Environmental education facts for kids

Moroccan students watching birds at Nador lagoon during activities for World Wetlands Day

Environmental education (often called EE) is all about teaching people how our natural world works. It helps us understand how humans can live in a way that protects the Earth for the future. This is called sustainable living. It's a mix of many subjects like biology, chemistry, physics, and geography.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) says that environmental education is super important. It helps us learn to respect nature and understand environmental issues. UNESCO believes EE helps improve our quality of life by protecting the environment, reducing poverty, and making sure development is sustainable.

This type of education often happens in schools, from elementary to college. But it also includes other ways of teaching the public. This can be through websites, media campaigns, or even at places like aquariums, zoos, parks, and nature centers.

What is Environmental Education About?

Environmental education helps people of all ages to:

• Think carefully and creatively about environmental problems.
• Make smart choices about these issues.
• Learn how to act alone and with others to protect and improve our environment.
• Grow their love for nature. This leads to positive changes in how they act towards the environment.

Benefits of Environmental Education

Environmental education offers many good things for individuals:

• It helps you solve real-world problems.
• It encourages physical activity and healthy eating.
• It improves how you communicate and lead when working in groups.

Careers in Environmental Education

There are many cool jobs you can have in environmental education. These jobs often involve finding and solving environmental problems. The exact tasks depend on where you live and what local environmental issues are most important. Here are some examples:

• Federal Government Park Ranger: These people protect national parks, historical sites, and national seashores. They also protect the wildlife and ecosystems there. Park rangers enforce rules, give educational tours, and help prevent forest fires. You usually need a college degree to become one.
• Outdoor Education Teacher: These teachers use outdoor areas and classrooms to teach students. They might invite experts to show how science works in the real world. You often need a college degree in environmental science or a similar field. Being CPR certified is also usually required.
• Environmental Scientist: These scientists do fieldwork to study pollution in nature. They write plans for environmental research projects. They study things like air pollution, water quality, and wildlife. They also look at how environmental changes affect human health. A college degree in environmental science, often with another science like biology or chemistry, is needed.
• Environmental Engineer: This job combines biology and chemistry with engineering. The goal is to find ways to keep our planet healthy. They analyze scientific research and design projects to solve environmental problems like air pollution. You need a college degree in civil or general engineering and some experience.

Related Fields of Study

Environmental education connects with many other subjects. These fields work well with environmental education but have their own special ideas.

• Citizen Science (CS): This is when regular people help scientists collect data about nature. They often do this in local areas over a long time.
• Education for Sustainable Development (ESD): This aims to help people make smart choices for the environment, fairness in society, and a strong economy for today and the future.
• Climate Change Education (CCE): This helps people understand climate change, its effects, and how to deal with it. It teaches knowledge, skills, and values to act on climate change.
• Outdoor Education (OE): This believes that learning outside in nature helps people love nature. This then leads to actions that protect the environment. It means learning "in" and "for" the outdoors.
• Experiential education (ExE): This is learning by doing. You gain knowledge and skills from direct experiences. It's a way to teach ideas and skills related to environmental education.
• Garden-based learning (GBL): This uses gardens as a teaching tool. It involves activities where the garden helps with learning across different subjects. It's active, engaging, and happens outdoors.

History of Environmental Education

The idea of environmental education goes way back to the 1700s. Jean-Jacques Rousseau thought it was important to learn about the environment. Later, Louis Agassiz told students to "Study nature, not books." These thinkers helped start the nature study movement in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The nature study movement used stories and lessons to help students love the natural world. Anna Botsford Comstock, a leader in this movement, wrote a famous book called Handbook for Nature Study in 1911. She and others helped change science lessons for children across the United States.

Later, in the 1920s and 1930s, a new type of environmental education appeared called Conservation Education. This came about because of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Unlike nature study, conservation education focused on science to manage and protect natural resources. It helped solve social, economic, and environmental problems of that time.

The modern environmental education movement really grew in the late 1960s and early 1970s. People became worried about pollution and chemicals, especially after Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring. This led to a big movement called environmentalism. People realized that solving big environmental problems needed everyone's help, not just politicians.

In 1970, the first Earth Day on April 22 was a huge event to teach about environmental problems. Later that year, President Nixon passed the National Environmental Education Act in the U.S. This law aimed to bring environmental education into schools.

Internationally, environmental education became important after the UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1972. This conference said that environmental education was key to solving global environmental problems. UNESCO and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) then created important declarations to guide environmental education.

One key meeting was the Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1977. This meeting stressed the importance of environmental education for protecting and improving the world's environment. It set out goals and guidelines for environmental education.

Environmental Education in Schools

Environmental education is often an extra subject in schools. In elementary school, it can be part of science lessons, nature field trips, or community projects. Policies help schools create and improve environmental education programs. These policies focus on three main things: what is taught, green school buildings, and training.

Schools can add environmental education to their lessons, often with funding from special policies. This means using the local environment to teach regular subjects. These activities and lessons help kids spend more time outdoors and encourage healthier habits.

Green schools are another important part of environmental education policies. These schools are built or updated to be energy efficient. They might cost a little more at first, but they save money on energy in just a few years. Policies help with these starting costs. Green schools also focus on healthy food, bringing fresh, local ingredients into school meals.

In high school, environmental education might be a specific science class or part of student clubs. In college, it can be its own field of study within environmental science or ecology programs.

Environmental education isn't just about classroom lessons. Kids can learn about the environment in many ways. Outdoor lessons, trips to national parks, after-school green clubs, and school-wide sustainability projects make learning about the environment easy. Celebrating Earth Day or taking part in EE week also helps. Good programs lead by example, using sustainable practices in schools to encourage students and parents to bring environmental education home.

Finally, environmental education policies help train people for a sustainable future. This means not just loving nature, but also having the skills to succeed in new "green" jobs. These policies fund training for teachers to teach environmental studies effectively. They also help train workers to adapt to the new green economy.

Environmental Education in the United States

After the 1970s, many groups focused on environmental education grew. More teachers started using it in their classrooms, and it gained more political support. A big step happened when the U.S. Congress passed the National Environmental Education Act in 1990. This law created an Office of Environmental Education within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This allowed the EPA to start environmental education projects across the country.

The EPA says environmental education is a process where people explore environmental issues, solve problems, and take action to improve the environment. This helps people understand environmental issues better and make smart, responsible choices. The EPA lists what people should gain from EE:

• Being aware of and sensitive to the environment and its challenges.
• Knowing and understanding the environment and its challenges.
• Caring for the environment and wanting to improve it.
• Having skills to find and help solve environmental challenges.
• Taking part in activities that help solve environmental challenges.

The EPA also gives grants (money) to schools, community groups, and non-profit organizations. This money helps fund local education projects that match the EPA's goals, like improving air and water quality, chemical safety, and public involvement.

Challenges for Environmental Education

Even with all its benefits, environmental education faces some challenges. Teachers sometimes say that school lessons are too crowded, there aren't enough resources, and environmental education isn't a top priority. It can also be hard to get outside for lessons, and some students might not seem to care about environmental issues.

Another challenge is that environmental education aims to change how people think about the environment. It wants people to make choices that help the planet. This can be different from how schools usually teach, which is often about keeping things the way they are.

Some people also worry that environmental educators might have their own strong opinions. It's important for educators to present information fairly and help students make their own informed decisions.

Also, some experts believe that environmental education needs to improve. They say it's not keeping up with how fast environmental problems like climate change and biodiversity loss are growing. They suggest making learning more engaging and relevant to students' lives.

Current Trends

One current trend in environmental education is moving from just talking about ideas to helping students make informed decisions based on facts and their own experiences. Environmental lessons are now often part of official government education standards.

Many schools are encouraging students to take an active role in environmental care at their own schools. They know that to succeed, green projects need support from both students and school leaders.

In 2019, Italy announced that environmental education, including topics like sustainability and climate change, will be a required part of the public school curriculum.

In the United States, new laws like the Every Student Succeeds Act make environmental education eligible for government funding. This helps schools offer a "well-rounded" education and programs for student health and safety.

Renewable Energy Education

Renewable energy education (REE) is a newer field. Its main goal is to help people understand how renewable energy sources work. This includes learning about the ideas, facts, and technologies for getting energy from sources like the sun and wind.

REE programs should teach, investigate, and inspire. It's important because the world's non-renewable resources (like fossil fuels) will run out. Renewable energy education is also being shared with political leaders. The hope is that more sustainable development will happen globally, helping millions of people out of poverty and improving their lives. REE also aims to raise awareness about climate change and help people understand new renewable energy technologies. This understanding is key for these technologies to be widely accepted.

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