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

National Action Plan for Education for Sustainability

Environmental Education Strategy and Action Plan, WA 2004

Directory of Environmental Education Programs (.xls)

EEAC Environmental Education Survey Results (pdf)

State Sustainability Strategy 

Environmental Education Providers & Programs Fostering Sustainable Behaviour

Airwatch

Clean Schools

Waste Wise

Ribbons of Blue, Waterwatch WA

EcoEducation

Nearer to Nature

Bush Rangers

Outdoor Classrooms

Marine Parks WA

Operation Climate Change

Keep Australia Beautiful WA

TravelSmart WA

TravelSmart Australia

ClimateWatch

Millenium Kids

River Guardians

Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife: Backyard Buddies

Greening Australia WA

Stepping Stones - Creating Healthy Habitats

Grow Us A Home (Biodiversity Program)

Swan River Trust

Phosphorus Awareness Project

Coast Care

Naturaliste Marine Discovery Centre

Climate Action Centre

LivingSmart: Creating Sustainable Communities


EcoSmart House Program (Report only)

The Worm Shed

FrogWatch

The Hot Rock

Water Wise Schools

Cockatoo Care

Ollies World

Green Corp

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

Albany Community Environment Centre inc

Naragebup: Rockingham Regional Environment Centre

Piney Lakes Environment Centre

Canning River EcoEducation Centre

Perth Hills Centre

Regional Resource Recovery Centre

Perth Zoo

AQWA (Aquarium of WA)

ReMIDA WA

Scitech

Environmental Education Associations & Resources

The WA Chapter of the Australian Association for Environmental Education

Australian Association for Environmental Education (National Site)

Fostering Sustainable Behaviour (Community Based Social Marketing)

NAAEE: Environmental Education on the internet


EPA- Office of Environmental Education


UNESCO Environmental Education for Sustainable Development

The Center for Environmental Education online

Centre for Global Environmental Education 

National Environmental Education and Training Foundation

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

The Australian Journal of Environmental Education

The Journal of Environmental Education

Environmental Education Research

The International Journal of Environmental and Science Education (IJESE)

Applied Environmental Education & Communication

Journal of Education for Sustainable Development

Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability

Environmental Organisations and Information

Department of Parks & Wildlife WA

Department of Environment Regulation

'The Environment' Links page

Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population & Communities

Minister for the Environment (National)

Environmental Defenders office

Government Cabinet Ministers in WA

Office of the Appeals Convenor 

Australian Heritage Commission 

EPA Victoria 

Murray Darling Basin Authority 

United States EPA 

Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry - Australia 

Australian National Botanic Gardens 

Bureau of Meteorology 

United Nations Environment Programme

Environment Awards WA

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.

Australian Bureau of Statistics: Environmental Issues: Peoples views and practices

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)

Mindarie Regional Council

Pilbara Regional Council

South West Group

Rivers Regional Council

Tamala Park Regional Council

Non Government Organisations (NGOs)

Sustainable WA

Sustainable Living Website


Australian Conservation Foundation 


Conservation Council of WA

APACE Western Australia


Marine and Coastal Community Network (MCCN)

Planet Ark

Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife

World Wildlife Fund

Ecological Society of Australia

Friends of Groups

Kalgoorlie Boulder Urban Landcare Group

Friends of Lake Claremont

Claise Brook Catchment Group

Joondalup Community Coast Care Forum

Friends of Bennett Brook Reserve

Friends of Allen Park

Friends of Herdsman Lake

Friends of Warwick Bushland

Friends of Bold Park

Friends Group in Gosnells area

Balingup Friends of the Forest

Bridgetown-Greenbushes Friends of the Forest

FRAGYLE Inc (Friends of Ramsar Action Group for the Yalgorup Lakes Environment)

Friends of Australian Rock Art

Friends of Brixton Street Wetlands

Friends of Moore River Estuary

Friends of Star Swamp Bushland Inc

Friends of the Fitzgerald River National Park

Friends of the Western Swamp Tortoise

Friends of Wireless Hill

Friends of Yellagonga Regional Park

Save Beeliar Wetlands

Friends of the Earth

Miscellaneous sources

Taking Action: An environmental guide for you and your community.

Earthtrends: The Environmental Information Portal

Environmental Idea Vault

ThinkQuest: The Environment, A Global Challenge

Community Links

Education & Curriculum Links

Education Network Australia 

WA Sustainable Schools Initiative

Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative

Education Department WA

Sustainability: Curriculum Context

Australian Government: Sustainability Education

Energy Smart - Noranda Primary School

Sustainability in Schools: Growing greener futures for our children

Greening Our Schools — Transformative Education for Sustainability

Green Schools

Evaluation

Evaluation: What is it and why do it? (MEERA)

Measuring the success of environmental education programs

Environmental Education for Sustainability

Useful Publications for Understanding Education for Sustainability

Sustainability Education in Australia

Government of Western Australia (2004) Environmental Education Strategy and Action Plan.

What is education for sustainability?

National Action Plan for 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.

WA State of the Environment Report - Overview

Hope for the Future: The WA State Sustainability Strategy

Main Issues & Themes in Education for Sustainability (Littledyke et a.l 2009, p8-28)

Journals:

Journal of Environmental Education

Environmental Education Research

Australian Journal of Environmental Education

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

http://moodleprod.murdoch.edu.au/course/view.php?id=455#providers

Environmental Education in WA Survey

Sustainability Education in Australia

Practical Environmentalist: 21 Practical Ways to Help the Environment

50 Ways to Help the Planet

50 Quick, Painless Ways You Can Help the Environment Today

  

Education and Teaching Strategies

UNESCO Environmental Education Teaching & Learning Strategies

Curriculum Council (for Curriculum Framework & Progress Maps)

UNESCO conference paper: Adult Environmental Education

Education and Curriculum links

Learning and Teaching Sustainability

Community Based Social Marketing

Values Education

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation: Teaching and learning for a sustainable future, Module 20, Values Education

Values Education for Australian Schooling

Living Values Education

Values in the Curriculum Framework

Values Education for Australian Schooling: Annotated Values Education Resources. Directory

Futures Education

Lost Generation

The Futures Foundation

New Renaissance – focused on preferred futures

The World Future Society

Futurist.com

Emergent Futures

Future Studies
Nick 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

Remember Lake Pedder

Time frame, ABC documentary on Lake Pedder

Politics and Environmental Education

Evaluating and Reporting

Evaluation of Education for Sustainability Programs

Does your project make a difference?

How do you know your environmental education programme is effective?

Environmental Hope

Stories of Environmental Hope

Tim Flannery Finds Hope (ABC1 Big Ideas program)

Review of Tim Flannerys ‘Here On Earth: An Argument For Hope’

HOPE Australia (Householders' Options to Protect the Environment)

Earth Hour: Aiming for hope in a darkened world

Earth Hour’s global relay of hope and action crosses the Atlantic (Official Earth hour Blog entry)

We are what we do (Check out the Action Tracker!)

Pilot Light (Change the World!)

Environmental Hope: A Better Approach for a Tougher Climate – Patrick David Heery

What is a good life?

What is a good life? What is happiness? What is success? What is pleasure? How should I treat other people? How should I cope with unfortunate events? How can I get rid off unnecessary worry?

There are a lot of people out there, scientists, psychologists, researchers and authors that have good ideas about what makes a well balanced, good life.  Many of their ideas and "Golden Rules" do work, generally speaking, rules or guidelines such as love more, forgive more, worry less, work less, all help to try and create some form of balance.  However, we are all different and we all lead very different life styles that dynamically change from day to day, year to year, so it is therefore very hard to stick to such rules or guidelines at all times. 

Most of us have ideas about who we are and many, many rigid ideas about how life ought to be lived.  This is not to condemn us, for each of us is doing the very best we can this very moment.  If we knew better, if we had more understanding and awareness, then we would do it differently.  The last thing I think anyone should do, is to put themselves down for being who they are. 

It is the way we learn to think about ourselves and about our world.  For example, if you lived or were around people who were very unhappy, angry, selfish or very negative, then you learn a lot of negative things about yourself and your world - well of course you would!  So it is very, very important to surround yourselves with people who make you feel good.  Who make you smile and laugh, who make you feel good and whom you look up to and love.  Treasure Friendship.  Friendship cannot just be acquired, but must be nurtured and treasured in relations built on trust and amity.  

Love someone, be loved by someone, love yourself, be happy to be alive, respect and appreciate nature, see the beauty in everything, do your best.No matter what you are doing right now in your life, know that you are doing it for a reason, love what you do and know that life is dynamic and changes many times.  You may feel slightly spun off your axis at times but know that this will not always be how it is.  I think balance finds you and not the other way around.  It is very hard to plan out your life, especially if you are very busy, sometimes saying that you will put a few hours aside on a weekend for relaxation, or to catch up with family or go out with your partner, just does not always work out.  I think that true friends, family and partners who are meant to be in your life understand this and help you along your journey just as they themselves have their own journey. Remember, sometimes it isn't you that needs to change, but it is the people around you that may not be the 'right' people to be around.  You need to learn when to let go.

Never feel bad about being too busy because it is probably just what you are meant to be doing at this particular junction, just be happy that you are doing something you love to do.  There will be plenty of time to relax later in life.  If someone asked me what main things I want in life, goals such as say, wealth, a big house, regular holidays... I would not be able to answer this.  All I would say, for me, is that a good life is to be healthy, to be loved and to love, to love what you do and be passionate and most of all, just to be happy.

I am very much looking forward to going to see social researcher, writer and commentator Hugh Mackay about his new book 'The Good Life'. The good life is not the sum of our security, wealth, status, postcode, career success and levels of happiness. The good life is one defined by our capacity for selflessness, the quality of our relationships and our willingness to connect with others in a useful way.  

If you are in Fremantle on Tuesday, I would recommend dropping by.  Check out the link below from our Mayor who will be speaking with Hugh.

http://cofremantle.wordpress.com/2013/07/06/talking-about-the-good-life-with-hugh-mackay/

Minerals in art

Mineralogy is one of my favourite subjects... I have started my collection of minerals, gems and rocks from around the world.  Minerals are very complex but have also had many other uses.
The use of pigments in art dates back to prehistory.  Until recently, most of these materials were of mineral origin.  Some modern pigments are still mineral-based as their colours continue to outshine those of synthetic alternatives.

Thousands of years ago, when humans began to produce art on cave walls, there were no brushes or palettes, but there were colours made from minerals such as haematite, ochre, limonite and chalk, and from a material of organic origin, charcoal.

Up until 1790 the pencil, the artists basic tool, was just a simple piece of graphite (a natural form of carbon).  Its funny, when I use to suck on my pencil as a child, my parents and teachers use to say "don't do that you will get lead poisoning", now knowing that there is no lead at all in a pencil makes me wonder whether they actually did :)

Many other artists produce their initial drawings with charcoal, just as they had before and how many people still do today.  Thousands of years before our era, the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Indians and Chinese already knew how to grind minerals into powder fine enough to form beautiful colours.  They also discovered how to use binding materials with these powders to create forms of paint: water for watercolours and oils for oil painting.  

Sandro Botticelli's painting 'The Birth of Venus' allows us to appreciate the range of colours used by Renaissance artists hundreds of years ago, all made with mineral powders as their base.

www.jackgallery.com

So, lets go through some colours and what minerals they come from:


Blues:

Natural ultramarine blue, one of the most expensive and sought after pigments.  It was obtained from lapis lazuli and was expensive as gold.

Egyptian Blue, which has been in use since since the 5th century BC and is obtained by smelting copper compounds with quartz and calcium. 

Azurrum was the most widely-used blue pigment in European art until the mid 18th century.  It was made from azurite. 


Greens:

Malachite, which is a copper carbonate was ground up to form a brilliant green pigment which was favoured by painters until the 18th century. 


Yellows:

Limonite, Iron oxides were the main sources of yellow pigments.  Limonite was used to create a clear, pale yellow.

Yellow Ochre is used to create a wide range of yellow pigment.


Reds:

Haematite was the first pure mineral used as red for painting.  it appears in bison painted in Spain's Altamira Cave as long as 12,000 BC.

Red ochre consists of iron oxides mixed with clayey earth, creating many rich red colours. 


Whites and Blacks:

The oldest white pigment known as chalk, made from calcite but nowadays it is obtained by mixing finely ground gypsum with water.  The most widely used black pigments as mentioned earlier were not obtained from minerals but from charcoal (from burnt wood).


A great site to check out, and what I used when undertaking a geology unit was: http://webmineral.com/specimens/index.php  it explains each mineral in detail, shows a huge verity of minerals and also has some great pictures to look at the mineral in its natural form.

The awesomeness of printed books.

I was just sorting out my book shelf, not alphabetically or anything like that, but I do like a certain "order" to it, a flow of topic or discipline.  I have to say that books are rather special to me.

I like to hold a book, I love to feel the pages and the anticipation of turning them over to read whats next.  I love old books, I love the smell of them.  I could spend all day in a book shop or at Good Sammy's where books are plentiful...you just never know what little treasure you may come across.

I mainly read non-fiction.  I love my science books.  My shelves are full to bursting with titles I hope to consume at some indeterminate point in the future.

It would be a lot easier to manage if I just downloaded all those books to my iPad, most of them I am sure are available this way, but that is just not the same now is it.  Not for me anyway.  I think print and paper has a lasting value that people appreciate.

Your favorite books define you, and digital versions don't seem to impart connections that are quite as deep.  I see my books as a piece of aesthetic furniture as well as full shelves.

When I was a child, my father always told me to love and appreciate books.  My mother use to read me bedtime stories every single night.  She then started to buy me the odd one or two to read myself.  I learnt to read rather quickly when I was little and I soon started collecting my own unique little collection.  When I moved from the UK to Australia, I had them all shipped over.  Except some of the children's books which I gave to certain op shops.

I, like my parents, feel that it is of paramount importance for children to read printed books. This is the perfect time to introduce him/her to the wonderful world of books. In this time of personal computers and the Internet, many of us consider books to be things of the past. However, they still play a crucial role in the critical development of a young mind.  The more books children read, the faster their vocabulary is expanded. 

Books help them to learn new words and new ways of using the words that they already know.  Reading books to children at bedtime is a wonderful bonding experience that nourishes emotional development.  Parents can also help the child relate the incidents in the story to real events in their lives.

Books make great gifts too.  I often buy my friends books if I know what they are interested in, or to introduce something new.  Books are affordable, and they provide hours of surprise, escape, and discovery.  There is a book for every special person in your life. An adventure, a romance, a mystery, a comedy.......



I love this quote by John Lithgow, 
“Books make great gifts because they’re something you love that you can share.”

Need I say more.... go on, go grab yourself a book and take yourself off somewhere ;)

Australian Opal

I was sorting through my jewellery and I came across my Opal necklace that I actually forgot I had!  So I thought I would share a few facts I have learnt over the past on Australian opal.

Australia is the source of the world's finest opal specimens.  The discover of this gemstone in the 19th Century triggered waves of migration just like those of the American Gold Rush.  

At the end of the Cretaceous period and the beginning of the Tertiary era, the area of the planet occupied by Australia experienced sudden climate change.  A mild maritime environment gave way to another, much drier one leading to the creation of a great dessert.  Later, during the Miocene period a slow process of erosion took place (you can read more on the geological history of Australia in one of my previous blogs).

These events gave rise to the formation of opal, a semiprecious stone that is a combination of water and silica.  Over time, nodules of opal built up in veins; fractures, and discontinuities of Australia's sandstone.  There it remained until its discovery by British settlers and prospectors. 

Opal has been mined in Australia for more than a century and a half.  The first miners that arrived in the Australian dessert immediately realised it was going to be impossible for them to live and work in 50degree Celsius temperatures.  So instead, they tunnelled underground where it was cooler, both to extract the gemstones and also build their homes and live.  Even today, these 'troglodyte' dwellings are still inhabited.

The first commercial opal field in Australia was White Cliffs in New South Wales.  As yields from this deposit declined, propectors began exploring other parts of Australia with similar geological characteristics.  In 1915, the Coober Pedy deposit was found and quickly became renowned as a new, darker kind of opal named black opal.  It was unearthed in shades of red, blue and vivid green.  Even today, Coober Pedy is one of the most important opal-producing deposits in the world.

More info on Coober Pedy here:  

http://www.cooberpedy.sa.gov.au/page.aspx?u=191 

http://www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com/coober-pedy-australia.html