It’s Virtually Summer, Can the Zoo Come to You? Zoo Summer School Engagement in an Online Setting

Zoological collections are rapidly changing from a place of entertainment to centers of education. Many zoological collections run holiday and weekend clubs with activities aimed at inspiring and enthusing the next generation. The COVID-19 pandemic saw zoological collections across the world closing, leading a need for alternative educational content. Edinburgh Zoo, UK converted their summer school to a virtual provision. This provided a unique opportunity to determine the effectiveness of online zoological education by investigating if engagement levels differ for family groups when education is ‘live’, ‘recorded’ or ‘activity’ based. A total of 235 participants signed up for the Virtual Summer School, which comprised of 46 separate activities. Submissions, comments and polls were coded for content level and activity type. Results show that the overall engagement was higher for the live sessions compared to the recorded content; however, the content level was higher for activities. Content level increased over the week and there was a higher reported nature appreciation at the end of the Virtual Summer School. These findings provided evidence to suggest that online holiday zoo education can engage and inspire and gives insight on how to maximize the engagement and knowledge acquisition when using these online platforms.

A Longitudinal Study of the Local Community Perspective on Ecotourism Development in Lombok, Indonesia

This study examined stakeholders’ perception related to the Korea–Indonesia international ecotourism official development assistance project in Tunak, Lombok, Indonesia. In-depth interviews were conducted with 18 local community members, government officers, and project executors in 2014 and 2020. Six themes arose from the respondents’ perceptions: nature appreciation, enhancement of sociocultural development, prospect of stakeholder involvement, boosting environmental conditions, present economic contributions for conservation, and project deficiencies. The results showed that the project was carried out in line with the initial plan and emphasized local community involvement. However, the community’s dependence on external help could lead to unsustainable ecotourism practices in the future. Through various project programs, the local village’s economy and infrastructure started to develop. Education and direct local community involvement positively affected the local community conditions, both in sociocultural and economic terms.

Outdoor Education in Promoting Nature Appreciation: A Survey through Activity Enjoyment among Physical Education Students in a Public University

Outdoor Education (OE) is usually associated with challenging activities and developing skills among students. It also teaches learning through the interaction with the nature world which helps to educate for environmental appreciation. Is the frequency of involvement can determine the appreciation among its participants? So, the objectives of this study are to identify the involvement of outdoor activities, its enjoyment of participation and its relationship with nature appreciation among undergraduate students in a higher learning institution in Malaysia. One hundred and sixty-nine (n=169) students who participated in this study were from a Physical and Health Education Program. Results from the study indicated high levels of participation with much pleasure from diverse outdoor activities in water and land based. Pearson’s correlation analysis was performed between each type of water and land-based activity with nature appreciation. Analyses were found to have significant relation of several activities with nature appreciation. Findings indicated a significant but weak relationship between the overall activities and nature appreciation among the students. It was suggested that integrating together new area of studies related to mother nature should be incorporated during the activities.

Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature and the Global Environmental Crisis

Global climate change has been characterised as the crisis of reason (Val Plumwood), imagination (Amitav Ghosh) and language (Elizabeth Rush), to mention some. The ‘everything change’, as Margaret Atwood calls it, arguably also impacts on how we aesthetically perceive, interpret and appreciate nature. This article looks at philosophical theories of nature appreciation against global environmental change. The article examines how human-induced global climate change affects the ‘scientific’ approaches to nature appreciation which base aesthetic judgment on scientific knowledge and the competing ‘non-scientific’ approaches which emphasise the role of emotions, imagination and stories in the aesthetic understanding of environment. The author claims that both approaches are threatened by global climate change and cannot continue as usual. In particular, he explores aesthetic imagination in contemporary times when our visions about environment are thoroughly coloured by worry and uncertainty and there seems to be little room for awe and wonder, which have traditionally characterised the aesthetic experience of nature. Finally, he proposes that art could stimulate environmental imagining in this age of uncertainty.

The Impact of NOLS Rocky Mountain on the Development of a Sense of Place

Background: One of the core environmental studies learning objectives at NOLS is for students to develop a “sense of place” by experiencing wilderness and exploring relationships with their surroundings. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore how students report developing a sense of place after completing a course based out of NOLS Rocky Mountain in Lander, Wyoming. A secondary focus of this study was to understand sense-of-place development through past NOLS research on learning mechanisms. Methodology/Approach: Data were analyzed from 511 NOLS students who answered the open-ended question: Did NOLS help you develop a personal relationship to the places you visited? If so, how? This study utilized a grounded theory approach to design and analysis. Findings/Conclusions: Analyses revealed nine core categories related to developing an expeditionary and wilderness-focused sense of place. The two predominant themes supporting a sense of place were the ability of a NOLS course to facilitate nature appreciation and specific instructor-oriented and NOLS structure-oriented learning mechanisms. Implications: This article offers insights into how NOLS supports a sense of place, clarifies related learning mechanisms, and discusses curricular considerations related to facilitating person–environment relationships within landscapes understood as wilderness.

Moral Norms and Nature Appreciation

This chapter asks whether there are moral norms that constrain aesthetic judgments about nature. There are two arguments for this view. The first appeals to the idea that degraded states of nature detract from their aesthetic value. This is an example of interaction. The other argues that aesthetic judgments can manifest disrespect for nature, which makes them defective or inappropriate. Call this idea respect for nature. I will consider each approach and show that arguments for such constraints have not been successful. I will then use elements from these approaches to make a case for the existence of a moral norm that bears on aesthetic judgments about nature. However, I conclude by arguing that this is only one of at least two competing potential moral norms that bear on these judgments, and it is equally reasonable to adopt either one in the face of degraded natural environments.

Segmentation by Motivation in Ecotourism: Application to Protected Areas in Guayas, Ecuador

Among tourists, there is recently a growing interest in the environment and enjoying the natural world. This study analyzed the motivations and segmentation of the demand for ecotourism, using functional theory as a reference point. Empirical analysis was carried out in Santay National Recreation Area, Morro Mangrove Wildlife Refuge, and Samanes National Recreation Area. The sample included 382 surveys, obtained in situ using the simple random sampling method. Factorial analysis and non-hierarchical segmentation were performed to analyze the data. The results indicate that there are several motivational dimensions in ecotourism, including self-development, interpersonal relationships and ego-defensive function, building personal relationships, escape reward, and nature appreciation. We also identified three different segments of ecotourists based on their motivations—nature, multiple motives, and reward and escape—as well as the characteristics of the different segments. The present investigation will help public institutions and private companies improve their tourism offerings and develop more efficient marketing plans.