Eco-learning 

Trees of Hope is an eco learning project that draws respectfully on knowledge, understanding and forms of action that have been developed by indigenous communities and by organisations committed to promoting biodiversity,  equity and sustainability.  Trees of Hope supports the development of eco-social, bio-mimic and therapeutic pedagogies that draw on a diversity of music / arts and community traditions.

Learning with Trees of Hope encourages participants to further the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.  It encourages shifts in self awareness and consciousness that as humans we ourselves are part of the natural world and that we need to care for it as we depend on its gifts for our survival.

Learning with Trees of Hope focusses attention on the relationship between the natural sciences and the creative processes of music and the arts.   Through participation in creative ecological  actions and reflections, learners are encouraged to identify new ways of knowing, doing, being and living alongside others in harmony with nature. 

Trees of Hope upholds the principle of inclusion through promoting open dialogic approaches to enquiry and learning.   Trees of Hope is envisaged as a listening project, prompting participants to be attentive to each other and responsive to the emerging calls of the natural world for support.  

It is hoped that music / arts experiences will encourage participants to make new connections and see environmental predicaments through the eyes of others.  It is hoped that sharing learning from locally initiated action enquiries about biodiversity through equitable global partnerships will challenge residual colonial dispositions and contribute to social cohesion, ecological balance and personal well being. 

Nick Clough

September 2021