“Beyond Intelligence: Life in a Relational World”
By Jon McAlice and Craig Holdrege
Organisms exist in a living relatedness with what we commonly term their environments. The intimate, interwoven nature of these relations challenges our notions of what we usually think of as boundaries. Can we begin to think in terms of relational connectedness and not in terms of separation and opposition?
“Teaching Toward an Understanding of Climate Change”
By Marisha Plotnik
Reporting on our third Climate Change Colloquium at The Nature institute for educators, Marisha shares how working with different climate phenomena (such as moisture) illuminated how the entire environmental context needed to be considered in order to make sense of even simple observations.
“Autumn Colors: Continuing a Study”
By Marisha Plotnik
During a fellowship at The Nature Institute in 2023, Ceinwen Smith studied local trees emerging from bud, observing the changing colors of the developing leaves, flowers, and fruits (see In Context #51). Marisha continued her project, observing these same trees as their colors transformed at the other end of their growing season. Carefully studying fall color change led to a new understanding of leaves as processes, not merely objects to be gazed upon.
Read about staff activities at The Nature Institute and elsewhere.