1 What is Education for? Ecological Literacy

POL S 384 Lecture 32 Why learn about global environmental problems? 4 Instrumental purpose 4 Enriches life, contributes to meaning 4 Empowerment 4 Is knowledge power? 4 Citizenship

POL S 384 Lecture 33 Learning as empowerment 4 The global problematique –Environment –Poverty –Violence 4 Ecology: the science of living systems –A note on systems theory 4 Sustainability –Meeting today’s needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs 4 A new opening in university education –Interdisciplinary and integrative teaching & learning

POL S 384 Lecture 34 How to teach and learn for sustainability? 4 Top-down vs. bottom-up approaches 4 Ecological literacy 4 Not primarily facts and numbers 4 Historical knowledge 4 Must be experiential -- go outside! 4 Seeking connections 4 Care -- we act upon that which we care about 4 Cone of learning –Memory increases with involvement

POL S 384 Lecture 35 Self and world 4 Ecological footprint –U.S. average acres/person –5 acres/person available globally 4 What did you learn from this exercise? 4 Why do “green” countries still have high footprints? 4 Is personal action enough? Personal lifestyle and political action

POL S 384 Lecture 36 "In wildness is preservation of the world.“ ~Thoreau 4 What did he mean? 4 “Wildness,” not wilderness 4 How might this apply to education?