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Emerging economy based on innovation, technological progress creates new sources of growth, reinterpreted with environmental positions the principles of interaction with the environment. The relationship of social systems with the components of the natural environment is established through complex correlations of different orientation and depth. Therefore, the level of general scientific study of the processes of interaction between state, society and nature form a new integrated interdisciplinary approaches that integrate and form an unconventional device methodological study of this area. Ecological literacy, which is expressed in the development, justification, and most importantly the practical implementation of optimal methods of environmental impact, can serve as an indicator of social maturity, which determines the nature of personal participation in the process of man-made impact on the environment. In the long term ecological literacy must become an integral part of literacy work and find a real reflection of a system of criteria for socio-economic evaluation of production results as every labor collective and the individual. In modern conditions, the most important trend in business development is socialization, which means: first, active involvement in solving priority social problems of enterprise development, the region and the state as a whole; secondly, clearly defined socially oriented investments of enterprises in the improvement of the internal and external environment, in corporate social programs; third, various forms of charitable and sponsorship activities. Response to environmental risks must become conscious of the need for greening of consciousness and life in Ukraine. That is, learning certain environmental perceptions and attitudes towards nature and implementation in daily practice technologies that do not cause irreparable damage to the environment, changing lifestyles of people to safer spread respect for natural resources. The solution to all these issues requires a thorough environmental legal framework will be to: broad international cooperation in the environmental field to address environmental safety and environmental protection; ensuring social and environmental security; monitoring the problems of ecologically oriented lifestyle in Ukraine according to the method of "Green Barometer" (the Green Barometer); the introduction of new technologies in Ukraine; the need to develop principles for the transition from economics to energy economics.

The economic, ecological, and social lives of migrants are neither independent of places they emigrate nor their homeland. This dependency push immigrants to carry their historical and cultural con...

An important role in preventing the negative effects of human impact on the environment is played by environmental literacy, which is connected with developing the ability to use natural resources wisely and reduce waste as well as awareness of the role of the environment for safe and healthy living. The scientific studies on formation of students’ ecological literacy were analyzed. It was revealed that the current state of training future Biology teachers for developing students’ environmental literacy is not efficient. Ability of prospective Biology teachers to form students’ ecological literacy is identified by the unity of value, cognitive and procedural components. Theoretical substantiation of the technology of training future Biology teachers for increasing students’ ecological literacy is carried out. The peculiarity of the technological process is the study of the elective courses “Conducting Ecological Pedagogical Activities”, “Technologies of Environmental Education and Upbringing”, “Methods of Teaching Ecology”, use of interactive teaching methods, combination of training sessions, independent work, practical training, and control measures. Criteria for the formation of each component are students' attitude to the environment and its preservation, the level of knowledge acquisition, the level of mastery of the methods of developing school students’ environmental literacy. A three-level approach to evaluating the results was used. The average level of formation of each component dominated. During the experimental training, statistically significant positive changes in the formation of each component took place. This confirms the feasibility of further implementation of the technology. Keywords: ecological literacy, elective courses, environmental upbringing, pre-service biology teachers

This article advocates a holistic approach to education concerning literacy and ecological literacy development and builds on data from two different case studies in compulsory school classes in Sw...

Environmental issues are important to be solved because it would threaten both of the current and future life. It can be done through implementing sustainable education as a process of humanization that produced changes in knowledge-understanding, awareness, and sustainable practices. This study aims to evaluate the implementation of sustainable education by examining the differences in ecological literacy among students of the Faculty of Agriculture, the University of Brawijaya based on their year of submission, study program, place of origin, and sex. Several 419 students participated in this online survey. Ecological literacy was measured using an instrument developed by McGin (2014). Chi-square and t-test were applied to test the differences. Results show that the majority of students are classified to have basic ecological literacy. There is no statistical difference in student's ecological literacy based on their year of enrollment, study program, and place of origin. Only based on sex, the difference exists, where female students have a higher level. Although there are no differences in the implementation of sustainable education on the two study programs, the improvement is still needed to raise the level of students' ecological literacy.

The literacy movement by arousing the spirit of ta'awun in ecology is a community service that aims to build a good understanding of ecology, ecological culture, and ecological awareness in Gampingan village. The community service method is carried out by conducting ecological literacy training, counseling, mentoring, and facilitation. Several activities were carried out together (all partners), starting from strengthening the understanding of ecological literacy theory through literacy training and book references. Also, counseling is to increase legal awareness and environmental awareness in the community (ecological awareness). Increasing the understanding of ecological literacy is also carried out by building the "Padepokan Literasi Iqro" as a place to read, write, discuss, and a space to solve ecological problems in Kampung Gampingan.

Community empowerment and education are closely related to advancing society. The purpose of this study was to analyze the implementation and transformation of sustainable community empowerment based on Islamic boarding school system. This is due to the assumption that Islamic boarding school, as a sharia economic developer, gives several impacts on training entrepreneurship, independence of santri, and prosperity of the society. This research used a qualitative method with the phenomenological approach from Edmund Husserl. Phenomenology or transcendental phenomenology aims to find the existence of consciousness essence (intentionality) which consists of four awareness activities. The results of this study indicate that the community empowerment in Al-Ittifaw Islamic boarding school refers to environmental use. The school also adopts an experiential learning and learning by doing system. These systems accustomed the students to learn, maintain, and preserve nature. The agribusiness development of Al-Ittifaq Islamic Boarding School is based on INPEKBI (Divine, Domestic, Personal, Economic, Family, Passion, Ilmihi) principle. The conclusion of this paper is, several stages are needed in terms of raising awareness, habituation, and reinforcement to build the entrepreneurial spirit during the transformation of sustainable community empowerment based on Islamic boarding school system.

The US Forest Service has a long history of youth conservation education. We investigated U.S. Forest Service citizen science programs that involve secondary school students in field collec...

Broader realization of both increasing biodiversity loss and pressures on ecosystems worldwide has highlighted the importance of public perceptions of species and the subsequent motivations towards improving the status of natural systems. Several new proposals have arisen in reference to environmental learning, including mimicking popular gaming media. Inspired by the popular game Pokémon, the Phylo Trading Card Game (Phylo game) is one such emerging possibility. It was invented as an open-source, competitive, and interactive game to inform players’ knowledge of species, ecosystems, and negative environmental events (e.g., climate change, oil spills, wildfires). The game has now achieved global reach, yet the impact of this game on conservation behavior has never been tested. This study used a randomized control trial to evaluate the Phylo game’s impact on conservation behavior (i.e., Phylo condition). This was compared to an information control condition with a more traditional learning method using a slideshow (i.e., Slideshow condition). A second card game was used to control for the act of playing a game (i.e., Projects condition). We found that ecological perceptions (i.e., the perceived relationship of species to their ecosystems) and species knowledge increased after both the game and the slideshow, but the Phylo Game had the added benefit of promoting more positive affect and more species name recall. It also motivated donation behavior in the direction of preventing negative environmental events instead of directly aiding an individual species or ecosystem. Our findings highlight the potential value of this game as a novel engagement tool for enhancing ecological literacy, motivations, and actions necessary to meet ecological challenges.

We have not yet emerged into a post-COVID world. The future is fluid and unknown. As the Academy morphs under pressure, as design practitioners and educators attempt to respond to the shifting world – in the M?ori language, Te Ao Hurihuri – how might we manage such changes? There is an indigenous precedent of drawing upon the past to assist with present and future states – as the proverb ka mua ka muri indicates, ‘travelling backwards into the future,’ viewing the past spread out behind us, as we move into the unknown. Indigenous academics often draw inspiration from extant traditional viewpoints, reframing them as methodologies, and drawing on metaphor to shape solutions. Some of these frameworks, such as Te Whare Tapa Wh?, developed as a health-based model, have been adapted for educational purposes. Many examples of metaphor drawn from indigenous ways of thinking have also been adapted as design or designrelated methodologies. What is it about the power of metaphor, particularly indigenous ways of seeing, that might offer solutions for both student and teacher? One developing propositional model uses the Pacific voyager as exemplar for the student. Hohl cites Polynesian navigation an inspirational metaphor, where “navigating the vast Pacific Ocean without instruments, only using the sun, moon, stars, swells, clouds and birds as orienting cues to travel vast distances between Polynesian islands.”1 However, in these uncertain times, it becomes just as relevant for the academic staff member. As Reilly notes, using this analogy to situate two cultures working as one: “like two canoes, lashed together to achieve greater stability in the open seas … we must work together to ensure our ship keeps pointing towards calmer waters and to a future that benefits subsequent generations.”2 The goal in formulating this framework has been to extract guiding principles and construct a useful, applicable structure by drawing from research on twoexisting models based in Samoan and Hawaiian worldviews, synthesised via related M?ori concepts. Just as we expect our students to stretch their imaginations and challenge themselves, we the educators might also find courage in the face of the unknown,drawing strength from indigenous storytelling. Hohl describes the advantages of examining this approach: “People living on islands are highly aware of the limitedness of their resources, the precarious balance of their natural environment and the long wearing negative effects of unsustainable actions … from experience and observing the consequences of actions in a limited and confined environment necessarily lead to a sustainable culture in order for such a society to survive.”3 Calculated risks must be undertaken to navigate this space, as shown in this waka-navigator framework, adapted for potential use in a collaborative, studio-style classroom model. 1 Michael Hohl, “Living in Cybernetics: Polynesian Voyaging and Ecological Literacy as Models fordesign education, Kybernetes 44, 8/9 (October 2015). https://doi.org/ 10.1108/K-11-2014-0236.2 Michael P.J Reilly, “A Stranger to the Islands: Voice, Place and the Self in Indigenous Studies”(Inaugural Professorial Lecture, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, 2009).http://hdl.handle.net/10523/51833 Hohl, “Living in Cybernetics”.

To address the frequent emergence of ecological problems, ecology has intersected with various disciplines. From the perspective of linguistic ecology, ecological literacy is an important concept that combines the subjects of ecology and linguistics. It not only discusses ecological issues, but also establishes a linguistic framework. Here, we constructed a quantitative method of assessing ecological literacy from the perspective of linguistic ecology. Ecological literacy was divided into five parts: ecological knowledge literacy, ecological awareness literacy, ecological ethics literacy, ecological emotional literacy, and ecological behavioral literacy. Each of these was set with four quantitative indicators that were evaluated through eight questions. A case study was conducted to investigate the ecological literacy of the inhabitants of Guiyang City, one of China’s top ten ecologically advanced cities. The results showed that the proposed assessment method was an effective way to evaluate the level of ecological literacy comprehensively. In the case analysis, the overall ecological literacy level of Guiyang inhabitants was relatively good, and the levels of the five specific dimensions of them in descending order were as follows: ecological ethics literacy, ecological emotional literacy, ecological awareness literacy, ecological knowledge literacy, and ecological behavioral literacy. The results of this study are conducive to the production of targeted ways to improve the level of ecological literacy for sustainable development. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11356-021-16753-7.

The paper analyses methodology of forming ecological awareness of the students of international relations and regional studies at higher educational level. The pedagogical experience of Kazan Federal University is presented. The authors justify the topicality of implementing ecology and climate change related topics in the syllabus of the educational programmes. The systemic approach to the formation of ecological literacy is implemented throughout the whole course of the Bachelor degree programme. The authors of the article conduct a survey to define the students’ level of ecological awareness and present different approaches to implementing climate change and other environmental issues in the foreign language teaching process, including discussions, dialogues, brainstorming, problem-solution role-playing, project presentation, and writing an essay.

Literacy is, literally, a question not of education but of the letter. More than that, it is the question of the letter in the two senses the word has in English: as a symbol of the alphabet and a piece of correspondence. It is my hypothesis that ecological literacies may learn a great deal from the literalization, or even the hyper-literalization, of the letter and that they may do so by turning to the corpus of twelfth-century Benedictine abbess, polymath, and mystic St. Hildegard of Bingen. After all, Hildegard, who was exquisitely attuned to the vegetal world, which was at the core of her theological and scientific endeavors, corresponded through letters with the leading personalities of her times and also invented a language, called lingua ignota (the unknown language) replete with ignotas litteras (the unknown letters). Who better than her can spell out the senses of ecological literacy?

A key way that STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines and agricultural education can be integrated into school-based curriculum and structures, particularly within urban contexts, is via an environmental education (EE) approach. We provide a case example in California of how science and environmental education can be merged in a holistic urban high school program focused on understanding food systems. Specifically, we discuss and apply the concept of environmental action competence (EAC) as a theoretical means of bringing together traditional science education (focused on ecological literacy) with the interdisciplinary and action-oriented focus of environmental education (civics literacy, values awareness and self-efficacy to take action). Using ethnographic methods, we followed 120 students in an urban, comprehensive high school, along with their teachers and community partners during the 2011–2012 and 2012–2013 school years. Interviews with 26 youth and adult participants, were transcribed and coded, then analyzed along with field notes, participant observations, and secondary source data to determine how program elements contributed to the development of students’ EAC. While many students exhibited some of the elements of EAC, only the students who had been in the academy for 3 years were able to base their actions toward the environment in sound ecological reasoning. While program elements supported students’ self-efficacy, students’ ecological understanding was not as well developed. We discuss implications for practitioners, suggesting how EAC can provide a framework to combine the leadership and experiential elements of traditional agricultural and environmental education to support students’ development of STEM competencies.

The purpose of this research is to investigate through adult perceptions what factors have enabled and limited student participation in schoolyard gardening, and how to support student involvement in schoolyard gardening. It is a collective case study of three schools in Toronto District School Board (TDSB, Ontario, Canada). Sixteen interviews were conducted in 2005. The results show that the common factors that enabled student participation in schoolyard gardening are teacher’s initiative and commitment, principal’s leadership and support, parental involvement and donations, and the TDSB’s EcoSchools program and workshops. The common limiting factors are time, money, and the Union’s work-to-rule issue. The ways to support student involvement include teachers integrating gardening into the curriculum; parents making donations and creating a family gardening culture; principals supporting in budget and taking the lead; TDSB providing funding, awards, incentives, and more maintenance; and Ontario Ministry of Education supplying funding, curriculum link, and teacher training.

In this article, we present a theoretical framework for mixed reality (MR/XR) self-determined learning to enhance ecological literacy in free-choice educational settings. The framework emerged from a research study in New Zealand which aimed to explore how learning experiences which incorporate mobile technologies within free-choice learning settings can be designed to enhance learner development of marine ecological literacy. An understanding of how mobile technology can be integrated into the teaching and learning of sustainability education that incorporates free-choice learning contexts, such as visitor centres, is of strategic importance to both education outside the classroom and adult learning. Following a design-based research methodology, the framework is presented in the form of a set of design principles and guidelines, informed by key theories in ecological literacy and free-choice learning, heutagogy, bring your own device and self-determined learning. We briefly describe how the framework provided the foundation for an educational intervention. This paper aims to assist researchers and developers of MR/XR immersive learning environments to consider design principles and processes that can enhance learning outcomes within free-choice settings, such as museums and visitor centres. This article is part of the special collection Mobile Mixed Reality Enhanced Learning edited by Thom Cochrane, James Birt, Helen Farley, Vickel Narayan and Fiona Smart. More articles from this collection can be found here.

We are at the crossroads of three distinct yet interrelated topics: (a) different forms of violence and domination; (b) the importance and limits of analysis and critique, and how nonviolent resistance, new visions and ecological literacy offer direction; and (c) how experiences of wonder contribute to pro-ecological praxis. The idea of crosshairs suggests that we have choices about what to assess as key, and where to aim our efforts for justice, peace and ecological sustainability. Confronting blatant and subtle forms of violence and domination, utilizing critique to probe problems while recognizing that active resistance and vision are further steps, and considering the capacity of wonder are three elements that could contribute to a sustainable peace.

The Philippines is replete with mythological tales about monsters which prey on human beings. Yet, how many of these monsters stem from our unawareness of the environment and those that inhabit it ...

Thrash metal songs have confronted listeners with socio-political problems since the genre emerged in the 1980s. Its abrasive tone and dystopian language implicitly and explicitly attacks norms, religion, the economic and political status quo, and social injustice. In addition to these anthropocentric concerns lives a powerful critique of our problematic contemporary relationship with the more-than-human community. This paper examines implicit and explicit environmental ethical statements in 18 thrash songs released between 1987 and 2013 written by 12 bands. It shows a consistent ecologically dystopian position and critical ethical stance ripe for ecopedagogical and ethics education purposes. Following that, the article explores more specific environmental ethical issues and presents approaches to incorporating them into curricula with possible bridges to other musical genres. It concludes with a call for a deeper critical ethical conversation in the age of ecocide.

In line with the increase of complexity in environmental problems as a result of over-exploitation, it is necessary to care for the environmental program. Ecological literacy education needs to be realized in the programs of environmental care. This study aims to determine the importance of Adiwiyata school program in an effort to improve students’ ecological literacy. The method used in this research is qualitative descriptive with interview, observation and documentation as data collection techniques. Ecological literacy is a collective action which needs togetherness to produce a positive impact to the environment. The application of ecological literacy at schools requires awareness from all teachers, students and other school community. Adiwiyata program in SMAN 5 Jember, Indonesia can increase students’ ecological literacy by establishing a caring attitude and environment on students. This is evidenced by the behaviour of students who dispose of waste in place, sort out the types of garbage, recycling of waste, making hydroponics plants are free of pesticides, and composting. It can be concluded that inveronmental care program (Adiwiyata) is one way to improve the literacy of students in the school about ecology by observing the effectiveness of Adiwiyata program.

The recent development of the cities has grown rapidly, followed by digital technological advances. Buildings, roads, housing, business centers, industries, and other public facilities are built to meet human needs and to foster the development of the city's economy. All of them are equipped with advanced technological facilities. In the name of modernity, a city is being established, yet it must all sacrifice the environment. Even the decision makers, as well as the developers, do not aware that they destroy nature. The progress should be followed by ecological literate policies. This study focuses on how to educate people to realize that the ecological environment needs to be taken care of so that the next generation can keep the harmony of life between people and their environment. The ecological literature has been generated by many environmental poets. Using ecocriticism approach supported with David W. Orr’s concept on ecological literacy, the issue of ecological neglect depicted in the poems will be discussed. The study finds that harmonious life will be reached if the society has an ethical ecological literacy.

The aim of this study is to determine the ecological literacy ability of prospective teachers at Sebelas Maret University (UNS). This research was conducted on students at the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education (FKIP) UNS Surakarta. The subjects of the study used two courses that gave the ecology course namely Biology Education Study Program and Geography Education Study Program. Subjects in both Study Programs are devoted who are already or are currently receiving ecological subjects. The number of subjects in two study programs were 98 students. Research subjects were taken by stratified random sampling technique. Qualitative descriptive technique is used to analyze each component of ecological literacy. The results showed that the average value of ecological literacy and the value of each component of the students' ecology literacy is still low. Provision of less than optimal ecology concept to be one factor that causes low ecological literacy of student.&nbsp

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to learn from successful educational frameworks how to inform a possible framework for design education that includes ecological literacy, systems thinking leading to more sustainable and ecological designs. Design/methodology/approach – The author comparing two models for education, the first being that of the Polynesian Voyaging Society which re-emerged as a cultural and educational framework in Hawaii. Second that of the Center for Ecological Literacy in connection with the edible schoolyard. Both frameworks involve systems thinking. Findings – Certain elements that may inform design education. Among these are attention and vision, values, care for nature, culture, community and learning based on systems thinking, exploration and perception of the environment. Language, traditions and a strong local grounding also play a role in the Hawaiian framework. Research limitations/implications – The sources are from personal observations in design education and documentat...

By outlining the Ecological Social Imaginary as one way of meeting the major challenges of the 21st Century, then education in it would need to be based upon principles that give shape to the Ecological Social Imaginary. This chapter works through these principles, identifying an educational metaphor that can give shape to education within the Ecological Social Imaginary. The metaphor of the web, which represents the natural world, will be used to connect head, heart, hands and spirit, which represent the human world. In this way, the key values of Connective Education are mapped out and this would suggest a move from a ‘having’ to a ‘being’ mode.

Ecological literacy is founded upon knowledge and understanding about how the ecological systems of the Earth function and support life. A widespread concern that levels of ecological literacy within many contemporary human communities are inadequate to enable effective decision-making about sustainable ways of living led to a rigorous and carefully designed assessment of over 1000 South Australian adults from diverse sectors including industry, government, nongovernment, business and community organisations. This assessment tested for local and global knowledge, including an understanding of the interconnection of natural systems with human society. Quantitative analyses revealed significant relationships between scores and a range of socio-demographic characteristics. Scores varied significantly with gender, age, education, employment, place of growing up and time spent in South Australia (SA). Highest average scores were found in males, middle-age groups, the most highly educated, those with science-related educational backgrounds, those working in environment-related fields, those who grew up in small town environments rather than in large towns or cities and in those who had spent more than 10 years in SA. These findings contribute to a broader study of factors associated with ecologically literate individuals and groups within the western and industrialised adult community of SA. They form a valuable foundation on which to build efforts to further understand and develop ecological literacy within our citizenry and governing bodies. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The traditional desertification paradigm focuses on the losses of ecosystem services that typically occur when grasslands transition to systems dominated by bare (unvegetated) ground or by woody plants that are unpalatable to domestic livestock. However, recent studies reveal complex transitions across a range of environmental conditions and socioeconomic contexts. The papers in this Special Issue illustrate how an improved understanding of these dynamics is generating more robust paradigms, where state changes and regime shifts occurring within the context of changes in land use and climate are modified by landform and antecedent conditions. New and emerging technologies are being used to characterize and evaluate processes and outcomes across various scales and levels of organization. At the same time, developments in education are taking advantage of these new perspectives to improve the ecological literacy of future generations, and to better inform land-management decisions. A framework that integrates these perspectives provides a more comprehensive approach for understanding and predicting dryland dynamics.

This paper attempts to answer this question: what should ecoliteracy mean in a biocapitalist society? The author situates his analysis of this question within the general context of the neoliberal reconstruction of education in the US. Specifically, focus is given to the shared model of governmentality GE food industries and education policies both utilize to manage life in the field and classroom – one where optimizing the value of plants and people for ‘flat world’ economic competition is the defining goal. Given this landscape, I suggest that what some environmental educators have called ‘ecological literacy’ or ‘critical ecoliteracy’ must now include a dimension that rejects the ways both human and nonhumans are progressively being implicated into biocapitalist enterprises. I offer an example of how biocapitalist industries educate market understandings of life by looking at how the GE food industry’s educational projects attempt to teach students and the public to think of nature and themselves as en...

This essay argues that Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax (1971) successfully popularized the environmental message that Wallace Stegner presented in his largely forgotten essay “Conservation Equals Survival” (1969). The Seussian language and illustrations have inspired readers, particularly children, to consider and, more importantly, to engage in environmentally sustainable practices. Both Seuss and Stegner wanted to raise the common readers’ ecological literacy by alerting them to the dangers posed by modern industrial society and their role in achieving solutions. However, Stegner’s essay quickly disappeared from the public consciousness, while Seuss’s story remains relevant more than 40 years later, and his character, the Lorax, has become an important part of the environmentalist vernacular. Of particular interest is both authors’ use of one word, “unless,” to direct individual readers to work together for a sustainable future. Seuss successfully engaged readers to become aware of the needs of the environment and take personal responsibility in caring for their own ecosystems.

This paper discusses the purposes that outdoor education does, could and should serve in Singapore. Gert Biesta’s conceptualisation of three functions of education is adapted to frame deliberations on the purposes of outdoor education in Singapore’s socio-political and educational milieu. The author suggests that outdoor education in Singapore could and should give high priority to serving three educational purposes; namely, building resilience, building emotional bonds with the place that constitutes Singapore, and building ecological literacy. In pursuing such purposes, outdoor education in Singapore might lessen the gap between the educational outcomes it currently produces and those it could achieve in the future.

Numerous scholars have argued that the terms environmental literacy, ecological literacy, and ecoliteracy have been used in so many different ways and/or are so all-encompassing that they have very little useful meaning. However, despite the seemingly arbitrary and, at times, indiscriminate use of these terms, tremendous efforts have in fact been made to explicitly define and delineate the essential components of environmental literacy, ecological literacy, and ecoliteracy, and to firmly anchor their characterizations in deep theoretical and philosophical foundations. A driving purpose behind these ongoing conversations has been to advance complete, pedagogy-guiding, and broadly applicable frameworks for these ideals, allowing for standards and assessments of educational achievement to be set. In this manuscript, we review a diversity of perspectives related to the often nuanced differences and similarities of these terms. A classification of the numerous proposed frameworks for environmental literacy, ec...

Outdoor areas within or near college campuses offer an opportunity for biology students to observe the natural world and apply concepts from class. Here, I describe an engaging and integrative project where undergraduate non-major biology students work in teams to develop and present professional “eco tours.” This project takes place over multiple class sessions and is customizable on the basis of course content. This project encourages students to work collaboratively and demonstrate creativity, and empowers students with opportunities to enhance public-speaking skills and share findings with the greater campus community.

Bobis proposes a creative–critical methodology of “saving stories/saving lives” through the collaborative storying among diverse modes of knowing and making sense of typhoons. Focusing on two super typhoons in the Philippines (Reming/Durian, 2006; Yolanda/Haiyan, 2013), Bobis places the storytelling by typhoon survivors in conversation with “stories” from literature and the creative arts, indigenous and religious faith, and science. How can this collaborative saving of stories save lives? To respond to this question, she threads the geographical and cultural context of the disasters with the creative production of a radio ficto-documentary on Philippine typhoons, and the development of a community storytelling project for disaster management and precaution around an environmentally vulnerable river in her native region.

Educators focused on community literacy and public engagement have access to a unique critical platform where larger social issues that impact us both as a whole and on very personal levels are open to exploration. Being uniquely situated to have significant impact on community, literacy work in this area may require unique pedagogical strategies. Based on its comprehensive focus on sustainability, ecological literacy, sociopolitical factors that affect communities, and a multitude of other factors that underpin social injustice, ecopedagogy may be uniquely positioned to offer a more holistic view than other composition pedagogies such as place-based education and ecocomposition.

This is a review article on environmental education. The focus of the discussion is the relationship between environmental education and Biodiversity concern and the emergence of the concept of Biodiversity education. The position described here configures as a disagreement of the insertion of these innovative terminology, defending the maintenance of the term environmental education and its general framework, reserving to Biodiversity concern a position of one issue to be coped by environmental education. The general framework for environmental education arises from documents of the main international conferences, such as The Belgrado Charter, resulted from the international workshop on environmental education, the recommendations of the intergovernmental conference on environmental education held in Tbilisi and the treaty on environmental education for sustainable societies and global responsibility, in Rio de Janeiro. The present discussion also reject the criticism that environmental education is not enough socially relevant and interdisciplinary and it brings back those recommendation from the conference of Tbilisi which addressed goals for environmental education. These highlighted goals are relative to the encouragement of those ethical, economic and aesthetic values, the provision of a wide range of practical skills required in the devising and application of effective solutions to environmental problem, by linking educational processes to real life. Ecological literacy is considered limited if analyzed in its isolated form and it is defended that environmental education should go beyond a simple ecological literacy. Some concepts such as empowerment and some theoretical-methodological approach such as dialogical problem-posing can help environmental education to correctly accomplish its goals and principles. A Brazilian experience on production of a didactic material known as Probio-EA for its Ministry of Environment is commented in means of the accomplishment to this theoretical proposition.

This article aims to probe how to nurture ecological literacy in the process of business English teaching. Since proper teaching concept and teaching method is the core of cultivating ecological literacy, the authors choose one of popular business English textbooks to study its eco-literacy education ideology. Moreover, in order to foster business talents with humanistic quality and awareness of environment protection, business English teaching should receive proper teaching concepts, and apply appropriate teaching methods to instill the ecological literacy which will be discussed in this study.

This article explores experienced primary teachers views on teaching for ‘reading nature’. The concept ‘reading nature’ has to do with an ability to recognise organisms and relate them to material cycling and energy flow in the specific habitat which is to be read. It has to do with the natural world that we face outside and the tools we have are our experiences from previous learning situations both in and out-of-doors. The teachers were asked to comment on the content of a CD-ROM with teaching sequences from a primary class studying a river ecosystem. Perceptions that teachers held were found to be supportive but complex and varied regarding the possibilities and advantages of implementing this type of teaching design in the everyday classroom. The paper finishes by identifying some implications for teacher training to support fieldwork and ecological literacy in primary schools in the future.

For over two decades, ecological literacy has sought to integrate foundational premises for addressing environmental problems. Here Jody Boehnert of EcoLabs explains how she has developed graphics resources and tools for designers in order for them to understand the perceptual shifts that are necessary to learn the causality and complexity of ecology and how it is embedded in human relations.

Goodbun is the lead guest editor of this issue of the international journal Architectural Design, and the primary author of the substantial introduction to this edition. In addition, he is the sole author of an article in it entitled 'Flexibility and Ecological Planning: Gregory Bateson on Urbanism', and is co-author of an article (with Karin Jaschke) on 'Architecture and Relational Resources: Towards a New Materialist Practice'. The publication is related to a £1 million EU HERA funded research project 'Scarcity and Creativity in the Built Environment' (SCIBE) (see www.scibe.eu), led by the University of Westminster (Goodbun a co-investigator), and including the Technical University Vienna and Oslo School of Architecture. Scarcity, whether conceived of as an actual limit on resources, or as a socially constructed condition of uneven social or global distribution of resources, has been largely absent as a critical concept in mainstream architectural discourse. This issue of Architectural Design examines ways in which architects and designers may respond to scarcity by means of a change in their design practices and their design thinking. The publication includes work by leading thinkers and designers, including the design theorist Ezio Manzini; architectural theorists and practitioners Winy Maas, Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Michael Sorkin, and MUF; ecological philosophers Tim Morton and Kate Soper, and geographers Erik Swyngedouw and Maria Kaika.

Being an ecologically literate citizen involves making decisions that are based on ecological knowledge and accepting responsibility for personal actions. Using writing-to-learn activities in college science courses, we asked students to consider personal dilemmas that they or others might have in response to how human choices can impact coastal dead zones around the world. We explored how undergraduate students (42 biology and 47 elementary education majors at a 4-year college and eight Native studies majors at a tribal college in the United States) identified their ecological dilemmas after reading about aquatic hypoxia. About 30% of the 4-year college students’s essays demonstrated a more ecologically literate understanding of hypoxia by the end of the study. The tribal college students improved their ecological literacy by 50%, albeit with a small sample size. Biology majors made more human-centered comments than the education majors. The Native American students often discussed trade-offs between qua...

A Alfabetização ecológica é a leitura e interpretação da natureza que permite ver o homem como parte integrante da teia da vida. Tal abordagem configura-se numa grande contribuição para a prática da educação ambiental tanto no ensino formal quanto informal. Neste sentido, as práticas ambientais encontram nos jardins botânicos espaços naturais de grande biodiversidade e valor educativo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi oferecer aos monitores de educação ambiental do Jardim Botânico da UFSM, roteiros de práticas ambientais para monitoria de visitas escolares, direcionadas aos estudantes da educação infantil e ensino fundamental. A metodologia do trabalho consistiu no levantamento de atividades práticas em bibliografias eletrônicas e impressas, assim como elaboração de atividades selecionadas conforme os Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais (PCNs). Estas práticas foram adaptadas ao contexto do Jardim Botânico da UFSM e organizadas sob a perspectiva da Ecoalfabetização. Os roteiros compreendem vinte e oito práticas ambientais, sendo seis indicadas para a educação infantil e vinte e duas para o ensino fundamental. Destas, foi selecionada uma prática para exemplificação, implementada com os alunos da terceira série do ensino fundamental do Colégio Riachuello. Os resultados demonstraram que as práticas ambientais além de serem facilitadoras do trabalho de educação ambiental dos monitores do Jardim Botânico da UFSM, também são estratégias de ensino para os professores e de aprendizagem para os estudantes. Esta monografia de Especialização em Educação Ambiental (PPGEA-UFSM), foi defendida em dezembro de 2010.

Citizen science projects involve non-professionals (e.g., community members) actively contributing to authentic scientific research (Dickinson et al., 2012). Participation in these projects can benefit participants, researchers, and local communities (Dickinson & Bonney, 2012). Participants can increase knowledge, develop interest in related environmental issues, connect to the location of research, understand the scientific process better, develop ecological literacy, and engage in environmentally conscious behavior (Jordan, Gray, Howe, Brooks, & Ehrenfeld, 2011). Conrad and Hilchey (2011) called for more case studies examining the variety of benefits associated with citizen science projects. To help attract and retain participants (Dickinson et al., 2012), this study sought to understand the motivations and perceived benefits of citizens involved in a scientific research project examining the migration dynamics of Purple Martins (Progne subis; Fraser et al., 2012). Purple Martins, the largest swallow species nesting in North America, migrate to Brazil each year. In November 2013, semi-structured interviews (M = 12 minutes in length) with both open- and close-ended questions were conducted with 16 of the 30 citizens who participated (i.e., locating, trapping, handling birds) in Purple Martin migration research in or near Camrose and Lacombe, Alberta. Respondents rated the importance of various motivations and perceived benefits (Table 1) on 5-point scales of 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree, and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for testing differences between these motivations and perceived benefits. The Cohen’s D effect size statistic was used for testing the strength of these differences. Respondents also answered closed-ended questions about the impacts of their participation on awareness and engagement, and open-ended questions about examples of those impacts. All open-ended responses were recorded verbatim and transcribed for analysis. Respondent mean age was 48 years and 12 of the 16 respondents (75%) held a bachelor’s degree or higher. No respondents had received specialized training for the project, and eight of the 16 respondents (50%) had been involved in the project for one year and the other eight respondents (50%) for two years. Most of the initial motivations closely matched the perceived benefits of participation (Table 1). Similar to Bruyere and Rappe (2007), helping a species in need and learning about Purple Martins were rated highest, whereas spending time with family and friends was rated lowest. Meeting like-minded people was the only variable with a significant increase between motivations and perceived benefits, but the effect size suggested that this increase was “small” (Cohen, 1988) or “minimal”

Democratic legitimacy in the carbon fuel era has been based on popular acceptance of elitist democracy in return for economic growth and rising material standards of living. This social contract of consumption is coming to an end with climate change adaptation and ecological limits to growth. This article argues that a new era characterized by a social covenant of ecological trusteeship is necessary. Will the politics and governance of this new covenant necessarily be elitist and authoritarian, or can it be democratic in new ways? The article discusses the nature and prospects for a future democratic governance that remains liberal in its respect for human rights and the rule of law, but is more deliberative and civic in its orientation than interest group liberalism has been. Key concepts of ecological literacy and ecological democratic citizenship are discussed. Literacy is understood as a function of both information and empowerment. A model of citizenship as trusteeship is defended against the notion ...

In his writings, David Orr claims that the US is in an “ecological crisis” and that this stems from a crisis of education. He outlines a theory of ecological literacy, a mode by which we better learn the ecology of the Earth and live in a sustainable manner. While emphasizing a shock doctrine, the diagnosis of “crisis” may be correct, but it is short-lived for children and adults of the world. In this philosophical analysis of Orr’s theory, it is argued that we move beyond the perspective of crisis. By extending Orr’s ecological literacy with biophilia and ecojustice and by recognizing the importance of experience-in-learning, science education is envisioned to incorporate values and morals within a longer term ideology of educational reform.

Globalization makes living in the world more complex. Many children live as social cyborgs attached to the digital spaces of the virtual play worlds of television, video and computer games rather than connected to their own local places. The impact of this change may well be that children lack acquaintance with their local places and may never develop the ecological literacy or the positive attitudes toward place that is so crucial to its sustainability. This paper presents an autoethnographic study of a third grade class engaged in reading picture story books that featured place‐based settings in partnership with embodied learning textually and visually through art, photography, poetry, story writing and environmental journals of class field experiences along their local river valley. Combining place‐based education with social constructivist pedagogy fostered places for learning for children to create a knowing that they, too, can take action for places where they live throughout their lives.

University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum's Earth Partnership for Schools program works with students, teachers, and citizen volunteers to restore schoolyards and natural areas and to address diversity, pollution prevention, and ecological literacy across age, ecosystem, discipline, and culture. A ten-step restoration education process with more than 100 activities that address multiple learning styles is integrated with school curricula. The RESTORE ("Restoration Education, Science Training and Outreach for Regional Educators") program has trained teams to bring Earth Partnership for Schools to a variety of ecosystems in 17 states and Puerto Rico, and has included more than 400 schools, 1,600 teachers, and 160,000 students. Key supporters and collaborators include the U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, and other public and private agencies, universities, arboreta, botanic gardens, and environmental organizations. Earth Partnership is inspired by Aldo Leopold's "land ethic" that sees land as a community to which we belong, and was articulated so clearly in his beloved Sand County Almanac in 1949.