More than Human

Last week I had the pleasure of being aboard my friend’s sailing boat. This gorgeous wooden Hartley 18 footer is very unassuming. She underpromises and overdelivers. The main reason is that she was designed well, she’s been looked after and her captain is not afraid to take her out and about. In other words, she is one of those rare boats who get to do exactly what the shipwright had in mind.

We were looking for a dolphin. Westernport Bay is famous for many things, but not huge numbers of sighting dolphins and pods. Recently though, there has been a whale frolicking near Cerberus and a dolphin being a little too friendly with power boats in Cowes (according to Jeff Weir at the Dolphin Research Institute). After a very pleasant hour, we gave up and turned back to the harbour.

And all of a sudden – there she was! It seems she was attracted by the sound of the little outboard working hard against tide and wind.

Well, off went the motor, the sails quickly raised and the extra long selfie stick came out for the Insta360 X5.

What followed was thirty minutes of an interaction that captures the whole point of climate change education and the Pinisi Model. For that crowded moment, in that peculiar space, in those marine conditions, all the systems that work together to keep the boat afloat, and the more than human experience of the dolphin staring straight up into our faces, fell together in an assembly that will stay with me for life.

But this moment was not mine – or the dolphins or the boat or the bay. It was our moment. It was a moment of hope – that we can and do interact in fun, meaningful ways. This messy moment held us for a bit – but really, this coming together, it belongs to all places, spaces and species.

So, as an educator – how can we teach for this moment – so that we value the learning?