Ecological Education: Extending the Definition of Environmental Education

1999 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 139-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory A. Smith ◽  
Dilafruz R. Williams
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Environmental Crisis ◽  
Ecological Education ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Impact

Except in small measure, environmental education in the United States has not yet challenged the status quo of Western notions of progress or monoculturalism, or recognized that moving through the environmental crisis may require significant shifts in generally unquestioned cultural attitudes and beliefs. In the U.S., environmental education has instead tended to focus on information regarding environmental problems and to explore topics such as endangered species, global climate change, or the water quality of local streams and rivers. Even this has become a source of controversy in the United States since the mid-1990s as a coalition of right-wing organizations has mounted a well-coordinated political campaign charging environmental educators with bias and a failure to present both sides of controversial issues (Sanera & Shaw 1996, Independent Commission on Environmental Education 1997). Despite this, we believe that if environmental education is to live up to its promise as a vehicle for developing a citizenry capable of making wise decisions about the impact of human activities on the environment, examining and altering fundamental cultural beliefs and practices that are contributing to the degradation of the planet's natural systems will be imperative.We have chosen to call this extended form of environmental education ecological education. For us, ecological education connotes an emphasis on the inescapable embeddedness of human beings in natural settings and the responsibilities that arise from this relationship. Rather than seeing nature as other—a set of phenomena capable of being manipulated like parts of a machine—the practice of ecological education requires viewing human beings as one part of the natural world and human cultures as an outgrowth of interactions between our species and particular places. We believe that the development of sustainable cultures will in fact require widespread acceptance of a relationship between humans and the earth grounded in moral sentiments that arise from the willingness to care. As Indian physicist and ecofeminist Vandana Shiva writes, the term ‘sustainability’ implies the ability and willingness ‘to support, bear weight of, hold up, enable to last out, give strength to, endure without giving way’ (Shiva 1992, p. 191).

scholarly journals The Magnitude of the Impact of HIV on the Human Beings in the World’s Richest Country, America: The Misery of African Americans

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muse Abdi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Hiv Infection ◽  
Risk Behaviors ◽  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
Prevention Programs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Related Risk ◽  
The Impact

Disproportionate rates of HIV infection among African Americans is an increasing concern in the United States. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of HIV prevention programs on African Americans and social determinants fueling HIV-related risk behaviors. Using literature, this study analyzed the incidences of HIV infection among African Americans in the United States and the effectiveness of the prevention programs. African Americans struggle with mass incarceration, drugs, stigma, criminalization, and lack of economic opportunities, which contribute to the HIV-related risk behaviors. The existing traditional prevention programs in place are not working for African Americans. Tailored and culturally relevant programs should be designed and implemented. Further studies are needed to establish the causal relationships and develop preventive measures.

scholarly journals Cultures of light: Electric light in the United States, 1890s-1950s

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Margaret Maile Petty
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Light Industry ◽  
Electric Light ◽  
American Society ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

<p>Cultures of Light is set within a period that stretches from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century in the United States, an era in which nearly every aspect of American life was impacted to a lesser or greater degree by the introduction, distribution and integration of electric power and light. By no means attempting to comprehensively examine the impact and effects of this expansive transformation, this thesis has a narrow but meaningful target, defined by key intersections of electric lighting and American culture. Primarily concerned with the investigation of culturally bound ideas and practices as mediated through electric light and its applications, my thesis is focused on particular instances of this interplay. These include its role in supporting nationalizing narratives and agendas through large-scale demonstrations at world’s fairs and exhibitions, in the search for and expression of modernism and its variations in the United States. Similarly electricity and electric light throughout the better part of the twentieth century was scaled to the level of the individual through a number of mechanisms and narratives. Most prominently the electric light industry employed gendered discourses, practices and beliefs in their efforts to grow the market, calling upon the assistance of a host of cultural influencers, from movie stars to architects to interior designers, instigating a renegotiation of established approaches to the design of architecture and the visual environment. Connecting common themes and persistent concerns across these seemingly disparate subject areas through the examination of cultural beliefs, practices, rituals and traditions, Cultures of Light seeks to illustrate the deep and lasting significance of electric light within American society in the twentieth century.</p>

Alien Nation

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Human Influence ◽  
Human Actions ◽  
Production Of Knowledge ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Impact

This chapter traces the co-production of knowledge on the global migrations of biota—humans, plants, and animals—by exploring a brief biography of life in the United States over the past decade. It also emphasizes the human influence on the natural world by calling this contemporary epoch the Anthropocene, an era driven primarily by the impact of human actions. Thus, with refusing the unproductive choices of a nostalgic past or an anarchic future, this chapter turns to a naturecultural vision of responsible and ethical living with our cohabitants, a vision that is always politically astute and reflexive of the complex histories of gender, race, class, sexuality, and nation that have shaped our ideas of nature and the natural.

scholarly journals Linking Personal Experience to Global Concern: How Zoo Visits Affect Sustainability Behavior and Views of Climate Change

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7117
Author(s):  
Josie A. Taylor ◽  
Leslie A. Duram
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Concern ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Sustainability Education ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

Globally, many species are threatened by habitat loss and are impacted by climate change due to human activities. According to the IUCN Red List, nearly 9000 animal species are now endangered or critically endangered. Yet, humans are largely ignorant to the impact they have on the environment due to lack of effective sustainability education. Currently, one of the most practical ways to connect with our global natural world is by visiting a local zoo. Zoos engage people with numerous species that they would otherwise never have the opportunity to see. Environmental education at zoos has come to address issues such as sustainability, personal green habits, and global climate change. Given the important role of zoos in sustainability education, there is a surprising lack of research on the topic. Due to its innovative nature, the research shown in this study acts as a pilot study set to gauge the impact of zoos on sustainability and climate change perspectives. This article investigates the extent to which adult survey respondents believe their current sustainability behaviors and their perceptions of global climate change have been influenced by their childhood visits to zoos and the environmental education topics learned during these visits. To investigate the long-term impact that zoos have on common sustainability behavior, a survey of 136 university students from various academic fields was conducted. The analysis found that 76% of respondents believe they act sustainably in their daily lives through actions such as sustainable shopping and recycling, with only 35% of individuals indicating that they learned their sustainable behaviors at zoos. Yet, 65% of respondents indicated that they believe zoos impact their overall level of environmental concern, primarily regarding knowledge of animal welfare and endangered species. Results suggest that individuals who are very concerned about climate change spent time at zoos, more than just one annual visit, and those zoo visits encourage global sustainability learning for the individual. This study suggests that zoos should expand visitor engagement through environmental education that encourages meaningful sustainability behavior and climate change knowledge.

scholarly journals Cultures of light: Electric light in the United States, 1890s-1950s

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Margaret Maile Petty
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Light Industry ◽  
Electric Light ◽  
American Society ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

<p>Cultures of Light is set within a period that stretches from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century in the United States, an era in which nearly every aspect of American life was impacted to a lesser or greater degree by the introduction, distribution and integration of electric power and light. By no means attempting to comprehensively examine the impact and effects of this expansive transformation, this thesis has a narrow but meaningful target, defined by key intersections of electric lighting and American culture. Primarily concerned with the investigation of culturally bound ideas and practices as mediated through electric light and its applications, my thesis is focused on particular instances of this interplay. These include its role in supporting nationalizing narratives and agendas through large-scale demonstrations at world’s fairs and exhibitions, in the search for and expression of modernism and its variations in the United States. Similarly electricity and electric light throughout the better part of the twentieth century was scaled to the level of the individual through a number of mechanisms and narratives. Most prominently the electric light industry employed gendered discourses, practices and beliefs in their efforts to grow the market, calling upon the assistance of a host of cultural influencers, from movie stars to architects to interior designers, instigating a renegotiation of established approaches to the design of architecture and the visual environment. Connecting common themes and persistent concerns across these seemingly disparate subject areas through the examination of cultural beliefs, practices, rituals and traditions, Cultures of Light seeks to illustrate the deep and lasting significance of electric light within American society in the twentieth century.</p>

Tough-on-Crime for You, Serve-and-Protect for Me

2021 ◽  
pp. 111-183
Author(s):  
Jim Freeman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Public ◽  
Communities Of Color ◽  
System P ◽  
The Media ◽  
Wealth Building ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Impact

This chapter discusses the United States' support for the highly aggressive enforcement of extremely broad criminal laws in the country. It seeks to understand the primary mechanism that has been used to turn the often-violent suppression and caging of human beings into a wealth-building opportunity, and focuses on the impact that the criminalization trap has had on US citizens. The chapter also explores how media and “public education” efforts shift and distort people's perception of crime in significant ways. It analyses the process of criminalization and how the media tend to direct the public gaze toward Black and Brown communities. It then highlights the United States' attention on criminal justice efforts within Back and Brown communities, and how the police's militant boots-on-the-ground strategy, enforcement discretion, and hyperaggressive policing tactics impacted communities of color. Ultimately, the chapter presents some examples of the many ways in which the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in the United States benefit from the mass criminalization and incarceration system.

scholarly journals A U.S. CLIVAR Project to Assess and Compare the Responses of Global Climate Models to Drought-Related SST Forcing Patterns: Overview and Results

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (19) ◽  
pp. 5251-5272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siegfried Schubert ◽  
David Gutzler ◽  
Hailan Wang ◽  
Aiguo Dai ◽  
Tom Delworth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Model ◽  
The United States ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Precipitation Response ◽  
Sst Forcing ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The U.S. Climate Variability and Predictability (CLIVAR) working group on drought recently initiated a series of global climate model simulations forced with idealized SST anomaly patterns, designed to address a number of uncertainties regarding the impact of SST forcing and the role of land–atmosphere feedbacks on regional drought. The runs were carried out with five different atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs) and one coupled atmosphere–ocean model in which the model was continuously nudged to the imposed SST forcing. This paper provides an overview of the experiments and some initial results focusing on the responses to the leading patterns of annual mean SST variability consisting of a Pacific El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-like pattern, a pattern that resembles the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO), and a global trend pattern. One of the key findings is that all of the AGCMs produce broadly similar (though different in detail) precipitation responses to the Pacific forcing pattern, with a cold Pacific leading to reduced precipitation and a warm Pacific leading to enhanced precipitation over most of the United States. While the response to the Atlantic pattern is less robust, there is general agreement among the models that the largest precipitation response over the United States tends to occur when the two oceans have anomalies of opposite signs. Further highlights of the response over the United States to the Pacific forcing include precipitation signal-to-noise ratios that peak in spring, and surface temperature signal-to-noise ratios that are both lower and show less agreement among the models than those found for the precipitation response. The response to the positive SST trend forcing pattern is an overall surface warming over the world’s land areas, with substantial regional variations that are in part reproduced in runs forced with a globally uniform SST trend forcing. The precipitation response to the trend forcing is weak in all of the models. It is hoped that these early results, as well as those reported in the other contributions to this special issue on drought, will serve to stimulate further analysis of these simulations, as well as suggest new research on the physical mechanisms contributing to hydroclimatic variability and change throughout the world.

scholarly journals Impact of CoronaVirus (COVID19) in the Transport Management System: A Mini-Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Majed Marzooq Alotaibi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Management System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Growth Potential ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Potential Growth ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Transport Management

Human Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) is a consequence of severe acute coronavirus syndrome 2. The pandemic COVID-19 is an unprecedented, global pandemic. A novel COVID-19 affected human beings and a global public health emergency has been announced by COVID-19. In the global world, United States of America is the transport management system (TMS) is a global industry with a large market. TMS empowers to prepare, implement, and maximize the movement of goods, and to ensure that the transport is compliant, there are full and accurate records available at all times. Saudi Arabia is one of the leading TMS world widely. The aim of this review is to estimate the effect on transport management of the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic spread unpredictably around the world, infecting a number of nations with this epidemic. Nevertheless, globally and particularly in the United States was among the highly performed virus cases and mortality rates. Around the same time, even the transport/ traffic management system has affected this infectious disease. Saudi Arabia was also severely affected the impact of COVID-19 on TMS specifically the transport of international airports. The key goals for reinvigorating the growth potential in the future are to improve the production potential and increase employees. Future development of efficient distribution canals is expected to contribute to the potential growth of COVID-19 business TMS. This review concludes as COVID-19 has affected the TMS in the Saudi Arabia as well as global countries.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document