The American Adolescent’s Environmental Ethic Educating leaders for an uncertain future on Planet Eaarth on Planet Eaarth A presentation by Eleanor Burke for Envr 120 / December 2010

Today’s children will likely confront challenges we can hardly begin to imagine in a radically altered, unrecognizable world. Can we responsibly continue preparing them for business as usual? And if not, what can we do to make them ready for a survival game in which wild cards rule? --Dianne Dumanoski The End of the Long Summer

Are we creating a generation of young people with nature deficit disorder and no capacity to love or appreciate the environment?

What does the research tell us about teens and environmentalism?

Graph from Wray-Lake, L., Flanagan, C.A., Osgood, D. W. (2010) Examining Trends in Adolescent Environmental Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors Across Three Decades. Environment and Behavior (42:1) Retrieved October 2010 at

How much time in a day do you spend online, on Facebook, or with earphones listening to music? To follow the nature deficit theory, and to learn about teens’ implicit theory of TIME, I asked:

They answered:

What sense of personal responsibility toward the environment do teens feel? To understand teens’ theory of agency in the world Wray-Lake analyzed:

Graph from Wray-Lake, L., Flanagan, C.A., Osgood, D. W. (2010) Examining Trends in Adolescent Environmental Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors Across Three Decades. Environment and Behavior (42:1) Retrieved October 2010 at

“When you don’t recycle a container at school, what is the main thing stopping you?” No response I don’t care about recycling I’m too lazy; its bothersome I forget; I’m careless I don’t feel like emptying it in the sink Too far to walk to the barrel I always recycle or use my own bottle (n=105)

Teen Materialism ❖ Belief in the technofix remains high throughout 30-yr study ❖ Surpassed personal responsibility in the 1980’s Data simplified from Wray-Lake, L., Flanagan, C.A., Osgood, D. W. (2010) Examining Trends in Adolescent Environmental Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors Across Three Decades. Environment and Behavior (42:1) Retrieved October 2010 at

Time: Gotta check my Facebook---where’s my cell & my i-Pod? Agency: It’s the government’s job...the recycling barrel’s too far away Change: I need a new pair of jeans & a new cell phone Community, Authority, and System: These are in tender developmental stage in teen years, And must be explicitly re-taught in the curriculum by using a New Environmental Paradigm Teen environmental silhouette thus far

Bridging the gap: educating to win teens’ minds, hearts, behaviors Guiding principles for a high school environmental curriculum

❖ Appeal to youth’s sense of community, fairness, justice, and enlist teens as agents of change, as the new voices of authority in the world as they assume leadership ❖ Provide real-world experiences, in and of the environment, a deep sense of system ❖ Be realistic about costs of teen materialism, while using their electronic obsessions to advantage To help teens develop an environmental ethic, the curriculum must

1. What is the story behind all those jeans in your closet? Curriculum possibilities Photo source: Diesel.com

2. Make a Facebook Friend In a place that has already felt the effects of climate change and/or the tragedy of the commons

3. Experience your part in a greater system Try for one week to disconnect yourself from the world community--see if it’s possible.