The Roots of Environmental
Education:
How the Past Supports the Future
1 The Roots of EE
by Edward J. McCrea
The field of environmental education has
sometimes been compared to a thriving,
robust tree with the tree’s many branches
representing the diversity and variety in the
field. Given the differing definitions, the
many programs, the plethora of materials,
and the fractal like growth of the field,
perhaps the comparison with a tree is apt.
But, what lies underground? What are the
roots of the field?
As with a tree, the roots of environmental
education are widespread and diverse.
They provide support for the present field
while supplying the nourishment for future
growth.
Where Do We Come From?
Does environmental education owe its origins to the
influence of philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau
(1712-1778) who felt that education should maintain a focus
on the environment, or to educators such as Louis Agassiz
(1807-1873) who encouraged students to “study nature, not books”?
Perhaps environmental education has its roots in the nature study
movement of the early 1900s or the conservation education programs of
the 1930s “Dust Bowl” era. Maybe, the public awakening to pollution
and general environmental problems culminating in the first Earth Day
in 1970 can be seen as the roots of modern environmental education.
Certainly, environmental educators must view the Belgrade Charter
written in Belgrade, Yugoslavia by the United Nations Educational,
Scientific, and Cultural Organization in 1975 and important conferences
such as the 1977 Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental
Education in Tbilisi as part of the strong foundation of the thriving tree
of environmental education.
D
The EE activities of today have their
roots in a widespread and diverse history.
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