The Importance Of Environmental Literacy In Education

Today, because of the rapidly changing and interconnected world in which we live, our youth need a more holistic view of the world around them. This includes understanding the natural, physical environment as well as the social constructs of society, economics and governance. Education must help students develop styles of thinking, attitudes and skills to create a just and sustainable future for all.

Turk, J., & Bensel, T. (2014). Contemporary environmental issues (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

The eco-schools programme offers environmental education that benefits the pupils by developing the skills in them that will help them live a morally responsible life.

Coming into this class I believed sustainability needed to be taught as a mandatory way of life, relying on personal change in order to lessen our environmental footprint. Although my knowledge of sustainability has grown, this new information has only reaffirmed my initial beliefs of what sustainability is. Sustainability is a necessary practice that will only become more important as the population rises. With an increasing population, we face a growing strain on our natural resources. The major point that has changed since my first position paper, was my exclusion of the government and corporate role in the struggle for sustainability and global equality. Immoral corporate control of natural resources, such as water, is a vital factor

Globally the integration of environmental education for sustainable development a countries education system is imperative as it incorporates the natural environment, population and development in line with the sustainable living values and norms (Hungerford et al, 1994; Corcoran, Weakland, & Wals, 2017). Environmental Education is not only critical for school curriculum only, but community concerns can also be addressed by environmental education. Environmental problems can be addressed via environmental education using the community context whereby, solutions to environmental problems are implemented and are practical (Hungerford et al, 1994).

I would describe my worldview towards the environment as a biocentrism person. This means I value all things. I also value plants and animals, which means I also have a Conservation Ethic. In general, I believe people should conservation the environment. Other people may have different worldviews, such as anthropocentrism and ecocentrism. People who have those views believe that make changes to improve human quality of life. I do not agree with these views because I think we should not be selfish. If we become selfish we will forget about all the resources we need.

The statistics and facts I learned from that class were really eye openers to the world around me.” On the outside of a educational setting, people are still trying to promote the change towards bettering the environment. Carol, a mother, teaches her children and others to, “respect the value of our natural resources, and for all things in life.” Carol uses her experience with education to help teach others about respecting and valuing the earth.

Instead of responding to God’s precious gifts that were given to us with faith, thanks and responsibility, most of these environmental problems are the result of human practices. This is the result of the different worldviews that people have. Worldviews determine our values and beliefs; help us to understand the world around us, and in general function works as a guide to life (Wright, 2003, p. 9). However, cultural and environmental conditioning tends to enslave us to ways of thinking and behaving, usually without us realizing it. While some view nature as being merely for men' use, others view nature as a consumable resource that we have been given, others as inexhaustible, others as something to use and replace, others as something to look at, but not to touch, others as a cosmic

When thinking about sociological issues taking place in our society today, issues concerning our environment commonly are not ones we put on the top of the list, however they should be. It is not that any of the other social issues do not matter, but without a world to live on, or an environment to live off of those other issues would not even be taking place. Our environment has been something that we neglect and carelessly use for our own personal economic growth because it is what has been done for many years. We are destroying our world’s land and using up its natural resources and are even wasting them without concern about what consequences are resulting from doing so. There are ways that we could fix and eliminate problems that we have caused to our environment, but in order to do so we will have come together and put in the effort to make the change and become more environmentally conscious in the aspects of our everyday lifestyles.

The hyper-connected world we live in is rapidly changing. It is through EfS, a transformative learning process equipping learners, teachers, and education systems with the knowledge required to achieve economic prosperity and responsible citizenship, which will prepare people of all ages to assume responsibly for creating a more sustainable future (Department of Environment and Heritage [DEH], 2005). Taking into consideration the range, complexity and immediacy of issues such as climate change, pollution and water security, an improved coordinated national effort on EfS is now needed (Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts [DEWHA], 2009). Ecologising education and incorporating sustainability into the curriculum, encourages students to view the world holistically and think systematically about the contexts and interconnections involved in the challenges of meeting future requirements (DEWHA, 2009). It is more than

Environmental worldviews are how people think the world works, where they fit, and how they think ethically and morally. These views can be human centred, earth-centered or a combination of the two(Tucker and Grim, 1994).

This essay will review two significant environmental experiences I have encountered exploring the influences of these my life and how these have altered my view on what is environmental sustainability. An examination into these two experiences will follow into reviewing my perspectives on environmental sustainability and how these two experiences influenced this. To conclude a discussion on my role as a teacher and how this will impact myself when in the classroom.

As a 17-year old teenager going to high school, contrary to the environmental activist, David Suzuki’s, remarks about the ignorance of humans about nature, I receive much information about these kinds of problems at my school, from dedicated assemblies, eco fairs and special days that address our responsibility to deal with nature in a more responsible fashion. Yet, when the school day is over, all of the information seeps out of the roof of the school; plastic water bottles are still found in the corners of hallways and leftover Tim Hortons cups are still present in the desks of my former Business class. Even when I step inside the door of my house, the disconnection from nature is apparent. Most of my time at home is spent looking at a screen and doing homework and the only sign of nature would be the fly

This report is designed to investigate the rationale behind teaching Education for Sustainability (EfS) in early childhood education, through investigating the relevant issues and concept of sustainability in relation to the pedagogies and principles of early years education. The initial part of this report will focus on three issues of sustainability, all falling under the greater sustainability concept of waste management. The report will then go on to articulate the role and importance of EfS in early years principles and pedagogies. Finally, some teaching strategies for teaching EfS will be outlined.

An interdisciplinary program presented is an investigation of the relationship between societies of today and the environment they/we live in. In my focus particularly are societies of the Westernized parts of the world. Their activities within, attitudes towards, values regarding and comprehensiveness of the complexity of the environment they live and operate in. Consequently, my personal goal is to gain a deep knowledge of the interconnectedness of human activity and alterations it does to the environment. Equally, I also aim to understand how attitudes and values (towards the environment) are passed from generations to generations. After successfully accomplishing studies, my goal is to collaborate with the representatives of the younger generations to and promote awareness of their deportment on the more global scale. Academically, my strategy is to pursue Individualized Major in Environment and Society and to successfully accomplish Minor in Psychology withal. Environment and Society as a traditional Major is offered at the University of California, Berkley and at the University of Minnesota. To enhance the experience of the Individual Major, during the Junior and Senior years at Emmanuel College, I aspire to attend Environmental Forum provided every spring by Colleges of Fenway. As a capstone experience I foresee myself undergoing an internship in a locally based Education Outreach Program2. On this matter, I would like to accentuate that driven by my interest I am