Elsie Love

M.A. in Geography, Portland State University

Graduate Certificate in Education for Environment and Community, IslandWood and University of Washington

B.A. in Political Science, Asian Studies minor, Hamilton College

Elsie grew up on Coast Salish land in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Coast Salish lands and waters will always be home to her, but Nepal has also come to feel like home. She first came to Nepal as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in 2014, and has since returned many times to study language, serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer, conduct ethnographic research on how kids learn about their local environment, and work as a place-based and sustainability education advisor for an INGO. The small country’s ethnic, linguistic, and ecological diversity never cease to amaze her; there is always more to learn.

While Elsie has academic and applied training in place-based, environmental, and culturally sustaining pedagogies, she credits the kids of rural Nepal for shaping her into the educator she is today. For her M.A. thesis, she spent spent months alongside kids in forests, fields, and streams, learning how to scare monkeys out of crop fields, forage wild plants, collect fodder and firewood, and be in good relationship with local land and water deities. The kids’ learning about their local environment – and her own learning – was truly experiential.

Whether in Nepal, on Coast Salish lands and waters, or elsewhere, Elsie feels most alive when working with young people outdoors. Supporting each learner’s growing sense of connection to themself, nature, and community, and working with them to imagine and create just, sustainable, equitable worlds, brings her joy and a sense of purpose.