A couple days after hearing the news about Brian's awful accident, the entire situation is still surreal to me. I just wanted to reflect on my time knowing him. I had Brian as a TA for this spring quarter, only 6 weeks. Fall and Winter quarters in the year-long Global Environment GE Cluster , he was just another TA, leading review sessions and sitting in the back of lectures. However, 6 short weeks was definitely enough time to see that Brian Ellis was such a special person. Brian was different than any other person I had met at UCLA mainly because of his love for the outdoors and all things considered to be unconventional in our lifestyles today. It was so refreshing to have Brian in our lives as a teacher, a role model, friend, and also a companion on our journeys toward sustainability. He was constantly coming up with new points and ideas to discuss in class (brewing kombucha, rabbits as sustainable pets, Earthships, etc), simply bringing new perspectives into our lives and causing us to reflect on ours. He was so passionate about the environment and wanted to share his knowledge with everyone, but he remained humble and open minded. Sustainability is now a very special and personal thing for me, and will always remind me of Brian. My positive thoughts and love are with his family and friends. He and everything he brought to our lives will be truly missed.
My project is still going well and Sustainable Youth has such a bright future! We met on Monday night to plan a Food/Gardening/Composting Lesson Plan. I was supposed to go to Nora Sterry with Tony and Stefania on Tuesday morning, but after hearing about Brian, I was too shook up to stand in front of the class, and didn’t go. After reading parts of Omnivore’s Dilemma and watching Food Inc. in class, I really wanted to try to teach the kids about healthy eating and where their food comes from. This was on the Sustainable Youth lesson plan from last quarter, but I realized that it is difficult to teach about and encourage eating healthy, locally, and organically, when many of the kids come from lower income families who often cannot afford these types of food. There is definitely a balance to be found.
We are looking for new members for Sustainable Youth in the fall—-please let me know if you would like to get involved! It’s a great club, rewarding experience, and with a really fun group of people.
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I think your project is really amazing and I would definitely be interested in helping out in the fall. I've been volunteering at an elementary school also, although for different reasons, and I have noticed a distinct lack of sustainability teaching there.
ReplyDeleteGreat!! What do you teach the kids?
ReplyDeleteI'll talk to you more in class about getting involved!