Environmental Education & Sustainable Development PDF

# Unit I: Environmental Education & Sustainable Development ## Delineation of Environmental Education - Environmental education deals with every issue that affects living beings on earth. - It is the study of relationships between living creatures and all aspects of their environment. - It essent...

# Unit I: Environmental Education & Sustainable Development ## Delineation of Environmental Education - Environmental education deals with every issue that affects living beings on earth. - It is the study of relationships between living creatures and all aspects of their environment. - It essentially requires a multidisciplinary approach that brings about an appreciation of our natural and the impact of humans on its integrity. ## Nature of Environmental Education - It is an applied science that seeks practical answers to the increasingly important question of how to make human civilisation sustainable using the available resources. - It components include all natural and social sciences such as biology, geology, chemistry and philosophy. - It deals with human population and the resources on which life depends, and is linked to economies and politics. - Governance at global, national, state and local levels is therefore linked to environmental studies. - The scope is thus all pervasive and ubiquitous in nature. ## Objectives of Environmental Education The objectives of environmental education are designed to promote awareness, understanding, and action towards addressing environmental issues. These objectives aim to foster a sense of responsibility, empowering individuals and communities to contribute to environmental sustainability. Below are the complete objectives of environmental education: 1. **Awareness**: - **Objective**: To help individuals and communities become aware of the environment and its associated problems. - **Explanation**: This objective focuses on increasing the knowledge of ecological processes, systems, and the interdependence between human activities and nature. 2. **Knowledge**: - **Objective**: To provide learners with knowledge of the environment, including its physical, biological, and social aspects. - **Explanation**: By gaining a deeper understanding of natural systems and human impacts, we can better comprehend the environmental challenges facing the world today. 3. **Attitudes**: - **Objective**: To foster attitudes of concern for the environment and motivation to actively participate in its protection and improvement. - **Explanation**: This involves cultivating values such as empathy, respect for nature, and a commitment to making positive changes in lifestyle and society. 4. **Skills**: - **Objective**: To develop skills needed to identify and solve environmental problems. - **Explanation**: Learners are equipped with critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills that help them address environmental issues effectively at individual, community, and global levels. 5. **Participation**: - **Objective**: To encourage individuals to engage actively in environmental protection and improvement. - **Explanation**: Participation goes beyond awareness by promoting involvement in activities such as conservation efforts, policy advocacy, and sustainable practices. 6. **Evaluation and Critical Thinking**: - **Objective**: To enable individuals to evaluate environmental measures and policies critically. - **Explanation**: By assessing the effectiveness of environmental solutions, individuals can advocate for more effective approaches and refine personal and societal actions. 7. **Action Competence**: - **Objective**: To encourage responsible actions to resolve environmental problems. - **Explanation**: Environmental education emphasizes not only learning, but also taking informed, responsible actions in daily life to promote sustainability and environmental health. 8. **Linking Local and Global Perspectives**: - **Objective**: To create an understanding of environmental issues at both local and global levels. - **Explanation**: This objective highlights the interconnection between local environmental issues and global challenges, encouraging learners to think about how their actions contribute to global sustainability. ## Summary of Objectives In summary, the objectives of environmental education are aimed at creating a well-rounded, informed, and motivated population that is capable of making decisions and taking actions that lead to the protection and improvement of the environment. ## According to UNESCO (1971), the objectives of environmental education are: 1. Creating the awareness about the environmental problems among the people. 2. Imparting basic knowledge about the environment and the associated problems. 3. Developing an attitude of concern for the environment. 4. Motivating public to participate in environment protection and environment improvement. 5. Acquiring skills to help the concerned individuals in identifying and solving environmental problems. 6. Striving to attain harmony with nature. 7. To develop feeling, attitude, and value for improving environment. 8. To generate skills for the effective participation for solving problems. 9. To prepare the basis for evaluating the educational programs effectiveness. ## Levels or Types of Environmental Education Environmental education can be imparted in two ways: 1. **Formal Education**: The education given in schools, colleges, and institutions that has a well-defined and systematic curriculum is known as formal education. According to NEPC (National Education Policy) there is a need to create a consciousness on the importance of the environment. It must extend to all ages and all sections of the society, beginning with the child. As formal education has a well-defined curriculum and progressive stages, it is imparted at the following levels: - **Primary Level**: Content must be easily accessible to the young mind. Emphasis should be on building up environmental awareness in the child. - **Lower-Secondary Level**: Child becomes conscious about various aspects of the environment. An interdisciplinary approach must be adopted and emphasis must be on increasing the knowledge about environmental problems, conservation of sustainable development. - **Graduate and Post-Graduate Level**: UGC (University Grant Commission) has the main responsibility of environmental education at the graduate level. Environmental management includes subjects like land use, agriculture, waste management, world-life management, conservation of natural resources, forestry, national parks, water resource management, bio-sphere etc. - **Post Graduate Level**: Environmental education includes: social ecology, sociology, psychology, counselling, cost-benefit aspects, environmental ethics. 2. **Non-Formal Education**: Non-formal education includes organizations of extra-curricular activities like ecological principles and solving environmental problems after identifying the causes of the ecological problems. For ex: Tree plantation, conservation, functioning seed banks, cleaning water bodies, hygiene promoting, the use of non-conventional energy sources. The activities included in non-formal education are the Vikram Sarabhai Community Centre, Ahmedabad, involves children carrying out experiments and service on environmental matters. The Centre for environmental education has evolved a water monitoring kit for secondary school students under “Ganga Pollution Control Programme”.