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Originally appears in the Fall 2021 issue.

By Henricus Peters and Nina Hatch

Editor’s Note: We don’t typically publish news stories or “history of…” pieces, but this was something we wanted to highlight. First off, a 50th anniversary is a pretty big deal. Secondly, we have enjoyed fruitful relationships with both organizations (and, in the case of the NAAEE, their many state and provincial affiliates across North America) during our 35-year existence. Thirdly, big milestones are opportunities to reflect and reorient (and haven’t we all been doing a bit of that over the past year and a half!). Considering the increasing focus on environmental education all around the world as we ramp up our collective sustainable development efforts, I thought this would be a fitting time to flip back through the proverbial archives and see how two fine organizations have evolved since 1971.

The National Association of Environmental Education (NAEE) is a charity based in the United Kingdom, with partners across the globe, including the Australian Association for Environmental Education (AAEE). This year, 2021, NAEE celebrates 50 years since it was “born.”

It began life in the 1960s and officially became the National Association for Environmental Education in 1971. Our purpose is to promote all forms of environmental education, and to support those involved in its delivery, in the hope that more people will understand and act on the need to live more sustainably to protect the future of our planet.

NAEE was born when awareness of the environmental crisis we face was beginning to emerge, and key focuses throughout our existence have been to increase opportunities for young people in schools to learn about 1) how life on Earth is utterly dependent on the biosphere, 2) the threats to it, and 3) what they could do to makes things better. Part of this has been trying to influence the government of the day to ensure that the school curriculum was appropriate to these goals. Over the past 50 years, we have seen good and bad times as government interest in supporting environmental education has ebbed, flowed, and then ebbed again. Currently it’s low tide once more!

It’s not that the mandated curriculum in England is completely devoid of content focused on environmental and climate issues — far from it as our own analyses show.1 Rather, the problem lies in the fragmented approach that schools (especially secondary ones) take, as well as a focus on facts rather than their implications. The student-led group, Teach the Future,2 makes a simple point: they want more of a focus on the implications of climate change and the ecological crisis for their future lives. They want to be educated about the issues so that they can play a meaningful role in combatting the problems. Government is ignoring them. NAEE supports Teach the Future as best they can in a context which is currently dominated by the SARS-CoV-19 virus, closed schools, and chaotic decision-making around public examinations.

The key features of NAEE’s work are…

  • publishing a journal – Environmental Education. This was first published in 1971 and is aimed at practitioners and policymakers. It is published three times a year, carries reports on environmental education in schools and the community, and offers insights into the Association’s work with schools and NGOs. It is free to members.3
  • writing curriculum reports and reviews that offer commentary on contemporary issues.
  • providing bursaries to West Midlands schools to enable students to study in outdoor environmental education centres. School reports are published in the journal.
  • working with like-minded organisations on collaborative projects and developments.
  • upkeeping a website (naee.org.uk), which provides a weekly review of activities and developments, book and resource reviews, feature articles, blogs on policy and practice, and social-media feeds.

The impact of the virus on various aspects of our work has been marked. There have been no bursaries taken up since January as schools have not been functioning, and some of the school-based projects we are funding have also come to a halt. Not everything stopped, of course. For example, our work with the Council of Overseas British International Schools [COBIS] on its Eco-film award was a great success, with 43 videos submitted by young people across the globe. It was wonderful to listen to passionate and knowledgeable youths who featured in front of and behind the lens. We loved the creativity and innovation shown in the projects and appreciated the verve of the approaches taken to filming.

The journal Environmental Education has been published despite everything. Vol 122 (Autumn 2019) was a print issue in collaboration with the London Environmental Educators Forum (LEEF) to celebrate its 30th Anniversary at the Natural History Museum in London. Vol 123 (Spring 2020) had a focus on Biodiversity: learning, understanding, and protecting life. Vol 124 (Summer 2020) had “our connections to nature” as its theme, with a particular focus on why and how the environment is vital in challenging times.

We hope to be back to our usual level of activity later this year and to continue supporting schools, teachers, and young people in their environmental education.

NAAEE

Like NAEE, the North American Association of Environmental Education (NAAEE) is 50 years old this year. This is how Judy Braus, NAAEE Executive Director and NAEE Fellow, describes its beginnings and current focus:

We’re excited to celebrate our 50th anniversary milestone and to use it as a time to reflect on where we’ve been and where we’re going. It’s a wonderful opportunity to feel pride in our work and to toast our accomplishments, while also thinking about why what we do matters and how our work can be more transformational as we look ahead to the next decade and beyond.

NAAEE’s seeds were planted by a small group of community-college educators in 1971, a time of world-changing environmental awareness in the United States and across the globe. EPA and NOAA had just been created, and groups like the Friends of the Everglades and the Natural Resources Defense Council were also emerging. The 1970s also saw the first Earth Day, with teach-ins and demonstrations to protect our air, water, and the nature we all depend on. Limits to Growth, published by the Club of Rome, sparked debate over a new concept of sustainable development. Internationally, the UN Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm, Sweden, and the UN Environment Program (UNEP) was established to tackle the recommendations that came out of it. And in 1977, the Tbilisi Conference would shape the field of environmental education for decades to come.

As we reflect on our history, it is clear that the issues we’re dealing with today have become more complex, global, and intersectional. The world has changed and so have we. We have become increasingly intentional about working across sectors, across geographies, across disciplines, and across socio-economic boundaries. What started as a movement mostly focused on protecting the environment has become a more diverse, multicultural movement to enhance not just the natural world, but humanity itself by addressing the connections between nature loss, systemic racism, climate change, poverty, and other wicked societal issues. We have also seen exponential growth in research-based evidence that environmental education, coupled with good science and policy, can lift up learners of all ages, including those in vulnerable populations who consistently suffer the brunt of environmental degradation.

After a year of dealing with a global pandemic and a worldwide racial reckoning, we have an unprecedented opportunity to think more deeply about how we can revolutionize our education systems. 

As Justin Dillon, the President of the NAEE says, “We need to seize the moment and advocate for a total rethink of what we teach, why we teach, and how we teach. It is as simple and as complicated as that.”

The good news is that we’re already seeing innovation in environmental education, including more learner-centred strategies. We are focusing on nature and the community as vital to our post-COVID strategies, promoting civic engagement in a more deliberate way, understanding the importance of reaching our earliest learners, and integrating environmental justice into environmental education so that we can honestly discuss our histories, as uncomfortable as that can be, to help transform our work.

We have much to celebrate, from guidelines on effective practice that were created by and for the field, to new actions propelled by young leaders. We’re also finding innovative ways to build stronger communities by encouraging community-centered solutions and partnering with groups working on equity, inclusion, and justice, such as the Center for Diversity and the Environment, led by Queta González.

Henricus Peters is Editor of NAEE’s e-journal. He is based in the Greater Brisbane Area of Australia, and he recently became Green Teacher’s Regional Editor for Australia.
Nina Hatch serves as Centre Director and Educational Lead at Mount Pleasant School Farm in Worcestershire, UK:
www.mountpleasantschoolfarm.com. She is also an NAEE Trustee and Chair of the Executive Committee.

Endnotes

[1] See our curriculum analyses here: www.naee.org.uk/latest-report-from-naee

[2] See www.teachthefuture.uk

[3] See www.naee.org.uk/ee-journal