Green Education...

Environmental education, otherwise known as ‘green education’, concentrates on increasing environmental knowledge and awareness amongst people in order to evoke “informed decisions” and responsible actions towards the environment (UNESCO, Tbilisi Declaration, 1978). According to Keith Schillo (2000:[sp]) “in our current educational system, knowledge of the environment is not effectively linked to how we live in that environment” which results in plenty of knowledge yet no effective change or developments. The only way to obtain a genuine ‘green’ education is to actually “live a green life in an environment that promotes green policies” (Schillo 2000:[sp]). Regarding this statement, it then becomes clear that green education is not simply an education which seeks to inform us about the environment but is in fact an education that seeks to promote change; it stretches far beyond mere knowledge to critical thinking and action. A proper green education can also not be achieved without the implementation of green policies. The long term goal for green education is environmental sustainability; meeting the needs of current generations without compromising the needs of future generations. A helpful aid that teachers may want to consider to use in the classroom would be ‘Green Teacher’, a magazine that helps teachers “enhance environmental and global education” that includes suggestions for “rethinking education in light of environmental and global challenges” (Green Teacher 2012). Green education is definitely something that should start at school, and should continue far beyond a person’s school years; it should be continuous throughout the journey we call life.