Tag Archive for: environmental education

Celebrating the World EE Day 2020, experiences and activities all around the world

/in , /by

The third edition of the World Environmental Education Day took place from 14 to 26 October 2020.  The Weec Network invited all the stakeholders of the environmental education to join the World Environmental Education Day organising special events to highlight the importance of environmental educational actions all over the world.

The aim of EE Day is to focus on the complexity of the challenges in a world where everything is ever more interconnected. Several associations, environmental education centres, schools and institutions sent us information about their events in 2020. We would like to thank all those who wanted to promote environmental education this year, despite the pandemic.

Here we present a selection of interesting case histories.

 

Bénin
Cercle de Recherche pour l’Identification et la Promotion des Alternatives du Développement Durable (CRIPADD)

CRIPADD is convinced that an environmental education program for children is essential to raise environmental awareness. It is with this in mind that they initiated an animation campaign for the benefit of schoolchildren at the public primary school of Hio. It will focus on environmental themes drawn from their environment.

This initiative was set up after the momentous decision to ban mangrove cutting in Avlékété, an area of ​​impressive biodiversity, but overexploited. However, the decision of environmental protection is putting many families in economic difficulty.

 

Bhutan
Royal Education Council

Environmental education is one of the national priorities towards achieving the goals of Gross National Happiness. To this effect, Environmental Science for classes 9 to 12 was introduced as optional subject with the aim of developing youths who are in peace and harmony with the tangible and intangible environment. As a consequence, nature is used sustainably for the wellbeing of people and the nature.


Canada
International Francophonie (Francophonie internationale)
Revue Éducation relative à l’environnement

The Revue Éducation relative à l’environnement, part of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), has set up a Google discussion group (mailing list) concerning the field of Environmental Education. In this group, members can exchange information (announcements of colloquia, seminars or webinars; publications; call for contributions for an event; call for publication; links to a website or webpage, etc.), ask subscribers research questions on the subject of the list, help other subscribers by answering the questions asked, receive information… as long as it is in the field of Environmental Education. The language used by this group is French. This list is moderated and you will have the possibility to unsubscribe at any time.

To be a member of this group, send an email at revue.ere@uqam.ca

 

Chile
Fundación Cosmos

Fundación Cosmos manages the Rio Maipo Wetland Nature Sanctuary located on the central coast of Chile. This is one of the most important coastal wetlands in the area, both because it is home to more than 180 species of birds, and because of the environmental services it provides to local communities and the ecosystem in general. However, it is not free from threats and factors that deteriorate it and affect its biodiversity, such as the presence and accumulation of rubbish that reaches it through high tides or the flooding of the Maipo River. To commemorate World Environmental Education Day, they have organised a community rubbish clean-up, which is more important than ever, given the arrival of migratory birds in the wetland. Through the clean-up, the Fudación generates awareness about the origin of the rubbish and the possible destiny of the waste that we all produce, encouraging a change in behaviour with respect to it.

 

France
Association Centre de découverte du son

The Association Centre de découverte du son will organize a nature outing: “Sons Buissonniers”. Walks will be organised in search of musical instruments that nature can offer. Magical moments where a blade of grass turns into a whistle, fruit into percussion. Then pupils will discover how to manipulate and have fun with these sound objects.

 

France
Litt’Obs

Litt’Obs will organise an educational discovery of rays and sharks with a school public as part of the Festival Baie des Sciences in St-Brieuc, on 14th of October.

 

Italy
Department of Education Studies at University of Bologna

An informal group of professor and students engaged on environmental education is organizing a web event (in Italian) addressed to students of the Department of Education Studies at University of Bologna, on the 16 October, 11 am-1 pm.
Title: Educazione ambientale, scuola, Indicazioni Nazionali (Environmental education, school and National Guide-lines), relator Prof. Stefano Piastra.

 

Italy
“MAREARTE” Project, travelling exhibition

The “MareArte” project was born from an idea of the artist Diego Racconi as a collective of small paintings by international artists, received through the postal system. The theme of the works develops on the relationship between Man and the Sea, transforming art into a valid tool of awareness, through which to send a message to the community, stimulating virtuous behaviour and raising awareness of respect for the environment. The large participation of the artists with their personal postcards led to the development of the initiative by organizing a traveling collective exhibition, in which some specific works created by the artist Diego Racconi are also presented for a charity action in support of reality. that deal with the recovery of marine animals. The exhibition is structured and proposed thanks to the collaboration of various institutional bodies involving them for the promotion of the initiative in their own territory and is sent through the postal system from location to location in the various destinations, through a tour and a travel route using the postal system. The initiative focuses on environmental sustainability issues and for this reason the invitation to participate in the initiative is also extended to children, precisely to involve the new generations on ecological environmental issues and sustainability objectives. All the works received will be collected at the end of the exhibition in an artist’s book and will therefore not be returned. The Exibition is now hosted at the Museo Barca Lariana (MBL) – Pianello del Lario, Como, Italy

 

Madagascar
Institute of People and Nature (IPN)

The Institute of People and Nature (IPN) will take part at the celebration of the World Environmental Education Day with a webinar on “Environmental Education in Madagascar from 1985 to 2020: background and trends”. The main objective is to inform the audience about the EE actions taken in Madagascar Island since the start in 1985, their impacts and current trends. The target groups are: Members of IPN group (217 members from Malagasy public and private Universities); and Environmental Education, Conservation and Sustainable Development professionals, University students worldwide interested in EE and environment-related issues in Madagascar. It will take place on 14th October at 12:00 GMT. The webinar will be conducted in French. The speaker is Andrianambinintsoa RAKOTOMALALA (Environmental Educator – Sociolinguist, Faculty of Science, University of Toliara, MADAGASCAR)

 

 

North-Macedonia
School of OOU Vlado Tasevski, Skopje

The school of OOU Vlado Tasevski will organise a Climate Action Project and Climate Change and Environment Activities on: Climate Change and biodiversity loss; the effects of climate change; the solutions; pedagogy and education; sustainable education; and SSGoals.

 

Turkey
SUGEP

The Sustainable Development Youth Leaders Education program will develop knowledge, skills and attitudes about sustainability. This program not only increases knowledge and awareness, but also improves skills and enables individuals to make more informed decisions about the environment.

There are a few methodologies that will create a solution-oriented project approach to many issues such as global climate change, gender equality, disruption of ecological balance, separation of biodiversity, ending hunger and poverty, sustainability cities, clean and sustainability energy, life in water. They will find knowledge to improve have academic and personal skills through organizational skills, speaking in front of the community, speaking a speech, preparing a project report.

 

Uruguay
National Network of Environmental Education for Sustainable Human Development of Uruguay (RENEA), Montevideo

From 5 to 7 November, a virtual meeting will set up. Experts from all over the region are invited to present their experiences and reflections on Latin American environmental education. Environmental education for sustainable human development implies an ethical, political and social commitment in a given time and space with the formation of a citizenship committed to participating democratically in decision-making and the execution of actions aimed at a socially equitable development, supportive and balanced between human needs and environmental care. In this very special year, environmental educators have faced new challenges and generated new learnings. It is more than ever a good time to meet, this time virtually, to continue the tradition of reflecting and building environmental education together.

 

USA
California Institute of Environmental Design and Management (CIEDM)

CIEDM will support WEED2020 by participating in the global campaign with following actions:

1. Raise public awareness of WEED2020 by spreading its campaign messages through its social medias, along with those of other environmental awareness events in and around October 14-25, such as Earth Science Week, International Day for Disaster Reduction, and Image a Day without Water;

2. Maintain and enhance through physical works the ecological and environmental services of the homestead pocket forest at Arcadia EcoHome as a registered pollinator site, a certified wildlife habitat, a certified pollinator habitat, and a verified ocean friendly garden.

We invite you to sign our campaign on Change to ask the United Nations, institutions, private and public organizations of five continents, to recognize and celebrate every year, on October 14th, the World Environmental Education Day.

CALL: Environmental Education experiences at the time of COVID-19

/in /by

As educators and environmental educators of the WEEC Network, having overcome these difficult months of lockdown, we feel more than ever the importance of dedicating a focus to teaching methodologies.

For this reason, we are launching a call addressed to all educators and environmental educators: we are looking for testimonials and stories on how the way of working and doing environmental education has changed and what strategies and tools have worked in this period.

Send us your testimony by August 31!

The objective is to activate a comparison on the good practices that emerged, on the methodologies adopted and on the feedback obtained. The testimonies and experiences collected will be shared in the next events of the WEEC Network 2020.

In environmental education, the relationship with nature and outdoor activities are fundamental. How to respond to the paradox that in recent months it has been necessary to do environmental education through a screen at home? Was the opportunity also taken for education in a new and truly interactive use of new technologies? And how can the relationship with nature “at a distance” be maintained?

FILL THE SURVEY: Call EA and covid-19

 

Coronavirus and EE. Situation, proposals, perspectives: the debate is open

/in /by

Environmental Education is in quarantine too.
What are we learning from this crisis? What is the impact of the Covid-19 emergency on several activities? And how can environmental education help address this and other crises? What are the best practices for continuing to do environmental education using the Internet and e-learning? Is it necessary for schools and universities to be more focused on social and ecological sustainability? What are the prospects for the future? What are we going to do when the emergency is over, and the fear has passed? Will everything come back as before? What will have changed for the better or for the worse? Is there a risk in the future of a further reduction in the funds available for environmental education and the Green New Deal?

The WEEC Network opens the debate on these and other questions, to try to better understand the situation of environmental education in all countries in the days of Coronavirus.

Send us news, comments, stories, proposals. We will publish them on the WEEC network website.

Coronavirus Covid-19 Crisis: EE is a fundamental tool to build resilience

/in /by

The world environmental education network (WEEC) is close to everyone in these long months who are experiencing painful moments and a situation of social isolation all over the world.

For teachers at schools and universities, the pandemic means that they have to give up their relationship with millions of young students. Online courses are a remedy that cannot replace the educational relationship, and there is a digital divide that increases the disadvantage of people living in socio-economic conditions, thus creating even greater educational poverty.

Measures to tackle the infection also deprive young people and adults of the opportunity to go outdoors, go to natural parks, take advantage of museums, theatres, libraries and other educational opportunities.

For environmental education, all this is a heavy brake: the Coronavirus crisis paralyses all environmental education activities.

At the same time, today the environmental education also has a more significant task. The origin of the pandemic and its impacts, which mainly affect people weakened by a polluted environment and unhealthy lifestyles, remind everyone of the importance of restoring the balance of the planet upset by global warming and the destruction of Nature.

Environmental education has a pivotal role and is a crucial tool to build resilience in the face of disasters and catastrophes, natural or made by humans.

Environmental education to understand the complexity of the world

/in /by

Lyonpo Thakur Powdyel (on the left) with Mario Salomone WEEC Secretary General (on the right)

Your Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, Honorable members and partners of Thai Organizing Committee, distinguished representatives of the UNESCO, UNFCCC and UNEP, distinguished representatives of public bodies, institutions, scientific societies, networks, universities, schools, parks, NGOs, dear friends and colleagues coming to Bangkok from all over the world, dear delegates from about seventy countries, I’m much honored to address to a such outstanding audience: my warmest thanks to all for attending the 10th World Environmental Education Congress.

Moreover, l would like to express my gratitude to the Kingdom of Thailand, to the people of this great and noble country for their warm welcome, their wonderful organization. And the splendid and superb mood you have made.

It is for me a great pleasure to open this congress. Among a lot of reasons, there are at least two main reasons for celebrating this great event in Bangkok:

1. We are meeting the goal of the 10th congress. Since 2003 the World Environmental Education Congresses are the most regular and important appointment for all the actors in environmental education (academia, associations, public institutions, civil society, etc.).

I hope the 10th WEEC will be a further opportunity for making the global WEEC network more useful. Having originated in 2003 and still growing, the 10th congress will enable the network to have broader and more active participation among the greatest possible number of environmental education actors, both academic and non-academic.

During the closing plenary session, on the 6th November, we announce the next milestone: The Eleventh World Congress, its location and its title, and we will open the ‘call for bid’ collecting candidacies for the congress in 2023.

Above all, I would like to remember and to underline you that WEECs are not simply congresses, but an opportunity of networking and partnerships for improving and strengthening the environmental education worldwide in the world.

WEECs are not simply scientific meetings, but are also a permanent organization fitted with advisory board, staff, websites, newsletters, WEECs are a strategic international network acting for spreading information, sharing knowledge, enhancing the work of thousands and thousands of teachers, researchers, educators, young environmental activists in all continents. Finally, an opportunity for all.

2. For the first time the WEECs land in Asia: the largest continent, the most populated, with a powerful and grandiose nature, with an ancient history and a flourishing of great civilizations, with the greatest variety of religious faiths, with the largest rural population and the largest number of workers in the industry. With a thriving economy until the Western/European colonization and which now resumes its place in the world, having therefore, like everyone, to face the challenge of sustainability.

Maybe, also a decolonization of the environmental education languages and patterns is needed.

In short, there is much to learn from Asia, and we hope it will be served, thanks to a conference full of papers, posters, workshops and authoritative speakers from four corners of the world and from different languages ​​and cultures.

Today we are also closing a month of worldwide initiatives throughout October, around the World environmental education day we celebrate each year on 14th October, because on 14th October 1977 the Tbilisi United Nations – UNESCO – UNEP Conference on environmental education opened.

Environmental education is and will always be more fundamental in a world that changes quickly and poses increasingly complex challenges, starting with “global heating”.

Psychological resistance, petty and thirsty interests, egoism, divisions, ideological cages, fears, hatreds, prejudices, all obstacles to let us to feel as precarious and temporary tenants of Mother Earth and part of a single planetary “community of destiny” will also remain in the future.

So, environmental education must be the pivot, the guide and the beacon of the education for peace, for planetary citizenship, for a fair trade, for a social and environmental justice, for the global heating mitigation.

At the same time, environmental education claims with satisfaction the fruit of decades of awareness raising, to change consciences, give awareness, change attitudes and therefore behaviors, spread knowledge and above all build competences of active and responsible citizenship and for change.

And environmental education is exactly that: a holistic education, to understand the complexity of the world as modified by human action, to understand a slightly different world every morning, and to give all human beings reasons for brotherhood and sisterhood, between them and the planet and the tool to stand upright and not get carried away like extras from the muddy river of the History.

So, my greetings and my warmest wishes: have a joyful and productive congress!

Mario Salomone

10WEEC, New call: Place-based Approaches to Environmental Education

/in /by

Environmental attitudes and knowledge have been shown to have very different effects on behavior change depending, among others, on geographic contextual factors (Braun, Cottrell & Dierkes, 2017). Place-based education (PBE) approaches not only promote greater awareness of local environments, culture and history, but they can engender the individual attachment to nature. It was shown by Orr (1994) and Kudryavtsev, et al (2012) that place attachment can help promoting pro-sustainable behavior.

However, the complex relationship between local, place-based approaches to environmental education and individual environmental behavior requires further attention. How to change individuals’ behavior and bring across positive learning outcomes remains unclear and is still a major challenge for governments, organizations and institutions worldwide (Gifford, 2011; Weber & Johnson, 2012; Whitmarsh, Lorenzoni & O’Neill, 2012).

Therefore, it is timely to evaluate how the field of environmental education could benefit from refining existent or develop new teaching approaches that more explicitly incorporate place-based scholarship to connect abstract and distant environmental problems (e.g. sea level rise or global temperature increase) to students’ everyday life.

The thematic cluster calls for papers that investigate place-informed aspects of formal and non-formal environmental education programs and how these can shape and are shaped by student learning. We invite presentation that are related, but not limited, to the following broad themes:
– PBE Curriculum Inclusion
– PBE and Pedagogy
– PBE and Community Involvement
– PBE Based Learning Outcomes

Call proposed by:
Roger C. BAARS – Senior Lecturer; Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University

Jane SINGER – Associate Professor; Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University

Contact: baars.rogercloud.6a@kyoto-u.ac.jp

From local to European level: a meeting in France for EE networks

/in /by

The partners of the Erasmus+ strategic partnership programme invite you to a day of discovery on Friday 21 June 2019 in the Philippe Lamour area at Montpellier Supagro.

This day, open to all, is be an opportunity to discover the programme’s productions, share resources, discuss future perspectives…

In addition to the initial partnership of the project, we also welcome actors in environmental education and sustainable development from other European countries, including Mario Salomone, Secretary General of the WEEC (World Congress on Environmental Education).

Etres is supported by EU and brings together many training centres and SDEE professionals coming from 4 countries within a network.
The aims of the project are not only to add value to the ideas, practices exchanges and tools to be collectively thought on a local area.

Fridays for future. Alongside young people all over the world

/in /by

From the young Swedish student Greta Thunberg, the successful example of how the message on the urgency of change can reach hearts and consciences. She deserves all our applause and support. From his courageous gesture a movement is born that mobilizes groups of young people all over the world. The events of “Fridays for future” and the global strike of March 15th are a sign of hope that must leave its mark. This is why the WEEC Secretariat invites all the people involved in the defense of the environment and all the members of the largest international network of environmental educators to join, to be in the front line and to give maximum support to the campaign for the respect for commitments against global warming. «Greta» said among other things the WEEC Secretary General Mario Salomone «spoke also to the great people of the Earth, COP24 and the WEF of Davos. They heard her, but it is not said that they listened to her. It is up to all of us to help extinguish the burning house fire. Women and men of every generation side by side».

FR

A côté des jeunes du monde entier. L’éducation à l’environnement au premier rang de la bataille pour le climat

Le réseau d’éducation à l’environnement WEEC adhère à Fridays for Future en fournissant ses canaux d’information et ses bureaux. Greta Thunberg, jeune étudiante suédoise, montre comment le message sur l’urgence du changement peut atteindre les cœurs et les consciences. Journée de mobilisation du 15 mars contre la catastrophe climatique. Le Secrétaire général WEEC, Mario Salomone, lance un appel à l’adhésion.

Greta Thunberg mérite tous nos applaudissements et notre soutien. De son geste courageux est né un mouvement qui a mobilisé des groupes de jeunes du monde entier. Les événements de vendredi ” pour l’avenir ” et la grève mondiale du 15 mars sont un signe d’espoir qui doit laisser sa marque. C’est la raison pour laquelle le secrétariat du réseau environnemental du WEEC invite toutes les personnes impliquées dans la défense de l’environnement et tous les membres du plus grand réseau international d’éducateurs à l’environnement à se joindre à nous, à être en première ligne et à apporter un soutien maximal à la campagne pour la protection de l’environnement. respect des engagements contre le réchauffement climatique. « Greta – a notamment déclaré le secrétaire général du WEEC, Mario Salomone – s’est également entretenu avec les plus grands peuples de la Terre, la COP24 et le WEF de Davos. Ils l’ont entendu, mais on ne dit pas qu’ils l’ont écouté. Nous devons tous aider à éteindre l’incendie de la maison en feu. Les femmes et les hommes de chaque génération côte à côte ».

 

ES

Junto a los jóvenes de todo el mundo. Educación ambiental en primera fila en la lucha por el clima

La red de educación ambiental WEEC participa en Fridays for Future poniendo a disposición sus canales de información y oficinas. Empezando por la joven estudiante sueca Greta Thunberg, el exitoso ejemplo de cómo el mensaje sobre la urgencia del cambio puede llegar a los corazones y las conciencias. El 15 de marzo día de movilización contra la catástrofe climática. Desde el Secretariado General WEEC Mario Salomone un llamado a unirse.

Greta Thunberg merece todo nuestro aplauso y apoyo. De su gesto valeroso nació un movimiento que movilizó a grupos de jóvenes de todo el mundo. Los eventos del viernes “para el futuro” y la huelga global del 15 de marzo son un signo de esperanza que deba dejar su huella. Por este motivo, el Secretariado de la Red mundial de educación ambiental WEEC invita a todas las personas involucradas en la defensa del medio ambiente y a todos los miembros de la red internacional más grande de educadores ambientales a unirse, estar en la primera línea y dar el máximo apoyo a la campaña para el respeto por los compromisos contra el calentamiento global. «Greta» dijo el Secretario General de WEEC, Mario Salomone, «habló también a las grandes personas de la Tierra, la COP24 y el WEF de Davos. La escucharon, pero no se sabe si la entendieron. Depende de todos nosotros ayudar a extinguir el incendio de la casa. Mujeres y hombres de todas las generaciones lado a lado».

WEEC2019, new Call: Patterns of Complexity in an Anthropocene Environmental Curriculum

/in /by

We want to analyze how an experimental curriculum in Environmental Education in the era of Anthropocene requires a multi-disciplinary and a multi-scale approach. Through the presentation of examples and case studies, we intend to show how an environmental thinking framework has to include simultaneously:
– a focus on local approach and on the implementation of small scale interventions, aimed at empowering small agents and local minorities;
– a focus on the realization of macro actions, planned in top-down perspective, and effective on a global scale.
Such capability of upscaling and downscaling within the same thinking framework characterizes the patterns of the theory of complexity, in particular reflecting self-similarities and recursive behaviors presented by multiscale systems. Environmental education in fact reveals itself as a complex topic, where multiple patterns of specific localities and macro complexities coexist and converge.
At the same time, the time frame of the Anthropocene we are supposedly living in calls for a strong multidisciplinary approach. No methodology or traditional field of research alone can make sense of the Anthropocene multiple environmental controversies. Anthropocene is both a fully natural and fully cultural construct.
The practice of ethnography typical of anthropological research is particularly fitted to identify and highlight small-scale contexts, and to pinpoint the role of local actors, minority groups and marginal societies, but it shows some limitations when confronted to quantitative information and big data, that are at the basis of all the environmental knowledge in the making. A productive pattern for an Anthropocene Environmental Curriculum has to be able to embrace heterogeneous methodologies and knowledge sources, and at the same time build the epistemological texture where uneven data can dialogue and develop.
The thematic cluster calls for papers that describe local and global scale case studies, used profitably in Environmental Education, which rely on and exemplify multi-scale thinking frameworks and multi-disciplinary approaches.

Call proposed by:
Elena Bougleux – University of Bergamo, elena.bougleux@unibg.it
Jennifer Wells – CIIS San Francisco, jwells@ciis.edu

Two postdoctoral position in Sweden

/in /by

The first one is for a Postdoctoral researcher in sociology with focus on International expert organisations: the School of Humanities, Educational and Social Sciences is seeking a postdoctoral researcher in sociology for a fixed-term appointment.
Eligible for the appointment as postdoctoral researcher are applicants holding a doctoral degree in sociology or in related subject areas. The doctoral degree should have been awarded no more than three years prior to the application deadline. Candidates who have obtained their doctoral degree prior to that may however also be considered if special grounds exist (leave of absence due to illness, parental leave, clinical duties, an elected position in a trade union, or other similar circumstances).
The application deadline is 15 March 2019

For information and application use this link

The second position is Postdoctoral researcher in sociology with focus on Environmental expertise. The subject area of the position is sociology with a focus on international environmental governance. The work will form part of a research project on interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary challenges for the intergovernmental expert organization IPBES, which synthesizes and assesses knowledge about biodiversity and ecosystem services. The project is part of the research conducted by the Environmental sociology group. For further information about this group, please visit its website.

International Secretariat

Via del Carmine, 15
10122 Torino – Italy
tel.+39 0114366522
secretariat@weecnetwork.org

LEGAL NOTICE

Privacy Policy
Cookies Policy
Facebook

Discover all the activities on our Facebook Page

Instagram

Follow our Instagram Profile!

Linkedin

Join our Linkedin world

Youtube

Join The Newsletter

Stay up to date with the latest news and trends in the digital world! Subscribe to our newsletter to receive exclusive content, practical tips, and updates directly in your inbox.