Tough Conversations is a youth-led webinar series that began in 2020 to spark meaningful dialogue around critical environmental issues. Join our current environmental education interns for a panel on “Traditional Ecological Knowledge in the Classroom." Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) "is the on-going accumulation of knowledge, practice and belief about relationships between living beings in a specific ecosystem that is acquired by indigenous people over hundreds or thousands of years through direct contact with the environment, handed down through generations, and used for life-sustaining ways" (National Parks Service). We'll hear from two educators about what TEK means to them, how they incorporate it into their curriculum or research, and what the benefits to their students are. 

Moderators:

Naomi Tanier (she/her), Audubon Vermont Early Education Intern - ​Naomi grew up in Philadelphia, where she fell in love with the natural world by exploring the city's green spaces. As a kid, she spent her Julys chasing fireflies, planting tomatoes on the porch, and learning to ride her bike in the nearby woods. Now, she's here in VT finishing up her undergraduate degree in Applied Ecology and Place-Based Education at UVM, with particular interests in plant sciences and horticulture. This will be Naomi's first season at Audubon and she’s excited to bring her years of experience working with kids in after-school programs, forest preschools, and nature-based day camps (primarily back in PA) to the team. She worked as a Seasonal Educator this past summer at our day camps and is back as our Early Education Intern! In her free time, Naomi loves to garden, cook, and practice her guitar. 

Evelyn Owen-Sharratt (she/her), Audubon Vermont Education Intern -  Originally from Takoma Park, Maryland, Evelyn grew up running around the Smithsonian Museums during the school year and attending Pickering Creek Audubon Center’s camp during the summers. Her love of birding sprouted around middle school as she would watch millions of birds migrate through the D.C. and Chesapeake Bay area each year. Evelyn moved to Vermont in 2022 to attend the University of Vermont as a Wildlife and Fisheries Biology major and in the Place-Based Education Certificate Program. As someone who has previously worked for the ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Chittenden County Humane Society, and Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, bridging education and the natural sciences has always been her goal. Evelyn would love nothing more than to share her knowledge of and appreciation for the surrounding ecosystems with everyone she teaches. When not birding, you can find Evelyn fishing or turning over all kinds of logs and rocks looking for little critters.  

Panelists:

Eglee Zent (she/her) Associate Professor, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources - Eglee is a Venezuelan mother of two wonderful young men. Her academic formation is eclectic (art, anthropology, botany, conservation biology). She has conducted and applied theoretical research in two tropical ecological systems in Venezuela, the páramos of the high Andes among Parameros and lowland Amazonia among the Jotï, an Amerindian group. Eglee's projects are collaborative and participative and have been carried out emphasizing the collective construction of knowledge and the needs of the people involved, including their human, health and territorial rights. Her approach is trans-disciplinary, with diverse epistemologies, drawing in material and ideological, quantitative and qualitative aspects. Her areas of interest could be labelled as human ecology, etnoecology/ethnobiology, or ecogony. Since 2000 she have been working at the Human Ecology laboratory of the Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, and have been a visiting scholar at a diverse set of universities (Maryland, Delaware, Vermont, Florida, Nacional), teaching courses and providing advice for students. Eglee has written over 70 publications and is committed to the care and love of the Earth, human and non-human processes and dynamics.

Misse Axelrod (she/her), Program Director, Founder, and Educator at Vermont Farm & Forest School - Misse’s 20 years of experience in sustainable food systems and farming lead to a passion for education. Misse has been weaving farms, food, and education in public schools (PK-12) and on the farm for 10 years. Teaching farm, food, and nutrition education in 12 plus Vermont schools grew into a pilot school at Drift Farmstead this year. The pilot has been so rewarding for students and families that Misse is excited to expand it into a full-time independent school on the family farm. Misse holds a B.A. in Sustainable Food Systems & Community from Green Mountain College.

We hope to see you at the event!