Grounded Knowledge began and continues to grow from a shared conversation, a conversation that acknowledges the fact that we as urban dwellers are becoming more and more disconnected from nature.
Over half of all people throughout the world now live in cities. The most caustic aspect of urban life is the extreme fissure created there between human beings and nature. A subversive urban mentality develops where we as urbanites see ourselves as different from all other species in that we create our own habitat and thereby escape the constraints of nature. We become numb and ignore the fact that we are biological beings dependent on simple, natural elements of life-air, fresh water and clean soil. We have become disconnected from the grounded knowledge that it is nature that cleanses the water, creates air, decomposes sewage, absorbs garbage, generates electricity and produces the foods we eat to keep our bodies and minds strong (NOT the economy).
In the future Grounded Knowledge would like to work with urban youth to build bridges that connect the city landscape to the natural landscape to create a new narrative. A narrative that connects us through direct experiences within the natural world and reminds us of the destiny we share with all planet’s life-to begin to restore purpose and meaning to the human existence.
We want a school that intentionally addressees and supports human development. A school that acknowledges that our brains physically change as we experience our world. A school that builds off of the foundational fact that when we are engaged and learning something valuable, the actual structure of the neurons and synapses-the relay points that send information from neuron to neuron-change. A school where actions developed through guided experiences with nature become fine-tuned to create bridges that not only strengthen our brains physical synapsis but lay the ground work that begins to craft a new educational narrative.
We envision a working farm, where…