I'm a Nature Educator...in Beijing!

I’ve been an educator for many years and a conservationist for almost as many.

I grew up in rural Canada and the forests of Cape Breton were my playground. It wasn’t until I was an adult and living far away from home in the Seoul, South Korea that I realized I had taken the natural wonders of my youth for granted.

Since 2002 I have called large cities in Asia home (with exception to my B.Ed time in Ottawa). Accessing nature has been more of a challenge. It actually became a bit of a frustration for me which was a catalyst in me leaving Seoul and moving to Busan. Busan was a big city, but nature was more accessible.

Fast forward…met wife (Japanese) and moved to Kobe, Japan.

Fast forward…I became obsessed with learning about birds and insects. Grew to know about them more. Traits, characteristics, habitats, behavior, etc.

Fast forward…I became an IB/PYP educator and started to make even deeper connections. I started to learn about ecology, biomes, biospheres, insect connections to food security and the importance of human behavior. I learned more about how farming practices harm various species and other practices benefit them.

Fast forward…I also developed an interest in possibly getting into organic farming myself in the future. I’m interested in this as a means of contributing to species conservation, food security, health as well as being able to muck about outside all day and hang out with cool critters!  

Fast forward…teaching children about the importance of insects and birds and how they are so crucial to our food security and our environment became my passion. Teaching kids, especially those who have little opportunity to connect with nature about the importance of animals and all critters became the most important thing to me.

I look at every child I teach as a future environmental steward. I have to connect them with whatever nature I can to build a connection. If I can build that connection, maybe, just maybe they will want to do something to help the world. Maybe they will want to do something to save a species at risk, clean up a beach, build a new local park, teach their mothers that, “Bugs aren’t yucky!”

I’ve been doing that for years in Japan and now I’m here in Beijing. Beijing is an even larger city and the kids I teach here have even less contact with nature than the kids I taught in Kobe.

What does that mean?

I need to work harder! I need to teach the kids in my class that there are some amazing wonders everywhere they go even in a big city.

I’ve already started teaching them about the KEY importance of pollinators, especially honeybees. I’ve been taking loads of great honeybee photos around the school campus and showing my students. I’ve been teaching them about the dire plight of honeybees and how we can help them.

I have a lot of work ahead of me, but one kid at a time. One class at a time, I will hopefully encourage some young ones to embrace the natural world.

I also have to reach out to other educators and colleagues that I have a knowledge and passion to share and maybe I can help foster a sense of stewardship n their students as well!

Check out some photos I took last weekend on the campus of the Canadian International School of Beijing.

I found a honeybee bonanza in the middle of a metropolis! Some awesome butterflies too!

Apis cerana - Eastern Honeybee - Chaoyang District (September 9th, 2017) - Canadian International School of Beijing Campus.

Common Yellow Swallowtail Butterfly. A regular visitor to the CISB campus in Beijing, China. 

The writer:

Kevin O'Shea is an IB/PYP educator at a major international school in Beijing, China. He has lived in South Korea as well as Japan. He is the host of the Just Japan Podcast, an avid nature photographer and nature educator. 

Follow him on  Twitter (Main account): @jlandkev
Twitter (educator account): @MadForMaple 

JustWildlife (facebook.com/justwildlife) – nature and more

YouTube: BusanKevin / BeijingKevin