male reproductive system include the stages of puberty, the reproductive organs, facts about sperm, myth-busting about penis size, info on testicular cancer and doing TSEs, and some general male Q&A (I think I’m growing breasts; what if someone notices your erection; one of my testicles hangs lower than the other, etc.). Students with additional questions are directed to www.teengrowth.com (an apparently independent website whose medical advisory team and editorial staff are composed of 15 MDs) and www.kidshealth.org (a website featuring physician-directed content hosted by an American chain of pediatric health clinics and hospitals).

So far, so good.

Now let’s compare this with 26 pages on the female reproductive system and genital health. (Yup, you read that right — 26 pages. Granted, the female body is a little more complex and arguably deserving of a heftier owner’s manual, but a difference of 20 pages is pretty significant. The reason why starts to become apparent as you read on.)

In addition to the stages of puberty, reproductive organs, facts about ova, general Q&A and common infections (HPV is mentioned here in the context of cervical cancer, though not on the boys’ side, despite its link with colon and rectal cancers in both men and women) — similar territory to what was covered for the boys — the female section has four pages specifically on menstruation (plus a two-page menstrual calendar) and 10 pages on “Feminine Protection.” This includes a pad sizing chart, information on how to change a pad, instructions on how to insert and remove a tampon (basically the same diagrams and information you’ll find on a tampon box insert), and a page on pantiliners. Even though I’d already seen a few product plugs (er, no pun intended) that had me wondering, it was the page on pantiliners (“Use a pantiliner everyday. Take a shower, brush your teeth, put on your deodorant and a pantiliner for an everyday fresh feeling!”) that made me flip to the back of the booklet to find out who was really behind the messaging. By this point, I wasn’t surprised to see that Always, Tampax, Gilette, Venus, Old Spice and Secret — all of them brands owned by Procter & Gamble — were listed as sponsors, with their logos and websites printed on the second last page.

Girls also get an additional page in the “Female Reproductive System” that has no equivalent in the male section. The subheads are: Body Growth; Breasts; Discharge; Sweat and Body Odour; Body Hair; and Pimples and Greasy Hair. I find it a little disturbing that that this information is directed exclusively at girls, since most of if would apply equally to both boys and girls (not to mention that most of these topics are associated with secondary sex characteristics rather than directly related to the reproductive system). The only explanation, then, is that its inclusion is a marketing tactic, preying on the socially-induced self-consciousness that begets a lifetime of hygiene and beauty product purchases. The problem, besides girls being advertised to subversively through pseudo-educational materials, is that this type of marketing rests on the public shaming of women’s bodies in order to have them buy products and, despite messages about self-esteem elsewhere in Vibrant Faces, reinforces the social messages that lead to personal insecurities about our bodies, and particularly our vaginas, as being stinky, dirty, secret and shameful. 

As opposed to the fairly independent, non-commercial websites the boys are directed to, at the end of the female section readers are directed to BeingGirl.com, a website maintained by Procter & Gamble, and which contains five logos or product images on the homepage alone (for Always and Tampax products).

But wait, there’s more.

In addition to promoting unnecessary daily use of a product like pantiliners, the co-ed information on shaving advises girls to use a moisturizing shaving gel, never just soap, and the section on skin care recommends washing twice daily “with soap or a gentle cleanser” and deep cleaning with a cleanser containing salicylic acid. The underlying message is: if you’re not already using a commercial skin cleanser, get thee to a drug store (given that P&G owns Olay, it’s surprising they don’t recommend any specific products here). 

While the advertising messages stand out pretty boldly, what’s harder to recognize is what’s missing from this guide.

For example: the “Feminine Protection” section includes a page on Toxic Shock Syndrome, which simply says it “can occur with tampon use.” Tampon companies have an interest in downplaying the risks of TSS, of course, and Vibrant Faces doesn’t explain how it occurs.

(TSS is caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria; superabsorbent tampons left in the vagina for a long time become a good breeding ground for the bacteria. Tampon makers removed their hyperabsorbent tampons from the market in the 1980s after a run of tampon-related TSS deaths, and began including FDA-mandated TSS-related labeling on the packaging. Women are now advised to keep a tampon in the vagina for no more than 8 hours, and to intersperse tampon use with pads. But a 2005 article suggested TSS was making a comeback thanks to younger onset of menstruation and a return to higher absorbency tampons.

There is also debate on the safety of tampons based on dioxin content, chemical residues left after bleaching the wood pulp that most commercial tampons contain. The FDA and the pulp industry claim that tampons do not contain enough dioxin to be harmful, but others question this assertion.

The history of the regulation of menstrual tampons is pretty fascinating, as it turns out. It wasn’t until 1990 that we had standardized absorbency labeling across brands. At the same time, despite public concerns about tampon ingredients, the FDA still does not require ingredient labeling, saying they don’t have enough data showing an association between any ingredients and health risks to mandate the labelling).

But back to Vibrant Faces. What else is missing? How about alternatives to commercial tampons and pads? They aren’t mentioned anywhere in the student handbook, despite their abundance:

• reusable cloth pads (Luna Pads and Glad Rags are just two makers, but you can also download patterns to make your own on the cheap out of flannel, terry cloth and cotton)
• sea sponges (Jam Sponge and Sea Pearls are two sellers, but you can also buy a large sea sponge and cut it down to size, just be sure to boil it to disinfect it before using it for the first time)
• disposable menstrual cups
• a wide and growing field of reusable silicone or rubber menstrual cups
• organic cotton applicator-free tampons and fragrance-free pads

Most of these products are available at your local health food store or community health unit; if not, they can be easily purchased online. Yet not one of these alternatives gets so much as a mention in Vibrant Faces, since none are sold by the sponsor brands. What’s more, my (awesome!) associate teacher, who has been teaching sexual and reproductive to high school students for 17 years, was completely unaware of alternative menstrual products until I told her about them last week. Which takes me back to the notion of knowledge as socially constructed.

Is there a conflict of interest in having a guide on hygiene and reproductive health paid for by the very hygiene products and brands who profit from our bodies? To what degree has it turned this otherwise useful guide into another advertising vehicle? What’s more, is it appropriate to allow our youngest adults to be advertised to in such a subversive way, particularly when it’s related to a topic that leaves many youth feeling vulnerable and unsure, at a time in their lives when they could be considered easy targets? Even if they have the analytical skills that a critical reading of this guide requires, how questioning are young teens likely to be about the content?

Despite Canadians' strong support for public education, our schools and teaching resources are being privately funded more than ever. Since this isn’t likely to stop, we need to become more aware as educators about the ways that corporate messaging finds its way into our schools, and equip students to be aware of it, too — to look at where the knowledge they are being taught comes from, why it’s being emphasized, and whom it benefits. We all need to critically examine and question everything we teach and learn — including what we don’t learn. So, while I'll be using Vibrant Faces in the classroom next week and talking a lot about what's in it, I'll also be taking time to talk about what's not in it.