Until the Water Sparkles

Submitted by Jacquie Chandler of Sustain Tahoe

What do…

1.      Biomimicry
2.      Regenerative Agriculture
3.      Frontier Forests

Have in common?       They are all sustainable solutions that come from thinking with nature. 

Walking softly with the land to listen and understand invites insights and answers for planetary problems. Nature also demonstrates resilience, now identified as the most critical attribute young people need to survive and thrive in the modern world. Mindful connection to nature can address personal issues as well.Sustainable Tahoe’s mission is to accelerate the adoption of Geotourism – tourism that does no harm. 

We demonstrated this with the Geotourism Expos we hosted (2011-2014). When planning for the 2014 Tahoe Expo, I found myself on the edge of the lake with a Washoe elder, who hadn’t seen his people’s homeland in decades. He looked out into the lake like he was looking through time and after further contemplation said, 

“The Lake is losing its sparkle, maybe no one sings to it anymore.”

Washoe Elder

I’m thinking, wait…what…singing? Then I remembered how Indigenous people see land, water, plants, and wildlife as sacred relations worthy of reciprocity. His response provoked me to further my own quest to better hear the earth’s voice. Eventually answers in the form of songs began to show me a key missing piece is how our culture defines Nature as separate and disconnected from humans. It’s hard to care about things you don’t feel connected to – right? 

So, the idea to inspire a child’s innate connection to nature, through songs, stories and media evolved. 
What if we could grow a millennial forest of consciousness using the sticky rhythms of poems, songs, and stories from the earth, so children grow up feeling connected to Nature, a part of Nature, able to think with nature.

Sing with Nature Is a children’s animated media series where each 10-minute animated episode follows a clue that ends in a song highlighting insights discovered. The engagement can then move outside where a child can continue to explore seeing themselves in nature. Fostering a child’s instinctual connection to the natural world can build and preserve that resilience and natural tendency
to think with nature, therefore accelerating solutions that can actually pivot a culture to align with Natures currency the currency of caring…so the water sparkles!

FYI Reference:
Biomimicry: imitating nature’s systems, models, and elements to solve human problems and create a sustainable world.
Regenerative Agriculture: focused on actually improving soil conditions into creating systems that are regenerative.
Frontier Forests: large, intact natural forest ecosystems that are relatively undisturbed and large enough to maintain all of their biodiversity. 

Jacquie Chandler

Executive Director Sustain Tahoe
LinkedIn  Website TEDx Talk

PO 3206, Incline Village, NV 89450
775 413-9211

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