Program Philosophy

Environmental education incorporates ecological awareness and literacy into people's daily lives and communities. We help people understand that the everyday decisions made in the home, school, and workplace are reflected in the health of the planet. We encourage people to relate to the place where they live in a caring and responsible way. It is difficult work to ask people to examine their lifestyle and to evaluate the ecological impact of behaviors, values, beliefs, and habits. Doing so challenges deeply set knowledge about how the world works, cultural and spiritual beliefs, and historical patterns.

This work takes clear thinking, conviction, creativity, resolute goals, and clearly stated purpose. Students of environmental education are expected to:

Develop a working knowledge of natural history, earth systems science, and environmental change.
Understand the social-political-economic dynamics of environmental change.
Develop competency in learning theory and educational design.
Develop a portfolio of effective educational methodologies and communication strategies.
Gain leadership, group process, and cultural competency skills to apply effectively in a variety of educational and community-based contexts.

As environmental educators, we are inventors and pioneers of a new educational approach. We are creating a type of education that challenges people to rethink the way they relate to the world and the way they live within the world, rather than maintaining the status quo. How do we cultivate an educated citizenry which is guided by a sense of duty, obligation, and responsibility for the health and welfare of the planet? How do we create communities that are inclusive of difference and meet the needs and interests of all?

We are challenged to consider the routes of knowledge about the environment, the origins of emotional involvement with the world, and the conditions under which environmental concern becomes expressed through action in order to understand how to cultivate environmental values and ethics. As educators and lifelong leaders and learners, we must be committed to learning methods that allow and encourage examination of values without threatening or alienating people from the learning process.

Our job as educators is to creatively plant questions. Our work involves reorienting beliefs and establishing new concepts about earth processes. We shake the ground people have comfortably walked on for years. We raise dissonance over the way people-and the communities in which we all live-have habitually related to and responded to the environment. Our job is to motivate people, including ourselves, to become involved in the processes of sustainable growth and governance of the planet. We invite and enable citizens to participate in the political, economic, and social transformation that will determine the quality of their own lives and the long-term health of the planet.

You will find environmental educators in non-profit, business, and governmental settings, including nature centers, zoos, K-12 schools, universities and community colleges, radio and TV stations, museums, corporations, aquariums, summer camps-wherever the need for environmental expertise interfaces with education and communication.

Last Updated: 2/18/10