A. Kulnieks, D. R. Longboat & K. Young (Eds.), Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers (eds.), Contemporary studies in environmental and indigenous pedagogies: A curricula of stories and place, 185–200. © 2013 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved. JOHN LUPINACCI ECO-ETHICAL ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION Critically and Ethically Examining Our Perceptions of Being Human 1 INTRODUCTION As an urban educator in Detroit in the early 2000s, I witnessed something disturbing happening in both the schools and the community. Schools were engaging in what I found to be profoundly abusive practices and were reproducing oppressive relationships that made racism, sexism, classism, to name a few—seem inevitable or natural. Trends in schools, like high stakes standardized testing, zero- tolerance policies, and Eurocentric content, are occurring that ingrain and reinforce in many teachers and students assumptions of superiority. Whether it be assumptions of humans as superior to all other species or certain groups of humans as superior to others, the pervasiveness of labeling inequality and unjust suffering as a part of natural evolution or as “human nature” fails to address the historical, socio-political influences that effect how we perceive ourselves in relationship to one another and the world upon which we are dependent for life. It became evident that being in “school” meant learning to function in and submit to the authority of a culture of abuse and exploitation. The industrial model of teaching currently pervasive in schools poses severe problems to the health and wellbeing of our communities as they instill and perpetuate cultural habits of human- centeredness, social inequality, and an acceptance of exploitive economic systems. Schools are preparing students for roles in communities shaped by individualism and consumerism at the expense of healthy social and environmental relationships. Despite this raw exposure to life for so many students and teachers, there are efforts in educational reform that are actively engaging in the reexamination of the meaning and purpose of a strong education. We need educators who are able to critique and respond to the destructive consequences of Western notions of progress, hierarchized value systems, and individualism (Martusewicz, Edmundson, & Lupinacci, 2011). Our students need mentors to guide them in exploring cultural habits of mind and ethically evaluating which of these habits support local living systems and ought to be sustained, and which undermine living systems and ought to be minimized or eliminated. There is a great need for teacher leadership that fosters critical and ethical learning. In this critical moment in history, we need a major shift in how we perceive and interact with the world. If there is any action that can bring about this shift peacefully and with as little unjust suffering as possible, then we ought to explore it and every other potential opportunity for positive change. In this chapter I will introduce a reform effort, grounded in EcoJustice Education, that explores the potential and power of