Walking My Talk as an Intentional, Embodied (Co)constructed Environmental Educator
Abstract
Exploring the question (how) can I use personal change to inspire educational and
social/cultural change, this work was embodied and action orientated with a thesis that
the doing (action) is as important as the thinking and talking about it. A threedimensional
model of exploring personal change through transformative education
leading to social/cultural change was employed throughout this research. A critical
poststructural ecofeminist frame undergirded an autoethnographic self-study where I
changed my living practices to become more sustainable while living within society, and
used this as a platform for how I could become a better environmental educator and
activist. I reduced my ecological footprint from 16.4HA to 1.8HA and taught a preservice
teacher course in environmental education, where I explored student resistances,
power and relationships, a critique of curriculum, and personal change as a result of
transformative education. One particular pedagogical strategy, the Action Learning
Group Project, was developed and used to support others to undergo personal change
through transformative education leading to social/cultural change. And finally, I use this
work as an opportunity to undertake environmental education activism working to
generate social/cultural change.