The Brush Canyon Naturalist Workshop
The Brush Canyon Naturalist Workshop welcomes naturalists of all levels to practice their craft and build a community of like-minded nature lovers under the guidance of a Certified California Naturalist in the urban wilds of Brush Canyon in Griffith Park.
The Field is the Classroom
The workshop is designed as an “open studio” where the studio is, of course, the field! Each day participants will be given exercises to complete in teams or individually that give them a chance to develop their own personal relationship with local Southern California flora and fauna, learn to identify and distinguish species, study coastal sage scrub, chaparral, oak woodland, and riparian communities as they present in the urban wilds of Brush Canyon in Griffith Park.
Who is the Brush Canyon Naturalist Workshop for?
· The Brush Canyon Naturalist Workshop is for anyone who wants to develop their personal relationship with nature but doesn’t know where to begin.
· The workshop is for anyone tired of being told the only thing they can do to fight global warming is to buy more shit.*
· The workshop is for anyone who loves spending time in nature but wants to go deeper.
· The workshop is for science lovers and naturalists who want to be part of a community of like-minded Angelenos.
· The workshop is also for anyone who didn’t study science in school and who feels intimidated and who feels not being a “science person” has always been a barrier to entry. I’m here to tell you – and I created Earth City Wonder specifically to shout from the Santa Monica Mountain tops and canyon depths - It’s not!
· The workshop is for guests who enjoyed Earth City Wonder’s Bronson Caves or Hollywood Sign Tours and want even more coastal sage scrub and chaparral!
· The workshop is for Certified California Naturalists who don’t want to stop now that their certification course is over.
· The workshop is for anyone who wants structure and outside organization to help them do what they already know they love.
· The workshop is for guests ages 16 and up.
*I don’t believe we can consume our way out of this sticky wicket. Ask any scientist and they’ll tell you that all our myriad environmental crises are cultural problems, not scientific problems. What does that mean? That means we must address the cultural problems to address the environmental crises.
And how do we address the cultural problems? I believe by individually developing and deepening our personal relationships with the natural world all around us. At the workshop, we practice turning our attention to nature. Attention – being present with, listening to, touching (with a few exceptions like poison oak and rattlesnakes!), and smelling – giving all our senses over to – is a form of love. When we do this, we have the opportunity to encounter the wonder of nature. This wonder awakens something in us that we bring back with us into all aspects of our lives and everyone we interact with.
This is how the culture changes. One Birch Leaf Mountain Mahogany style shining in the sun at a time. One Red-Stem Stork’s-Bill seed carried by a harvester ant at a time. One upturned and vertical Lemonade Berry leaf and one “tacoed” Laurel Sumac leaf at a time. One step, one breath, one moment of our attention at a time.