pROCESSING

When it comes to the real crux of our environmental crisis, I do not think we can blame people for not understanding what's going on. Everywhere they go they are assailed by descriptions of the problems: endangered species signs at the zoo, save the prairie campaigns at the club meetings, raptor rehab programs at the nature centers, environmental degradation documentaries on television, etc., but no one ever tells them that it is their lifestyles that are causing the problems. No one ever says, "Hey, the way you live is the reason for all this. That is the primary cause of all our trouble."

The point is that understanding and feeling are not enough if people don't incorporate them into their personal lives. The have to act upon those understandings and feelings in direct ways. So the third "WHAT" of earth education is this processing of the other two -- absorbing those insights and relating them to our own lives on a daily basis. And just as in the other sections, we have identified four components that we must focus upon: assimilating understandings for how life works on the earth, enhancing feelings for the earth and its life, crafting more harmonious lifestyles, and participating in environmental planning and action.

Continue... Chapter Five: Earth Education... The WAYS

Earth Education... A New Beginning Copyright © 1990 The Institute for Earth Education. All Rights Reserved.