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This paper begins with an assumption that the natural world is literally able to speak. What follows is research around a new place-based, ecological and imaginative public school in Maple Ridge, BC. The school has no building to speak of 2 as there is an attempt being made, as part of the day-to-day pedagogical practice, to listen to the more-than-human as an active voice and co-teacher thereby moving from human teachers/researchers speaking in, about and for the more-than-human towards speaking with and listening to it. Drawing on our lived experience as researchers, theorists, and ecological educators, this paper proposes to draw on the student voices 3 at the Environmental School to posit a series of five distinct orientations. Each of these orientations is potentially available to us and each offers a different way to understand, attend to and communicate with the natural world. These orientations have implications, if taken seriously, for educational practice and content. In this paper, we focus on clarifying these orientations and anchor them with examples from interviews done over the course of several school years with three different students. We end the paper by pointing out some of the educational implications that might arise if we are to take these students and, as a result, the proposed orientations seriously. Blenkinsop & PiersolA theory of place that is concerned with the quality of human world relationships must first acknowledge that places themselves have something to say. Human beings, in other words, must learn to listen (and otherwise perceive). (Gruenewald 2003, p. 624) The world and I are of one Mind. -Chief Joseph He [the tree] often talks to me about my day and feels inspired by what I share. Then he tells me about his day… kids were climbing on him and stepping on his roots which he doesn't like. To him this is an insult. Even when my friends [sitting in the tree] are talking to me, I can hear the tree say 'hey, they are sitting up here, did you ask? -Julianne, seventh grade student, Maple Ridge Environmental School

Within the North American public education system, institutionalised structures of schooling often prevent teachers from aligning their values with their practice when it comes to environmental education (Bowers, 1997; Weston, 2004). In response to this, this article will outline our lived experiences, as teachers and researcher, in disrupting the traditional school system as we work toward building a new culture in schooling through nature-based education. Acts of disruption that we will speak to include: going outside for learning on a regular basis, teaching for empowerment, involving families in the education, attempts to play with structural confines of schooling, and finding ways to stay empowered ourselves. Through this work, we have found that there is a rippling effect to the disruption that requires courage, grit, and resilience such that we do not slide back into conventional approaches. We have also become empowered in our practices through implementing these changes, watching our students become active stewards within their communities and beyond. We are learning deeply about the work of structural change within a public school district and offer words here as inspiration and support for others wishing to make changes within their own context.

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