Students drink from two separate streams. When studying "diversity" in political science, sociology, and history, they learn about demographic trends, changing notions of identity, and attempts to overcome historical injustices. They learn to view human differences through historical, legal, moral, and ethical lenses. These teachings…

This article argues that we need to abandon the word "biodiversity", to rediscover the biology that it obscures and to rethink how to introduce this biology to young people. We cannot go back to the systematics that once made up a large part of a biology A-level course (ages 16-18), so we need to find alternative ways of introducing the…

I apply the concept of unalienated recognition as a form of democratic exchange, introduced by Rheingold (2012), to a different educational setting. Through a case study of the School for Field Studies international environmental programs, that are, like Rheingold's study school, field based and community centered, I explore the hypothesis…

Environmentalist Lester Brown famously likened the declining natural environment to a global Ponzi scheme, where the decimation of the planet's natural asset base has yielded high, yet unsustainable economic returns. Brown cited a range of examples, from population growth to food security to air pollution. His claims took on new urgency this year…

The world (Africa in particular) is in a progressive state of environmental crisis, caused by global warming, loss of biodiversity, human overpopulation, pollution, massive deforestation and desertification, urbanization and many other environmental problems and risk factors. For several commentators and theorists, part of the solution resides in…

The author has argued that the central concern for the Frankfurt School of critical theory remains a foundationally necessary task for ecopedagogy generally: to understand the domination of nature in all of its complexity and totality as part of an ongoing transformative inquiry (inclusive of both theorization and transgressive action) into the…

A growing body of literature on community gardening, watershed restoration, and similar "civic ecology" practices suggests avenues for integrating social and ecological outcomes in urban natural resources management. In this paper, we argue that an environmental education programme in which learning is situated in civic ecology practices…

In many European mountain areas, including the Swiss Alps, agriculture has been on the decline in the last decades. This has led to changes in land use, landscape and biodiversity; changes which are perceived, explained and valued by people in different ways. In this paper, the views of local stakeholders in the Surses valley, Switzerland…

Subtractive education through the medium of a dominant language often transfers Indigenous and minority (IM) children to the dominant group linguistically and culturally within one or two generations. It may lead to the extinction of Indigenous languages, thus contributing to the disappearance of the world's linguistic diversity. A partial result…

The scrutiny of racism as a cultural practice is well established in scholarship and in American public discourse. The underlying problem of race itself is also a common topic in academic writings and is a matter of ever-increasing consensus in anthropology and biology. But the significance of race as an inherently flawed interpretation of human…

Claims that environmental education in a postmodern world will have to be sensitive to the ill-defined nature of emerging key concepts such as biodiversity and sustainability. (Author/CCM)

Generalizations are important tools in learning about complex phenomena such as wetlands. Geography teachers at all levels use generalizations in order to help students grasp the discipline's major themes. One of geography's major themes is that of place, and that includes uniqueness of place. Accordingly, it is important to recognize the…

Discusses the public health ramifications of environmental management and how the National Environmental Health Association should play a role in addressing the issues on the Earth Summit agenda and the National Agenda for Environmental Quality. Explores the link between ecological ills, national and international trade, and related consumption of…

Discusses an attempt to recover Pacific salmonid fisheries with hatcheries as an example of a human attitude toward nature that places technological mastery over nature at the forefront of our approach to many environmental problems. Points out how this approach addresses the symptoms but not the causes of the salmon population decline. Suggests…

Discusses opportunities and challenges for the field of evolutionary biology, particularly in areas related to molecular genetic technologies, the environment, biodiversity, and public education. (Author/KHR)