Friday 30 August 2013

Environmental Education for Sustainability


Environmental education for Sustainability is an integrated process which deals with mans inter-relationship with his/her natural and man made surroundings including the relation of population growth, pollution, resource allocation and depletion, conservation, technology, and urban and rural planning to the total human environment.

Environmental education for Sustainability is a study of the factors influencing ecosystems, mental and physical health, living and working conditions, decaying Cities, and population pressures.  It is intended to promote among citizens the awareness and understanding of the environment, our relationship to it, and the concern and responsible action necessary to assure our survival and to improve the quality of life.

Environmental education for Sustainability values the capacity of individuals and groups to reflect on personal experiences and world views and to challenge accepted ways of interpreting and engaging with the world.  It recognises participation as critical for engaging groups and individuals in sustainability and focuses on the use of genuine partnerships to build networks and relationships, and improve communication between different sectors of society.

Environmental education of Sustainability promotes:

Understanding by going beyond awareness raising to address the underlying issues causing the unsustainable practices.
Values Clarification by creating a sense of personal relevance in and connection to, change for sustainability.
People as the key to change by promoting capacity.  Building opportunities that harness the individuals to act as agents of change.
Systemic change by helping learners develop skills that influence change within a system, organisation or wider society.
Alternative futures by using positive methods such as futures thinking to create alternatives to the current situation that lead to action plans for change.  

Environmental Education for Sustainability builds the capacity of the learner with the skills for sustainability.  Which is why I think it is a very important key player for a more sustainable future.

I would like to share with you a comprehensive list that I was given of many WA organisations, government bodies and text that are all active in Environmental Education for Sustainability. 
I think you will be surprised at just how many there are and find them very informative indeed.

Enjoy :)




Environmental Education & Policy Documents

Environmental Education Providers & Programs Fostering Sustainable Behaviour
Conservation Volunteers Australia (Australian Trust for Conservation Volunteers)
We Are What We Do (Change the World)
Change the World for Ten Bucks (about the Pilot Light Book)

Sites and Centres

Environmental Education Associations & Resources

Particularly relevant journals accessible through the Murdoch Library include (but are not limited to):


Environmental Organisations and Information
Australian State of the Environment Report
This site contains the entire contents of the Australia State of the Environment Reports. The intent of this report is to capture and present, in as accurate and useful a format as practicable, key information on the state of the 'environment' in terms of: its current condition; the pressures on it and the drivers of those pressures; and management initiatives in place to address environmental concerns, and the impacts of those initiatives. The new SoE report (2011) is due to be tabled in parliament later this year.
WA State of the Environment Report 
This online document reports on the condition of the State's environment, the major environmental issues facing the State, and identifies what we are doing, and should be doing, to improve the environment. The EPA encourages all West Australians to consider the report and to develop appropriate actions in response.

Regional NRM Groups
SERCUL (South East Regional Centre for Urban Landcare)
EMRC (East Metropolitan Regional Council)
SMRC (South Metropolitan Regional Council)
WMRC (Western Metropolitan Regional Council)
MWRC (Mid West Regional Council)
Non Government Organisations (NGOs)

Friends of Groups

Miscellaneous sources

Education & Curriculum Links

Evaluation

Environmental Education for Sustainability
WA State of the Environment Report 
This reports on the condition of the State's environment, the major environmental issues facing the State, and identifies what we are doing, and should be doing, to improve the environment.

Journals:

Books:
Survival for a small planet: the sustainable development agenda. (Bigg, 2004)
Jones , P., Selby, D. and Sterling, S. (eds.), (2010) Sustainability Education: Perspectives and Practice Across Higher Education. London: Earthscan.

Environmental Education in Action
  
Education and Teaching Strategies
Education and Curriculum links

Values Education

Futures Education
Future StudiesNick Bostrom is the Director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University.  “I try to think about the future in a different way than that traditionally associated with "future studies". I don't know how to describe what is different about my approach; I can only illustrate it by presenting you with some of my papers.”

Sustainability and Environmental Politics

Evaluating and Reporting

Environmental Hope
Tim Flannery Finds Hope (ABC1 Big Ideas program)
HOPE Australia (Householders' Options to Protect the Environment)
Earth Hour: Aiming for hope in a darkened world
We are what we do (Check out the Action Tracker!)
Pilot Light (Change the World!)