North American Association for Environmental Education NAAEE

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Definitions Project 2006
North American Association for Environmental
Education (NAAEE) Represented by Richard Jurin,
Ph.D. University of Northern Colorado Richard.ju
rin_at_unco.edu 
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• NAEE (National Association for Environmental
  Education)
• founded in 1971 by group of community college
  educators
• Development, marketing, and dissemination of
  instructional materials dealing with environment
• Quickly changed with the influx of diverse
  educator and agency groups and new missions and
  foci for organization ? NAAEE
• The term EE created tensions manifested in
  philosophical debate encompasses multiple
  perspectives and understandings
• What is proper relationship of Humans and the
  environment?
• What is education?
• Differing worldviews compound the tensions
  concerning definitions

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How do people become literate concerning
environmental issues? NAAEE believes education
must go beyond consciousness-raising about these
issues. It must prepare people to think
together about the difficult decisions they have
to make concerning environmental stewardship, and
to work together to improve, and try to solve,
environmental problems. NAAEE uniquely combines
and integrates these perspectives, and takes a
cooperative, non-confrontational,
scientifically-balanced approach to promoting
education about environmental issues.
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NAAEE recognizes the need for a coherent body of
information about environmental issues.
Information and analysis are only part of an
effective education program. To be truly
effective, this body of knowledge must be
integrated into all aspects of the curriculum and
into all types of educating institutions for the
widest array of audiences.
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Over the years, NAAEE has evolved into a
comprehensive environmental education
organization, designed to meet the professional
needs of the broad spectrum of teachers,
educators, interpreters, and communicators
interested and involved in the many aspects of
this diverse field. The most important thing to
impart is that a definition of EE is one that
varies depending on who is doing the
word-smithing, and that it changes over time.
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• Tbilisi Declaration (1977)
• The goals of environmental education are
• to foster clear awareness of, and concern about,
  economic, social, political, and ecological
  interdependence in urban and rural areas
• to provide every person with opportunities to
  acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes,
  commitment, and skills needed to protect and
  improve the environment
• to create new patterns of behavior of
  individuals, groups, and society as a whole
  towards the environment.
• The categories of environmental education
  objectives areAwareness, Knowledge, Attitudes,
  Skills, and Participation

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• UNCED 1992
• Agenda 21 and the 27 principles
• Complexity of the problems facing us
• That poverty as well as excessive consumption by
  affluent populations place damaging stress on the
  environment.
• Governments recognized the need to redirect
  international and national plans and policies to
  ensure that all economic decisions fully took
  into account any environmental impact.
• And the message has produced results, making
  eco-efficiency a guiding principle for business
  and governments alike.

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• The key concept for our future now emerging
• Limiting human impact on the natural world so
  that our civilization/other life can continue to
  exist
• ? Education for Sustainability

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Sustainable development

• UN Development that meets the needs of the
  present without sacrificing the ability of future
  generations to meet theirs.

UN World Summit South Africa, 2002
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Sustainability

• McDonough Braungart
• Development that Eliminates the concept of
  Waste
• an ecological concept

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Sustainability

• Benyus sustainable solutions found by consulting
  and emulating natures time-tested patterns and
  strategies
• the RD is already done for us

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The Sustainability revolution involving new,
previously unlikely, partners
The PRECAUTIONARY Principle guilty until proven
innocent The NATURAL STEP ecological systems
thinking The HOUSTON Principles alliances
between labor, management and environmental
advocates ? corporate accountability The CERES
Principles forum for sustainability in business
community
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The Triple-Bottom Line