Environmental education and awareness

This is a one of the topic in UGC NET exam and also it is a relevant one

1. Environmental education and awareness, Environment ethics Presented by, Ananya babu M Sc Environmental science

2. Environmental education (EE) is the scientific study of the environmental system and the status of its inherent and induced changes on organisms It includes not only the study of physical and biological characters of the environment but also the social and cultural factors and the impact of man on the environment.

3. Objectives of EE According to UNESCO (1971) Creating the awareness about environmental problems among people. Imparting basic knowledge about the environment and its allied problems . Developing an attitude of concern for the environment . Motivating public to participate in environment protection and improvement.

4. Acquiring skills to help the concerned individuals in identifying and solving environmental problems. Striving to attain harmony with nature. To develop feeling, attitude and values for improving environments. To inculate skills for the effective participation for solving problems . To prepare for e valuating the educational programmes for their effectiveness .

5. EE can be imparted in two ways: Formal Education The NPE states (National Policy On Education) It must permeate all ages and all sections of society , beginning with the child and integrated in the entire educational process . Primary level Lower secondary level Non-formal Education It includes organization of extra-curricular activities like ecological principles and solving environmental problems after identifying the causes of the ecological problems

6. Example for Non formal education The Vikram Sarabhai Community Center , Ahmedabad involved children carrying out experiments and surveys and the centre for environmental education has evolved a water monitoring kit for secondary school students under Ganga Pollution Control Programme Arts and crafts, folk dances, ballet and street plays are also used to impart informal environmental education by many organisations such as Bal Bhavan Society, Shantiniketan

7. IMPORTANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION (EE) EE is a process enabling individuals and groups to understand the environment, to enhance skills and to develop values and attitudes necessary for anticipating and solving environmental problems. Education of the environment is to promote students to have a lifelong concern for the environment EE, is important for promoting sustainable development and improving the capacity of people to address environment and development issues. EE must strongly promote the need for personal initiatives and social participation to achieve sustainability.

8. ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS It may be defined as to help the social groups and individuals to gain a variety of experiences in and acquired a basic understanding of environment and its associated problems Also it provide the understanding and competence to recognise environmental resources and interdependence between physical and biological components of the environment for the growth and development.

9. Environment can be classified into four basic component. Physical component Biological component Human uses Human values Therefore, ‘environment awareness’ is inter-relations and interactions between the living system and life

10. ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS It defines the moral basis of environmental responsibility. The society has the environmental responsibility to ensure that the earth is kept hospitable and pleasant for human beings The environment deserves care and consideration An ethics can be defined as ‘ a limitation on freedom of action ’ (Leopold, 1949).

11. Ethics is a branch of philosophy, which seeks to define fundamentally what is right and wrong regardless of cultural differences. For example, most cultures have a reverence for life and feel that all individual have a right to live. Moral differs somewhat from ethics because morals reflect the predominant feeling of a culture about ethical issues. Eg ; when a country declares war, most of its people accept the necessity of killing the enemy.

12. Most of the attitudes towards the environment can be divided into following three group

13. According to Darwin (1904), all the ethics evolved so far rest upon a single premise the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts. Every human being should make conservation of environment his primary duty. We should not be blind folded. This is a wrong conception that human ingenuity will always be able to come up with technological advances, that will solve our problems. We have to avoid thinking about it.

14. This is a wrong belief that whatever will be and we have no control over our actions and the future. We can do anything only humans have got the capacity to change whatever is going on around him. The belief that, if I can’t change the entire world quickly. I won’t try to change any of it should be completely discarded. In fact everyone should try to conserve environment in any way, then only we will be able to bring more and more people into the cause

15. People should make themselves ecologically knowledgeable, they should specialise in various areas of environmental problems they should spread this knowledge and concern among others also. We should become emotionally involved in caring for the earth by experiencing nature directly and by trying to find a place that you love and must defend because we all are part of it

16. Conserving environment and reducing environmental problems should become part of our lifestyle We should politically and socially involved in both local and national levels for national and global environmental problems

17. Objectives and guiding principles of environmental education were first formulated in 1977 at which places? New Delhi Bangalore Stockholm Tbilisi QUESTIONS

18. 2. Head office of Centre for Environmental education (CEE) is located at Ahmadabad New Delhi Bhopal Coimbatore

19. 3. To generate environmental awareness, ‘ paryavaran vahini scheme’ was launched in 1990 1992 1980 None of these

20. 4 . What does the phrase ‘environment sustainability’ imply? A shared global responsibility is necessary for quality of life The actions of human directly impacting the well being of the natural environment Future generations will have the resources necessary for quality of life All of the above

21. 5. Objectives of environmental education are knowledge, attitude, skill, awareness, evaluation and Education Partition Participation None of these

22. 6. Environment education can be divided into following .......groups. 4 3 2 1

23. 7. The different levels of environmental and conservation awareness are Consumption, overpopulation Pollution and environmental degradation Sustainable earth All of the above

24. Thank you!