News

May 23, 2023

After the pandemic, don't forget nature, environmentalists say

KINGSTON — A pair of environmental educators are encouraging people not to

KINGSTON — A pair of environmental educators are encouraging people not to forget some of the good changes they made during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tara Bauer and her mother, Cindy Dunning, founded Blue Marble Learning Scene in late 2020. The company provides nature-themed activities for families, teachers and groups, and from its beginning, the company's programs have been shaped by the public health measures in place at the time.

"We were hoping to be an in-person business in a pandemic," Bauer said. "But our whole goal was basically to connect people to nature."

If the pandemic had any bright sides, it may have been that when they couldn't be in group settings, people turned to the outdoors to fill their time.

"With the pandemic, the push was to get outside because you couldn't be social," Dunning said. "We just want to remind people that it's still really important and very good for your well-being to actually get outside. So we’re hoping that people will continue to keep that connection to nature.

"From the people that I’ve met and talked to and the activities we do, I feel like people are returning to their pre-pandemic life, which for a lot of them didn't include being outside," Dunning said. "We’re just hoping to remind them it doesn't have to be a big outside and it can just be in your backyard or your local park."

As educators, Bauer and Dunning said the return to a pre-pandemic ways has been most evident in the schools, where teachers who would have classes outside as much as possible are now keeping the learning inside.

The priority, said Dunning, a retired teacher herself, has been on helping pupils catch up in their learning, and time spent outside is often scaled back in favour of classroom time.

"The pandemic gave them an excuse to be able to be outside," Dunning said. "They have to catch up in the curriculum, they have to do all this stuff, and they’re not taking the time to take even the five minutes or 10 minutes to take a body break outside."

"Especially when our education system is all confined to chairs and that is not how a lot of people learn, especially with like the emergence of understanding more than neurodivergent learning and people who can't just sit there and learn the way the education is set up," Bauer added.

Bauer and Dunning have designed lessons designed to be taught outside, and they are also being approached by agencies and businesses seeking more active ways to build employee moral and teamwork.

"It's just all trying to encourage people to get outside and just look at things differently," Bauer said.

"We call it being a kid again; finding that wonder again. It's learning about nature through wonder and respect."

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