We nominate Mr Carlos Dizy for the degree of MA(Ed) honoris causa. Carlos has become a great friend of the University and an inspiration to generations of students and staff over the last ten years as some 300 of our environmental science students, trainee primary teachers and adventure education students have taken part in residential courses in Lanzarote. He is an inspired and inspiring thinker. He is a perceptive student of people, culture and change. But more than this, he lives a life that puts into practice his beliefs, a model for all of us who aspire to make change happen.
Carlos Dizy and his family have created an environmental and cultural centre – “Las Pardelas” - in the heart of the rural landscape of the north of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. It is part farm, part park, part botanic garden, but throughout a reservoir and refuge of tradition. Las Pardelas is the name in Spanish for Cory’s shearwater, a majestic seabird that is a timeless and enduring feature of the island’s ecology and fiercely loyal to its offspring, a way of life now threatened by modern developments. Perhaps this characterises Carlos and his family’s approach. Here we offer a sample of his diverse activities.
Carlos models very best practice in environmental education. He knows that young people must fall in love with their environment before they will choose to learn more about it and then live in a way that is sensitive to it. Visiting school groups from across Lanzarote are challenged to make the steep climb to the rim of a volcano, close to caves used by generations of goatherds. They explore the plants and animals on which rural life was based for centuries: the crushed leaves of one plant are a soap; the sap of another is a chewing gum; another is a poison that sedates fish so they can be picked out of the water by hand. At the same time the children question their relationships with their environment and learn to take personal responsibility, a critical part of their citizenship.
In the same way, young offenders from across the Canary Islands spend time at Las Pardelas – not a “brat camp” but a place for disciplined self discovery away from everyday distractions. Many leave as different people.
For sufferers of Alzheimer’s Disease, links with the past are essential as therapy and to restore some meaning to their lives. Groups of sufferers who spend their whole time in city residential homes take time out at Las Pardelas. This takes them back to their lives in rural Lanzarote. Contact with goats and donkeys brings back the memories. Making and eating gofio, a traditional food of crushed maize, brings back the stories.
Activities at Las Pardelas are wholly inclusive. Our own Chichester students undertake a 2km trek through an underground volcanic lava tube – one that is challenging physically and mentally, and immensely satisfying to complete. Carlos has led wholly blind visitors the length of this cave giving them that same exhilaration, achieving what most would feel is impossible.
Carlos’ centre is increasingly recognised by the island’s government and the wider community. Indeed it featured this year on our own Sky television on a par with Lanzarote’s world-renowned Fire Mountain. Slowly Carlos’ passion for the frail local environment - and his message of the need for it to be nurtured - is reaching more and more of the decision makers who can influence the way change happens.
Carlos is an inspiration to us too. His way of life, ideals and philosophy should be greatly admired by those of us who pay lip service to environmental concerns and a 'green' way of life. For nine years, Carlos and his family have inspired University of Chichester students and staff, asking us to look again at our lives as he has worked closely with our students on their diverse projects. He is an important cultural resource, guiding our students’ studies, liaising with local people and providing written materials.
Carlos comes from a background no different from most of us – though when he was about sixteen he ran away to sea for a while! He was a hotel receptionist, then a builder. But the Lanzarote environment was what he loved. Now he is dedicated to helping others love it, learn it then live for it. As a model educator, visionary environmentalist and inspiring friend of the University, Carlos is truly deserving of a University of Chichester degree honoris causa, a truly inspirational man who the University should welcome into our community.
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