ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN EVERYDAY CURRICULUM

Abstract

Environmental education, properly understood, should constitute a comprehensive lifelong education, one responsive to changes in a rapidly changing world. It should prepare the individual for life through an understanding of the major problems of the contemporary world, and the provision of skills and attributes needed to play a productive role towards improving life and protecting the environment with due regard given to ethical values (UNESCO 1977). The goal of environmental education is to demonstrate the interconnectedness of the modern world—its economic, social, political, and ecological aspects—and the way that decisions and actions taken in one country can have an impact on other nations. In this sense, environmental education ought to support the growth of a sense of shared responsibility and solidarity among nations and regions as the cornerstone of a new global order that will ensure environmental preservation and enhancement. While some countries practice both approaches, most have chosen to incorporate environmental education objectives and strategies into their current curricula rather than creating a new subject. A thorough lifelong education that adapts to the rapidly changing world should include environmental education. It should equip the student with the knowledge and abilities necessary to effectively contribute to the betterment of society and environmental preservation while paying careful attention to moral principles.