Introduction
The task of the connection to nature can be explained by the fact of environmental degradation and urbanization processes which disconnect a modern citizen from nature. Without theory, responses to problems will be arbitrary and short-sighted. A coherent theory of environmental education, related to the connection to nature, is required to guide our thinking about education. Theory guides by establishing the aims of education and projecting basic ways in which these ends can be reached. Concrete decisions–such as whether sex education should be conducted in middle schools or whether a college should add a certain program of instruction–can be made according to a theoretical framework.
Why it’s Important to Do
Urbanization processes harm reducing connection to nature. Children are deprived chance to communicate with nature and understand its importance and role in their life. The government has suspended all fiscal incentives and official credits for livestock and agricultural projects, and also prohibited the exportation of timber “in natura.” In the coming years, the government will make a systematic effort to define areas of permanent preservation and to select microregions particularly appropriate for a range of economic activities. The government will also do whatever is necessary to enforce the law establishing 50 percent of each rural property as a protected site (“legal reserve”) in forested areas (Bengtsson and Saito 2004).
Urbanization processes change traditional outdoor activities and deprived children of a chance to play outside. More and more children spend time before TVs or in front of their computers playing games or communicating with their friends online. In this case, the practice has a reciprocal impact on environmental theory. Practice can “test” a theory; it can validate or invalidate educational concepts and proposals. A fine-sounding theory may run into difficulties in practice and thus cause us to rethink, modify or perhaps even relinquish our original ideas. The task of local communities and the agencies is to involve children in outdoor activities and help them to communicate with nature and understand it. Every educational theory has to encounter the hard realities of ordinary life and stand or fall according to its adequacy to human experience. Exploring the general ideas which give direction to specific environmental and ecological educational policies and practices does not go far enough. For example, take the policy of nondiscrimination in hiring teachers and educating students. This policy can be deduced from the concepts of the dignity of all human beings and of fair treatment. But how did we obtain these concepts? They must still be defined by a more comprehensive philosophy of life. But there are competing views of life that vie for our allegiance. Thus, the particular world and life view which one adopts determines how the concepts of human dignity and fairness are defined. Not only are educational policy and practice subordinate to educational theory, but the educational theory itself is born out of a larger world view (Hollander 2004).
Strategies for Accomplishing
In the USA, such policies as debt-for-nature do not translate into debt-for-do-not-touch. The idea that areas will be bordered without benefit to the host country is contrary to what we are trying to accomplish. There is no limit to the creativity that can be applied once the concept is adopted. As we have all recognized the interconnected nature of health, population, poverty, and environmental degradation, we can seek to address the roots of the destruction in developing countries, not just the symptoms. Debt swap ought to include extractive reserves, conservation education programs, the refurbishing of local research centers, opportunities for ecotourism, and improved healthcare facilities. Likewise, projects to match the continued need for energy with environmentally friendly, state-of-the-art technologies can be fostered. All of the ideas involve employment and would help create a local incentive to respect the environment. In the past year, the number of private organizations generally and environmental organizations specifically has proliferated in the USA (Lomborg, 2001).
To connect people to nature, local agencies and authorities should organize special programs for children and involve parents in this education.
“If more people knew about the importance of developing this aspect of intelligence, parents may become the environmental educator’s best friend and supporter. If schoolteachers and administrators accepted Gardner’s theory, children would receive a more balanced education, including less emphasis on studying for standardized tests and more focus on direct experience outdoors in healing green spaces” (Louv 2003, p. 53).
An ecological education about nature does not always dictate specific decisions but provides a way of thinking about policies and practices. Certainly, no decisions can have a clear direction without reference to some educational theory. And no educational theory can have a firm foundation apart from some fundamental philosophical perspective. Professional educators, both present and future, must be able to think intelligently about the large questions which underlie educational methods and goals. Teachers, counselors, administrators, and curriculum specialists should be familiar with the issues regarding the nature of reality and the purpose of life. When students of environmental philosophy have found their way through these basic issues, then they are in a position to select intelligently the aims of education and choose effectively the pedagogical methods which promote them (Kinder, 2007).
In environmental education, universal ethical principles are communicated to the student-both through didactic instruction and exemplary action–so that they might be applied in concrete situations. Useful pedagogical tools include examples and lessons found in fairy tales, fiction, and biography. Key pedagogical approaches are exposing the student to great art, explaining how it conforms to certain universal rules, and letting the student practice creating beautiful art. Artistic sensibility is a unity of intellectual and affective elements. “Thus, if an individual desires a sense of connectedness with nature, he or she may have a more connected view of nature with humans than would an individual desiring isolation” (Viningi et al 2008).
The law makes available a repertory of ecological policy instruments of broad coverage and applicability, strong enough to support an integrated planning process comprising the federal government, the federal entities, municipalities, and society itself. This includes the ecological organization of regions and human settlements, the mandatory evaluation of environmental impacts of important projects, ecological planning regulations, steps for the protection of natural areas, research and education, inspection, and mechanisms for social participation. The environmental and resource consequences of US development did not happen by accident (Kinder, 2007).. For this reason, throughout the year air quality levels in urban areas normally exceed standard levels (similar to those in other countries), causing decreased visibility and threatening public health. “Similarly, the next most frequently mentioned attribute that participants addressed was a pure or clean environment. Participants also fairly frequently mentioned peaceful and beautiful environments” (Viningi et al 2008, p. 7).
Such programs as No Child Left Behind should be based on outdoor activities and involve children in communication with nature. The main goals of the program are (1) to halt predatory actions against the environment and renewable natural resources; (2) to create an environmental protection system. The first position, that education should be value-neutral, has validity only in certain contexts. Many who hold this notion rightly guard against indoctrination and champion the right of students to make free choices. But some embrace the fallacious dualism between fact as objective truth and value as a subjective preference or at least the dichotomy that fact can be taught and character can in no way be taught. The second position identifies knowledge and virtue. Those who hold this position believe that theoretical knowledge translates into practical action, such that knowing the right is a sufficient condition for doing the right. While this classical position is too strong (ignoring such factors as knowledgeable and willful wrongdoing), it does recognize that there is much that education can do to foster moral life. First, ecological education can have a direct influence on moral growth by helping to shape the will, inculcating proper habits and dispositions. Second, ecological education can have an indirect influence on the moral life of students by enlightening the mind, establishing the conviction that certain principles are approvable and certain kinds of actions are right.
Ways to Measure Succes
This long-term effort has already produced a change in policy orientation. The government has created new forests (Viningi et al 2008). The Institute on the Environment was created to centralize government action concerning ecological issues, forestry exploitation, fishing, and the protection of ecological systems. We have recognized the need to accelerate agrarian reform in other parts to diminish the waves of migrants who continue to enter the region (Louv 2005). A general education, for the dialectical program, means that there should be a broad base in knowledge essential to our humanity, in learning which pertains to the large, perennial issues of human thought and action (McKee, 2003).
The questionnaire method can be used to access and analyze the effectiveness of the connection to nature program. “In the first item, we asked if participants considered themselves as part of or separate from nature. We also asked that they explain their responses to this question” (Viningi et al l2008, p. 8). It is important to measure the attitude of people towards nature and analyze their descriptions of nature. Word usage and description can help to identify the connection to nature and understanding of the nature of people. “Another explanation as to why people think of themselves as part of nature, but sometimes define nature as absent of human interferences, is that the human-nature relationship may not be conceptualized as a dichotomous one. Instead of viewing humans as either part of or separate from nature” (Viningi et al l2008, p. 9).
In sum, to connect people and children to nature, it is important to educate them and organize special programs for children involving them in outdoor activities. Ecological education is a necessary and sufficient condition for both children and adults. The children and adults should be brought to consider certain pervasive concerns about the nature of the universe, the meaning of life, and our common duty–as a prelude to working out his or her frame of reference. These activities and involvement of communities can be achieved through educational programs and special outdoor events organized for the general public.
References
- Bengtsson, T. Saito, O. (2003). Population and Economy: From Hunger to Modern Economic Growth. Oxford University Press.
- Hollander, J., M. (2004). The Real Environmental Crisis: Why Poverty, Not Affluence, Is the Environment’s Number One Enemy. University of California Press.
- Lomborg, B. (2001). The Skeptical Environmentalist, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Kinder, C. (2007). The Population Explosion: Causes and Consequences.
- Louv, R. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit
- Disorder.. 2005. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books. Cloth.
- McKee, J. K. (2003). Sparing Nature: The Conflict Between Human Population Growth and Earth’s Biodiverstiy. Rutgers University Press.
- Viningi, J., Merrick, M. S., Price, E. (2008). The Distinction between Humans and Nature: Human Perceptions of Connectedness to Nature and Elements of the Natural and Unnatural. Human Ecology Review, 15 (1),