Cars, Cultures, and Cures@: Environmental Education For K-12

My role as an environmental anthropologist has allowed me to work in many national and international settings. With an interest in culture, technology and the environment, I have focused on environmental issues concerning air pollution and climate change. I have worked with the USEPA managing national surveys and on projects on the US/Mexico border. Most recently, I have worked with the City of Fort Collins, Colorado in an effort to develop an environmental education course that can be delivered to junior high/middle school (preferably 9th grade) students. The purpose of this course is to heighten awareness of personal responsibility as it relates to the automobile and the environment within the context of the American Culture. As an anthropologist, my role was to help the students gain an understanding of the "American Car Culture" and to see how their attitudes and actions reflect their culture and effect their environment. I did this by developing a slide presentation that introduced the concept of the "culture" of the car in America and by including the use of anthropological methods in student assignments assessing attitudes and actions toward the car.