-recycling, reusing, reducing, repurposing: their own stuff and other people’s

-doing, leading, and sharing outdoor activities

-loving non-humans (plants, animals, rocks, water, and more…)

-getting information from alternative sources

-wearing comfortable footwear habitually

-living in a zone of mental calmness and flexibility

-eating local, organic, sustainable food

Are these habits mainly based on the root assumptions of the discipline? Do they help me identify the core values?  I’m getting there.  Definitely a connection and respect for everything else that lives and exists on the planet is a big part of outdoor education.”

One of the transformations I have been thinking about as crucial in environmental education is the understanding of the conflict between economic and ecological worldviews.  I think the shift, or transformation, to a more environmentally-friendly or ecologically-minded paradigm is evident in some of the disciplinary behaviours I mentioned, particularly “eating local, organic, sustainable food,” “getting information from alternative sources” (not the ones that are part of the dominant economic power structure), and “recycling, reusing, reducing, repurposing: their own stuff and other people’s.”  “Wearing comfortable footwear habitually” is probably related to this as well, since it is related to walking, biking, or taking transit, rather than driving everywhere.

As I mentioned when I first made my list, the notion of everything being connected is another transformation in my discipline (and this is connected to having an ecological mindset, because everything is connected!).  The behaviours that indicate this transformation particularly are “recycling, reusing, reducing, repurposing: their own stuff and other people’s,” loving non-humans (plants, animals, rocks, water, and more…),” “wearing comfortable footwear habitually” (reducing our impact/drain on the ecosystem), and “eating local, organic, sustainable food” (this both reduces our impact on the ecosystem and means we have greater knowledge, familiarity and connection with the source of what we eat).  I think “doing, leading, and sharing outdoor activities” is a way of forming connections with the place you live, and the community — other people and the other beings in the neighbourhood.

“Living in a zone of mental calmness and flexibility” is likely an emergent property that comes from making these transformations and forming these disciplinary habits.

I think realizing that the economic paradigm does not support an ecological worldview, and learning that everything is connected are both “Big Transformations”.  Embodying these transformations by acting in accordance with them requires even bigger changes.
However, learners can certainly memorize these ideas and regurgitate them, perhaps even understand them, without making any changes in their own thinking at all.  Perhaps transformation or change starts when someone takes or makes a small action — they start to go outside more often, by choice or as part of a class.  This may lead to deeper connections forming with new people, or to a greater love and respect for the area they live in.  This may create a new attitude about nature protection, or organic food, which may eventually bring the learner to realization that all things are connected, or that there are problems with the dominant economic paradigm.  There are many ways to foster or approach these disciplinary transformations.  My list of habits is more a list of examples.