Land Journeys and Ethics

Description

Informed by experiential education approaches, students will complete two weekend backpacking trips with instructors and use reflections from these experiences, in conjunction with the literature on human-nature relationships, to critically analyse and develop a personal land ethic. The field trips begin with an overnight traverse of a local range learning about the environmental and cultural values of the areas we visit through student presentations. Building on the outdoor skills developed in the first trip, the final trip explores the concept of wilderness in land ethics through a direct experience of actual wilderness. There is a focus on bi-culturally competent and globally connected understandings of the relationships between humans and nature.