ERIC Number: EJ1301710
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1350-4622
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Scientists' Warnings and the Need to Reimagine, Recreate, and Restore Environmental Education
Environmental Education Research, v27 n6 p783-795 2021
Three decades have passed since approximately 1,700 scientists signed the "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity" highlighting severe environmental problems and trends affecting local and global communities. To reverse the situation, their 1992 Warning argued we need to change our behaviour. In 2017, a larger group issued a second consensus statement warning that the direction and rates of environmental change had worsened and remained unsustainable. Neither document, however, identified "education" as a key strategy in supporting the necessary behavioural changes that could address such trends. With this in mind, in this essay we argue that to avoid imperilling our future and the planet's--and to achieve a just transition to sustainability--environmental education is a cornerstone for the social and environmental changes expected in such "Warnings." We also argue that consensus on our environmental predicaments is not simply a matter for scientists; it must be supported in multiple spheres. This includes the humanities, arts, and social sciences, and wider society. Only then will contemporary calls by organisations such as UNEP and UNESCO that 'environmental education be a core component of all education systems at all levels by 2025', have a chance of gaining the multilateral and multileveled support the situation so urgently requires.
Descriptors: Scientists, Environmental Education, Social Change, Environmental Influences, Social Problems, Behavior Change, Trend Analysis, Interdisciplinary Approach, International Organizations, Teaching Methods, Sustainable Development, Role of Education
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative; Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A