I am vaguely replying to Ken Kambara’s recent post on environmentalism as a luxury.  I am teaching a class on environmental communication as part of an Upward Bound program here at California Lutheran University.  Upward Bound is a federally-funded pre-college program that offers first-generation and often low-income students preparation for college.  Several weeks ago I assigned students to write a rough script for an environmental PSA.  I pointed the students in the direction of various environmental organizations and supplied them with an article on eco-tunes published in the Sierra Club magazine.  I also allowed them to search out their own songs and sat back in amazement viewing their enthusiasm and skill in this task.

Despite the class’s overwhelming Latino and Spanish-speaking immigrant origins, songs from Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” to Ted Nugent’s “Great White Buffalo” soon start echoing through the computer lab. The students have just team-produced four video PSAs and will soon try their hands at reviewing environmentally-themed films.

Over the weekend I spoke to a former local school board member and teacher who has retired to teaching among Native American and Latino youth using Google Docs and other Web 2.0 tools with surprisingly favorable results among a population traditionally struggling with conventional learning. I guess the lesson is that we can produce positive outcomes among underrepresented groups using New Media and working with sustainability. I guess neither the environment nor education for all are luxuries.