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     The ultimate goal of EE is to create an environmentally literate citizen.  Environmental literacy encompasses all five goals of environmental education- helping students to gain awareness and knowledge and then to obtain the skills to become active, engaged citizens.

     Environmental literacy is synonymous with responsible environmental behavior.  Responsible environmental behavior requires making informed decisions and then acting based on these decisions.  In educating for environmental literacy, education must extend beyond basic knowledge and awareness to include action skills and personal responsibility.

     Developing environmental literacy is a life-long process.  Therefore, a citizen's environmental literacy is continually developing and changing throughout their life.

Components to Environmental Literacy

     There are four components that lead to environmentally literate citizens:

  • Questioning and Analysis Skills

  • Knowledge of Environmental Processes and Systems

  • Skills to Understand and Address Environmental Issues

  • Personal and Civic Responsibility

     These four components aim to develop active, responsible citizens.

 
Additional Variables      There are several additional variables that influence and develop a person's environmental literacy.  These variables include (in order from least to most influential):

  • Environmental Sensitivity

  • Attitudes toward Pollution, Technology, etc.

  • Knowledge of Issues

  • Personal Commitment

  • Locus of Control

  • Perceived Skill in Environmental Action Strategies

  • Knowledge of Environmental Action Strategies.

(Hungerford, Harold and Volk, Trudi.  "Changing learner behavior through environmental education."  The Journal of Environmental Education.  21(3)8-22.)

 
Environmental Literacy Resources      For more information about environmental literacy:

"Excellence in EE -- Guidelines for Learning (K-12).  North American Association for Environmental Education.  1999."  

Hungerford, Harold and Volk, Trudi.  "Changing learner behavior through environmental education."  Journal of Environmental Education.  21(3)8-22.

Moseley, Christine.  "Teaching for Environmental Literacy."  Clearing House.  Sept/Oct 2000, 74(1)23-25.

Ramsey, J.  "The effects of environmental action and environmental case study instruction on the overt environmental behavior of eighth-grade students."  Journal of Environmental Education.  13(1)24-30.

Sia, Archibald.  "Selected predictors of responsible environmental behavior."  Journal of Environmental Education.  17(2)31-40.

Wilke, Richard.  "Environmental literacy and the college curriculum."  EPA Journal.  Spring 1995.  21(2)28-31.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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