Art can make arguments without distemper

For almost half a century I was an English teacher. It should not surprise then that Dr Haddad’s statement - that it is art that can make people care - struck a chord for me. Facts, reasons, consequences can be ignored. Art informs the heart, and only an informed heart acts with passion against difficulties.

For decades, since the first “Earth Day” in 1970, American teachers have included units on the environment and conservation of the wild. Most kids grew up hating pollution and loving rare animals. The discussion changed and became heated in the ’80’s when Reagan proposed opening the ancient Redwood forests of California to lumber corporations. Party lines were drawn and people concerned with the state of the planet became “Tree-Huggers” Global warming awareness in the scientific community unfortunately paralleled the rise of Fox News. In my classroom intelligent, science-based discourse ended as Fox News daily defined the battle lines. Students from “Fox News” families knew the Truth: Global Warming was a lie crafted by scientists to get grants, and reacted to any presentation of facts with loud disgust. 

I’m an English teacher, so I turned to poetry to channel the discussion to viewpoints my students hadn’t experienced before. The simple/complex nature poetry of Robert Frost opens up young eyes to their place in nature. I was lucky, my school was within walking distance of a beautiful state forest, so as soon as Frost got their heads in the woods, I took their feet there. An eight mile walk in the woods with a hundred fifteen year olds is more peaceful than you would imagine. The secret is the first five miles to get them tired. They slow down for the last three and start to look around and value what they see.

All of us will suffer the consequences of climate change, but the rich will suffer less than the poor. Some of my students lived in urban slums and others in run down rural shacks. On any given day someone may have laid on the floor all night because bullets had come through the wall of their apartment as they were watching TV, and someone else may have just come back from two days hunting deer with their dad. Deer that would be the main source of meat for their family that winter. Both students were responsive to images of the hunter and the hunted. 

The poets David Wagoner and Gary Snyder give powerful voice to the natural world. We read David Wagoner’s “Nine Charms against the Hunter” http://goo.gl/qWjpJF and Gary Snyder’s “Long Hair.” http://www.wenaus.com/poetry/gs-longhair.html

Art can make arguments without distemper. A great work of art can open hearts and minds that have been closed by lies. 

Therefore first, I am proposing that teachers teach those works that connect us to each other and the earth. Second, if in fact Dr. Haddad and I are right and it will be our artists who open the world's eyes, then they need to pick up their pens, cameras, and brushes and get to work today!