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Content:
What has made Environmental Education an issue?
 As we enter the 21st Century, we can no longer continue consuming and
producing at the rate we are now as our human population continues to
grow. Presently, the majority of the people on this planet live below the
poverty line and our environment is in a state of chaos, so much so, that
some have called our manipulation of the environment an irreversible human
experiment (Caldeira at al., 2003). The only way we may have a possibility
of reversing the human effects on the environment and improving the
quality of life on it is by creating a new world view and changing our way
of life to be more compatible with the natural environment we are a part
of. One possible way of doing this is through environmental education.
Nations, governments, schools and teachers must make it a priority to
create an environmental ethos within our educational institutions if we
plan to co-exist on this planet with the rest of our natural family.
What is Environmental Education?
Environmental education is a concept, although not widely used until the
1960s, which has been influenced by some of the great philosophers and
educators of the 18th and 19th Century: Goethe, Rousseau, Humbolt,
Haeckel, Froedel, Dewey and Montessori to name a few (Palmer, 1998). Over
time, the idea of environmental education, as it could be explained, began
to gain strength as our scientific methodologies became more refined and
in doing so, we discovered the effects we were having on our environment.
Palmer (1998) points to the 1968 Biosphere Conference in Paris organized
by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) as a critical point in the development of environmental
education. The objectives of this conference were to define a meaning for
environmental education as well as establishing curriculum materials for
its instruction in all levels of education, the technical training of it,
and promoting awareness of global and local environmental issues. The
definition that was agreed upon as reported by the IUCN (1970) and now
adopted as the classical definition is:
“Environmental education is the process of recognizing values and
clarifying concepts in order to develop skills and attitudes necessary to
understand and appreciate the inter-relatedness among man, his culture,
and his biophysical surroundings. Environmental education also entails
practice in decision-making and self-formulation of a code of behaviour
about issues concerning environmental quality.” (Palmer, 1998; p7)
 Another important date in the history of environmental education was the
Earth Summit in June of 1992. The Earth Summit, as the United Nations
Conference of Environment and Development was called, was held from June
3rd-14th in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and it was here that environmental
education and sustainability were brought to the forefront of global
importance. This event in Rio generated a cornucopia of information as
well as a number of major documents, the most important one being Agenda
21. This agreement outlined what nations should be doing in the 21s
Century to achieve sustainable development (Palmer, 1998). Chapters in
Agenda 21 that had implications for environmental education and
sustainability were Chapters 25 on Children and Youth in Sustainable
Development and Chapter 36 on Promoting Education, Public Awareness and
Training.
What is Sustainable Development and what does it have to do
with Environmental Education?
The concept of sustainable development emerged nearly 20 years ago in an
effort to find an alternative to the economic growth model as a way to
reach social and economic progress in a more environmental conscious
manner. Similar to environmental education, sustainable development has
many definitions. The most well known is that from the 1987 UN Commission
on Environment and Development Report, as well referred to as the
Brundtland Report, that defined sustainable development as “development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs” (UNCED, 1987) and in 1991 it
was later added that sustainable development’s goal is to “[improve] the
quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of
supporting ecosystems” (IUCN et al., 1991). Under this pretense, education
on sustainability and sustainable development are a part of the formal
understanding of what environmental education is and what it is about.
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How should Environmental Education be implemented and
presented to students?
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Children being taught about the
environment in Panamá |
Environmental education’s epistemology should be to equip students with
creative, theoretical and critical reasoning abilities that would foster
the development of an environmental ethos. The best way to do so is to
integrate environmental education into every subject taught in the school,
from chemistry and physics to geography and social studies. This
philosophy is a novel approach and is one of two standing opinions of how
to introduce environmental education in the classrooms. Besides that of
complete integration, others have argued that environmental education may
work best if it is incorporated into the school system as a discipline on
its own. But, by separating environmental education from other disciplines
in the classroom you are continuing, and in some ways reinforcing, the
separation of humans and nature, which in fact is the relationship we are
trying to re-establish via environmental education. Integrating
environmental education into the curricula of all other subjects creates
an environmental ethic, which follows the same lines of how the ethic of
democracy was instilled (Mappin and Johnson 2005).
Ethics and values are considerations in environmental education, and yet
instilling and promoting values and ethics is a very controversial issue
within the discipline of education. The notion of instilling environmental
values, to some, can be interpreted as advocating a certain way of living
and behaving (Palmer, 1998; Mappin and Johnson, 2005). Since the main
principle of education is to aid the “development of the mind’s
capabilities and character through acquisition of knowledge and abilities
to assess and evaluate this knowledge” (Mapping and Johnson, 2005; p2), by
advocating environmental values and perspectives, environmental education
can be viewed as indoctrinating particular truths and beliefs, especially
when they come from special interest groups. To avoid such conflict,
environmental education must not only provide the environmental
perspective of an issue but also the social, political, philosophical,
moral and religious perspectives. By doing so, environmental educators
hope to foster critical and moral reasoning, and allow an individual to
come to their own conclusions.
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How should Environmental Education be taught to students?
Every instructor has his or her own unique way of teaching and therefore
to suggest that there is a particular correct way of teaching
environmental education would be improper. We would encourage teachers to
create discussions and dialogue between the teacher and the students on
the environment, whether it is just talking about the environment at their
doorstep or about global environmental issues. Most importantly, whenever
possible, we strongly encourage instructors to take their class outside
even if the topic of the day has little to do with the environment; by
just being outside, you have integrated the environment into your subject.
This manner of environmental education integration can foster the
development of a student’s aesthetic appreciation for the environment,
which is an important step in the creation of the environmental ethos. As
well, this allows the environment to be a passive educator to children,
who tend to absorb knowledge, as Maria Montessori believed, effortlessly
from their surroundings.
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CSI's Science Director Tom Okey
planting Live Oak trees with children as part of the Live Oak
Restoration Program |
The aim for instructors teaching students in early childhood should be to
create a bond and/or relationship between the child and the environment.
The discussion of the current environmental crisis with young students may
create despair and hopelessness, which may in turn affect the development
of the human-environment bond. Therefore, we recommend instructors of
children from the ages of 5-8 (Kindergarten to grade 3) to make it a point
to teach about the environment with the aim of guiding the student to the
realization that they are part of the environment and not separate from
it, in the hope of creating a human-environment bond. From grades 4 to 7
(ages 9 to 13), general issues pertaining to our environmental crisis,
such as global warming and overfishing, should begin to be introduced and
finally, grades 8 to 12 (ages 14 to 18) should be exposed to specific
environmental issues, such as the Kyoto Protocol and sustainable
development, as well as their political, social and moral implications
associated with national and international topics (e.g. globalization).
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Conservation Science Institute and Environmental Education
Conservation Science Institute (CSI) is launching this Environmental
Education Program (EEP) to fulfill one of its primary functions to educate
people about conservation science and the environment. Additional
components of the EEP include this web site which receives over one
million visitors each year and has been an effective way to reach
people around the world.
CSI also has a web page
for kids which
includes lesson plans and interesting information about a number of rare
and interesting species. The CSI EEP has also embraced the selection of
candidates for the
Conservation
Science Institute
International Environmental Educator Award, the recipients of
which are featured on the CSI web site. CSI Fellows and staff also publish
in scientific journals, popular publications, attend and present at
conferences and teach.
Conservation Science Institute has been working in the field of
environmental
education since it was founded
in 1994.
Some of the projects
CSI has undertaken include:
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CSI established a successful model K-12 Coast Live Oak restoration
program in the Alameda Unified School District (Sponsored by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency).
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CSI Science Director, Thomas Okey, chaired the Natural Resources Focus
Group of Alameda Naval Air Station's Restoration Advisory Board, in
addition to a variety of other environmental committees.
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CSI conducted a public survey of community approval ratings of land use
alternatives at the Alameda Naval Air Station to enable a fairer and
more educated consideration of open space and habitat values during base
conversion (sponsored by the San Francisco Foundation).
-
Conservation Science conducted a study of pollutant
transport from specific locations at NAS Alameda throughout the aquatic
food web of San Francisco Bay (Sponsored by the Rose Foundation for
Communities and the Environment).
Two CSI Fellows,
Carlos Ormond and
Gabriela Alonso
Yáñez have been assigned to coordinate the CSI Environmental Education
Program and identify and recommend additional individuals worthy of
receiving the
Conservation
Science Institute's International Environmental Educator Award.
For further information about the CSI Environmental Education
Program please contact Carlos Ormond
at cormond@sfu.ca
or Gabriela
Alonso Yáñez at galonso@buzon.uaem.mx.
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Recommended Readings for Instructors* (Non-Fiction)
Beckerman, W. (2003) A Poverty
of Reason: Sustainable Development and Economic Growth. Oakland: The
Independent Institute.
Farrell, R. V. and Papagiannis, G. (2002).
Education, Globalization and Sustainable Futures: Struggles Over
Educational Aims and Purposes in a Period of Environmental and Ecological
Challenge. Annual Meeting of the Comparative and International Education
Society (March 6-9, 2002). ERIC (EBSCO) Online SFU Library.
Fien, J. (Ed) (2003) Environmental Education: A Pathway to Sustainability.
Geelong: Deakin University Press.
Giddens, A. (2003). Runaway World: How Globalization is Reshaping our
Lives. New York: Rutledge.
Johnson, E. and Mappin, M. (Eds.) (2005). Environmental Education and
Advocacy: Changing Perspectives of Ecology and Education. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Orr, D. W. (2004).
Earth in Mind. Washington: Island Press.
Palmer, J. A. (1998). Environmental Education in the 21st
Century: Theory, Practice, Progress and Promise. New York: Rutledge.
Vitousek, P., Mooney, H. A., Lubchenco, J. and Melillo, J. M. (1997).
Human domination of Earth’s ecosystems. Science 277: 494-499.
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References
Caldeira, K.,
Jain, A. K. and Hoffert, M. I. (2003). Climate Sensitivity Uncertainty and
the Need for Energy Without CO2 Emission. Science 299(5615): 2052-2054
IUCN. (1970).
International Working Meeting on Environmental Education in the School
Curriculum, Final Report, September 1970, Gland, Switzerland.
IUCN, UNEP and WWF
(1991). Caring for the Earth: A strategy for Sustainable Living. Geneva,
Switzerland.
Magner, L. (2002).
A History of the Life Sciences. Basel: Marcel Dekker AG
Mappin, M. and
Johnson, E. (2005). Changing perspectives of ecology and education in
environmental education. In, Johnson, E. and Mappin, M. (Eds.)
Environmental Education and Advocacy: Changing perspectives of ecology and
education, pp1-28. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Palmer, J. A.
(1998). Environmental Education in the 21st Century: Theory,
practice, progress and promise. New York: Rutledge.
United Nations
Commission on Environment and Development. (1987).
Our Common Future (the Brundtland Report).
Oxford: Oxford University Press
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