Modern

environmental education Environmental education (EE) refers to organized efforts to teach how natural environments function, and particularly, how human beings can manage behavior and ecosystems to live sustainably. It is a multi-disciplinary field integrating discip ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

began to take shape in the late 19th century with the Nature Study movement, which grew out of efforts to promote the field of natural history by naturalists including Harvard professor Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) and

Anna Botsford Comstock Anna Botsford Comstock (September 1, 1854 – August 24, 1930) was an acclaimed author, illustrator, and educator of natural studies. The first female professor at Cornell University, her over 900-page work, ''The Handbook of Nature Study'' (1911 ...

, whos
Handbook of Nature Study
was published in 1911.

Definition

At the International Environmental Education Workshop led by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1975, environmental education aims were established: “The goal of environmental education is to develop a world population that is aware of, and concerned about, the environment and its associated problems, and which has the knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivations and commitment to work individually and collectively toward solutions of current problems and the prevention of new ones.”

History

Early history

In the latter half of the 1800s, as the western frontier was settled and the continent no longer seemed limitless, and as children increasingly grew up in urbanized and polluted environments, interest in fostering a connection to nature grew. The

conservation movement The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to manage and protect natural resources, including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the ...

, fostered by well-known figures such as Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) and

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

(1858 – 1919), added an element of environmental preservation to the examination of nature characteristic of the Nature Study movement.

Summer camp A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part of the academ ...

s and the Scouting movement for boys and girls, both emerging in the late 1800s to early 1900s, also had exploration, study of, and appreciation for the outdoors as fundamental components.

Recent history

The 1960s brought increased awareness of

environmental issue Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on t ...

s, leading to the first Earth Day event in 1970 while environmental education gained definition and structure in the US and elsewhere in the 1970s through the United Nations’ Belgrade Charter, and proceedings from the 1977 International Conference on Environmental Education in Tbilisi. The Environmental Education Act of 1970 led to the creation of th
Office of Environmental Education
in the

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon pro ...

, and the following year the organization which became the current da
North American Association for Environmental Education
was founded, and which has a number of affiliates in most US states as well as Canadian provinces and Mexico. In 1987, the

Brundtland Report __NOTOC__ ''Our Common Future'', also known as the Brundtland Report, was published on October 1987 by the United Nations through the Oxford University Press. This publication was in recognition of Gro Harlem Brundtland's, former Norwegian Prime M ...

from the

World Commission on Environment and Development The Brundtland Commission, formerly the World Commission on Environment and Development, was a sub-organization of the United Nations (UN) that aimed to unite countries in pursuit of sustainable development. It was founded in 1983 when Javier Pé ...

gave a modern definition of sustainability, which is fundamental to effective environmental education. In 1995, the Environmental Education and Training Partnership (EETAP) was established by a group of environmental education organizations, and received funding from the U.S. EPA. Academicians concepts in environmental education, such as "responsible environmental behavior, and promoted research elucidating which environmental education techniques were and were not effective. Environmental education programs for children, college students and adults continued to develop in the 1990s to the current day.

Criticism

Environmental education in the US and globally, along with the larger environmental movement, has been criticized for failure to achieve its overall aims, despite discrete successful moments.

References

External links

Institute for Environmental Research and EducationNorth American Association for Environmental Education
{{DEFAULTSORT:Environmental Education In The United States