Digging Into Our New Podcast, Ecology is Everywhere
Written by Amalie Sonneborn, Program Manager
This Spring, The Ecology School is rolling out Ecology is Everywhere, our first podcast!
Ecology is Everywhere is an interview-form podcast that will look into the lessons learned and experiences had by former The Ecology School Educators and how they have informed their current work and lives. Ecology is Everywhere host and producer Philip Mathieu, a former Ecology School Educator himself, explores how delivering Environmental Education curriculum has influenced the many different paths that former Educators have taken.
After March 10th, a new episode will be released every other week though the end of May. We can expect the show to be pretty varied, as Philip was intentional in letting the folks that he interviewed take the lead on how to interpret “Ecology is Everywhere.” Some guests will share what they are up to now, some will speak of their paths in connection to ecology, and some will to talk about their personal journey and the lessons they’ve learned along the way. You’ll hear from John Ibsen, a woodworker and homesteader in Alfred, Maine, (Click here to listen to Episode 1!) and Gabby Queenan, the Policy Director at the Massachusetts River Alliance in Cambridge, Massachusetts and many others!
The podcast Ecology is Everywhere shares its name with the final lesson that students have while at our Residential Program. This lesson focuses on encouraging students to draw connections between what they’ve learned over the course of their stay at The Ecology School to their lives back home, while also tying together the ways that the many ecosystems visited and lessons learned are connected to each other.
“Our brains are wired to engage with and make emotional connections to stories and characters—a tool we use every day at The Ecology School”
Finding connections is a common theme throughout the programming at The Ecology School because of our system-focused, storytelling approach. These skills are taught not only to our students but to our Educators as well. Every term, we have a cohort of Educators who come together and make The Ecology School’s mission a reality. They apply, form, and embody the connections that are drawn through our programming. Term after term, we have cultivated a network of over 350 dedicated young folks, and their stories have made The Ecology School what it is today.
Philip Mathieu, host of Ecology is Everywhere and a former Ecology Educator. (Photo by Chelsea Hubert.)
Our brains are wired to engage with and make emotional connections to stories and characters—a tool we use every day at The Ecology School. Each Ecology Educator is taught how to use a story-like structure to create their lessons, applying one of The Ecology School’s guiding principles: Narrative Education, or systems-focused storytelling. The Ecology School felt that exploring ways to share our collective stories would be a great way to embrace who we are. A podcast is a great way to effectively deliver those stories to the world!
Philip Mathieu, the host and producer of the podcast, is a member of our Educator alumni network, the Fantastic Order of Alumni Masters (FOAM). He sat down with me to chat about his story, this podcast, and how he came to the project.
Philip was an Educator at The Ecology School for two spring terms, 2018 and 2019. Right around the time that The Ecology School was thinking more seriously about starting a podcast, Philip was finishing up his second term as an Educator. A valuable member of our community in many ways, and a strong supporter of the work that we do, Philip was the perfect fit to turn a thought into a reality. His experience with producing hip-hop music in college, running audio for his colleges sports broadcasting gig, and a longtime musician provided him with both the skills and the equipment to produce a quality product.
One of the reasons Ecology is Everywhere came to be was as an appreciation for the many ways that our former Educators have taken their skills into the world after a stint in Environmental Education. We see this podcast as an opportunity to dive into the ways that the social and emotional learning that happens at Residential Environmental Education centers, like The Ecology School, provide life-long lessons for not only students but the staff as well. I asked Philip to share a bit about the lessons he felt he learned as an Educator and how they have informed his current day to day.
Communication skills was one—the idea that shifting your tone mid-sentence can grab the attention of a listener. This isn’t just helpful with a group of 6th graders when you are chatting about watersheds, but Philip has also seen the power of this slight shift when working to sell products for his part time gig with One Mighty Mill, an organic wheat company.
“Say you need to talk for a full minute to explain a concept to your group–sometimes the easiest way to maintain attention is if you all of a sudden start whispering and like that’s the secret and it's just more interesting. The fact that you changed the tone of your voice makes it engaging by default and that kind of idea applies everywhere.”
The other lesson Philip reinforced while at The Ecology School was if it can be done outside, it should be done outside.
“I think that it is very easy to forget that being outside has its own inherent value[…] but any conversation could be had outside and trying to find ways to do that is important. It just starts to sort of sneak little bits of well-being into your day to day life.”
We couldn’t agree more!
We are so excited to have Philip on our team and we are looking forward to having this project live and available for all! The podcast can be found on Apple Podcast, Google Play, Spotify and anywhere else podcasts are found. Feel free to check out the podcast’s website to see where else you can listen.
Be sure to subscribe and rate the show after you’ve had a chance to listen and remember…Ecology is Everywhere!