importance of environmental literacy in society essay

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What Is The Importance Of Environmental Literacy In Our society?

by Dr. Emily Greenfield | Aug 21, 2022 | Environment

Environmental literacy is an individual’s skills, understanding, and motivation to make conscious decisions that consider their relationship to the natural environment, systems, communities, and future generations. Environmental literacy is the expected outcome of ecological education which attempts to provide students or learners with proper scientific details, skills for critical thinking, strategic and creative problem-solving, and good decision-making.

Source: buddhajeans.com

According to the National Science Foundation’s Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education , creating scientifically informed citizens require a collective and systematic approach to environmental education.

Today it is necessary to highlight the importance of environmental literacy. Our environment has never been so exploited and damaged as it is today. Humans extract approximately 55 billion tons of fossil fuels, metals, minerals, and other natural resources each year. Every year around 1,692 acres of land turns into desert.

Today, pretty much everyone is aware of the terms climate change and global warming and what they are. However, not many are aware of the magnitude of this problem. Several people, especially urban citizens, do not understand the importance of the environment for survival. People do not respect and value nature; they take it for granted.

What is the Importance of Environmental Literacy in Society Today?

The first Earth Day on 22 nd April 1970 marked the beginning of widespread environmental awareness. Since then, humans have tried to understand the planet and its ecosystems better. Countries have signed several international treaties governing climate change, protecting the ozone layer, biodiversity conservation, preventing desertification, and various other forms of pollution.

However, the degradation of the environment continues year after year, with countries failing to keep their promises and fulfill their duties. Environmental literacy in society is essential as today’s young generation will have to implement the above agreements and form new ones for increasing ecological issues.

The future generation will struggle a lot more than the previous ones. The planet will need to accommodate a population of 9 billion by 2050, all trying to share the available natural resources needed to achieve 9 billion different dreams.

Environmental education today is essential to ensure the continuous progress and survival of the human population. Other kinds of literacy provide access to participation and decision-making in a democracy. Similarly, ecological and climate literacy is also necessary for carrying out action for a just and sustainable world.

Environmental literacy involves interactive learning that can spark creativity and imagination among learners. It enables learners to draw connections and apply their learnings in the real world, which can highly benefit future generations. Environmental literacy motivates learners to study, investigate, and research why certain things happen and make decisions about ecological issues.

Environmental literacy enables people to understand how their actions affect the environment and also builds the knowledge and skills required to address complex ecological issues. Exposing people to nature and allowing them to learn from it creates sensitivity, respect, and appreciation for the environment, which is needed amid a growing environmental crisis.

Also Read: What Is The Need For Environmental Education?

Dr. Emily Greenfield is a highly accomplished environmentalist with over 30 years of experience in writing, reviewing, and publishing content on various environmental topics. Hailing from the United States, she has dedicated her career to raising awareness about environmental issues and promoting sustainable practices.

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What is Environmental Literacy?

“Environmental Literacy” might be the phrase of the decade in educator circles. But what is it? What does a lesson that builds environmental literacy look like? And why does it matter for teachers like you?

Fifty years ago, in an Audubon publication, a founding member of the Massachusetts Environmental Education Society coined the phrase “environmentally literate citizen." But only recently have educators and organizations tried to break down what environmental literacy really means—and create frameworks, tools, and policies for accomplishing it through education.

Ecology Project International uses the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s and the North American Association of Environmental Education’s definition of an environmentally literate person as:

“Someone who demonstrates the knowledge, dispositions, competencies, and behavior to actively engage—individually or as a group—in addressing environmental challenges.”

How do those four key words—knowledge, dispositions, competencies, and behavior—translate into on-the-ground lessons, though?

Let’s walk through a lesson from EPI’s Yellowstone Field Ecology Program, Viewpoints: Wolf Conservation. We’ll highlight where the four general concepts of environmental literacy make appearances, and what particular skills students are gaining.

First, students are asked to pull from their own knowledge of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem by brainstorming environmental issues they know of in the region. Among these ideas, the issue of wolf reintroduction usually comes up, organically introducing the topic.

Students are then given a set of cards with key events in the history of wolves in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem—like the extermination of the last wolf pack in Yellowstone or when wolves were listed as an endangered species—but the cards are not labeled with dates. It’s up to the students to collaboratively create a timeline. Students have to dig into their personal knowledge , ask questions about other students’ event placements, and make a case for where they believe their own event(s) should go on the timeline. In the timeline creation activity, students develop competence in identifying relevant questions and critically analyzing both their own and others’ evidence.

After reviewing the correct chronology of wolf history in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem with instructors, students are asked to think about what groups may have played a role in these historical events. Who were—and who are—the stakeholders in this contentious environmental issue? Students then brainstorm stakeholders and their attitudes about the wolf conservation issue—often illuminating their current dispositions in the process.

After explaining that students will be part of a “townhall discussion” on wolf management, instructors randomly divide the students into teams representing each of the stakeholders—from Wyoming ranchers to Yellowstone National Park staff. For an extra challenge and empathy-building exercise, instructors can ask students to represent a stakeholder with a different perspective than their own.

Each team of students is provided with their stakeholder’s viewpoint and supporting information to present at the townhall meeting. The goal of the townhall discussion is for all stakeholders to come to an agreement on how to proceed with wolf management in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The townhall discussion builds a number of environmental literacy competencies and behaviors —through modeling citizen participation, engagement in argument, and articulation and presentation of conclusions. (You can see that even grown politicians could use some of these skills!)

Note the progression within the lesson, too. At first, students practice constructivism, unearthing their previous personal knowledge and perspectives. But by the end of the lesson, they are listening to others’ opinions and experiences, and working collaboratively to weave those differing opinions and experiences into meaningful wildlife management recommendations. It’s a process that subtly reshapes their own dispositions.

>>> Students survey wildlife from bison to wolves on EPI's Yellowstone Wildlife Ecology Program.

Environmental literacy creates in students the ability to think critically about our relationship to the environment and act in responsive ways. The push for environmental literacy in our public education system has been strongest in California—last year, the state adopted the integration of five major environmental principles into its curriculum—but it’s vital and necessary wherever you live.

For twenty years, environmental literacy has been at the heart of all the educational programming that EPI does. If you’d like to see our methods at work, consider traveling with your students with us on course , or become part of a teacher cohort through our professional development opportunities . You can also find more resources through organizations like Ten Strands .

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Promoting Literacy for More Peaceful, Just and Sustainable Societies

About the author, ulrike hanemann.

Ulrike Hanemann is an independent international literacy and education specialist.

7 September 2023

I nternational Literacy Day 2023 will be celebrated on 8 September under the theme “Promoting literacy for a world in transition: Building the foundation for sustainable and peaceful societies”. The observance offers an opportunity to highlight the essential role that literacy and numeracy play in building more peaceful, just and sustainable societies. There is a general consensus that the ambitious United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development cannot be achieved without learning. Autonomous learning largely depends on access to text-based information and communication. Thus, continuous, independent and lifelong learning is not possible without mastering basic competencies such as literacy and numeracy, which in turn are necessary to develop other high-demand skills, including effective communication, problem-solving and (critical) information analysis. Those without a minimum level of literacy proficiency are potentially excluded from a range of opportunities in their lives. In addition to being a key component of lifelong learning, literacy is, above all, a fundamental human right.

Yet, in 2020, there were still around 763 million young people and adults lacking basic literacy and numeracy skills, the majority of whom are women. In some countries, improvement in women’s literacy has been “exceptionally fast”; in other countries, men’s literacy has shown very slow progress. About 244 million children, adolescents and young people (from 6 to 18 years of age) are not enrolled in school. Schooling, however, is no guarantee that learners will acquire the required levels of basic competences. Globally, 7 out of 10 children at 10 years of age are not able to read and understand a simple text. Many persons graduate from secondary education with insufficient literacy and numeracy skills, and this phenomenon is not exclusive to low-income countries. Results from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), conducted in 2018 in over 40 countries, indicate that 20 per cent of adults (from 16 to 55 years of age) in the workforce of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries do not achieve minimum proficiency in literacy skills.

Estimates based on available data show that if adults (from 15 years of age and above) had just two more years of schooling, nearly 60 million people would be lifted out of poverty.

Not fulfilling the right to literacy undermines progress in economic and social development, environmental sustainability, and enduring peace and stability. Putting this in positive terms, literacy is linked to various significant outcomes contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially in a world that is experiencing persistent challenges such as poverty, hunger, inequality, health crises, natural disasters and conflicts. In a context of rapid change, which includes such factors as population growth, global warming, digitalization and automation, access to knowledge and continuous learning becomes essential for the survival of people and planet. Available evidence reveals how people empowered through literacy and other skills manage to navigate, adapt to and actively shape those changes effectively while contributing to social transformation.

For example, estimates based on available data show that if adults (from 15 years of age and above) had just two more years of schooling, nearly 60 million people would be lifted out of poverty (SDG 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere). There is also evidence that a mother’s education level positively correlates with her children’s nutrition . Further, literacy and non-formal extension programmes can increase farmer productivity and thereby support the achievement of food security and improved nutrition, as described in SDG 2. A report by the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity indicates that adult literacy and basic education can positively influence the achievement of SDG 3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages): “A child whose mother can read is 50 per cent more likely to live past the age of five, 50 per cent more likely to be immunized, and twice as likely to attend school”. The 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report , issued by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), states: “A literate woman is more likely to benefit from health campaigns, be informed of modern health methods, and to have more tools to overcome detrimental gender norms”. The 3rd Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE 3) confirms that literacy programmes help develop democratic values, peaceful co-existence and community solidarity (SDG 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies). Similarly, GRALE 5 offers ample evidence that literacy learning correlates with positive citizenship outcomes.

An analysis of promising programmes from all world regions that link the teaching and learning of literacy and basic skills to sustainable development challenges in the areas of health, social equality, economic empowerment and environmental sustainability confirms the central role of literacy in responding to these challenges when a transformative and holistic approach is applied. The peace-building potential of literacy is mainly mobilized through programmes provided by non-governmental organizations and through community participation and ownership. Literacy programmes that respect linguistic diversity and the mother tongue of the participants help solidify communal identities and collective histories. Intergenerational and “whole family” approaches to literacy learning have proven to be effective responses to the 2030 Agenda, as they provide access to literacy and learning opportunities for both adults and children in vulnerable communities. An analysis of initiatives conducted in the context of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities demonstrates how literacy can be embedded in lifelong learning opportunities for vulnerable groups towards more inclusive and sustainable cities.

To fully exploit the potential of literacy to contribute to transforming our world—the vision of the 2030 Agenda—it is imperative that we adopt a lifelong learning perspective.

In its vision statement, the 2030 Agenda aspires to “a world with universal literacy”. However, in the context of the post-COVID-19 crisis, we can observe a general trend of concentrating attention on children’s and youth literacy, mainly in the framework of formal education. While literacy and numeracy play important roles across all age groups, urgent, transformative action to effectively address global sustainability challenges cannot afford to neglect or leave aside youth and adult literacy and learning. SDG 4— Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all—dedicates target 4.6 to youth and adult literacy, namely, to “ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy”. The Education 2030 agenda , which sets out a new vision for education and lifelong learning, clarifies that rather than being perceived and treated as a stand-alone skill, literacy is “at the core of basic education and an indispensable foundation for independent learning”.

Literacy is increasingly seen as a lifelong endeavour cutting across many domains of life (“life-wide”), including health, work, citizenship and digital environments. Therefore, to fully exploit the potential of literacy to contribute to transforming our world—the vision of the 2030 Agenda—it is imperative that we adopt a lifelong learning perspective . This implies that related learning opportunities need to be brought closer to people’s lives through integrated, multisectoral approaches. The United Nations system can contribute to the advancement of literacy through advocacy, policy development, resource mobilization, technical assistance, capacity development, data collection and monitoring, as well as multi-stakeholder partnerships, among other means. Putting people at the centre of the responsibility to achieve sustainable development in their communities and societies involves empowering them through literacy, education and lifelong learning opportunities to handle the challenges of today’s and tomorrow’s world autonomously, productively and creatively, thereby developing more sustainable, peaceful and just societies on a healthy planet.

The UN Chronicle  is not an official record. It is privileged to host senior United Nations officials as well as distinguished contributors from outside the United Nations system whose views are not necessarily those of the United Nations. Similarly, the boundaries and names shown, and the designations used, in maps or articles do not necessarily imply endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations. 

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What Is Environmental Literacy?

An individual’s understanding, skills and motivation to make responsible decisions that considers his or her relationships to natural systems, communities and future generations.

Environmental Literacy is the desired outcome of environmental education which strives to provide learners with:

• Sound scientific information
• Skills for critical thinking
• Creative and strategic problem solving
• Decision-making

The National Science Foundation’s Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education noted that “ Creating a scientifically informed citizenry requires a concerted, systematic approach to environmental education .” 

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Oregon is a special state.  We are known for being a little different and immensely proud of our epic views and opportunities for exploration from the Wallowas to the Oregon Coast. The earliest known evidence of people living in Oregon shows that a strong relationship with natural resources has always defined the Oregon way of life. From Douglas fir trees to Chinook salmon, our landscapes, wildlife, coast and waterways have inspired our stories, our livelihood and our legacy. Oregon’s natural resources are the foundation of our state’s economy, and they have created a dynamic heritage that we must protect and sustain for coming generations.

Oregon is a world leader in cutting-edge environmental practices. States and countries across the globe look to Oregon for leadership and expertise in developing green and sustainable communities. As we strive to further understand the interrelationship between our environment, society and economy, it is imperative that we consider the role of the next generation. 

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• v.115(10); 2007 Oct

Environmental Literacy: Knowledge for a Healthier Public

In 1988, New York City’s West Harlem community had a problem. The recently opened North River Sewage Treatment Plant, which stretches eight blocks along the Hudson River, was doing a poor job of processing about 170 million gallons of raw sewage daily. Residents were concerned about the foul smells coming from the plant, and parents complained that their children were suffering from respiratory problems. The community knew it needed help, but it also needed something else: information on the exposures it was facing, on the health effects of those exposures, and on the courses of action open to the people. When the community mobilized months later to form West Harlem Environmental Action Inc. (WE ACT), it had taken the first step toward cultivating just that sort of environmental literacy.

Within six years, WE ACT had reached a settlement with the treatment plant. But the learning is still going on. In 2000 WE ACT began partnering with the NIEHS-funded Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health to promote environmental education and literacy among the 600,000 adults and children in Northern Manhattan. Among other efforts, WE ACT and the NIEHS center have partnered with the Lang Youth Medical Project, a six-year science education and mentoring program for middle school students that takes advantage of the educational resources of the Columbia University Medical Center. The project’s mission is to inspire, motivate, and support young people in the Washington Heights area of New York City so they can realize their college and career aspirations in the health sciences. Nada Hamade, a research associate at the NIEHS center, estimates that since partnering, WE ACT and the center have educated at least 60,000 people from the Northern Manhattan area about environmental health issues through a variety of means—youth meetings, conferences, forums, leadership training, and outreach campaigns.

The WE ACT–NIEHS partnership is a prime example of the environmental literacy movement at work in the United States. The movement involves a wide variety of federal, state, and private groups nationwide that have mobilized and developed dynamic programs to educate people about the environment and its relevance to human health. Its ultimate goal: to help people develop skills they can use to make responsible and wise decisions about the environment and environmental health.

Each day people make decisions that affect the environment, whether they are getting ready to go to work, preparing dinner, or buying products for the house or garden. It’s imperative, then, that the public learn and understand how their actions and lifestyle intersect with the environment.

Environmental educators believe that the earlier children begin to learn about sound stewardship principles, the better it is for them, their families, and society. “Today’s children will one day be responsible for making decisions that will shape the future health of the environment,” wrote Deborah Mitchell, senior editor for Environmental Protection magazine, in “Promote Environmental Education for Children,” an article appearing on http://www.charityguide.org/ . “To prepare them for such responsibilities, they need a sound environmental education as a foundation upon which to make those decisions.” Most important, says Mitchell, environmental literacy helps develop and expand children’s critical thinking skills, prepares them for citizenship, nurtures their appreciation of the natural world, and enhances their physical well-being.

“Environmental literacy seeks to change human behavior so that humanity can create a sustainable and environmentally friendly quality of life,” explains Christina Zarcadoolas, an associate clinical professor in the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. “To do that, people need a wide range of skills that can help them understand, assess, and use environmental health information.”

More Than Science

“Studying the environment is not all about science,” explains M. Jane Teta, spokesperson for the Environmental Literacy Council and principal health scientist for the New York City–based Exponent Inc., a consultancy of engineers and health scientists. “We think it’s important that learners understand the environment from all perspectives and that they do it critically before they develop a position. [The Environmental Literacy Council’s] approach is to present an environmental issue and then show that it has different stakeholders. We encourage students to role-play so they get the opportunity to see how people view things.”

The Environmental Literacy Council has partnered with the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) to create several new professional development modules that incorporate environmental issues into the context of the “Earth, life, and the physical sciences” National Science Education Standard, part of a rubric for best teaching practices. Each module includes background information and provides recommendations for further reading, information about online training resources, and suggestions for activities that can foster and enhance classroom discussion. The modules are available on the Environmental Literacy Council website at http://www.enviroliteracy.org/ .

Grassroots Environmental Education, a Port Washington, New York–based nonprofit dedicated to educating the public about the links between common environmental exposures and human health, has developed several literacy projects that are being used in the Port Washington school district. The Safe Lawn Flag Project, for instance, focuses on educating school children in grades 3 through 6 on issues relating to pesticides and the available alternatives to their use. “We try to show students that everything they do has an impact on the environment, whether they are flushing the toilet or going to the grocery store with their parent,” explains Patti Wood, executive director of Grassroots Environmental Education. “We want to make them understand that all human action has environmental consequences. Often, [these consequences] are negative, and humans must address them.”

EHP also offers help for teachers trying to integrate environmental health information into their classrooms. The EHP Science Education website at http://www.ehponline.org/science-ed-new/ provides lessons developed specifically for high school students around EHP news articles. The lessons demonstrate that environmental health concepts can be incorporated into a variety of subject areas, including many nonscience areas such as geography, language arts, history, government/civics, and communications.

Environmental literacy proponents don’t seek to provide any particular “right” answer in studying environmental issues. Instead, they seek to instruct learners through self-discovery and the acquisition of problem-solving skills that help them evaluate different viewpoints.

Environmental literacy initiatives that seek to educate rather than proselytize have many benefits for society as well as the individual. With the National Science Foundation’s Science and Engineering Indicators 2006 showing that Americans get most of their health information from the media, it’s imperative that the public be better informed about the environment so they can make responsible decisions, support good public policy, and help create a sustainable natural environment.

“My research has shown that the environmental information the public gets from the media is mostly skewed in a specific way—towards the bad news,” says Seymour Garte, a professor of environmental and occupational health in the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health and author of Where We Stand: A Surprising Look at the Real State of the Planet . “A lot of initiatives like the Clean Water Act and the Wildlife Protection Act have worked, but you see little evidence of that in the media,” he says. “Its slant on doom and gloom doesn’t make for a balanced view, nor does it give citizens the type of information they need to make informed decisions. That’s where the environmental literacy movement can play an important role.”

Connecting the Dots

Environmental educators credit Rachel Carson with sparking the modern environmental movement in 1956 when she first expounded on the importance of environmental education and its characteristics at the early childhood level in her book The Sense of Wonder .

Carson’s pioneering work, including the 1962 publication of Silent Spring , led to the creation of Earth Day in 1970. Since then, millions of teachers and students have joined together each April during National Environmental Education Week, the country’s largest organized environmental event that seeks to promote Earth Day. During the 2007 National Environmental Education Week, 1,453 environmental education partners taught more than 3.5 million students about the importance of caring for the environment through a full range of activities in K–12 classrooms, zoos, nature centers, museums, and aquariums.

“National Environmental Education Week is more relevant today than it’s ever been,” says Leyla McCurdy, senior director of health and the environment at the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) in Washington, DC, which the yearly event. “We still need to do a much better job showing people how they can . . . protect the environment while improving the quality of their lives.”

McCurdy believes that environmental health plays an important role in promoting the broad goals of the environmental literacy movement. “People usually relate to issues that impact on themselves and their loved ones,” she explains. “Environmental literacy, therefore, can only be truly successful when it makes the connection between health and the environment.”

Recently, NEEF launched its Children’s Environmental Health Faculty Champions Initiative to establish a network of children’s environmental health experts at medical and nursing schools throughout the country. The faculty champions are taking a leadership role in incorporating children’s environmental health into their academic institutions in a meaningful fashion, educating health professionals about health risks unique to children, teaching courses, and providing expertise and support to their surrounding communities.

McCurdy points out there are many places besides schools where environmental knowledge can be taught. The Children’s Environmental Health Faculty Champions Initiative, she says, can serve as a model for making sustainable institutional changes within a broad spectrum of professions.

Other sources believe the environmental health community must do a better job of educating people about how their personal choices in diet and consumption have not only health consequences but environmental ones well. “When I went to public school in Argentina we had a course simply called ‘hygiene,’ which taught us about the health threats to the environment,” says Mary Pearl, president of the Wildlife Trust in New York City. “In the United States, a ‘health class’ usually involves the teaching of sex education. That’s why it’s difficult for Americans to see the impact that the environment has on health.”

The Wildlife Trust is known for innovative work on protecting the intricate relationship between ecosystems and human health, but the organization also believes it’s important that its work foster environmental literacy. So it has created a children’s educational program called The Wild Ones. The program’s website displays students’ work and provides information about endangered species and the people who protect them.

“We educate children about what we call the bioscape, which is a new way of looking at the environment,” Pearl says. She explains that the bioscape is the place that communities and their residents share with other living organisms as they conduct their daily living. “The goal is to help children appreciate and understand the environmental dynamics at play in the world around them. It involves showing how wildlife and their habitat can be protected while still taking into account how humans need to use the landscape for survival.” This is increasingly important in a time when many children have less opportunity to experience the natural environment—humans spend, on average, nearly 90% of their time indoors, according to a survey in the May–June 2001 issue of the Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology .

In Search of Education

Environmental health actually has an identity problem when it comes to literacy. Two literacy movements—health literacy and environmental literacy—work parallel to each other, and the twain has not necessarily met. The World Wide Web offers hundreds of health literacy websites providing valuable consumer information, but most of them do not have anything to say about how the environment impacts health. “Health literacy and environmental literacy are two different worlds,” says Devra Davis, head of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh and author of The Secret History of the War on Cancer . “One of our goals is to bring the two movements together.”

Ted Schettler, executive director of the Science and Educational Health Network in Ann Arbor, Michigan, believes the health field shares some of the blame for the lack of public understanding of the health connection to the environment. “We, as health professionals, whether we are in public or clinical health, can do a better job to educate the public about the connection and the importance of environmental health on human life,” Schettler says. “We have clear data that shows people in medical school are getting poor training in environmental health literacy, and so they have a poor understanding of the effects of environmental factors on human health.”

Again, say sources, it goes back to how people are trained professionally. “Health care professionals and educators have limited understanding of the broader environment because it’s not incorporated into their education,” says Steve Heilig, director of public health and education for the San Francisco Medical Society. “The [opposite] is true, too. People educated in classic environmental programs don’t have any specialized education in health.”

The division into health literacy and environmental literacy has no doubt weakened the impact of environmental health education in the public school system, where science and health usually occupy two separate tracks. Environmental health education was first introduced in grades K through 12 in the early 1990s, and since then, many individual schools have introduced it. But it still has a far way to go to be adopted into the standard curriculum by most school districts and states [for more information, see “Setting a New Syllabus: Environmental Health Science in the Classroom,” EHP 112:A814–A819 (2004)].

The general field of environmental literacy has fared much better. Nearly 2.5 million K–12 teachers include some sort of environment-related science education in the classroom, according to the Environmental Literacy Council, and the majority of the students at over half of all colleges take an environment-related course. Still, these stats do not impress environmental health specialists like Heilig who see a fundamental flaw in environmental education. “The environmental education being taught in the school system from the lower and middle school grades through college is not sophisticated,” he says. “The [environmental] education, moreover, doesn’t get any better or more sophisticated as students move along through the school system.”

Augusto Medina, project manager of the Environmental Education and Training Partnership (EETAP), a teacher training program based at the University of Wisconsin–Steven’s Point, agrees with Helig. “There is no coherency or consistency in the way the environment is taught in the U.S. school system,” Medina says. “The educational system does help to make children aware of environmental issues, but it doesn’t really help them to reach the next level—that is, develop the skills they need to help them apply what they learn to the real problems in their communities. The objective of environmental education should be to develop active citizens who can deal with environmental issues.”

National Direction

In 1990, Congress passed the National Environmental Education Act, which provides funding for teacher training, national-and local-level environmental education grants, the President’s Environmental Youth Award Program, and environmental education projects among federal agencies. The act also established the EPA Office of Environmental Education to provide national leadership in promoting environmental literacy. Ginger Potter, senior education specialist at the Office of Environmental Education, explains that the EETAP, which is funded through the EPA, is responsible for the development of standards for environmental education, including guidelines of excellence for materials, programs, and projects; learner outcomes; in-service teacher training; and nonformal education.

Each year, the EPA makes more than 200 grants totaling $2–3 million to support environmental education projects nationwide. Yet, as Potter explains, “There has been no change to the act since 1996. . . . Like all pieces of legislation, the act has to be reauthorized.”

David E. Blockstein, a senior scientist with the National Council for Science and the Environment in Washington, DC, adds, “The act badly needs updating. A lot has changed since 1990.”

The No Child Left Behind Act, another significant piece of federal legislation passed by the George W. Bush administration in 2001, has had a major impact on American education. But the impact has not necessarily been positive, according to sources who say that No Child Left Behind has marginalized environmental literacy because it focuses on math and language arts to the exclusion of other subjects, including environmental science. “No Child Left Behind has had a negative impact on science education in general,” says Stefani Hines, senior curriculum and assessment specialist and environmental health specialist with the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy. “The attitude in the public schools has been ‘if it’s not tested, it’s not important.’”

Currently, an effort is under way in Congress to strengthen and expand environmental education in America’s classrooms. Representative John Sarbanes (D–MD) and Senator Jack Reed (D–RI) are cosponsoring the No Child Left Inside Act of 2007, which would provide federal funding to states to train teachers in environmental education, operate model environmental programs, and create environmental literacy plans.

Environmental education and respect for our natural surroundings ought to be a major focus in U.S. classes, says Sarbanes. “This legislation will make funds available to teachers and students for the establishment of innovative programs within our school curriculums,” he elaborates. “The next generation faces enormous national and international challenges. Sound environmental education will make for healthier lifestyles and provide a foundation for the next generation so they can tackle those challenges head on.”

The law stipulates that there be “cooperation” between federal agencies. However, says Potter, what that means is yet to be determined. If adopted, the legislation could conceivably abolish the EPA’s Office of Environmental Education and reestablish environmental education within the U.S. Department of Education. Yet, says Potter, “I question whether the Department of Education is the place to put environmental education. The Department of Education has never been interested in environmental education, and nobody there has any expertise in the field [of environmental science].”

However this political drama plays out, sources believe more needs to be done at the federal level to strengthen environmental education. “We need resources to create incentives at all levels,” says McCurdy. “At the moment, there is really a lack of incentive for people to get involved in environmental education. For example, in the schools, teachers need [consistent] funding and opportunity to get further education and to integrate environmental education into curricula.”

“Environmental education should be an independent part of the curriculum, not something that’s added on,” Medina says. “But that can’t be done until we have enough teachers who are trained to teach environmental education.”

Environmental educators believe that environmental literacy must be pursued through a multipronged approach that reaches out not only to teachers, parents, and students but also to politicians, community leaders, medical practitioners, and the workplace. “The level of environmental literacy in the workplace is very low,” says Angelo Garcia, an industrial hygienist with Future Environment Designs, a Syosset, New York–based company that trains companies in handling industrial waste. “We must start at the most basic level to make the workforce more environmentally literate.”

“Literacy is a never-ending process,” Hines says. “Like any form of education, environmental literacy must never stop, and it has to be promoted and encouraged at all levels and sectors. There are always new people to recruit.”

Today‘s children will one day be responsible for making decisions that will shape the future health of the environment. To prepare them for such responsibilities, they need a sound environmental education as a foundation upon which to make those decisions.

–Deborah Mitchell

Environmental Protection in “Promote Environmental Education for Children”

The environmental information the public gets from the media is mostly skewed in a specific way-towards the bad news. . . . Its slant on doom and gloom doesn‘t make for a balanced view, nor does it give citizens the type of information they need to make informed decisions. That‘s where the environmental literacy movement can play an important role.

–Seymour Garte

University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health

We educate children about what we call the bioscape, which is a new way of looking at the environment. The goal is to help children appreciate and understand the environmental dynamics at play in the world around them. It involves showing how wildlife and their habitat can be protected while still taking into account how humans need to use the landscape for survival.

–Mary Pearl

Wildlife Trust

Literacy is a never-ending process. Like any form of education, environmental literacy must never stop, and it has to be promoted and encouraged at all levels and sectors.

–Stefani Hines

University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy

Sustainable Literacy

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• Krystal M. Perkins 2 ,
• David Slim Zepeda Quintana 3 &
• Luis Velazquez 4  

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Introduction

Sustainable literacy appears in the literature as sustainable development literacy, literacy for sustainable development, and/or sustainability literacy. Sustainable literacy is generally conceived as an understanding of sustainability and the identification and translation of issues that have sustainability implications. Although the concept has been around since 1987, it took prominence in higher education institutions during the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). Recently, sustainable literacy has been identified as a core pillar for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals 2030.

The paper outlines the emergence of sustainable literacy as a concept. The next section first provides an overview and formal definition of sustainable literacy. Specifically, how the term literacy fits with sustainability to form the concept of sustainable literacy is discussed. The following section details the conceptual genesis of sustainable literacy and how it...

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The Importance of Environmental Education for a Sustainable Future

Environmental education is vital to winning the fight against climate change. Without it, the leaders of tomorrow will be ill-equipped to overcome the environmental challenges the world will face. Parents and teachers can help students understand their role as environmental stewards by encouraging student outdoor learning programs and supporting young folks who engage in student activism. To celebrate World Teachers’ Day 2023, which every year falls on October 5, we take a look at the importance of environmental education and how to address climate change in classrooms.

Education can make a difference in the fight against climate change. Recent surveys show that people with more education were more likely to view climate change as a threat and that, today, most people see climate change as a major threat to our planet.  

However, promoting environmental education in schools can be tricky. Climate change is seen as a bipartisan “political” issue in some countries, and many educational bodies push against climate education entirely. 

More must be done to ensure that young people have access to environmental education. Robust climate education will give the decision-makers of tomorrow the skills they need to advocate for nature, protect vulnerable environments, and mitigate the effects of global warming. 

The Importance of Environmental Education

Education is often overlooked in the fight against climate change. While policy changes and global commitments are necessary to prevent global warming from further worsening, improved education is the first step toward achieving our goals. 

Environmental education can help alleviate climate anxiety , too. This is broadly defined as a “chronic fear of environmental doom” and may be exacerbated by a lack of understanding. Educational resources that clearly explain the mechanisms behind global warming equip students with the knowledge they need to do something about climate change. This can help them feel empowered and foster a greater appreciation for the planet’s resources. 

Environmental education can also promote critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving skills. This is particularly important today, as students need to be able to evaluate the long-term impact of social, economic, and ecological policies. Combating climate change effectively requires a global effort and activism often relies heavily on a thorough understanding of the issue and the ability to persuade others that something must be done. 

Improvements in public education may also promote a sense of stewardship and aid conservation efforts. In particular, environmental education programming can make a real difference to researchers who are advocating for policy changes. 

For example, recent public programmes like the BBC’s Planet Earth II and Wild Isles appear to have significantly impacted researchers at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. Reflecting on the public program, Professor Callum Roberts states that the “UK must now deliver genuine protection for wildlife,” and should focus on building resilience against climate change. 

Connecting Students with High-Quality, Reliable Resources

Environmental education can empower the decision-makers of tomorrow and improve the public understanding of climate change. However, connecting students with the resources they need to understand global warming can be difficult – particularly if students live in a nation like the US, where climate change is seen as a partisan “political” issue. 

Climate-aware parents can introduce their children to climate change with outdoor play in natural environments. Natural playgrounds, like those built from sustainable materials and found objects, are the perfect place to discuss environmental protection and the importance of stewardship over the Earth’s resources. 

Living a sustainable lifestyle at home can be an important part of children’s environmental education. Parents can help their kids understand the importance of sustainability by reducing their home’s carbon footprint together, by implementing and practicing environmentally friendly habits in the home. Simple sustainable activities — such as upcycling furniture and composting leftover food scraps as well as teaching children how to recycle – help reduce our own emissions and promote a sense of responsibility for the environment. 

You might also like: How to Live a More Sustainable Life in 2023

Student Activism

A sense of stewardship is vital for the long-term preservation of the Earth’s natural resources. However, students who care about climate change should be empowered to engage in activism, too. Youth activism has a meaningful impact on policy and shows politicians that climate change is a hot-button issue for future voters. 

Successful activism begins by educating students about the issues. Teachers can strengthen their students’ understanding of climate change and ecological protection by hosting student projects that encourage outdoor learning . By building eco-systems on school grounds or signing up for community clean-ups, students will learn to take pride in the world around them and become well-equipped to share their knowledge with others.

Most high schools and universities have a climate advocacy group that young people can join to amplify their voices and make a difference. Students can further their climate advocacy by joining groups that have partnered with the Climate Action Network (CAN). The CAN helps 1900+ organisations get the support and funding they need to prevent environmental degradation and fight climate change. 

Climate-conscious students can also partner with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like: 

• African Conservation Foundation
• Born Free USA
• Break Free From Plastic

These NGOs tackle the biggest environmental issues today and can put students in a position to maximise their impact and gain important professional development skills. 

You might also like: How Youth Climate Action Is Shaping a More Sustainable Future

Professional Development

Preventing climate change requires more than goodwill and public understanding. The decision-makers of tomorrow need to be equipped with interdisciplinary skills to tackle the challenges that climate change presents. However, many teachers are ill-equipped to teach environmental education in their classrooms. 

More must be done to empower climate-conscious teachers. Professors should feel comfortable discussing the facts of climate change in their classrooms. They should be able to identify the transferable skills that their class can give to climate-conscious students. Fortunately, teachers today can find plenty of free resources from sites like: 

• Our own environmental news website dedicated to our younger audience, Kids.Earth.Org
• NASA’s Vital Signs of the Planet
• WWF’s Science that Affects Our World
• British Council’s Climate Resources for School Teachers

These resources are entirely free and can be weaved into any class. A climate-inspired project will help students connect with the importance of environmental education and give them the skills they need to take on skeptics in the future. 

Conclusion  

Environmental education is key to understanding and preventing climate change. A robust climate education can empower students and help them engage with advocacy and activism groups. Even minor education experiences, like participating in a community clean-up, can help students understand the importance of stewardship and build the interdisciplinary skills they need to advocate for environmental protection. 

In case you didn’t know, we have a Kids’ website aimed at explaining a wide range of environmental topics to younger generations. Visit Kids.Earth.Org to learn more about climate change

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Research Article

The effectiveness of lifestyle interventions on ecological literacy: A contribution to the underlying mechanism in linguistic ecology

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – original draft

Affiliation School of International Studies, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, Guangdong, China

Contributed equally to this work with: Yang Chen, Jiaen Zhang

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected] (YC); [email protected] (JZ)

Affiliations School of Foreign Studies, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, Center for Ecolinguistics, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

Affiliation College of Natural Resources and Environment, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

Roles Investigation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation School of Chinese Ethnic Minority Languages and Literature, Minzu University of China, Beijing, China

• Changchen Ha, 
• Yang Chen, 
• Jiaen Zhang, 
• Shumin Dong

• Published: June 29, 2023
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287286
• Reader Comments

In today’s society, citizens’ ecological literacy (ecoliteracy) is critical for their understanding of sustainable development. This study used a questionnaire designed to quantitatively assess ecoliteracy from a linguistic ecology perspective. First, an underlying mechanism model for ecoliteracy was designed based on the results of previous studies. Then, the ecoliteracy level assessment scores of Guiyang inhabitants were combined with the respondents’ corresponding lifestyle characteristics to explore the effectiveness of interventions in affecting the participants’ ecoliteracy levels. The results showed that the formation and development of ecoliteracy is a dynamic and circular process that revolves around variables of independent, dependent, mediating, moderating and control. The various factors in the model interact and operate evenly along a particular path. As for the level of lifestyle characteristics, participants’ ecoliteracy levels had a statistically significant relationship with their attitudes regarding the importance of nature, participating in outdoor activities, and improving their ecoliteracy levels; as well as the frequencies regarding daily outdoor activity, the main activities in ecological areas, participation in volunteer activities, and use of ecological knowledge. The respondents with the highest levels of ecoliteracy had the most positive attitudes and engaged in ecological actions with the highest frequency. The lifestyle intervention features here are of great significance to the harmonious coexistence between humans and the natural environment and are also helpful for improving human health.

Citation: Ha C, Chen Y, Zhang J, Dong S (2023) The effectiveness of lifestyle interventions on ecological literacy: A contribution to the underlying mechanism in linguistic ecology. PLoS ONE 18(6): e0287286. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287286

Editor: Muhammad Kamran Khan, Northeast Normal University, CHINA

Received: December 28, 2022; Accepted: May 30, 2023; Published: June 29, 2023

Copyright: © 2023 Ha et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.

Funding: This research was supported by the Humanities and Social Sciences Research and Planning Fund of the Ministry of Education of China (No. 20YJAZH013.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

The United Nations has formulated the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), for guiding global development efforts from 2015 to 2030, to address the social, economic, and environmental aspects of development. Subsequently, researchers from different countries or regions began to solve specific problems in different ways, such as the significance of sustainable use of material resources for green growth [ 1 ], study of environmental quality and financial stress index in developing countries [ 2 , 3 ], relationship between natural resources and economy in different regions [ 4 – 7 ], exploration of sustainable development in the United States and India [ 8 – 10 ]. Studies on ecological civilization and ecological cities are also reported in China [ 11 , 12 ]. Ecological literacy (ecoliteracy) plays a very important role for sustainable development, which is the focus of our article.

“Literacy” is originally a concept from linguistic research, which focuses on “the ability to read and write” [ 13 , 14 ]. With the development of interdisciplinary trends, the applied scope of literacy has continued to expand. It can be defined as “the knowledge or capability in a particular field or fields” [ 14 ]. The phrase “in a particular field or fields” means that it can be used in combination with a specific discipline. In a broader sense, ecoliteracy combines ecology and linguistics and has the same disciplinary foundation as the study of linguistic ecology [ 15 ]. However, ecoliteracy is not limited to these two disciplines but is, in fact, part of a larger set of terms [ 14 , 16 ]. Researchers and scholars in different disciplinary fields, who apply different theories from different perspectives, produce significantly different concepts and frameworks (e.g., [ 14 , 16 – 21 ]). Some studies focus on individuals’ levels of ecological knowledge [ 20 , 22 ], while others consider attitudes toward ecological issues and content related to ecological behavior or other aspects of ecological topics [ 11 , 16 , 21 , 23 – 25 ].

This study focused on an interdisciplinary perspective that combined ecology and linguistics (called linguistic ecology) to define ecoliteracy [ 11 , 15 ]. Ecoliteracy is concerned with the ecologically sustainable development relationship between individual humans, humans and society, and humans and nature. It emphasizes the knowledge and ability of human beings in the ecological field [ 12 ]. Our ecoliteracy research framework included five dimensions [ 11 ]: ecological knowledge literacy (EKNL), ecological awareness literacy (EAWL), ecological ethics literacy (EETL), ecological emotional literacy (EEML), and ecological behavioral literacy (EBEL).

In the future, ecoliteracy will play a vital role in human survival and development. People will be required to have the ability to learn and understand the concepts and basic principles of ecology and live a sustainable life, accordingly implying that ecoliteracy is no longer unique to ecologists. In the work of political scientists, business leaders, professionals, or in education at all levels, ecoliteracy is an important component and key skill [ 26 ]. Previous studies on ecoliteracy have focused primarily on the theoretical research aspects of developing its connotation, ecosystems, sustainability, and interdisciplinary aspects [ 14 , 15 , 17 , 27 – 29 ]. However, relatively little attention has been paid to assessing individuals’ levels of ecoliteracy and cultivation of ecoliteracy [ 11 , 20 , 21 , 23 , 30 , 31 ]. Research on the combination of ecoliteracy and lifestyle characteristics is even rarer [ 32 , 33 ].

Therefore, this study focused on lifestyle interventions for ecoliteracy. First, the underlying mechanisms of ecoliteracy were explored from the theoretical perspective of linguistic ecology. Lifestyle characteristics as the core concept were then examined and the inhabitants of Guiyang City, one of China’s top ten ecologically advanced cities, were used as subjects for a case study. The main purpose was to discover differences in the levels of ecoliteracy among Guiyang inhabitants with different lifestyle characteristics. This article addressed two specific research questions: (1) What is the underlying mechanism of ecoliteracy in linguistic ecology? (2) Are there any differences in the levels of ecoliteracy among Guiyang’s inhabitants with different lifestyle characteristics?

The theoretical basis of this study is linguistic ecology, which is also called language ecology, ecology of language, or ecological linguistics [ 34 ]. The research content of ecologists and linguists is different in this interdisciplinary field [ 35 ], which is due to significant differences in researchers’ backgrounds in natural science and social science, respectively. The discipline of “linguistic ecology” is an extension of social science for linguists and involves sociolinguistics, functional linguistics, linguistic typology, and other sub-disciplines [ 36 – 40 ]. For ecologists, this discipline expands natural sciences and is concerned with environmental science, statistics, geography, biology, climatology, and other related disciplines [ 11 , 41 , 42 ]. In this study, linguistic ecology is primarily understood from the perspective of the natural sciences, and it is a new discipline with roots in human ecology.

In linguistic ecology, the internal indicators of ecoliteracy include five dimensions (EKNL, EAWL, EETL, EEML, and EBEL), among which EKNL is an important foundation, EAWL indicates the direction of action, EETL emphasizes moral standards, EEML is the internal driving force, and EBEL is the ultimate fundamental goal (see [ 11 ]). Under each dimension, four second-level indicators guide different aspects of the content in that dimension. They are simultaneously affected by many other surrounding factors (i.e., external environmental factors and personal characteristics factors). The underlying mechanism of ecoliteracy is summarized in Fig 1 .

• PPT PowerPoint slide
• PNG larger image
• TIFF original image

(Note: The details of second-level indicators are shown in Endnotes [ 11 ]).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287286.g001

Fig 1 indicates that the underlying mechanism of ecoliteracy comprises five variables. The model systematically visualizes the formation and development of ecoliteracy, a dynamic and cyclical process.

The independent variable in this study referred to the internal cognitive factors of the inhabitants of Guiyang City, that is, the second-level indicators under the five dimensions of ecoliteracy. The cognitive factors of ecological knowledge, awareness, ethics, and emotions are at the base of the model. The participants’ mastery of these four aspects affected their corresponding ecoliteracy levels. These four dimensions of ecoliteracy will then affect the ecological behavior of inhabitants and produce specific EBEL. Under the combined effect of these five-dimensional levels (FDs) of ecoliteracy, the overall level of inhabitants’ ecoliteracy is formed.

The dependent variable in this study was ecoliteracy demonstrated by the inhabitants of Guiyang City.

The mediating variable includes FDs, which bridge the second-level indicators of ecoliteracy and the overall ecoliteracy (OEL) level and play an intermediary role. Moreover, for ecoliteracy as a dependent variable, FDs are independent variables.

The moderating variable (the moderator) in this study emphasized the external environmental factors that affect the ecoliteracy levels of the Guiyang inhabitants. These factors include political, economic, cultural, social, language, and educational environments. Therefore, they indirectly interfere with inhabitants’ levels of ecoliteracy.

The control variables in this study were personal characteristics, i.e., sociodemographic factors (gender, age, ethnicity, living area and type, educational background, current main identity, and family structure), as well as lifestyle (psychographics) of the participants (see the following section for details).

Inhabitants’ ecoliteracy characterization under the model reacts with the various internal cognitive factors of ecoliteracy and affects the level of ecoliteracy. Fundamentally, the ultimate goal of the model presented in this study is to promote China’s ecological civilization construction, sustainable development, and harmonious coexistence between humans and the natural environment. These factors also become external environmental factors that affect inhabitants’ ecoliteracy, cyclically driving its formation and improvement.

Data description

We designed an effective questionnaire for this study to explore ecoliteracy levels [ 11 ]. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the School of Foreign Studies, South China Agricultural University (200921). The questionnaire consisted of three parts, covering a total of 60 survey questions (including a self-assessment question on the respondents’ ecoliteracy level). The first part was related to sociodemographic characteristics (11 questions) [ 12 ]. The second part was in the form of a five-point Likert scale, which was used to examine the participants’ ecoliteracy levels (40 questions) with a score range (40–200) described elsewhere [ 11 ]. The third part considered participants’ attitudes toward ecological issues and their ecological behaviors (i.e., lifestyle characteristics; eight questions).

The second part was the core content of the questionnaire, which quantitatively evaluated the participants’ ecoliteracy levels. Specific questions were designed based on second-level indicators under the five dimensions of ecoliteracy, as shown in Fig 1 . Each dimension included eight survey questions (score range: 8–40). After testing, the reliability (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.888) and validity (estimate: 0.67; CR: 0.95; AVE: 0.49) of the questionnaire were determined to be within reasonable ranges. To date, the first two parts of the survey have been completed [ 11 , 12 ]. This study focused on the third section of the questionnaire, specifically as a combined study of the second and third parts. After understanding the ecoliteracy levels of participants with different lifestyle characteristics and analyzing the reasons for the results, strategies were proposed to improve low levels of ecoliteracy in participants.

Specifically, the lifestyle characteristics measured in the questionnaire referred to attitudes of importance to nature, participating in outdoor activities, and improving the level of ecoliteracy, as well as behavior in terms of frequency of daily outdoor activities, frequency of main activities in ecological areas, frequency of participation in volunteer activities related to ecological and environmental protection, and frequency of using ecological knowledge (S1 Questionnaire). The third part included another question to examine the main factors contributing to the participants’ ecoliteracy. This question was mainly designed for an in-depth exploration of ways to improve the level of ecoliteracy and was not directly related to the aim of this report. Therefore, this question was not analyzed or discussed. These seven lifestyles may contribute important benefits for individuals and society. They remind people to develop great living habits while protecting the eco-environment and promoting the sustainability of the community’s natural and social environment.

Data collection and analysis

The survey collection process was completed by May 2021. The survey was undertaken by combining online participation and paper distribution, strictly limited to the population of the ten administrative regions of Guiyang City, and was randomly sampled at specific percentages. The subject of this study is all the permanent inhabitants of Guiyang, that is, the population who had lived in Guiyang City for more than half a year before the start of the investigation. We sent out 1,100 questionnaires, and 988 valid questionnaires were analyzed, constituting a survey ratio of 1:5000 of inhabitants of each administrative region of Guiyang City. The number of questionnaires exceeded the minimum sample size needed to achieve a significance level of α = 0.01 [ 12 ] and was based entirely on voluntary participation. Participants’ informed consent was obtained in the form of a multiple-choice question before the questionnaire began (fully anonymized), and they were allowed to discontinue the survey at any time. If the participants were minors, their informed consent and the answers to the questionnaire were assisted by their parents or guardians.

Microsoft Excel was used for data collation [ 11 , 12 ] and the statistical software SPSS 25.0 was used for analysis. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed as the main statistical method. Data on lifestyle characteristics were collated first. A one-way ANOVA was undertaken on ecoliteracy levels and lifestyle characteristics. Significant differences in OEL levels and FDs among Guiyang inhabitants with different lifestyle characteristics were determined at p <0.05. However, this difference was not statistically significant. Posthoc tests were also performed. However, due to space limitations, the results of the OEL only were used to consider the ecoliteracy levels of the participants from the overall representation. Finally, this article focused on analyzing lifestyle characteristics that showed significant differences, and data without statistical significance was not discussed. Intervention effects on inhabitants’ lifestyles were observed according to factors with significant differences.

According to the research questions raised in this article, after we have sorted out the underlying mechanism of ecoliteracy from the perspective of linguistic ecology, this section focuses on the results of combining different lifestyle characteristics with ecoliteracy. Through the data results, it can be seen what kind of lifestyle is beneficial to people’s ecoliteracy level. This also proves how the underlying mechanism of ecoliteracy works from another aspect.

Attitude toward the importance of nature

The different attitudes of the Guiyang inhabitants toward nature reflected their different levels of ecoliteracy ( Fig 2 ). The one-way ANOVA results show that the participants’ attitudes toward nature were significantly different regarding their OEL levels and FDs ( Table 1 ). The significance coefficients of this factor were all p = 0.000. Inhabitants of Guiyang City who considered nature to be very important in their lives had the highest levels of OEL (165.12±13.973, 82.56%), EKNL (30.85±4.865, 77.13%), EAWL (34.22±3.707, 85.55%), EETL (37.14±3.046, 92.85%), EEML (36.24±3.263, 90.60%), and EBEL (26.67±5.271, 56.68%). With the decline in inhabitants’ attitudes toward nature, there was a slight upward trend in the level of ecoliteracy within five dimensions (OEL, EAWL, EETL, EEML, and EBEL). Overall, however, the level of ecoliteracy gradually declined with a decrease in positive attitudes toward nature.

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In further multiple comparisons, the results were as follows. The Guiyang inhabitants who considered nature to be very important in their lives (“strongly agree”) had significantly higher OEL levels than those who chose “agree” ( p = 0.000), “not sure” ( p = 0.000), “disagree” ( p = 0.000), or “strongly disagree” ( p = 0.000), with the average score differences greater than 10 points: 12.618, 16.409, 16.032, and 27.409, respectively. The OEL levels of inhabitants who believed that nature was completely unimportant in their lives (“strongly disagree”) were significantly lower than those of participants who selected “agree” ( p = 0.000), “not sure” ( p = 0.004), or “disagree” ( p = 0.007), with average score differences higher than 10 points: 14.792, 11.001, and 11.377, respectively. In addition, participants who thought that nature was quite important in life (“agree”) scored significantly higher than those with the attitude of “not sure” ( p = 0.048) on the OEL level, with an average score difference of 3.791.

Attitude toward participating in outdoor activities

The average score percentages of different attitudes toward participating in outdoor activities and the differences reflected in OEL levels and FDs are shown in Fig 3 . The subsequent one-way ANOVA showed that the attitudes toward the importance of participating in outdoor activities greatly impacted all levels of ecoliteracy and that there were significant differences, with all coefficients at p = 0.000 ( Table 2 ). Those who thought participating in outdoor activities was very important (“strongly agree”) had the highest average OEL level scores (165.23±15.095, 82.62%). In contrast, Guiyang inhabitants who believed that participating in outdoor activities was completely unimportant (“strongly disagree”) had the lowest average OEL level scores (137.45±26.086, 68.73%). Regarding FDs, participants who chose the option “strongly agree” had significantly higher ecoliteracy scores than those who chose one of the other four options, and they also had the highest levels of ecoliteracy in their corresponding dimensions.

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In the posthoc tests conducted on this dataset, the participants who held a very important attitude (“strongly agree”) toward outdoor activities were different in their OEL levels from those who chose “agree” (p = 0.000), “not sure” (p = 0.000), “disagree” (p = 0.000), or “strongly disagree” (p = 0.035). Among them, the difference between the average of participants who chose “strongly agree” and “agree” was the smallest (9.144), and the difference between “strongly agree” and “strongly disagree” was the largest, with a score difference of 27.775. In addition, the OEL levels of Guiyang inhabitants who held an “agree” attitude were significantly higher than those who held a “disagree” attitude (p = 0.019), with an average difference of 15.819 .

Attitude toward improving the level of self-ecoliteracy

Differences in the levels of ecoliteracy among inhabitants with different levels of interest were subtle ( Fig 4 ). The results of the one-way ANOVA showed that respondents with different interests in improving their ecoliteracy levels had significant differences in their OEL levels and FDs. The significance coefficients were all p = 0.000. Participants who were very interested in improving their ecoliteracy levels had the highest OEL level scores (168.38±15.138, 84.19%), while those who were not interested in improving their ecoliteracy levels at all had the lowest OEL level scores (141.33±9.722, 70.67%). The results are presented in Table 3 .

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It can be seen from the posthoc test results that the inhabitants who were very interested in improving their ecoliteracy levels (“strongly agree”) had significantly higher scores than those who were somewhat interested (“agree,” p = 0.000), “not sure” ( p = 0.000), not interested (“disagree,” p = 0.000), or not interested at all (“strongly disagree,” p = 0.000), with average score differences of 10.190, 21.219, 22.078, and 27.049, respectively. Those who were more interested (“agree”) in improving their ecoliteracy levels had significantly higher OEL levels than those who were “not sure” ( p = 0.000), not very interested (“disagree”, p = 0.000), or not interested at all (“strongly disagree”, p = 0.000); the average score differences were 11.029, 11.889, and 16.860, respectively.

Frequency of daily outdoor activity

Behavioral characteristics represent a way of contact with the real world which can help train citizens to think and act ecologically and professionally [ 43 ]. In terms of OEL levels and FDs, the results of the one-way ANOVA ( Table 4 ) show that there was no significant difference in the frequency of outdoor activities among the respondents corresponding to EAWL ( p = 0.117), EETL ( p = 0.231), and EEML ( p = 0.066). However, OEL ( p = 0.000), EKNL ( p = 0.000), and EBEL ( p = 0.000) differed significantly according to the frequency of outdoor activities. The average percentage scores of the results for each level are shown in Fig 5 .

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As shown in Table 4 , the scores of the participants’ OEL levels gradually increased from the choice of “not at all” to engaging in outdoor activities more than seven times per week (≥7), which had the highest OEL levels (164.58±17.700, 82.29%), and participants who chose “not at all” had the lowest OEL levels, with an average score of only 153.92±16.647 (76.96%).

The posthoc test results showed respondents who engaged in outdoor activities seven times or more per week had significantly higher OEL levels than those who did so 3–4 times a week ( p = 0.003), 1–2 times a week ( p = 0.000), or not at all ( p = 0.000), with average score differences of 4.771, 6.997, and 10.658, respectively. The inhabitants who engaged in outdoor activities 5–6 times a week showed significantly higher OEL levels than those of inhabitants who indicated 1–2 times ( p = 0.002) or not at all ( p = 0.000) with average differences in scores of 4.601 and 8.261, respectively. In addition, those who engaged in outdoor activities 3–4 times a week also had significantly higher OEL levels than inhabitants who chose “not at all” ( p = 0.004), with a score difference of 5.887.

Frequency of main activities in ecological areas

In terms of OEL levels and FDs for activities in ecological areas, the average score percentages for each dimension showed subtle differences among the frequencies ( Fig 6 ). The results of the one-way ANOVA ( Table 5 ) showed no significant difference in the activity frequencies in terms of their EAWL ( p = 0.069) and EETL ( p = 0.062). There were significant differences in OEL ( p = 0.000), EKNL ( p = 0.000), EEML ( p = 0.000), and EBEL ( p = 0.000). Those respondents who visited ecological areas more than twice a week had the highest OEL levels (167.30±17.769, 83.65%). Inhabitants who did not visit ecological areas (“not at all”) had the lowest OEL levels (154.89±16.779, 77.45%).

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According to the posthoc test results, the inhabitants of Guiyang City who visited ecological areas more than twice a week exhibited OEL levels significantly higher than those who visited these areas 1–2 times a week ( p = 0.004), 1–2 times a month ( p = 0.000), 1–6 times a year ( p = 0.000), or almost never (“not at all”) ( p = 0.000), with average score differences of 4.906, 9.009, 10.352, and 12.407, respectively. In addition, the OEL levels of citizens who were active in ecological areas 1–2 times a week were significantly higher than those of the inhabitants who visited them 1–2 times a month ( p = 0.002), 1–6 times a year ( p = 0.000), or almost never (“not at all”) ( p = 0.000), with average score differences of 4.103, 5.446, and 7.500, respectively.

Frequency of participating in volunteer activities

The volunteer activities discussed here only relate to protecting the eco-environment (see Fig 7 for preliminary statistics). Based on the survey results of the one-way ANOVA ( Table 6 ), no significant difference was observed in EAWL ( p = 0.137) and EETL ( p = 0.075) levels. However, significant differences were observed in the levels of OEL ( p = 0.000), EKNL ( p = 0.000), EEML ( p = 0.002), and EBEL ( p = 0.000). Inhabitants who participated in volunteer activities had the highest OEL levels (169.24±17.576, 84.62%), and inhabitants who did not participate in volunteer activities at all (“never”) had the lowest OEL levels (154.20±15.594, 77.10%).

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In the posthoc tests, inhabitants who participated in volunteer activities often had significantly higher OEL levels than those who only participated “sometimes”( p = 0.001), “hardly ever” ( p = 0.000), or “never” ( p = 0.000), with relatively large differences: 7.856, 10.746, and 15.045, respectively. Inhabitants who often participated in volunteer activities also had significantly higher OEL levels than those who participated only “occasionally” ( p = 0.002), “hardly ever” ( p = 0.000), or “never” ( p = 0.000), with average differences in scores of 5.454, 8.344, and 12.642, respectively. The levels were significantly higher for those participating in volunteer activities than for those who did not ( p = 0.025) or never participated ( p = 0.000). Finally, the OEL levels of inhabitants who “hardly ever” participated in volunteer activities were significantly higher than those of inhabitants who did not participate at all (“never”) ( p = 0.002), with an average score difference of 4.298.

Frequency of using ecological knowledge

The average score percentages of ecoliteracy levels corresponding to the different frequencies of ecological knowledge use are shown in Fig 8 . One-way ANOVA was used to determine whether the different frequencies of the use of ecological knowledge by the inhabitants of Guiyang City had a significant effect on their OEL levels and FDs. The results ( Table 7 ) show that there were no significant differences in the levels of EAWL ( p = 0.107) and EETL ( p = 0.266), based on the different frequencies of ecological knowledge use in study or work. However, significant differences were observed in the levels of OEL ( p = 0.000), EKNL ( p = 0.000), EEML ( p = 0.000), and EBEL ( p = 0.000). Those participants who always used ecological knowledge in their study or work had the highest OEL levels (168.97±19.576, 84.49%), while those who did not use ecological knowledge at all (“never”) had the lowest OEL levels (153.22±16.988, 76.61%).

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In the posthoc tests, the OEL levels of Guiyang inhabitants who “always” used ecological knowledge in their study or work were significantly higher than those who chose “sometimes” ( p = 0.000), “hardly ever” ( p = 0.000), or “never” ( p = 0.000). The average differences in scores were 8.911, 12.518, and 15.742, respectively. Inhabitants who often used ecological knowledge had significantly higher OEL levels than those who only “sometimes” used it ( p = 0.000), “hardly ever” used it ( p = 0.000), and “never” used it ( p = 0.000), with differences between the average values of 5.250, 8.856, and 12.081, respectively. Respondents who used ecological knowledge only “sometimes” had significantly higher OEL levels than those who used ecological knowledge “rarely ever” ( p = 0.003) or “never” ( p = 0.000), with average differences in scores of 3.606 and 6.831, respectively.

This section is a sequential discussion of the data results of this study. The aim is to reveal the meaning behind the data and the pathways to improve the ecoliteracy level for different individuals or groups, thereby broadening the scope of application as an interdisciplinary content of ecoliteracy and linguistic ecology.

Guiyang inhabitants’ attitudes toward nature directly reflect their impression of nature, which affect their levels of ecoliteracy, particularly EAWL. Inhabitants who believe nature is highly important have strong ecological awareness and affection for nature. It further stimulates their desire to gain ecological knowledge, using such scientific knowledge to strengthen their levels of ecoliteracy and then using their ecological ethics to restrain themselves, as reflected in ecological behavior.

As for the effect of attitude toward the importance of nature on the corresponding level of ecoliteracy, there are many cases consistent with the results of this study[ 32 , 44 ], whether in the consciousness of most people or in relevant researches. The implications of relevant research are as follows: people’s perceptions of nature will change over time, as will their attitudes toward nature [ 32 , 45 ]. This study found that Guiyang inhabitants’ attitudes toward nature are influenced by various factors, such as their educational background, family influence, and the media. Therefore, deepening their understanding and internalization of the concept of ecological sustainability and reflecting on their current ecologically unsustainable behaviors can enhance their levels of ecoliteracy.

When ecological problems become increasingly prominent, the role of nature in people’s lives has become increasingly significant. This means that we have to focus on the inhabitants of Guiyang City, who are currently unconcerned with nature. This study can infer that most inhabitants of Guiyang City believe that nature is “very important” (“strongly agree”) or “relatively important” (“agree”) (n = 860), accounting for 87.04% of all participants. On the other hand, the proportion of those respondents who think nature is “unimportant” (“disagree”) or “completely unimportant” (“strongly disagree”) (n = 53) was only 5.36%. Therefore, when ecoliteracy is raised among inhabitants who consider nature unimportant, the influence of surrounding people is critical. Through interpersonal communication and joint work, they can indirectly influence low-level ecoliteracy inhabitants to reflect on their attitudes toward nature. This can result in higher levels of ecoliteracy.

The inhabitants of Guiyang City who have a very positive attitude toward outdoor activities may not necessarily participate in those activities frequently, but do express the intention to participate. Such a tendency can directly affect their ecological awareness, emotional reactions, and propose more restrictive conduct through ecological ethics and therefore develop a higher level of EEML. These aspects are sufficient to motivate them to gain a higher level of ecoliteracy. Otherwise, inhabitants with a negative attitude about participating in outdoor activities will not have enough love for the outdoors, including ecology and nature. Therefore, this part of the population shows a lower level of ecoliteracy. The results of this section support the views of Sebba, Pitman et al. and others to varying degrees [ 32 , 46 ].

It was also found that the number of participants who found outdoor activities unimportant or completely unimportant was very small (n = 26), accounting for only 2.63% of all participants. This percentage was sufficient to show that overall, the inhabitants of Guiyang City had a very positive attitude toward participating in outdoor activities, which is the first step in engaging in outdoor activities, which, in turn, will have an effect on positive ecological behavior. As a result, only three sets of data showed significant differences in the posthoc test of both levels of EKNL and EAWL. The most direct reason for this was that attitude toward outdoor activities reflected the level of thinking or awareness. At present, the publicity and education about ecology in Guiyang City are considered positive, and they strive to instill awareness and the helping of others. Therefore, in addition to consciously going outside into nature, people must influence others to jointly enhance a connection with nature and improve ecoliteracy levels [ 47 ]. However, the small difference in EKNL levels was due to this factor not being directly related to the level of ecological knowledge. Thus, strengthening the guidance of ecological awareness, ethics, emotions, and behaviors for those who are resistant to participating in outdoor activities and subtly improving their attitudes toward participating in outdoor activities is essential. This is an advantageous step in improving ecoliteracy levels.

Attitude toward improving level of self-ecoliteracy

Those inhabitants of Guiyang City who were very interested (“strongly agree”) and quite interested (“agree”) in improving their ecological knowledge and understanding, as well as their level of ecoliteracy, had the highest levels of ecoliteracy, which were significantly higher than those of the other three levels of interest. This showed that interest in a particular field was relevant to the effect of knowledge and the cultivation of ability within that field. Tobias also pointed out that people interested in a subject will acquire more knowledge about it because they actively spend time on activities in that subject [ 48 ]. Over time, interest in this area has motivated people to form inherently stable literacy. Based on the results of this research, a high level of ecoliteracy was formed. In contrast, those Guiyang inhabitants who were less interested (“disagree” and “strongly disagree”) in ecological knowledge, understanding, and their ecoliteracy levels, had very low levels of ecoliteracy. However, the number of inhabitants in this group was small (n = 61), accounting for only 6.17% of the total participants. In summary, most inhabitants of Guiyang City (an ecologically advanced city) could manage their ecoliteracy level. Their good self-management has achieved the steady development of Guiyang’s ecologically-aware civilization.

Whether the ecoliteracy countermeasures proposed in each part of this research can be successfully realized depends on the interests of the inhabitants. This section further validates some of the discussion by Pitman et al., and Lin and Cai [ 32 , 49 ]. The results showed that the proportion of very interested people (“strongly agree”) and quite interested (“agree”) in improving their ecological knowledge and understanding, and ecoliteracy levels reached 82.09% (n = 811). This suggests that many strategies proposed by this study, after such comparison of differences, are likely to be realized. Therefore, when we strive to implement measures for improving inhabitants with low ecoliteracy, attention needs to be given to those who are not very interested in their own ecoliteracy. Other measures can be more effectively implemented when their interests are successfully cultivated.

In terms of daily outdoor activity, the ecoliteracy difference was specifically evident in ecological knowledge and behavior. Those inhabitants usually deeply understood the eco-environment because they had more ecological knowledge and took the initiative to visit nature areas to participate in activities, or they devoted themselves to nature just for exercise. Regardless of the reasons, they directly touched the sky, earth, flowers, trees, various animals in nature, and rocks, in contrast to viewing such things through windows or literature. Impressions of ecological knowledge are more profound when ecosystems are visited. Therefore, respondents who often participate in outdoor activities differed from other inhabitants with respect to levels of EKNL. The increase in the frequency of daily outdoor activities improved not only the inhabitants’ inherent EKNL, but also the use of their ecological knowledge to think critically about ecological issues because of what they saw and heard outdoors. This caused their EBEL to become significantly higher than that of other inhabitants. Under the combined effect of “knowledge” and “action,” the differences in the frequency of daily outdoor activities can produce significant differences in their ecoliteracy levels.

The research results here support the viewpoint of several researchers, such as McDaniel and Alley, Pitman et al. [ 33 , 50 ]. They generally agree that with the increase in the frequency of daily outdoor activity, the level of ecoliteracy will be improved, especially the effect on the grasp of ecological knowledge and ecological action practice is relatively significant. For this characteristic behavioral factor, countermeasures can be found from two perspectives (the inhabitants and ecoliteracy), but the countermeasures are both aimed at those respondents who participate in outdoor activities less frequently and encourage those inhabitants to participate outside.

From their perspective, physical health is important and a prerequisite and foundation for successful study or work. This makes it easier to guide them toward participating in outdoor activities. In recent years, the nationwide physical fitness campaign has gradually been promoted and will indirectly influence the outdoor activity participation frequency of Guiyang inhabitants. From the perspective of ecoliteracy itself, special attention needs to be paid to learning ecological knowledge and the practice of ecological behavior of these inhabitants. We also need to inspire outdoor activity participants to include those who usually do not participate in. Then, the inhabitants with low frequency of daily outdoor activity are initiated to participate in outdoor activity and learn about ecology. This is more effective than learning about ecology through education alone. Ecological knowledge implemented through ecologically-based actions will effectively improve the ecoliteracy levels of inhabitants.

The landscape presented by the ecological area was more concentrated, and inhabitants did not need to seek nature. Local signage can allow information about plants, for example, to be provided and thus produce a certain level of understanding and knowledge of ecology from simple attendance. This may improve levels of EKNL. In terms of EEML, inhabitants willing to take the initiative to enter an ecological area for activities have a certain understanding of the ecology and environment, and want to discover further. Therefore, inhabitants who frequently visit ecological areas have higher EEML levels than those who do not. The comprehensive effect of these types of literacy on the behaviors of citizens leads to significant differences in their levels of EBEL. Ultimately, inhabitants often visiting ecological areas have a higher level of ecoliteracy, while inhabitants being less active in ecological areas have a relatively low level of ecoliteracy.

The views in this article are similar to those of Hammarsten et al. and Wells et al. [ 51 , 52 ]. Among them, Wells et al. advocated learning plant science knowledge, cultivating interest in plants and improving the ecoliteracy of participants through participation in horticultural activities. Optimization of management and citizens should be prioritized to improve ecoliteracy levels in the process of ecological area activities.

On the one hand, managers must ensure the comprehensive and accurate introduction of different species in ecoregions so that more inhabitants are willing to visit. Managers in ecological areas also need to have a higher level of ecoliteracy and be able to continuously broaden their ecological knowledge to further improve their ecoliteracy levels. On the other hand, we still need to pay attention to the individuals of Guiyang inhabitants. Levels of ecoliteracy may not directly be improved when activities in ecological areas are offered; however, activities in ecological areas will reduce the pressure on citizens, cultivate an appreciation of nature, and so indirectly improve ecological knowledge of the area, and thus ecoliteracy. Therefore, this study advocates that the inhabitants of Guiyang City undertake activities in ecological areas after their daily study or work, not only to improve their physical and mental health but also for their ecoliteracy levels.

Volunteer experiences related to the ecology and environment can significantly affect the levels of ecoliteracy among Guiyang inhabitants, which is mainly reflected in their ecological knowledge, emotions, and behaviors. Participating in volunteer activities related to ecological and environmental protection is an active behavior of inhabitants and a manifestation of EBEL. These volunteers hoped to help complete the activities through their ecoliteracy, while wanting to deliver ecological content to the people they served. Citizens who want to participate in such volunteer activities also strongly appreciate and respect the eco-environment and have a high level of EEML. In terms of EKNL, by participating in volunteer activities for ecological and environmental protection, they will acquire a certain amount of ecological knowledge during the training and activities before such events, which not only improves the service ability of the volunteers but also enhances their EKNL levels. When their overall levels of ecoliteracy are improved, their willingness and ability to continue participating in volunteer activities related to ecological and environmental protection are also enhanced.

The research perspective that affirms the participation of related volunteer activities to improve people’s ecoliteracy level and protect the well-being of human survival has been verified [ 53 , 54 ]. In this part of the study, the number of Guiyang inhabitants who always or often chose to participate in volunteer activities related to ecological and environmental protection was relatively small (n = 170), accounting for only 17.21% of all participants. In contrast, 59.92% (n = 592) of the participants reported that they “hardly ever” or “never” participated in volunteer activities related to ecological and environmental protection. This gap was proportionally very wide; more than half of Guiyang inhabitants rarely participated in volunteer activities related to ecological and environmental protection, and such activities could significantly affect their ecoliteracy levels. This requires the cultivation of inhabitants’ service awareness and encourages them to actively participate in ecological and environmental protection services to improve their levels of ecoliteracy. Increasing citizen participation in volunteer activities in the eco-environment will improve the ecoliteracy level effectively and quickly.

The frequency of using ecological knowledge is directly related to a person’s level of EKNL, which is also explained by repeated training in a certain subject as an indispensable part of mastering a skill. Therefore, the inhabitants of Guiyang City who used ecological knowledge more frequently in their studies or work had higher levels of EKNL than those who did not. This fosters a significant appreciation for the eco-environment, gradually forming the EEML discussed in this study. Furthermore, inhabitants who improve their levels of EKNL and EEML through this approach will have ecological behaviors that are superior to others; i.e., they use their good ecological knowledge and emotions in their learning or working behaviors so that their overall levels of ecoliteracy are higher than those of inhabitants who use ecological knowledge less frequently. In other words, ecological knowledge’s important role in forming ecoliteracy is demonstrated again [ 11 , 25 ].

Ecological knowledge is one of the most basic and important factors in the development of ecoliteracy. At present, the inhabitants of Guiyang City who always or often used ecological knowledge in their studies or work only accounted for 26.52% of the sample (n = 262), while inhabitants who rarely (“hardly ever”) or never use ecological knowledge accounted for 43.83% (n = 433), i.e., nearly half of the local inhabitants rarely use ecological knowledge in their studies or work. However, some learning or working content is not related to ecological knowledge; therefore, a question would be raised: how do people use ecological knowledge in their ordinary life? From the perspective of linguistic ecology, the finding of countermeasures can be focused on ecological discourse for situations in which the content of study or work has low relevance to the eco-environment. That is, in the act of their study or work, they should consciously use eco-beneficial discourses and control their wasteful behavior through ecological actions. Such inhabitants should gradually form strong ecological emotions and improve their ecoliteracy.

Conclusions

Ecoliteracy is a key factor in achieving sustainable development in human society, and its role always exists in the harmonious relationship between humans and nature [ 32 ]. Currently, research on ecoliteracy issues is mainly concentrated within the discipline of ecology (e.g., [ 20 ]), and it is quite rare to use an interdisciplinary perspective for analysis, particularly the perspective of linguistic ecology (e.g., [ 11 ]). Therefore, this research on ecoliteracy is significant to the development planning of Guiyang City, the tenth most ecologically advanced city in China, and it is also significant to other cities in China and other countries. Based on constructing an ecoliteracy mechanism model, this article has analyzed and discussed a series of lifestyle characteristics factors and has determined three main conclusions.

First, from the perspective of linguistic ecology, the formation and development of ecoliteracy are carried out under dynamic and circular models. The coordination of five variables is required, including the independent variable (second-level indicators), mediating variable (FDs), moderating variable (external environmental factors), dependent variable (ecoliteracy), and control variable (personal characteristics) for improving the ecoliteracy and cycle of conscience of Guiyang inhabitants. Ultimately, an ecosystem can be built where humans and nature live harmoniously.

Second, this study considers the various variables in the ecoliteracy mechanism model but the focus has been on lifestyle characteristics (control variables). The study found that the seven characteristic lifestyle factors investigated here led to differences in the frequency of the participants’ activities, with significant differences in their OEL levels and, to varying degrees, in their FDs. This means that both the attitudes of Guiyang inhabitants toward ecological issues and their practice of ecological activities had strong positive effects on their ecoliteracy.

Third, improvements in inhabitants’ ecoliteracy can also promote changes in physical literacy. It is beneficial for enhancing the health and well-being of future generations [ 55 ]. Based on the results of the lifestyle intervention factors in this study, Guiyang inhabitants are encouraged to first maintain a positive attitude toward nature and then participate in outdoor activities and manage their ecoliteracy. On a personal level, such an attitude allows people to take the initiative to step into nature to strengthen their ecoliteracy and undertake physical exercise such as hiking, mountain climbing, or visiting forest parks. Not only does this improve health and reduce work- and life-related stress, but it also promotes ecoliteracy.

Although this study is significant for the sustainable development of society, it has a few limitations that should be further explored. Currently, the core of this study is "ecoliteracy", which is placed under the framework of linguistic ecology to explore the interaction between lifestyle interventions and ecoliteracy, but the realization of sustainable development goals has not been discussed. In subsequent studies, we can continue to apply the study of lifestyle interventions and ecoliteracy into the broader context of sustainable development and discuss its effectiveness on the realization of SDGs, such as the intrinsic value in Quality Education (SDG 4), Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11) and Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12).

• In our study, before the one-way ANOVA, the data were tested for homogeneity of variance. If the homogeneity of variance had p <0.05, and the ratio of the maximum-to-minimum-variance of the factor was greater than 3, this factor needed to use a robust test method for mean equality to examine significant differences and trends. The two rows of values in F and p in each Table were evaluated by this method. The superscript “1” designates the F-value and significance of the Welch test. The superscript “2” designates the F-value and significance of the Brown-Forsythe test.
• EKNL: Ecosystem knowledge; Knowledge of damage to the eco-environment; Knowledge of the relationship between humans and nature; Ecological and environmental protection knowledge.

EAWL: Ecological and environmental protection behavior subject consciousness; Ecological and environmental protection value awareness; Awareness of the severity of current ecological and environmental problems; Making judgments on the ecological and environmental damage encountered.

EETL: Correctly recognizing the relationship between humans and nature; The ethics and morality of protecting the eco-environment; Affirming the role of nature; Respecting and cherishing all living things.

EEML: Awe of the natural environment; Love for the natural environment; Sensitivity to natural environment protection; Ability to take responsibility for ecological and environmental issues.

EBEL: Daily practice of environmental protection; Participation in environmental education activities; Scientific environmental protection skills and methods; Positive influence on the environmental protection behavior of others.

Supporting information

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287286.s001

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287286.s002

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287286.s003

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to all the people who helped complete this research and the anonymous reviewers for their suggestions for improving the manuscript.

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Why We Should Develop Environmental Literacy in Public Schools

• June 29, 2021
• | Advocacy , Blog , Teaching and Learning

Public Education System Historical Context

The K–12 public school system is where students are given an opportunity to gain knowledge and skills for a successful life. It’s important for children from all communities to receive a high-quality education to thrive as individuals and become contributing members of society.

Beginning in the mid-1900s, in the US, children from all social classes could theoretically get a free formal education under the compulsory education laws, although overwhelmingly, schools were attended by white male students . Schools taught national unity and “American” values to support the burgeoning industrial economy requiring laborers who could read, write, and do arithmetic. Education’s goal was preparation for success in a life steeped in Manifest Destiny, individualism, competition, and survival of the fittest. Equitable distribution of education across social classes and the economic strata was not a priority. Many factors—including slavery, discrimination, and discriminatory laws against Black, Indigenous, and people of color as well as individual towns having to create their own educational system with vastly differing financial capacities—led to the inequitably funded education system operating across the US today with enormous inequality in educational opportunities.

Public schools, working in partnership with parents, caregivers, families, businesses, and community-based organizations, can become hubs of opportunities for children from all backgrounds to learn together and from each other. Huge disparities in wealth and educational opportunities still plague educational systems.

In 2021, public education is still the largest social institution responsible for preparing students for a successful life. Along with all the existing challenges, a new one has emerged—climate change.

Only recently emerging in the public’s consciousness is the existential threat of climate change to all of humanity. Human decisions have not only triggered climate change, but massively exacerbated it. Being prepared for success in the 21st century must now include learning about how complex decision-making, individually and collectively, will either help or hinder progress against the global menace of climate change and environmental injustice disproportionately experienced by systemically under-resourced communities and people of color.

As our nation moved from an agrarian to an industrial society, education had to change. It now needs to change again, deep into the information age, as we move toward an age threatened by climate change, tensions around reckoning with racism, and inequitable funding of schools worsening as income disparities grow. The acceleration of climate change, and other societal issues, is giving the K–12 education system an opportunity to again rethink how to implement its purpose of preparing students to be successful in life as well as contributors to a better world.

The need has become paramount for humanity to recognize how the destinies of eight billion people, and growing, are interconnected not only to their communities, but to the health of planet Earth’s natural functions. Astronaut William Anders’s 1968 photo of the earth rising above the moon’s horizon provided evidence of Earth as a closed system with finite resources, not infinite, relying much more on cooperation than competition for its health.

Education for All Students to Become Contributing Members of Society

I founded Ten Strands with the belief in education’s ability to embrace the task of giving all students an opportunity to learn how decisions they make throughout their lives can alleviate and even reverse climate change and the environmental injustices associated with it that disproportionately affect the communities that are the most impacted.

Teaching K–12 students about the interdependence of humans and the environment engages them with ideas they already are keenly interested in. In my ten years teaching high school environmental science and senior civics, I learned how deeply our students want to understand environmental topics relevant to their lives. I also learned how to use our students’ own environment as an engagement strategy to boost overall learning.

One day, I brought a Twinkie into the classroom and started a discussion about the inequities around fresh food availability in many Bay Area neighborhoods. For weeks, the seniors were engaged in conversations about food deserts, unhealthy diets, poor access to clean water, asthma associated with power plant smokestacks, and so many other topics. Civics suddenly became real to them as they saw the potential for finding solutions to the environmental issues plaguing their neighborhoods by getting involved with community wellness efforts and civic engagement. The students from the most impacted neighborhoods brought their own lived experiences into the classroom and enriched the conversation far more than any readings or videos could have done.

Using the environment as a context for learning is both a means and an end. Learning about climate change and environmental injustice issues weaves a cohesive tapestry among all the core subjects and makes them more interesting, relevant, and engaging. Students get an opportunity to learn critical thinking skills in real-time problem-solving settings, and to work in cooperation with each other preparing them for an age when focusing on climate change solutions will be a societal imperative.

Making environmental and climate literacy a priority in schools is Ten Strands’ objective: to move toward current ideas about learning; toward understanding how our well-being depends upon the collective action of eight billion individuals; and toward embracing the world environment as a closed and finite system in the throes of a human-caused extinction event already in motion. It must be reversed.

No other institution is up to the task. It has to be public education—on a large and sustainable scale. Without education, we won’t see how the environmental catastrophes we read about almost daily are connected to human activities altering the environment. We cannot afford the consequences of mass environmental ill-literacy!

Student activists like Greta Thunberg and Isha Clarke , the climate protests, and the nonprofits fighting fossil fuel companies are the emergency flares illuminating climate change catastrophes and environmental injustices. These efforts are absolutely critical, but they don’t provide the sustained daily learning needed to generate the massive education to create the societal commitment required for a wholesale shift in civic consciousness and habits. While we can see local flooding, smell forests burning, feel temperatures rising, and witness social and environmental injustices, we can’t know the deeper systemic causes until we learn about them.

Students don’t come into the classroom with a blank slate. They bring with them their lived experiences as mentioned above. Having voices in the classroom of people who are actually living with environmental injustices makes the learning visceral and vivid and real. What an asset in a school setting to have voices providing a diverse array of perspectives.

Students come to school influenced not only by their lived experiences, but with the information they stream on their devices. Much of it includes a lot of counter-education, pushing consumption and competitive individualism with devastating impacts on the environment.

California Lays the Foundation for Environmental Literacy

In 2003, then state Senator Fran Pavley brought to the California legislature the idea of using public school education to foster a deep understanding of human to nature interdependence. She had been a classroom teacher for 30 years. She knew the widespread reach of the public school system and the inherent interest children have in understanding, and wanting to care for, their own environments.

In grades 6–8, students learn the ways in which humans are inextricably dependent on nature for the goods and services supporting life like photosynthesis, the water cycle, industrialization, urbanization, and my favorite, decomposition. By the way, a 2018 study estimated the value of those services, which form the basis of all economic activity, globally, at $125 trillion annually .

In grades 9–12, students assess data and evidence to evaluate the damage caused by human activities and consider the pros and cons of solutions such as using renewables and nuclear energy rather than fossil fuels. Ultimately, high school seniors should be well equipped to viscerally and intellectually understand how humans are part of and not separate from nature to the point where sacrificing the environment for short-term human gain makes about as much sense as giving up an arm or a lung. Going into higher education, career technical education, or the job market, students will already speak the language gaining currency worldwide embodied in environmental literacy, including climate change and environmental justice. Environmental illiteracy leads to environmental injustice. Environmental literacy leads to environmental justice.

Strands for Advancing Equitable Environmental Literacy

Schools are investments in our children’s well-being. Schools also improve society’s collective well-being by graduating skillful individuals who have knowledge, attitudes, and values emphasizing how each individual contributes and makes choices affecting their communities and the world. Teaching the science, history-social science, and economics of the environment, and using language, the arts, technology, math, and experiential learning will provide skills and knowledge to improve students’ chances of personal success while improving society overall.

The public education system is our best bet to instill curiosity, wonder, knowledge of shared problems and solutions, and to foster a stewardship ethic. All students can learn how to read the signs of humanity’s toll on the health of the planet and their communities. Peripheral programs, environmental education camps, and one-off field trips are crucial in a child’s education, but alone they are not enough to fully prepare students. Environmental and climate literacy must be an integral part of every child’s formal, standards-based education, woven into the fabric of teaching core subjects, examining evidence, data, and history to deeply understand the interdependence between humans and nature.

Ten Strands belongs to a community advancing environmental literacy as a top priority of a public-school education, rather than a nice addition if teachers have time. Together, we need to reach those who are skeptical about the power of education to support a sustainable future and reverse the existential threat of climate chaos. Advancing our work means spreading the word, enlisting new partners, and of course accessing more resources. We all need to support the teaching of environmental literacy, justice, and climate change—in all 10,000 schools in California—and beyond!

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Will Parish

Will Parish is a credentialed public high school science educator with a 30-year record of innovative accomplishments in the environmental and educational fields. He taught Environmental Science at Gateway High School in San Francisco, and now serves on the board. He served on the California State Board of Education’s Curriculum Commission and then founded Ten Strands as a nonprofit organization to support California’s efforts to bring environmental literacy to all K–12 students in the state.

4 Responses

Thank you for the article and founding Ten Strands. I’m curious how your programs counter all the misinformation spread by those who not only deny climate change but spend $$$$ to disseminate misinformation to protect the fossil fuel and others, such as Big Ag who block all progressive policies to alleviate the problem.

Thank you for writing this article and your work integrating environmental literacy in K-12 schools. I am currently pursuing my Earth Science teaching degree and my goal is to establish more env. literacy in NYS, and am particularly interested in the role of legislation. Would love to ask you a few questions. Would you be able to contact me via the email address that I left?

Keep up this amazing work! I enjoyed reading it

Great work, but unfortunately you have been hijacked by the “social justice” campaign. Can we not have a environmental conservation and preservation program free from Critical Theory?! Answer: we can and we should.

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Why Environmental Education is Important

“Environmental education provides important opportunities for students to become engaged in real world issues that transcend classroom walls. They can see the relevance of their classroom studies to the complex environmental issues confronting our planet and they can acquire the skills they’ll need to be creative problem solvers and powerful advocates.” — Ms. Campbell, California’s Superintendent of San Mateo County Schools

Environmental education benefits students, schools, and our larger world.

Environmental Education Benefits Students by…

• Improving Academic Achievement. EE improves test scores by providing students with engaging lessons about the natural world that can be applied to all subject areas and grades.
• Breaking the Indoor Habit. EE offers an antidote to the plugged-in lives of today’s generation, which is the first to grow up indoors. Children who experience school grounds or play areas with diverse natural settings are more physically active, more aware of good nutrition, more creative, and more civil to one another.
• Improving Student Health. EE gets students outdoors and active, and helps to address common health issues in children today, such as obesity, attention deficit disorder, and depression.
• Supporting STEM. EE offers an engaging platform for gaining and applying knowledge and skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
• Meeting 21st Century Needs. EE emphasizes skills essential for succeeding in tomorrow’s world, such as questioning, investigating, defining problems, analyzing, interpreting, reasoning, developing conclusions, and solving problems.
• Cultivating Leadership Qualities. EE emphasizes cooperative learning with others, critical thinking and discussion, and a focus on action strategies with real-world applications.
• Improving Focus and Cognition. EE increases the ability of students to focus and improves their cognitive abilities. Children with attention-deficit disorder also benefit from more exposure to nature–the greener a child’s everyday environment, the more manageable are their symptoms.

The Top 10 Benefits of Environmental Education lists more examples of how EE benefits learners of all ages.

“Right now, in the second decade of the 21st century, preparing our students to be good environmental citizens is some of the most important work any of us can do. It is for our children, and our children’s children, and generations yet to come.” — US Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Sep 2010

Environmental Education Benefits Schools and Educators by…

• Creating Enthusiastic Students. EE offers opportunities for rich, hands-on, real world and authentic learning across the curriculum. This relevance to students’ lives engages and inspires them more than traditional pedagogy.
• Fostering Innovative Teacher-Leaders. EE gives educators the confidence to take students outdoor and to design more dynamic, interactive learning experiences that spark students’ engagement.
• Addressing Academic Standards. EE offers an engaging way to meet the content and skills identified in Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts and mathematics, as well Next Generation Science Standards and C3 Framework for Social Studies.
• Saving Schools Money. When students investigate and take action to improve the environmental performance of their school buildings and grounds, they often cut costs in electricity, water, waste management, and more.

It is estimated that by 2030, the world population of 7 billion will demand twice as many resources as the planet can supply ( The Economist ). Meeting the needs of our global citizenry—ecologically, economically, culturally, spiritually, and more—requires understanding and creative problem solving. Environmental education equips learners with the knowledge, skills, and motivation to address complex environmental challenges in the 21st Century.

Environmental Education Benefits the Larger World by…

• Fostering Healthier Schools. EE empowers students to lead the way in creating greener and healthier learning environments inside and outside their school buildings.
• Supporting Sound Decision-Making. EE ensures citizens are informed about sound science and equipped to make decisions that are critical to ensuring the US and greater world have the natural resources on which our economy and quality of life depend.
• Contributing to Sustainability. EE builds the knowledge and skills needed to address complex environmental issues, as well as take action to keep our natural world healthy, our economies productive, and communities vibrant.
• Conserving our Natural Resources. Higher levels of environmental knowledge correlate significantly with a higher degree of pro-environment and conservation behavior. The more people know, the more likely they are to recycle, be energy efficient, conserve water, etc.

View a list of sources for Research into the Benefits of Environmental Education .

How Project Learning Tree Makes a Difference

• PLT encourages students to improve their schools, homes, and neighborhoods based on what they learn in the classroom.
• PLT provides educators with peer-reviewed, award-winning curriculum materials to engage students in learning about the environment. We show teachers how easy it is to bring environmental education into their everyday lesson plans using our hands-on, multi-disciplinary materials aligned to state and national academic standards. Our trainings also focus on developing teachers’ confidence and skills for taking students outdoors to learn.
• More than 675,000 teachers have received training in Project Learning Tree since the program began in 1976, making PLT one of the most widely-used environmental education programs in the United States.

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More options:, environmental literacy: a lot more than the 3 rs.

I remember my first year in the classroom as if it were yesterday. As a bright-eyed recent grad, I was excited to engage my students and have them experience the world around them. My first task was teaching Earth Day, where we would focus on the 3 Rs of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Yes, you heard that right, and, yes, I am that old… However, in the early 2000s, this was really the only time we learned about the environment and how it plays a role in our lives (imagine that)! Fast forward a “few” years and gray hairs later, tremendous efforts have been made to support opportunities for the development of environmentally literate students and citizens. With that comes a much more thoughtful and comprehensive approach than the one I first taught.

What is Environmental Literacy and Why is It Important?

• Case Studies: Feature local and regional case studies that explore real-world environmental issues. Miller & Levine Biology integrates three-dimensional learning through 27 case studies to give students an opportunity to engage with investigative phenomena. The program also has six different types of labs and simulations that provide over 100 experiences to support everyday phenomena.
• Student-Centered Research Activities: Include high-quality field and web-based research activities to engage your students. The Quest Problem-based learning challenge in Elevate Science K-8 supports understanding of the Investigative Phenomenon to encourage open-ended inquiry. The Problem-Based Learning projects in Miller & Levine Biology support students’ understanding of relevant and local phenomena. These are student-led research projects that encourage student inquiry and discourse.
• Environmental Justice Activities: Integrate justice and ethics by examining issues from an environmental justice lens. Miller & Levine Biology allows students to participate in a variety of authentic readings as they explore solutions to a real-world problem.
• Climate Change Activities: Increase climate literacy and empower students to tackle the climate emergency. The Anchoring Phenomenon in Elevate Science K-8 prepares students for the challenges of tomorrow, building strong reasoning skills and critical thinking strategies as they engage in explorations, formulate claims, and gather and analyze data that promote evidence-based arguments.
• SEL & Environmental Literacy: Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Environmental Literacy. Elevate Science K-8 offers a wealth of support using experiential learning experiences for various groups of students seen to be at risk for vulnerability to academic inequalities in science and engineering.
• Virtual Field Trips and Hands-On Activities: Integrate high-quality environmental education experiences with local community-based partners. When students are immersed in the environment through field trips either first-hand or virtually, students connect to that environment and have the context for discussion about key environmental concepts and challenges. Sometimes it is challenging to get students outdoors. This is a great opportunity to access resources from Elevate Science K-8 such as virtual labs or interactivities.

Register your class for our Virtual STEM Fair: Earth Day Awareness >>

Learn more about three-dimensional learning in our miller & levine high school biology curriculum >>.

Note: Fresh Ideas for Teaching blog contributors have been compensated for sharing personal teaching experiences on our blog. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer or company.

About the Author

Carolyn levitt, k-12 mathematics & science specialist.

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What Is Environmentally Sustainable Society Essay

What is environmentally sustainable society? What does it compose of and how does it grow economically? Find all the answers in this environmental sustainability essay example!

Introduction

• Environmentally sustainable society

Works Cited

The environment is an essential component of human life in their daily life. An environmentally sustainable society meets the needs of the individuals in society without causing the destruction of natural resources and protects it for the future generation. Environmentalists are people who advocate for an environmentally sustainable society. Environmentalists emphasize the importance of the environment and seek to influence political processes to include policies that protect natural resources. The following is a discussion on how an environmentally sustainable society can be achieved.

Environmentally Sustainable Society

An environmentally sustainable society can be achieved if the natural resources are taken care of by the present generation to mind future generations. The purpose is to ensure that there is continuity of the people in the society. The environment to sustain society can be achieved if policies that advocate for the protection of the environment are enacted.

To sustain society, the environment should be conserved, refurbished, and improved. Major concerns are environmental pollution, land, ecology, biodiversity, and ethics concerning the environment. The political environmentalist actively campaigns about conservation of the environment. The lobby and support education concerning the preservation and improvement of natural resources. They emphasize that individual behavior should be geared towards the preservation of the environment.

Environmental conservation initiatives will make society come up with schemes to protects and sustain the environment for future societies. Such initiatives will lead to renewable energy as an alternative to sources of fuel that are harmful to the environment. Alternatives to electrical energy are sort (Costa and Kahn 1).

Environmental movements are effective in forming initiatives that maintain society by sustaining the environment. The movements have fewer followers than other ideologies. The curriculum has been introduced in some of the education systems to incorporate policies that are relevant to the preservation of the environment and society. The movements emphasize human rights, health concerns, and ecology, which are necessary for the well being of every individual in society.

To achieve an environmentally sustainable society, the oppression of minority societies should be halted. The minorities have been oppressed, where industrial waste has been dumped close to their neighborhood. Other injustices have been in the form of industries polluting water and polluting air, affecting the societies living close to the industries. Other organizations have made weak infrastructure that has collapsed and injured members of the society. Others have been exposed to chemical toxins that have been carelessly handled by major institutions. To overcome the injustices and oppression of the members of society, environmental movements suggest that the implementation of policies that protect people and the environment should be fastened.

To attain an environmentally sustainable society, the progress of the society should be taken care of in relation to the environment. The needs of the society should be met to elongate their life and to enable them live a fulfilling life with health. The society needs to access safe and clean water for consumption. They also need a supply of food to sustain them. Protecting the environment will ensure that present and future generations can acquire safe water and food. Children are entitled to a safe environment. The society should reduce factors that may lead to infant mortality (McCarthy 1).

In line with Dunlap and McCright (1), environmentalists argue that human beings are responsible for the changes in environment. They also argue that the power to restore the environment is in their hands. Instead of viewing the future as a time where the inevitable will happen, the society should take action to restore the environment. Since global warming is viewed as a threat, the human society can do what the environmentalists recommend. Environmentalists recommend that people plant trees and protect natural habitats of plants and animals.

Political supporters of natural environment have introduced national parks and national forests. Government’s protection of the forest and ecology ensures that the ecosystem balance is maintained. It also shows commitment of the government to the continuity of its people. Regulations on the environment play a major role in environmentally sustainable society.

Prevention of war is essential. War affects the environment and the society. War causes destruction of the environment and infrastructure. What is more is that human being lives are lost. Changes that foster peace are necessary to enable people live productive lives and cause positive change to the environment.

Environmentalism views other form of economic system as destructive to the environment that the society it protects depends on. Economic ideologies that seek to increase productivity and revenue by utilizing industrial technology with harmful emissions and pollution to the environment are discouraged. The scientific evidence on environmental change has made more environmentalists to emphasize the need to rehabilitate natural resources. Scientific evidence points at destruction of atmosphere, different forms of pollution and health problems as evidence.

Other concerns of the environmentalist are the ability to provide food for the increasing population against the challenges of climate changes. The state has a responsibility of protecting its citizens against starvation by implementing policies and schemes that will enable production of food. Protecting the environment will benefit the entire human race on earth.

The environment is important to the human society. An environmentally sustainable society can be achieved if the society conserves and improves the natural resources. Environmentalists seek to influence policy making to conserve the environment. The major concerns of the environmentalists are the change in climate, environmental pollution, biodiversity, ecosystem, preservation of land and environmental ethics.

To sustain the society the environment should be protected for present and future generations. Environmental movements make proposals on the best ways of conserving the environment. There are initiatives to change to alternative energy sources and provide safe environment for the society. Oppression of the minority communities by exposing them to industrial waste and garbage is discouraged. Policies that enhance security and safety of water and food are adopted. Industrial emissions and chemicals that contaminate the environment are dejected. Curriculum in schools includes environmental studies which encourage environmental conservation.

The public is also given information on the environment. Evidence from scientists emphasizes the need for environmental conservation. Peace and the well being of society are encouraged. Human health is also up help if environmentally sustainable society is pursued. Planting of trees, protecting the existing ecosystem and other natural resources is the emphases that will help the society attain sustainability of the society.

Costa, Dora & Kahn, Mathew. Energy conservation “nudges” and environmentalist ideology: Evidence from a randomized residential electricity field experiment , 2010. Web.

Dunlap, Riley and McCright, Aaron. A Widening Gap: Republican and Democratic Views on Climate Change , 2008. Web.

McCarthy, John. Progress and Its Sustainability.” Sustainability of Human Progress , 2010. Web.

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