āWith great power...
...Comes great responsibilityā
-The Peter Parker Principle
In some ways, the job of an interpreter is actually a very powerful role. Our job is to translate the natural, historic, cultural, scientific, artistic, political components of the world around us and communicate it with a wide range of audiences (Beck et al., 2018). But just like educators or language translators, the way we teach and the words we use can influence the way our audience perceive and act in their worlds. In our positions, we are given the influential power of being a professional in our field, an expert, or at very least a knowledge-holder, and this means that we have a certain degree of power over what our audience believes. Especially when speaking with a younger audience, this means it is paramount that we are aware of (1) the truth and (2) the nuances of our interpretation. While people love facts that tell an interesting story, especially ones that seem too crazy or amazing to be true, it is important that we not embellish for the sake of good storytelling or say things that can be misconstrued. It is also important to recognize word choice when speaking about other cultures. As a white Canadian, I need to be very aware of how I interpret aspects of Indigenous or POC culture and their connection with nature because of my personal biases growing up in western colonized society. As interpreters, I believe it is crucial for us to evaluate our biases, our privilege, our morals and ethics, and our values and beliefs, so we can justify our interpretations and be understanding of others.
As a white, fully-abled, cis-het women, who has a Christian background, was raised in a two parent income household I recognize I am afforded a lot of privileges and have many implicit biases. I try to be aware of these so as not to let my biases and privilege influence how I interpret on behalf of groups I am not apart of. I do this by educating myself on others perspectives and trying to be inclusive of multiple interpretations of the world and nature (not always perfectly, but I try). I recognize that voices and stories of minorities; indigenous, POC, disabled, members of the LGBT+ community, have been silenced or ignored and I believe it is our ethical duty to give room for the interpretations of these groups, particularly indigenous as their cultural history has been so closely connected to nature.
As part of our reading, we talk about environmental education, which can be rather depressing due to the state of our current climate and peoples response to this. When I grew up and learned about science, I felt like everything I heard was just all the bad news; that we are destroying our planet and its probably too late to fix it. This is not a helpful mindset and we need to stop this cycle. As the upcoming generation of interpreters, it is our duty to give our young audience hope. By helping ignite excitement, love, and curiosity about the natural world in the younger generation, we start the foundation for building the future protection and care for the enviroment (Rodenburg, 2019).
References Beck, L., Cable, T., & Knudson, D. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage for a better world. Sagamore-Venture Publishing Rodenburg, J. (2019). Why Environmental Educators Shouldnāt Give Up Hope. Retrieved on March 28, 2021, from https://clearingmagazine.org/archives/14300













