Paul
Steury
K-12
Education Coordinator
at Merry Lea
B.A. in Sociology, Goshen College, 1988
M.S.
in Outdoor Resources Management with emphasis in Environmental
Education, Indiana University, 1997
Contact
info
Office: Merry Lea
Phone: (260) 799-5869
E-mail: paulds@goshen.edu
How I became an environmental educator
I was living
in Lake Hughes, California, as a case manager for men with autism
who lived in the San Fernando Valley. Daily, I would leave my mountain
home that had blue skies almost continuously and descend to the
brown, smoggy skies of Los Angeles. It would leave me constantly
fed up with a society that allowed the environment to degrade so
much that you couldn't see the mountains due to pollution. I asked
myself, "What
can I do to change this life?"
My response was, "Teach the children and hopefully that generation can make the change." So I moved to Bloomington, IN, to acquire my degree.
There I taught at Hilltop Garden and Nature Center, getting kids excited about growing their own food. I also taught myself more about organic gardening and how to limit my personal impacts by raising a garden.
After that, I lived in the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont, inside the Smoky Mountains National Park where I was the school program director. For two years, I hiked over 300 miles of trails and led a multitude of children and teachers on adventures in the park that has the greatest biodiversity of all the national parks in the U.S.
In 1999, I was offered the K-12 Education Director position at Merry Lea and have been here ever since, always learning more about how to excite and entice students; more about wild and medicinal plants of northern Indiana, more about how to wow the kids into being better stewards (I have two sons age 5 and 8), and more about the ways of educating old dogs to perform new tricks!
Ideas that matter to me
Issue investigation
Activism / education and diplomacy
Stewardship
Politics
Local food, local economy
Slow Food Movement
Media and its power
Definitions of citizenry, religion, spirituality
Thinking
The classes I teach and how I teach them
I teach an undergraduate course called Field Experience in Environmental Biology (Biol 340), which many elementary education majors take. I also teach two graduate level courses Principles of Environmental Education (ENED 520) and History and Issues of Environmental Education (ENED 525). All my classes have lots of discussion. We read about natural history, eco-philosophy and environmental issues and then we try to figure out how to teach them to people of all ages. Students gain practical experience teaching the groups who come to us for school field trips and on the psychology of community members.
Research Interests
Education for sustainable development
Environmental justice
Pro-environmental behavior change
What invigorates learning?
Churches and climate change
Environmental literacy
Politics & religion and its effect on the environment
Readings I Recommend
Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawkin
Biomimicry by Janine M. Benyus
Earth in Mind by David Orr
Beyond Ecophobia by David Sobel
Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community: Eight Essays by Wendell Berry
Our Choice by Al Gore
Endgame by Derrick Jensen
The Omnivores Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Eaarth by Bill McKibben
Orion Magazine
Documentary Movies I Recommend
Inconvenient Truth
No Impact Man
The Age of Stupid
The Real Dirt on Farmer John
Waterlife
Dirt
Earth Days
Yes Men
Whats On Your Plate?
Presentation topics
Churches and Climate Change
Environmental Literacy
Do We Really Need GMOs?
Wild Edibles of Northern Indiana
Environmental Issues of Northern Indiana
Sages in the Environmental World
I am actively involved in:
Environmental Education Association of Indiana
North American Association of Environmental Education
Community Sustainability Project/Goshen Farmers Market
Farmers Market Film Series
Elkhart River Restoration Association