Lecture 1
Environmental Education
1
Contents
• Introduction to Environmental Education
• Important meetings/conferences for Environmental
Education
• Types of Environmental Education
• Goals, objectives and aims of environmental education
• Branches of Environmental Education
• Multidisciplinary Nature of Environmental Education
• Need for Public Awareness
• Green Advocacy, Green Marketing & Green Media
• Environmental Calendar
2
ENVIRONMENT
• The word Environment is derived from French word
environner, means to encircle or surrounding.
• So we can say Our surroundings is the environment
• In other words, circumstances and conditions that
surround an organism or group of organisms or the
social or cultural conditions that affect an individual or
community is called Environment.
• or
• The sum of physical, chemical, biological and social
components that directly or indirectly influence the
organisms is called environment. 3
• As per the Environment Protection Act 1986
Environment Can also be defined as -
• Environment includes water, air and land and the
inter- relationship which exists among and
between water, air and land, and human beings,
other living creatures, plants, micro-organism
and property.
4
➢ Rapid Industrialization, development, population
explosion have damaged the ecological balance.
➢ Higher class of people increase pollution level
through their standard of living and the poor are
destroying the environment in order to survive by
cutting down forests and letting their livestock to
overgraze the grasslands.
➢ It is not that people are not concerned about the
environment and out of this realization the concept
of Environmental Studies has emerged.
5
➢ Environmental Studies is the scientific study of the
environmental system and the status of its inherent
or 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.
➢ The main purpose of environmental education is
that, individuals and social groups should acquire
awareness and knowledge, develop attitudes, skills
and abilities and participate in solving real life
environmental problems in order to improve the
quality of life. 6
Important meetings/conferences
for Environmental Education
•UN Conference on the Human Environment (1972)
•World Commission on Environment and
Development (1987)
•United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (1992)
•General Assembly Special Session on the
Environment (1997)
•World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002)
•UN Conference on Sustainable Development (2012)
•UN Sustainable Development Summit (2015)
7
➢ The first United Nations conference on “Human
Environment "was held at Stockholm (Sweden)
in June 1972 and after the conference 5th June
was declared as “World Environment Day”.
➢ International workshop on Environmental
Education was held in Belgrade, Serbia in 1975.
➢ First Intergovernmental conference on
Environmental Education was held in Tbilisi,
Georgia (former USSR) in 1977.
8
➢ In India, National seminar on higher environmental
education was held in New Delhi in 1979 followed by
a five day global forum on environmental education
for sustainable development in 1993 at New Delhi.
➢ An International conference on Environmental
Education was also held at New Delhi in December
1982, stressing the need for formal as well as
informal environmental education right from
childhood.
9
➢ An United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED) was held at Rio-de-Janerio (Brazil)
in 1992 giving the stress on Environmental education and
Agenda 21. it is also popularly known as Earth Summit.
➢ The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty adopted
on December 11, 1997, in Kyoto, Japan, and enforced on
February 16, 2005
➢Montreal Protocol came in 16 September 1987 for
protection of Ozone layer depletion.
➢ In India Hon’ble Supreme Court mandated compulsory
environmental education at every level in the year 2003.
10
TYPES OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
• There are two types of environmental education –
1. Formal Environmental Education – It includes the
environmental education provided in a systematic way
from primary schooling level to higher university level.
• 2. Non formal environmental education – it includes
the environmental education provided through Nukad
natak, lecture by society leaders, awareness programs,
rallies, advertisements by celebrities and competitions
viz. debates, quiz, poster making etc.
11
Goals, Objectives and Aims of
Environmental Education
• The main goal Environmental Education is to develop
concern and awareness among world population about
the total environment and its associated problems.
• Other goals of environmental education are:
1. To improve the quality of environment
2. To create awareness among the people on
environmental problems and conservations
3. To create an atmosphere so that people can participate
in decision-making and develop the capabilities to
evaluate the developmental programs
12
The Objectives of Environmental Education are:
[Link]- to develop awareness and sensitivity
towards the environment and related problems.
2. Knowledge- to gain a variety of experiences and
acquire basic understanding of the environment
and its associated problems.
3. Attitudes – to acquire a set of values and feeling
of concern for the environment and the motivation
for actively participating in environmental
improvement and protection.
13
4. Skills – to acquire skills for identifying
and solving environmental problems.
5. Participation - to provide social
groups and individuals with an
opportunity to be actively involved at
all levels working towards the
resolution of environmental
problems. 14
Aims of Environmental Education
1. To provide different groups of people as well as
graduates in a variety of professional fields with the
knowledge needed to develop a sense of
responsibility towards the environment and the
rational utilization of its riches.
2. To make use of these knowledge and skills to
preserve, conserve and utilize the environment in a
sustainable manner for the benefit of present and
future generations.
15
Branches of Environmental Education
1. Environmental Science – It deals with the
scientific study of Environment.
2. Environmental Engineering – It deals with the
application of scientific study by technical
means/ technical study of environmental
processes.
3. Environmental Management – The study
about policy formation and management of
environment related issues.
16
Multidisciplinary Nature of Environmental Education
1. Environment belongs to all the living beings so it is
important for all. Every person in the world is affected by
environmental issues like global warming, depletion of
ozone layer, dwindling forest, energy resources, loss of
global biodiversity etc.
2. Environment study deals with the analysis of the
processes in water, air, land, soil and organisms which
leads to pollute or degrade environment. It helps us for
establishing standard, for safe, clean and healthy natural
ecosystem.
3. Environment deals with issues like safe and clean drinking
water, hygienic living conditions and clean and fresh air,
fertility of land, healthy food and development. 17
• 4. Environmental studies educate the students to appreciate
the complexity of environmental issues and citizens and
experts in many fields. By studying environmental science,
students may develop an idea about the interdisciplinary and
methodological knowledge in the environmental field which
will enable them to facilitate the definition and solution of
various environmental problems.
• 5. It is essentially a multidisciplinary approach and its
components include Biology, Geology, Chemistry, Physics,
Mathematics, Engineering, Sociology, Health Sciences,
Anthropology, Economics, Statistics and Philosophy.
18
Multidisciplinary Nature of Environmental
Science: Example: Air Pollution
S. No. Environmental issue/topics Major subject/ Topic knowledge required
1. Nature and reaction of air pollutants Chemistry and Chemical engineering
2 Effects of air pollutants on human Zoology and botany and various branches of life science.
beings, animal and plants Physics and Chemistry
3 Effect of air pollutants on materials Meteorology, Thermodynamics, Geography and Material
Science
4 Effect of climate on air pollution Mathematical modeling, etc.
5 Air pollution control devices Physics, chemistry and various branches of Engineering
6 History of air pollution and air History
pollution episodes
7 Economic impacts of air pollution Economics, Demography
8 Sociological impacts of air pollution Sociology
9 Alternative fuels Various branches of physical sciences
10 Conservation of resources and Various branches of physical and political sciences
pollution control
11 Ozone hole and global warming Almost all fields under the sun have got something to
contribute to the understanding and prevention of these
phenomenon. 19
NEED FOR PUBLIC AWARENESS
➢ Earth’s natural resources are decreasing due to
increase in human activities.
➢ Due to mismanaged practices quality of air, water and
soil are depleting, which is causing health hazard to
humans.
➢ Increasing problems like global warming, ozone
depletion, desertification and climate change are the
result of various human activities.
➢ Therefore top priority should be given to
environmental awareness.
20
➢ We often feel that managing all the resources are
Government’s responsibility but if we go on endangering
our environment, there is no way by which the
Government can perform all these clean-up functions.
➢ For any disease, prevention is better than cure. In the
same way, to prevent ill-effects on our environment we
should change our own actions, which is economically
more viable than cleaning up the environment once it is
damaged.
➢ Individually we can play a major role in environment
management and can reduce wasting natural resources.
21
➢ This can only be made possible through mass public
awareness. Printing and electronic media like
newspapers, radio, television, can strongly influence
public. If each of us feel strongly about the
environment, the press and media will further add to
our efforts.
➢ Politicians in a democracy always respond positively to
a strong publicly supported movement. We are living on
spaceship called earth with a limited supply of
resources. Each of us is responsible for spreading this
message to as many people as possible regarding
conservation of natural resource is concerned. 22
Scope of Environment
• Natural resources: their conservation and
management.
• Ecology and biodiversity.
• Environmental pollution and control.
• Social issues in relation to development and
environment.
• Stabilization of human population and environment.
In the recent years, the scope of environmental
studies has expanded dramatically all over the
world. Several career options have emerged in this
field that are broadly categorized as:
23
❑R&D in Environment:
• Environmental Analysis
• Ecosystem Analysis
• Community Studies
• Environmental Degradation
• Environmental Monitoring
• Impact Assessment and development
• Environmental Health & Safety
24
❑Green Advocacy:
▪ Environmental laws and legislation is concerned
for creating awareness in general public
regarding environmental problems around them
through formal and informal education.
▪ With increasing emphasis on implementing
various acts and laws related to environment,
need for environmental lawyers has emerged,
who should be able to pled the cases related to
water and air pollution, forest and wildlife etc.
25
Green Marketing
Green marketing refers to the process of selling products
and/or services based on their environmental benefits.
Such a product or service may be environmentally friendly
in itself or produced in an environmentally friendly way,
such as:
•Being manufactured in a sustainable fashion
•Not containing toxic materials or ozone-depleting substances
•Able to be recycled and/or is produced from recycled
materials
•Being made from renewable materials (such as bamboo, etc.)
•Not making use of excessive packaging
•Being designed to be repairable and not "throwaway" 26
• Ecomark: India launched ‘ECOMARK’ as a
voluntary eco labelling scheme to
encourage industry to adopt ecofriendly
production methods and consumers to
pursue sustainable consumption patterns.
• The central pollution control board defined
the eco labelling criteria for the 14
products like soaps and detergents.
• Cosmetics and aerosols propellants, food items and
additives, paper, architectural paints.
• Powder coating, lubricating oils, packaging, wood
substitutes, plastic and textiles.
• Batteries, electrical and electronic goods and recently for
leather and fire extinguishers.
• Ecomark certification is done by Bureau of Indian
Standards (BIS).
ISO 14001
• ISO 14001 is an internationally agreed standard that sets out
the requirements for an environmental management system.
• It helps organizations improve their environmental performance
through more efficient use of resources and reduction of waste,
gaining a competitive advantage and the trust of stakeholders.
• An environmental management system helps organizations
identify, manage, monitor and control their environmental
issues in a holistic manner.
• Like other ISO management systems, it uses a High-Level
Structure. This means it can be integrated easily into any
existing ISO management system.
• It also includes the need for continual improvement of an
organization’s systems and approach to environmental
concerns. 29
ISO 14001:2015
• ISO 14001 has recently been revised, with key
improvements such as:
• The increased prominence of environmental
management within the organization’s strategic
planning processes
• Greater input from leadership
• A stronger commitment to proactive initiatives
that boost environmental performanceUsers of
the standard have reported that ISO 14001:2015
helps: 30
• Demonstrate compliance with current and
future statutory and regulatory
requirements
• Increase leadership involvement and
engagement of employees
• Improve company reputation and the
confidence of stakeholders through
strategic communication 31
❑Green Media:
• Environmental awareness can be spread
amongst masses through mass media
like television, radio, newspaper,
magazines, advertisement etc. and also
through social sites like facebook
twitters etc. For which environmentally
educated people are required.
32