Page 503 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

478 M.P. Mueller and D.J. Tippins

critique and scrutiny, what then? First, can we acknowledge that we are indeed
absurd, irrational and contradictory idealists! The meaningful purpose of being a
“cultural studies scholar” or “environmentalist” is to coffer the invisible into being,
that is, create a presence for something invisible – make it more able to be seen.
If we see something that others cannot see – this is what makes us ecosocioculturally
here. “Absurd,” they might say, but we listen and acknowledge their view, and then
discuss purposeful visibility. We may say things they do not want to know. We plant
seeds of change when opportunity avails. We plant seeds together. There may be
nihilists, and more doubt than we care to adhere to. But we push rocks uphill daily.
We cannot quit, because quitting is for those who cannot fathom cultural and environ/
mentalism. By becoming more aware of its presence and recognizing more fully a
few green vulnerabilities, what contrasts our positions, will either strengthen or
reaffirm, or change us in a democratic way. We might challenge ourselves to think
about ethics and ecomoralist poetics for cultural studies and environmentalism, and
organize ourselves around the ethics and morals that drive our thoughts, theory,
and practice.

Hope, Peace, Love, and Passion

New directions for educational research are embraced and valued by the ontological
categories of hope, peace, love, and passion throughout this book. When we fail to
recognize an absurdity in cultural studies and environmentalism, we open ourselves
to the vulnerabilities of the notion. We further marginalize our efforts. We succumb
to the pressures of those who want to fail us. We do not achieve hope, peace, love,
and passion in science education and other fields this way.
By acknowledging that we are absurd and irrational, we relegate the “dictator-
ship logic” from having its way with cultural studies and eco/environ/mentalism.
Rather we emphasize the ethics and moral obligations of people who hope for
ecological peace and a future for different species. We invoke love and passion in
acknowledging the publishers who will give us a fighting chance, who have the
abilities to enable our movement for hope and peace for every species and habitat.
We travel long distances to embrace the face-to-face interactions we value with
colleagues from other institutions. In the process we are enriched as they share their
own experiences with ethics and morals embedded in cultural studies and environ-
mentalism: hope, peace, love, and passion. One might argue that this book repre-
sents a contradiction of sorts for cultural studies and the eco/environ/mentalism
described by educators throughout this book. This argument begins with logic and
ends with ethics, however. Passionate publishers and academics will come together
despite the odds, with a confluence involving ecojustice, place-based efforts, and
native knowledge systems, and the hope and peace, in conversing, about things that
are greater than any one of us as individuals. This condition for hope, peace, love,
and passion, is the “spark” for ecodemocracy and schooling.