Environmental Education - pro-e.org

1 Environmental Education the path to Sustainable DevelopmentPromoting a sense of responsibility through Environmental educationContentsGreen Dot promoting Environmental awareness and motivating peoplePage 05 The United Nations has designated the period2005to 2014as the decade of Education forSustainable Development . The objective is tointegrate the concept of sustainable develop-ment in Education processes around the Education is an integral aspect of this concept. It is a process of action-orient-ed, political learning. The European green Dot programme is making a significant con-tribution to making people promote sustain-able 12 The green Dot and partner organisations have contributed in creating routine attitudes,values and actions, and establishing a Euro-pean platform for Environmental promote active citizenship through diverselocal, regional and national Education pro-grammes for the entire Education chain.

2 Manyof the activities are realised in partnershipprogrammes with manufacturing and retailenterprises, authorities and recycling Education as a means of promoting European integration0203 Sustainability needs networked thinking and actionPage 22No other political objective is more dependenton successful cooperation than green Dot Environmental Education pro-gramme s internationally networked projectsare therefore focused towards European in-tegration. Young people in various countrieslearn to share responsibilities as well as prac-tise democracy by working on solutions to-gether as a group. Two prominent examplesare the 1st European Youth Eco-Parliamentand the Baltic Sea 29 Global Environmental issues, such as thegreenhouse effect, the decimation of bio-logical diversity and the consumption offinite resources can only be solved on the basis of more intensive international cooper-ation.

3 People with an understanding ofthe ecological, economic and social correl-ations at global level are needed to overcomethese challenges. PRO EUROPE is playing a pioneering role in achieving this the world summit in Johannesburg in autumn 2002, the United Nations designated the period 2005to 2014as thedecade of Education for Sustainable Development . To achieve sustainable development, it is necessary to change people secological, economic and social perceptions. The challenge that countries around the world therefore face is to integrate theconcept of sustainable development in their Education Education is a central aspect of the process of change towards sustainable development. It is time werealised that the environment is not just a factor in this game, but a game in itself; a game in which we are all players andon which our future existence depends.

4 Environmental problems such as climate change jeopardise our prosperity and oureconomic development. We all contribute to Environmental problems and, as a result, we can only solve them on the basisof cooperative action. Environmental Education , like Education for sustainable development, is based on building awarenessand identification with personal living environments. It is therefore not merely the conveyance of knowledge, but a processof learning about the concept of political on this knowledge, the European green Dot systems have managed in recent years by way of comprehensive andhigh-impact Environmental Education programmes and communication measures to enhance popular awareness for theenvironment and create the basis for a new awareness of responsibilities. The daily task of waste separation has had anecological and economic impact on packaging and individual attitudes towards the environment.

5 In the same way thatsustainable development is a challenge facing every member of society, the green Dot organisations implement manyenvironmental Education measures within the scope of public private partnerships together with municipal authorities,political organisations, educational establishments, the business community, associations and EUROPE will remain committed to ensuring the success of these measures at national and international level,and encourage their transfer to other H rodinPeter Z hlsdorffBernard H rodinPresident of PRO EUROPEP eter Z hlsdorffPresident of PRO EUROPEP reface To understand the complexity of Environmental issues is a path to sustainable development. 0405 Sustainability as a core action of the United NationsThe United Nations Conference on Environment andDevelopment held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992first broughtthe issue of sustainable development to the attention ofthe public.

6 Following the 1987report of the BrundtlandCommission to the UN World Commission on Environmentand Development, more than 170nations approved Agenda 21,a far-reaching platform to achieve sustainable development. Sustainability is a development which fulfils the needs of thepresent generation without risking that future generationsThe United Nations has designated the period 2005to 2014as the decade of Education for Sustainable Develop-ment . The objective is to integrate the concept of sustainable development in Education processes around theworld. This necessitates the sensitisation and involvement of all persons responsible in political and business com-munities, citizens, teachers, students and schoolchildren. The green Dot organisations in 24 European countriesand their partners in the UK and Canada accept their responsibility for the future and have in recent yearsmade substantial contributions to ensuring people are aware of how important it is to adapt their behaviour and lifestyles to promote sustainable a sense of responsibilitythrough Environmental educationSustainable development is a process of social change that must be experienced by all members of abstract, sustainable development, and turn it intoa reality across the world , said UN Secretary General,Kofi Annan.

7 The objective is to provide all kinds of peoplewith educational opportunities that enable them to acquireknowledge and values, as well as to adopt the behaviourand lifestyles that are necessary to make the future worthliving and to bring about positive social awareness and community involvementSustainable development is a concept for living and workingin the 21st century. However, we cannot rely only on a top-down approach. Sustainable development is a process ofsocial change that must be experienced by all members ofsociety. In order to realise it, society as a whole politics,industry and consumers must be willing to both acceptand implement a policy of transition to sustainable manage-ment practices. Learning to play an active role in the creationof an ecologically compatible and economically efficientworld in which social equality prevails is not an automaticprocess.

8 This is why Education is a vital prerequisite for theworldwide promotion of sustainable for sustainable development comprises thesubjects of Environmental protection, the efficientutilisation of natural resources, the maintenance of theecosystem and responsible attitudes among members ofsociety and the business community. Environmentaleducation is thus an integral aspect for sustainabledevelopment. It deals with the subject of environmentalcannot fulfil their own needs and choose their own lifestyle. This is the definition of sustainability provided by the World Commission on Environment and Development,headed by the former Norwegian Prime Minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland. The principle of sustainability is basedon three equally important dimensions: social equality,ecological compatibility and economic efficiency (sustainabilitytriangle).

9 Any consideration of one of the three dimensions in isolation jeopardises sustainable the Johannesburg Summit in 2002, it was agreed toassess new forms of Education and educational programmecontent to ensure communication of the concept ofsustainability to the younger generation as these will be ourfuture decision makers. They are also more receptive and theycan assume the task of communicating the concept to adults. Our biggest challenge in this century is to take an idea thatPromoting a sense of responsibility through Environmental educationAll citizens play a decisive role in the prevention of Environmental , why they occur and what behavioural modifi-cations we have to make in order to eliminate them. Learning about how to live and act more sustainablyequips all of us individuals, families, groups, businessesand governments to make decisions about how we usethe resources available to us.

10 Sustainable developmenteducation and awareness-raising to a wide and diverseaudience is therefore important to ensure that we all under-stand both why and how we should take action which will be of most general benefit , said Charles Clarke, UKSecretary of State for Education and is more to Environmental Education than simplylearning about Environmental protection. This is impres-sively demonstrated by the anti-littering campaigns thatare regularly implemented in many towns and citiesthroughout Europe: Initiatives where citizens clean uptowns and cities do not just have the effect of encourage citizens to act in a responsible way andto appreciate public goods , said Jacques de Pastors, Gene-ral Manager of Vacances Propres in is a problem that affects society as a who litter demonstrate a lack of social responsibil-ity, having little regard for nature and for the protectionof public goods.