EE Problem framing #1: Communication to change Environmentally-Relevant Behavior: Social Marketing and Systematic Behavior-change Campaigns

Situation and goals ...

• urgent problem (can't wait for next generation)

• specific behaviors causing problem

• identifiable sector of people (usually adults)

• substitutes / alternatives to meet individuals' needs are available
 
 

 Capacities of humans as learners and actors... • limited ability to take in new info (use trusted avenues)

• have culturally stable worldview (use it!)

• have pre-existing values, commitments and motivations (don't challenge)

• can be relied upon to act in self-interest (incentives)
 
 

 Possible and/or desirable actions
• changes in individual behavior are possible given info, incentive, structure / facilities changes, and community push
• not radical change of system
• every long journey starts with one step
Analysis of the causes of environmental problems • specific, individual behaviors have large cumulative impact (tragedy of the commons)

• individuals will do the right thing if you make it easy
 
 

 Shortcomings / inappropriate applications   • people are not only selfish; we can appeal to concern for others, wider common good, ability to cooperate & take collective responsibility. We can call on people to respond to these appeals.

• many problems don't boil down to easily targeted behaviors; total problem can't be addressed piece-meal.

• some roots of problem may lie at institutional or political/economic level, over which individuals acting alone don't have much influence

• problems and solutions can be contentious; one individual's chosen solution may have negative consequences for other individuals
 
 

EE Problem framing #2 : EE for democratic participation:
Environmental Citizenship Education

Situations and goals ...

• Collective control (over individual or corporate action) required

• Contentious issues - alternatives affect more than the individual choosing them

• Dealing piecemeal w/ behavior is not sufficient - actions highly inter-related

• Individual action less relevant than group-level
 
 

 Capacities of humans as learners and actors... • Educated citizenry can critique current systems, take collective responsibility

• Can assimilate new info, deal w/the facts, science, come to more rationally adequate soln.

• Can agree to procedure, agree to follow rules

• People are social, cooperate, act together

• Can change the "rules of the game"
 
 

 Possible and/or desirable actions ... • Policies, rules, accountability, burden of proof

• Better knowledge, technology, exist - gain control

• Financial resources exist - use them
 
 

 Analyses of the causes of environmental problems ... • Concentrated power must be opposed by organized, critically aware, active people

• Individuals will not change behavior at high personal cost; must collectively change systems to change costs or provide alternatives, structural changes, etc.

EE Problem Framing #3: Person, Place, Culture:
Place-Based EE

Situations and goals ...

• Cultural habits that are the roots of long-term patterns of behavior.

• Goals involve changing people's emotional and value-laden relations to nature

• Accept long-term change process (potentially generational change)

 Capacities of humans as learners and actors... • Person is more than self-interested individual, and more than citizen in political community.

• Potential for sense of connection with the wider non-human community of which we are a part. (Sense of place, ecological self, biophilia, etc)

• We are creatures of culture, but we change our cultures also, in part through critical reflection and action (but also though technology and other factors beyond one's control)

• Changes of perception and value may only be learnable from first-hand experience, but will last.

 Possible and/or desirable actions ... • Legislation seen as limited & imperfect solution

• Values, perceptions, worldviews, emotions, customs, practices, sensibilities, conventions, moral norms are pervasive, enduring, and internal; changes in them will last.

• Community-based in 'deepest' sense (human & non-human). Community endures in time, as solutions must.

 Analyses of the causes of environmental problems • Existing cultural beliefs, values, and practices regarding nature. 'Anthropocentric' values.

• Technological, economic, political, educational and other institutional arrangements based on conformity, passivity, discouragement of full self-actualization, and oppressive social relations.

 DOING Person/Place/Culture EE • Teach about basic ecological processes and their meaning in people's lives

• Study and foster ways of expressing sense of connection to land, animals, nature

• Foster holistic cultural change by enacting new stories and metaphors of our relation to nature and each other.

 More ideas from:

Smith, G. A. and Williams, D. R. (1999). Ecological education in action: On weaving education, culture, and the environment. (Albany: SUNY). pp. 6-7, Principles of ecological education:

• Development of personal affinity with the earth through practical out-of-doors experience, and practicing ethic of care

• Grounding learning in a sense of place through study of knowledge possessed by local elders and the investigation of surrounding natural and human communities

• Induction of students into an experience of community that counters the press toward individualism that is dominant in contemporary social and economic experiences

• Acquisition of practical skills needed to regenerate human and natural environments

• Introduction to occupational alternatives that contribute to the preservation of local cultures and the natural environment

• Preparation for work as activists able to negotiate local, regional, and national governmental structures in an effort to adopt policies that support social justice and ecological sustainability

• Critique of culture assumption upon which modern industrial civilization has been built, exploring in particular how they have contributed to the exploitation of the natural world and human populations.