PRINCIPLES OF ENVIORMENTAL EDUCATION: Education should emphasize our interdependence with other peoples, other species and the

planet as a whole. More than anything else, education should explore the connections between peoples, between people and other species, and between people and the planet. When we appreciate how dependent we are on having a healthy global environment, we will want to take steps to preserve biodiversity, reduce global inequalities and promote crosscultural understanding with others. Education should help students move from awareness to knowledge to action Knowing about the environment doesn't necessarily lead to action. Students must have opportunities to "act" on their knowledge. It is only when we try to solve environmental problems that we can fully understand them. This can't be done solely by studying from textbooks. When students try to solve environmental problems, they discover that these issues are not black and white, and learn why these problems have not been solved already. This provides them with opportunities to develop the critical thinking skills needed to develop solutions. Teachers, students and schools in the world's richer countries should reduce their consumption of the world's resources. It's estimated that the 20% of the world's population in the richer countries consume 80% of the world's resources. Does our planet have enough resources for everyone to have the same living standards as this 20%? Besides asking students to consider this question, we can challenge them to think of ways their school can save energy and can use less water, paper and other resources. Students must have opportunities to develop a personal connection with nature. It's impossible to save the environment if you don't know it. Yet, most people live in cities where it's difficult to develop an emotional bond with nature. Environmental education can help people recognize that there is more nature in cities than we realize. Many North American schools are replacing the concrete in their school yards with nature study areas, full of native trees and plants. This is cheaper than taking students on trips to nature areas. Education should be future-oriented. Traditionally, we have studied history in order to understand the present. But to solve environmental problems, we need to think about the future. As British educator David Hicks says, "the future is that part of history that we can change". One way is to ask ourselves what kind of future we want to leave our children. Native peoples in North America based their decisions on what would be best for those people born seven

generations after them. Another method is to develop alternative views of the future. We can consider where our current path of development is taking us, then consider environmentally-friendly alternatives. This allows students to consider what future they prefer, and how we might get there from here. We must relearn "old wisdoms" from native peoples to re-connect to the planet. In our communities, there are grandparents and other elders who can tell us what life was like before today's consumer society. It is important for young people to realize that our consumer society is a very recent development in human history and that many people enjoyed happy, satisfying lives before this. In North America, many educators invite aboriginal elders from native Indian or Inuit tribes to class to share their views about life. Teachers should incorporate media literacy into every school subject. In North America, young people encounter 2,000 advertisements each day - on TVand radio, on outdoor ads and on consumer products. These advertisements help form the self-image of boys and girls, and promote materialism as a goal in itself. We need to remember that our "mental" environment can get as polluted as the natural environment. Teachers should be facilitators. We don't need to be experts to teach about the environment. As we study environmental problems with our students, we can learn about these problems at the same time. One role is to provide opportunities for learning - we don't need to tell students what conclusions should be reached. Teachers should be good role models for their students and "walk their talk". As role models, teachers have an enormous influence on their students. Research shows that if students know that teachers and other adults care about the environment, it lessens their anxiety about discussing and acting on environmental issues. We thus need to practice what we preach and "walk our talk".

Education should emphasize our interdependence with other peoples, other species and the planet as a whole. More than anything else, education should explore the connections between peoples, between people and other species, and between people and the planet. When we appreciate how dependent we are on having a healthy global environment, we will want to take steps to preserve biodiversity, reduce global inequalities and promote crosscultural understanding with others.

 Education should help students move from awareness to knowledge to action Knowing about the environment doesn't necessarily lead to action. Students must have opportunities to "act" on their knowledge. It is only when we try to solve environmental problems that we can fully understand them. This can't be done solely by studying from textbooks. When students try to solve environmental problems, they discover that these issues are not black and white, and learn why these problems have not been solved already. This provides them with opportunities to develop the critical thinking skills needed to develop solutions. Teachers, students and schools in the world's richer countries should reduce their consumption of the world's resources. It's estimated that the 20% of the world's population in the richer countries consume 80% of the world's resources. Does our planet have enough resources for everyone to have the same living standards as this 20%? Besides asking students to consider this question, we can challenge them to think of ways their school can save energy and can use less water, paper and other resources. Students must have opportunities to develop a personal connection with nature. It's impossible to save the environment if you don't know it. Yet, most people live in cities where it's difficult to develop an emotional bond with nature. Environmental education can help people recognize that there is more nature in cities than we realize. Many North American schools are replacing the concrete in their school yards with nature study areas, full of native trees and plants. This is cheaper than taking students on trips to nature areas. Education should be future-oriented. Traditionally, we have studied history in order to understand the present. But to solve environmental problems, we need to think about the future. As British educator David Hicks says, "the future is that part of history that we can change". One way is to ask ourselves what kind of future we want to leave our children. Native peoples in North America based their decisions on what would be best for those people born seven generations after them. Another method is to develop alternative views of the future. We can consider where our current path of development is taking us, then consider environmentally-friendly alternatives. This allows students to consider what future they prefer, and how we might get there from here. We must relearn "old wisdoms" from native peoples to re-connect to the planet. In our communities, there are grandparents and other elders who can tell us what life was like before today's consumer society. It is important for young people to realize that our consumer society is a very recent development in human history and that many people enjoyed happy, satisfying lives before this. In North America, many educators

invite aboriginal elders from native Indian or Inuit tribes to class to share their views about life. Teachers should incorporate media literacy into every school subject. In North America, young people encounter 2,000 advertisements each day - on TVand radio, on outdoor ads and on consumer products. These advertisements help form the self-image of boys and girls, and promote materialism as a goal in itself. We need to remember that our "mental" environment can get as polluted as the natural environment. Teachers should be facilitators. We don't need to be experts to teach about the environment. As we study environmental problems with our students, we can learn about these problems at the same time. One role is to provide opportunities for learning - we don't need to tell students what conclusions should be reached. Teachers should be good role models for their students and "walk their talk". As role models, teachers have an enormous influence on their students. Research shows that if students know that teachers and other adults care about the environment, it lessens their anxiety about discussing and acting on environmental issues. We thus need to practice what we preach and "walk our talk".

The objectives and guiding principles for developing environmental education are as follows:
(a) Awareness: To help social groups and individuals acquire awareness and sensitivity to the total environmental and its allied problems. (b) Knowledge: To help social groups and individuals gain a variety of experiences in and acquire a basic understanding of the environment and its associated problems. (c) Attitude: To help social groups and individuals acquire a set of values and feelings of concern for the environment and motivation for actively participation in environmental improvement and protection. (d) Skill: To help social groups and individuals acquire skills for identifying and solving environmental problems. (e) Evaluation ability:

To help individuals and social groups to evaluate environmental measures and education programs in terms of ecological, economic, social, aesthetic and educational factors. (f) Participation: To provide social groups and individuals with the opportunities to be actively involved at all levels in working towards the resolution of environmental problems. The overall goal of environmental education can be expressed in another form as three principal objectives (UNESCO, 1977a). 1- To foster clear awareness and concern about economic, social, political and ecological interdependence in urban and rural areas. 2- To create new patterns of behaviors of individuals, groups and society as a whole towards the environment. 3. To provide every person with opportunities to acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes, commitment and skills needed to protect and improve the environment. In order to achieve these goals and objectives, the environmental education should be a continuous life-long process, to be provided for all age groups, at all levels, both in and out of school education. It should foster in public large-children, adolescents and adults alike awareness and better understanding of the environmental issues. Environment is interwoven with man's life, the environmental education should therefore, include environment in its totality-natural and built up, in an interdisciplinary problem-solving approach. Environmental education should not be viewed as one or more subjects added to the already heavy curriculum, but as a growing important concern to be integrated into the programs for all learners, whatever be their age and learning situation. The out of school environmental education may therefore be either governmental, nongovernmental and/or combination of both. Environmental education programs need to be planned nationally as there is difference in the environmental priorities. Fast growing populations, high .intensity agriculture, human settlements and slum improvement, introduction of modern transport systems, increasing demands for energy and industrialization are the environmental priorities for developing countries whereas over exploitation of resources, industrial pollution and waste disposal are the main environmental priorities for developed countries. Environmental Education practice in the United States is defined by these characteristics (excerpted from Defining Environmental Education, a unit in the EE Toolbox): EE incorporates a human component in exploring environmental problems and their solutions. Environmental solutions are not only scientific--they include historical, political, economic and cultural perspectives. This also implies that the environment includes buildings, highways and ocean tankers as well as pine trees and coyotes. EE rests on a foundation of knowledge about social and ecological systems. Knowledge lays the groundwork for analyzing environmental problems, resolving conflicts, and preventing new problems from arising. EE includes the affective domain: the attitudes, values, and commitments necessary to build a sustainable society.

The role for educators in addressing the affective domain is not always easy. Educators should make it clear that differing personal values exist, that these values can color the facts, and that controversy is often motivated by differing value systems. EE includes opportunities to build skills that enhance learners problem-solving abilities, such as: Communication: listening, public speaking, persuasive writing, graphic design; Investigation: survey design, library research, interviewing, data analysis; Group process: leadership, decision making, cooperation Experiential education is a process through which a learner constructs knowledge, skill, and value from direct experiences" (AEE, 2002, p. 5) Experiential education can be viewed as both a process and method to deliver the ideas and skills associated with environmental education.