Our School at Blair Grocery: A Case Study in Promoting Environmental Action Through Critical Environmental Education

Urban Farm DB summary

Noting broad agreement on the goals of environmental education (EE) but continued debate over promoting student action, this case study examines how a critical urban farming school — Our School at Blair Grocery in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward — addresses student action through critical environmental education (critical EE), which combines critical reflection with local action on social and environmental problems. The results found that critical learning within an egalitarian, youth-centered community in a disadvantaged area produces students who are more enlightened and empowered to create change. However, concerns about funding and safety led staff to depart from maintaining an egalitarian ethic, undermining the individualism and unpredictability that critical EE depends on and producing "disconnects" in students' education.