A
newly hatched sea turtle from the refuge at Puerto Arista,
Mexico.
Important
outcomes of environmental education
• Clarification of environmental attitudes and commitments
• Development of critical thinking skills and learning
how to work collaboratively to improve human and environmental
wellbeing.
Effective
environmental education requires the regular use of learner-centered,
interactive teaching and learning strategies, in various
education systems.
The
main goals of environmental education
1. To foster clear awareness of, and concern about, economic,
social, political and ecological interdependence in urban
and rural areas;
2. To provide every person with opportunities to acquire
the knowledge, values, attitudes, commitment and skills
needed to protect and improve the environment; and
3. To create new patterns of behavior of individuals, groups
and society as a whole towards the environment.
Effective
environmental education develops learning opportunities
outside the classroom through special environmental events,
celebrations and projects to complement classroom activities;
involving students in investigating, maintaining and improving
the local environment; using the community to investigate
practical and real-life situations; incorporating outside
programs and services into school programs to bring learning
to life; utilizing the facilities of environmental education
centers.
Enhanced awareness, expression of interest and behavioral
changes are the initial signs of the successful educational
process. It is when positive attitudinal changes occur that
one of the most important objectives of education has been
achieved.
Education
for sustainability
It
includes many of the founding principles of environmental
education but with a stronger human focus, recognizing that
fundamental human rights and social justice are just as
essential to sustainable development as environmental sustainability.
Concepts and principles of
environmental education for sustainability
Interdependence
Humans are an inseparable part of the environment and we
are part of a system that connects individuals, their culture
and their natural surroundings.
Resource
management
The natural world contains a range of renewable and finite
resources that humans can develop to satisfy their needs
and wants according to the lifestyle choices they make and
with regard to long-term sustainability of these choices.
Diversity
Variation and variety can take several forms—biological,
cultural, social and economic. We need to understand the
importance and value of each of these forms of diversity
to the quality of human life.
Natural
environment
The natural environment comprises ecosystems which include
the plants and animals of an ecological community and their
physical surrounds, forming an interacting system of activities
and functions regarded as a unit.
Cultural
environment
The cultural environment comprises all the tangible and
intangible evidence of human activity, including buildings,
traditions and beliefs. Significant elements of the environment
have cultural and historic values that may require protection
from unplanned or unwise human activity.
Values
and lifestyle choices
The balance of natural ecosystems and cultural heritage
can be affected by unplanned or unwise human use of resources.
Sometimes the resulting problems are so severe that changes
in management practices and human lifestyles are necessary
to protect the cultural environment or to allow ecosystems
to, if possible, rebuild their ecological balance. Poor
choices may affect the wellbeing and lifestyle of future
generations.
Social
participation
Attitudes of concern for the quality of the environment
are required to motivate people to develop the skills necessary
for finding out about the environment and to take the necessary
actions for environmental problem-solving.
Important
links
United
Nations Environment Programme, Environmental Education and
Training
http://www.unep.org/training/index.asp
UNESCO
science policy and sustainable development, Education for
sustainable development
http://www.unesco.org/science/psd/sd/sd.shtml
Fourth
International Conference on Environmental Education, Tbilisiplus30
http://www.tbilisiplus30.org
Important terms
Biodiversity
The variability among living organisms from all sources,
including terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems
and the ecological complexes of which they are part. Biodiversity
includes diversity within and between species and the diversity
of ecosystems.
Conservation
Conservation is the careful use, protection and management
of ecosystems, heritage and natural resources to ensure
their long-term viability. It is different from ‘preservation’
which refers to maintaining a pristine state of nature as
it is or might have been before the intervention of human
activities.
Ecological
footprint (EF)
A measure of the consumption of renewable natural resources
by a human population. A population’s EF is the total
area of productive land or sea needed to produce all the
crops, meat, seafood, wood and fibre it consumes, to meet
its energy consumption and to give space for its infrastructure.
The EF can be compared with the biologically productive
capacity of the available land and sea to see if the population
is sustainable in the long term. The measure can be applied
to an individual, a family, a school, a community, a country
or the whole world.
Sustainable development
Development that meets the needs of the people today without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
needs. To be sustainable, any use of resources needs to
take account of the stock of resources and the impacts of
its utilisation on the ecological, social and economic context
of people today and in the future.
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