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(Airdate: February 5, 2025) Jackie Canterbury talks with Brittaney Drake about her work at The Pearl Remote Democratic High School in Seattle, Washington where she teaches about nature using a visual arts curriculum. Her teaching style follows the fundamentals of Dr. Art Pearl. Dr. Pearl developed the Democratic classroom in Eugene Oregon. He inspired the words Democracy and Education. “His message was about the primacy of democracy, the fragility of it, the assaults against it, how far we are from a nation that truly cherishes it and practices it — and the essential role of public education in any chance for a healthy democracy in the future.” The founder and director of the Seattle Democratic school is Dr. Robin Harwick who has served as a mentor to Brittaney. In this program we will talk about the importance of using the democratic process as a backdrop to teaching about art and nature. Globally and as a nation, we are now realizing the fragility of democracy. In today’s program Brittaney discusses how she uses a visual arts curriculum, particularly bird illustration, as a way to teach about nature and science. In Part 2 of this program she will focus on her bird illustration. Note: Nature Now provides credit to Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library for the recording of the Snow Bunting.