Society for Conservation Biology (SCB)

Michaela Zint and Amy Higgs
School of Natural Resources & Environment
University of Michigan

Environmental Education (EE) is about helping us learn to live in a way that protects and restores the integrity of the environment upon which we depend. EE helps us understand how our own actions affect the environment and seeks to empower and inspire us to conserve and protect it. EE teaches us to weigh various sides of environmental issues so that we can make our own informed decisions (EPA, 2006). EE can lead to improved learning, human health, and environmental quality.

EE targets learners of nearly every age, position, and culture - from an environmental studies class to an Earth Day celebration - from a web site to a summer camp - from a pre-school field trip to a workshop for politicians, the forms that EE can take are as numerous as the settings in which it occurs.

EE has its origins, and continues to be influenced by, the nature study, outdoor education, and conservation education movements. In 1969, Dr. William Stapp and his students from the University of Michigan were the first to define EE as “aimed at producing a citizenry that is knowledgeable concerning the biophysical environment and its associated problems, aware of how to help solve these problems, and motivated to work toward their solution” (Stapp et al., 1969, pp. 30-31).

Internationally, the need for EE to help address the global environmental crisis was first recognized at the 1972 United Nations conference in Stockholm. The founding documents of EE were the 1976 Belgrade charter, which defined the goals of EE, and the 1978 Tbilisi Declaration, which refined these goals. The EE goals are to raise awareness of and knowledge about environmental issues, to develop skills in identifying, preventing, and solving environmental problems, to foster attitudes of concern for the environment and motivations to help protect it, and “to create new patterns of behavior of individuals, groups, and society as a whole towards the environment.” (UNESCO- UNEP, 1978).

EE’s early approach to changing behavior was based on the assumption that individuals will be more likely to act in environmentally responsible ways if they are more knowledgeable about, and have greater concern for, the environment. Many EE programs in the past and unfortunately even today, are based on this simplistic assumption. Hungerford and Volk (1990) were among the first to highlight the need for a more advanced model for understanding how to change individuals’ behaviors through EE. Their model, for example, includes the need to foster environmental sensitivity (i.e. caring and concern for the environment), knowledge of and skill in using environmental action strategies, a sense of responsibility for one’s actions, and locus of control (i.e. a belief that one’s actions can make a difference).

Our understanding of how to best achieve EE’s goals and even of what these goals should be is continuously evolving. For example, the United National has declared this the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) because to promote human welfare, we must learn to better recognize and address the interdependencies of environmental, market, and social systems.

The Pedagogy of Environmental Education

Environmental Education is as much about effective approaches to teaching and learning as it is about the environmental message. The pedagogy of EE is learner-centered and inquiry-based. EE is relevant to the learner’s needs and interests, helping learners to understand and feel connected to their surroundings, thus motivating them to care of these places and their communities. EE makes learning concrete through hands-on experiences with real-life environmental challenges using methods as action research and service learning.

Because EE is a lifelong learning process, it involves learners of all ages. With the youngest learners, EE focuses on developing empathy; i.e., positive feelings toward plants and animals. Subsequently, EE programs focus on exploration; i.e., immersing children in the physical and natural world. EE programs for older learners focus on building the skills and motivation to address environmental issues as active citizens (Sobel 2004).

We know that most of the challenges facing the health of our global environment arise from the behavior of humans. It is widely agreed that EE has a critical role to play in bringing about the transformation in human behavior that is required to build a more environmentally sustainable society. EE lays the groundwork that makes conservation possible. Without the environmental awareness, knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviors that are fostered by EE, it is unlikely that conservation efforts would be initiated, supported, or maintained. In addition, EE also contributes directly to conservation as many EE programs actively involve participants in restoration, monitoring or other related activities.

EE’s explicit goal of behavior change makes it a critical tool in achieving conservation objectives, but it has also made it the subject of criticism by those who feel that EE promotes environmental advocacy rather than education. This tension is well represented by the two hats that most environmental educators wear, one as an educator and one as an environmentalist (Hug 1977). Best EE practice presents information in a balanced and unbiased manner, giving individuals the tools and opportunities to make their own informed decisions.

While many attest to the success of EE in contributing to conservation goals, it is difficult to find and obtain science-based evidence supporting the value of EE programs. A number of initiatives are currently addressing this need. For example, the Environmental Education and Training Partnership http://www.eetap.org is supporting an effort to create a Conservation Education Toolkit to synthesize information on the value of education as a conservation tool and to provide insight into how to strategically use education to accomplish conservation goals. In addition, Dr. Michaela Zint and her students at the University of Michigan are working to empower environmental educators to conduct more and improved evaluations of their programs through My Environmental Education Resource Assistant (MEERA).

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