What are the Solutions?: Education

Education

 

        What is the purpose of saving something that you know nothing about? There is no purpose. This is why there are so many efforts nation-wide to educate people about the causes and effects we have on the environment. Knowing about the needs of the environment makes people care about what happens to it in the future. We, the next generation, need to focus on ways to improve of the knowledge about our world and ways to conserve it.

 

        One organization trying to teach the public about reaching a sustainable future is the Earth Day Network (EDN). The EDN was first founded in 1970 when former U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson reacted to a controversy over forestry conservation and land development. It grew into a world-wide organization that is now active in 174 countries educating individuals, in schools, and in businesses. "We need a comprehensive and nation-wide program to save the national resources of America," -Senator Nelson, First Senate speech, March 25, 1963. 

 

        The Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) is also lending a helping hand for the growth of our environmental knowledge. Being a non-profit organization, they truly care about the future towards which our nations are headed. This organization strives to educate every person, regardless of age, nationality, or religion.  They are in 48 countries and counting!

 

        Even Disney takes a part in educating kids on their Disney Cruise Line. When on board the animated character Jiminy Cricket explains how important it is for kids to take action in their own community. The positive influence Disney gives these children impacts their desire to recycle and to be interested in saving various types of sea life. This message is not only shown through the Jiminy Cricket program, but also through other educational programs at their theme parks in California and Florida, USA.

 

        Sustainability and Stewardship teaching is this generation’s obligation for conserving and improving our future. It is easy to sit back and say what is needed to be done, but action is what will determine our future. Action is what our world and its inhabitants need. Without environmental education, our descendents will be uninformed, not knowing what needs to be done. This is why we are so crucial to the knowledge of the subsequent years. Our generation is the foundation of the promising future that is just beginning to take shape.

 

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Sources:

 

Borowski, John F. “Disney's Eco-Theme Education Adventure”. POLITICS WITH BITE! 6 November 2006.  Accessed 2 March 2008. <http://eatthestate.org/07-05/DisneysEcoThemeEducation.htm>

 

Disney Environ-mentality Challenge. Accessed 2 March 2008. <http://disney.go.com/environmentality/dec/resources_helpful.html>

 

Earth Day Network. “Earth Day Network and the Environmental Education Program”.  Earth Day: Everyday for Everybody. Accessed 2 March 2008. <http://www.earthday.net/involved/teachers/EJ/Your_Local_Environment_Final.pdf>

 

Gingrich, Newt and Terry Maple. A Contract with the Earth.  Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins UP, 2007. Accessed 2 March 2008.

 

The Foundation for Environmental Education Program.  Accessed 2 March 2008. <www.the-environment.org>

 

Schneider, Keith. “Gaylord Nelson, Former Senator Who Founded Earth Day, Dies at 89”. The New York Times. Washington, July 3, 2005.  Accessed 2 March 2008. <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/03/politics/03cnd-nelson.html>

 

Photograph: 

Gare and Kitty. “Earth Day... in Our Hands”. Flickr.com.  Accessed  2 March 2008. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/gareandkitty/457226714/>
Used under the Creative Commons License.   <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en>