The Importance of Environmental Education

A critical part of education that is often overlooked in schools and their curriculums is environmental education. It is truly imperative that students and people of society understand the world around them, and one they are able to do that, they will begin to embrace the world around them. After all, you can't tell a student to "Go Green!" or to "Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!" if the person has NO idea why they are doing it, except because you told them to.

Today's children are completely different from generations of the past, and they are considered to be "disconnected" from nature and their environment. Everything they do, whether it be at home, at school, at a store, etc., revolves around technology, which is slowly but surely taking over our world today. It is harder and harder to get kids to go outside and play catch, take a walk, or even ride their bikes, all of which are things that past generations did continuously. What is sad about the technological takeover is that kids are learning less and less about their environment and the Earth.

Environmental education is extremely important, and without it, our future generations will fail due to our untamed planet and environments. Learning about life cycles, soils, plants, animals, and natural resources are all as essential as learning math, reading, and social studies. Another important part of environmental education is learning about pollution and what we as a society are doing to destroy the Earth, whether or not we are aware of it or trying to. With this, a valid point is that our consumerism, which is twice as high as it was when today's grandparents were children, is ruining and polluting our planet with toxins. We have also used up a great amount of our natural resources. Do people know this? No, because they did not have environmental education!

The simplest activities can enrich children's minds about their environment. Taking them outside, granted the outdoors are safe, planting seeds in pots and watching them grow, or even going to a park, garden, beach or nature sanctuary, all can increase their knowledge. Environmental education is a necessity for students (and everyone) so that they can understand and embrace the world around them, so that people can "Go Green!" and "Reduce, Reuse Recycle!" while understanding why they are doing it, and so that the Earth to be able to survive in the future.

For more information on why environmental education is so important, check out these links!
Forest Foundation           Project Learning Tree