By Hugh Carola
Program Director at Hackensack Riverkeeper
Environmental education (EE) has a long history in New Jersey. One can even say that modern EE, as opposed to the more traditional “outdoor education” began here, although there are many similarities between the two. Beginning in the 1950s local birding organizations like Ramsey-based Fyke Nature Association embraced habitat conservation and community science efforts, eschewing the “little old ladies in tennis shoes” stereotype. Today, their field trips, programs and stewardship of the Celery Farm Natural Area in Allendale are a prime example of local nonprofit-led EE.
Here at Hackensack Riverkeeper, environmental education has always been a foundation of what we do alongside advocacy, active conservation and environmental litigation. In fact, EE is one of our strongest advocacy tools; one that other waterkeepers have embraced as well. After all, how can people support clean water, land preservation, or species conservation if they don’t understand those things?
Looking statewide, one needn’t look much further than our colleagues at NJ Audubon for EE trailblazers. Since 1896, the organization, its staff and volunteers have probably done more than any other group to connect regular folks – from pre-K to senior citizens – with our state’s wildlife and wild places.
Then, there are the people who literally defined EE and taught the teachers, who in turn taught generations of students about the natural world and their places in it. Among our state’s EE heroes are the late Drs. John J. Kirk and S. Marie Kuhnen. Dr. Kirk was the director of the NJ School of Conservation from 1963 to 2001, where he trained countless classroom teachers – and others – how to use nature’s classroom to enrich their students’ learning. Dr. Kuhnen was Chair of the Science Department at Montclair State University) from which she led who-knows-how-many students out of the lab and into the woods, wetlands, and grasslands to actually do botany, ornithology and field biology.
Forty years ago in 1985, a group of forward-thinking educators gathered at Rutgers University and founded ANJEE – the Alliance for New Jersey Environmental Education. Among the founders was Patricia Kane, then Education Director at NJ Audubon, herself one of our heroes. Since the start, Audubon has played a leading role within ANJEE; many staffers having served as trustees and officers over the years – including current Education Program Manager (and ANJEE Co-president) Roberta Hunter.
In January, I attended ANJEE’s annual Winter Conference at The College of New Jersey, during which fifty workshops were offered to nearly 300 teachers, administrators and nonformal educators of all description who attended. We were also treated to a phenomenal keynote address: Understanding Autism, with Ryan Sinkleris and his Dad. Ryan, a 22-year old with autism, and his father Andy shared stories about navigating the world from an autistic viewpoint. Through real-life experiences and anecdotes, including the meaning of the four colors, they helped us see the world through the eyes of someone with autism and offered advice on ways to better serve those on the spectrum.
Hackensack Riverkeeper, like all ESNJ members, welcomes everyone to experience and enjoy the programs we offer. There’s a singular beauty to working on the water, in the woods, at the center, or anywhere in nature because we know those places are for everyone. However, problems arise when some of us feel unwelcome or even unsafe there. And while one can certainly say “it’s about time” real progress has been made by organizations like ours in welcoming individuals and families from racial, linguistic and other minority groups. People living with autism and their families may be among the last ones still to receive a proper welcome. Ryan and Alex helped show us the way to do it.
When I started at Hackensack Riverkeeper, Captain Bill Sheehan made it very clear to me that we “… always welcome special needs students to our programs and on our boats”. And while I’m proud to say that we’ve done our best to live up to that promise, I hasten to add that we – and by extension all of us in the EE field – can always do more. We can be more welcoming, more understanding and kinder. Nature may be unforgiving, but we don’t have to be. The next great champion of the environment may very well be a young man or woman on the spectrum. And YOU may well be one of those educators who was in their corner.
A Trustee of EarthShare New Jersey since 2020, Hugh started at Hackensack Riverkeeper in January 2001. As Program Director he helps manage the group’s eco-programs which serve upwards of 10,000 people each year. From May through October, Hugh conducts Eco-Cruises aboard the Riverkeeper vessel Robert H. Boyle II. During the rest of the year, he can be found representing Hackensack Riverkeeper in any number of ways at any number of places – including ANJEE. Hugh can be reached at: hugh@hackensackriverkeeper.org.