Environmental education in the United States

At the International Environmental Education Workshop led by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1975, environmental education aims were established: “The goal of environmental education is to develop a world population that is aware of, and concerned about, the environment and its associated problems, and which has the knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivations and commitment to work individually and collectively toward solutions of current problems and the prevention of new ones.”{{cite web | url=https://www.gdrc.org/uem/ee/belgrade.html | title=The Belgrade Charter}}

In the latter half of the 1800s, as the western frontier was settled and the continent no longer seemed limitless, and as children increasingly grew up in urbanized and polluted environments, interest in fostering a connection to nature grew.{{cite web | url=https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/connections/conservation/history.html | title=History - the Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920 - Collection Connections | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress| website=Library of Congress}}

The conservation movement, fostered by well-known figures such as Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) and Theodore Roosevelt (1858 – 1919), added an element of environmental preservation to the examination of nature characteristic of the Nature Study movement.{{cite web | url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/hisnps/NPSThinking/nps-oah.htm | title=Conservation, Preservation and Environmental Activism: A Survey of the Historical Literature}}{{cite web | url=http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/search/books/STRCON.html | title=University of Washington Press - Books - Conservation in the Progressive Era}}

Summer camps and the Scouting movement for boys and girls, both emerging in the late 1800s to early 1900s, also had exploration, study of, and appreciation for the outdoors as fundamental components.{{cite web | url=https://www.history.com/news/why-fear-of-big-cities-led-to-the-creation-of-summer-camps | title=Why Fear of Big Cities Led to the Creation of Summer Camps - HISTORY| date=September 2018}}{{cite web | url=http://blogs.stlawu.edu/gs302fall2013/2013/12/01/a-short-history-of-summer-camp/ | title=A Short History of Summer Camp | Theories of Global Cultural Studies (Fall 2013)}}{{cite web | url=https://daily.jstor.org/history-summer-camp/ | title=Summer Camp, History of| date=2016-04-26}}{{cite web | url=https://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/aug1/birth-scouting-movement/ | title=Birth of the Scouting Movement| date=2014-07-07}}

The 1960s brought increased awareness of environmental issues,{{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226100365 |doi=10.1007/978-90-481-9222-9_1|chapter=The History and Philosophy of Environmental Education |title=The Inclusion of Environmental Education in Science Teacher Education |year=2010 |last1=Carter |first1=Robert L. |last2=Simmons |first2=Bora |pages=3–16 |isbn=978-90-481-9221-2 }} leading to the first Earth Day event in 1970 while environmental education gained definition and structure in the US and elsewhere in the 1970s through the United Nations’ Belgrade Charter,{{cite web|url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0001/000177/017772eb.pdf|title=The Belgrade Charter: a framework for environmental education|date=1975|website=UNESDOC Digital Library|publisher=UNESCO}} and proceedings from the 1977 International Conference on Environmental Education in Tbilisi.{{cite web|url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0003/000327/032763eo.pdf|title=Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education, Tbilisi, USSR, 14-26 October 1977: final report|date=1978|website=UNESDOC Digital Library|publisher=UNESCO}}

The Environmental Education Act of 1970{{cite web|url=https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-84/pdf/STATUTE-84-Pg1312.pdf|title=Public Law 91-516|date=October 30, 1970|website=GovInfo|publisher=U.S. Government Publishing Office}} led to the creation of the [https://www.epa.gov/education Office of Environmental Education] in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,{{cite web | url=http://www.fundee.org/facts/fedfund/leghistory.htm | title=Campaign for Environmental Literacy}} and the following year the organization which became the current day [https://naaee.org/ North American Association for Environmental Education] was founded,{{cite web|url=https://cdn.naaee.org/sites/default/files/naaeehistory2001.pdf|title=The North American Association for Environmental Education: Thirty years of History 1971 to 2001|date=2001|last1=Disinger|first1=John|last2=Wicks|first2=David|publisher=The North American Association for Environmental Education|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316050525/https://cdn.naaee.org/sites/default/files/naaeehistory2001.pdf |archive-date=March 16, 2018}} and which has a number of affiliates{{Cite web|url=https://naaee.org/our-partners/affiliates|title = NAAEE Affiliate Network|date = 19 May 2015}} in most US states as well as Canadian provinces and Mexico.

In 1987, the Brundtland Report from the World Commission on Environment and Development gave a modern definition of sustainability,{{cite web|url=http://www.un-documents.net/our-common-future.pdf|title=Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future|author=World Commission on Environment and Development|publisher=The United Nations}} which is fundamental to effective environmental education.{{cite web | url=https://www.plt.org/about-us/why-environmental-education-is-important/ | title=Why Environmental Education is Important}}

In 1995, the Environmental Education and Training Partnership (EETAP){{cite web | url=https://www.epa.gov/education/national-environmental-education-training-program | title=National Environmental Education Training Program| date=2012-12-12}}{{cite web | url=http://www.eetap.org/ | title=Environmental Education and Training Partnership}} was established by a group of environmental education organizations, and received funding from the U.S. EPA.

Academicians concepts in environmental education, such as "responsible environmental behavior,{{Cite book | url=https://www.nap.edu/read/10401/chapter/11#154 | title=Read "New Tools for Environmental Protection: Education, Information, and Voluntary Measures" at NAP.edu| doi=10.17226/10401| year=2002| isbn=978-0-309-08422-2}} and promoted research elucidating which environmental education techniques were and were not effective.{{cite web|url=http://www.elkhornsloughctp.org/uploads/files/1374624954Changing%20learner%20behavior%20-%20H%20and%20V.pdf|title=Changing Learner Behavior through Environmental Education|last1=Hungerford|first1=Harold R.|last2=Volk|first2=Trudi L.|website=Elkhorn Slough Coastal Training Program}}

Environmental education programs for children, college students and adults continued to develop in the 1990s to the current day.{{cite web|url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED491084.pdf|title=The Roots of Environmental Education: How the Past Supports the Future|last=McCrea|first=Edward J.|publisher=Environmental Education and Training Partnership|website=United States Department of Education}}

Environmental education in the US and globally, along with the larger environmental movement, has been criticized for failure to achieve its overall aims, despite discrete successful moments.{{Cite news | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-15109093 | title=Has the green movement failed?| newspaper=BBC News| date=2011-09-30| last1=Duke| first1=Steven}}{{cite web | url=https://www.hcn.org/issues/342/16904 | title=Taking the conservation movement to task| date=2007-03-19}}{{Cite journal |pmc = 1847843|year = 2007|last1 = Blumstein|first1 = D. T.|title = The Failure of Environmental Education (and How We Can Fix It)|journal = PLOS Biology|volume = 5|issue = 5|pages = e120|last2 = Saylan|first2 = C.|pmid = 17439304|doi = 10.1371/journal.pbio.0050120 | doi-access=free }}

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• Environment of the United States
• Education in the United States
• Nature centers in the United States
• Acid Rain Retirement Fund
• Alliance for Climate Education
• Burton 4-H Center
• Center for Ecoliteracy
• Junior Forest Rangers
• National Environmental Education Act
• New Jersey School of Conservation
• No Child Left Inside Act of 2009
• North American Association for Environmental Education
• Pine Mountain Settlement School
• The Fairchild Challenge
• Clean Ocean Action
• National Wildlife Federation

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{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20180611125355/http://www.iere.org/ Institute for Environmental Research and Education]
• [http://www.naaee.org/ North American Association for Environmental Education]

{{United States topics}}

{{Education}}

{{Environmental humanities}}

{{Environmental social science}}

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