There is a tendency by scholars arguing for a more just and sustainable future to position the "ecological crisis" as a fundamental reason for major educational reforms. Relying on crisis-talk to fuel social and environmental justice and environmentalism reinforces the thinking of the past, which inadvertently perpetuates the acceptance of present…

Our study critically examines social and environmental messages in a range of visual sites educating about rainforest environments. We focus primarily on the Rainforest Cafe, an international series of rainforest-themed edutainment restaurant/stores, whose inherent contradictions between consumption and conservation are quite disturbing when…

This article introduces an approach to tailoring behavior-change campaigns to target populations using the example of solid waste reduction in Santiago de Cuba. Tailoring is performed in the following steps: (1) Psychological constructs are selected to detect problems in performing the target behavior, and data are gathered on these constructs.…

As the white- and blue-collar jobs are thinning because of the economic downturn, the economy is being rejuvenated by a new color of collar jobs--green. Green jobs encompass a range of skills, educational backgrounds and occupational profiles. The green industry has been recognized as a high-growth workforce sector because of the demand for…

Rurality is a complex and contested term, with multiple notions and gazes amid calls for theoretical pluralism. In Australia, the spatial categories of "remote", "rural", "regional" and "urban" are applied to places that vary in their distance from an economic and political core and have differing population…

A classroom practical exercise exploring the reliability of a basic capture-mark-recapture method of population estimation is described using great whale conservation as a starting point. Various teaching resources are made available.

Jenny Robson's "Savannah 2216 AD", a dark, futuristic novel for young adults, provides a strong critique on much of the world's predilection for saving Africa's animals at the expense of those human communities who are perceived to be in the way of the preservation of the continent's remaining wild spaces. Using Robson's novel as…

Since last school year, the St. Lucie County (Florida) Public Schools reduced the number of buses it operates from 399 to 362, despite opening two new schools. Add in some other smart changes in policy, and the district lowered its annual transportation costs by more than $3 million over last year. Saving $3 million a year does not come easily,…

Lured by the recognition that comes with a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating from the U.S. Green Building Council, many schools and universities have become aware of that certification process. But for years, the involvement was limited to a few trendsetters; according to the Green Building Council's database, only about…

Students will use the first law of thermodynamics to determine the feasibility of using corn ethanol as an alternative to fossil fuels in automobiles. Energy flow is tracked from the Sun, to photosynthesized carbohydrate, to ethanol through fermentation, and finally to work in the combustion engine. Feasibility is gauged by estimating a…

Purpose: Based in the discipline of applied consultancy-research, this paper seeks to present a synthesis-review of the social dynamics underlying the stalled negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Its aim is to enhance understanding of the processes involved, to offer a working agenda to the organizational…

To gain a full and true understanding of the value of campus heritage requires shifting perspective. On many campuses, heritage resources are perceived to have no relevance whatsoever to the challenges of sustainability. This results largely from a profound misconception about what may constitute a sustainable future and what steps may be needed…

This paper focuses on the implications of two emerging digital technologies on the act of field birding, and the implications of these objects for thinking about wild birds. While the adoption of new immaterial technologies promises to improve the ease with which birding is practiced, their use leads to new ethical considerations. Using the…

The UK Government's consultation on informal adult learning recognises the importance of self-directed learning, learning in social movements, and learning that involves the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). There is a much clearer picture of how computers and the Internet are used by people in their everyday lives and for…

A student committee whose main duty is changing light bulbs may sound like the punch line to a bad joke, but as the students and faculty at Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in Rockville, MD, know, changing a light bulb is no laughing matter. As part of the district's green initiative, all standard incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs…