We explain what environmental education is and what its functions and objectives are. Also, what tools do you use to achieve them.
What is environmental education?
Environmental education It is the programmatic training of individuals who are aware of and responsible for their ecological environment equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to understand and solve the environmental problems of their community.
This is the main mechanism available in society to form generations that are more respectful of the enormous natural heritage of planet Earth, that is, its biological diversity, and more efficient in their consumption patterns. It arose from environmental and sustainability warnings that, since 1960, have emerged from different perspectives and communities.
To this end, environmental education is based on the idea of incorporate content relevant to environmental preservation into formal and official educational programs and responsible consumption. Additionally, additional training plans can be offered to facilitate the work of ecological awareness.
These tasks can be carried out by government, private or independent entities.
See also: Environmental conservation
Functions of environmental education
Environmental education has a unique and key function: sensitize the population regarding the necessary environmental awareness. By passing on ecological knowledge and perspectives to future generations, a sustainable and ecologically friendly perspective can be ensured in their worldviews.
Ultimately, the purpose of this education is preserve our planet and its delicate biotic balances thus guaranteeing us as much as possible the only home of life as we know it.
Objectives of environmental education
As established in the Belgrano Charter of 1975, the objectives of environmental education must be:
- Provide the population with greater sensitivity and awareness regarding environmental care.
- Promote the complete understanding of the environment as a system, together with its contexts, related problems and critical responsibility for the presence of humanity in it.
- Deepen the social and ecological values.
- Help produce necessary answers to solve environmental dilemmas.
- Promote the evaluation mechanisms of measures and programs of environmental education itself, depending on the political, social and economic characteristics, etc., of the local population.
- Promote the ecologically responsible attitudes and active and urgent participation in the debate on the environment.
- induce responsible consumption and the adoption of respectful habits towards nature.
- Distinguish and recognize the causes of the world's main ecological problems.
- Recognize the importance of impact of different economic models humans in nature.
Tools of environmental education
Environmental education has numerous tools and strategies, of which the educator himself is the most important. Their commitment to the moral, intellectual and emotional formation of the students accompanies the environmental content: they will be the main integrators between the individual behavior of the student and the known environmental problems.
In the same way, Today's multimedia is an unavoidable resource in this type of training. Cinema (and especially denunciation documentaries) tend to have a high impact on the sensitivity of young people, as well as music, advertising, or field trip activities.
Importance of environmental education
Environmental education is, in the long run, the only truly effective tool to preserve the planet of the consequences of human activity.
No other measure will be as fundamental as training future generations in this type of values and responsibilities, who will be in charge of making decisions at the time. It could be said that it is the most solid commitment to the ecological future of our species and our planet.
Continue with: Environmental movement
References
- “Environmental education” on Wikipedia.
- “Environmental education” at Fundación Vida Silvestre.
- “Fundamentals of Environmental Education” at Unesco Iberdrola.
- “About EE and why it matters” in North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE).
