Nature conservation and social equity issues have been approached in a myriad of ways by conservation, humanitarian, and development practitioners. The rapid and shifting urbanization of the globe makes the interaction of these issues paramount and it is imperative to articulate pathways to harmonizing these relationships readily followed by conservation practitioners. We describe the processes and compare the resulting social equity and conservation objectives of two initiatives purposefully integrating these approaches. A private nonprofit seeking to develop an urban conservation program in the Atlanta metropolitan area purposefully engaged residents from surrounding communities and self-identified local and sector leaders to identify communities where social equity and conservation objectives could be created together. A public agency, built on a century-long history of environmental stewardship for migratory birds and pollinators, integrated 20 years of participatory action research to engage the surrounding communities using methods suggested and developed by the communities themselves. In both cases, community-based research approaches have helped establish cocreated objectives and flexible monitoring and evaluation baselines. Both initiatives found a need to appropriately resource and train staff to remain open to learning and evolving new objectives as additional perspectives emerge and the impact on conservation and equity objectives is assessed.
Many competing voices are speaking about the state of American education and how it should be reformed in the best interest of students. Topics such as teachers unions, charter schools, and standardized tests are at the center of many of these discussions. How do we decipher what to believe amid such conflicting perspectives concerning these topics and others like them? To progress American education in a direction that benefits students and democratic society, today's educational stakeholders must adopt a critical stance in their evaluation of issues at the center of American education; lessons that encourage the development of critical media literacy skills are vital to this effort. This article explains how using détournement in the classroom contributes to this goal, providing a historical background of détournement, exploring a détournement created by the authors, and sharing practical applications for teachers. Practical considerations are drawn from the authors' experiences implementing détournement in the context of a master's level Disciplinary Literacies course for preservice teachers. The détournement creation process in this context provided an opportunity for preservice teachers to cultivate skills in digital video composition as both critical media consumers and critical media producers. Resources and practical applications shared within the article can guide teachers in implementing détournement in the classroom to help students adopt a critical stance toward the media they regularly consume.
One frequently cited principle that underlies the current move toward sustainability in urban planning and policy is, “long-term vision, incorporating awareness of the past and looking way into the future.” We name this “Sankofa Urbanism,” from the Ghanaian symbol and proverb that suggests, “it is not wrong to reach back for that which you have forgotten.” Planners and policy-makers have sought to build in cultural heritage as an important feature of “nature-based solutions” for cities. We argue that retrievals from the past in multiple forms can strengthen the integration of biodiversity preservation, community place-making and urban sustainability initiatives. We present a case for broader examination of how the past, along with diverse forms of ancestral environmental knowledge, is deployed to design and realize sustainability plans. We also call for deeper consideration of how urban planning leverages the evidence of archeology and history. The paper features a case study from our work in the Chicago region where heritage-based activities have been developed as solutions to contemporary urban environmental problems.
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