Environmental Education: A Crucial Tool in Creating a More-Inclusive Profession
May 29, 2019
From the March 2019 edition of
The Forestry Source, here's an informative article offering recommendations on how to initiate an environmental education project or increase the diversity of the students you are currently reaching. Missing out on this great publication?
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Environmental Education: A Crucial Tool in Creating a More-Inclusive Profession
By Jamie Dahl, Joanne Rebbeck, and Skylure Templeton
"Youth experiences in nature and early exposure to the natural-resources career field are well documented as strong contributors toward the choice to study the environment and pursue a career in natural resources (see, for example, “
Young Children’s Opportunities for Unstructured Environmental Exploration of Nature: Links to Adults’ Experiences in Childhood,” by Shelby Gull Laird et al, in the International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental Education, v2 n1 p58-75 2014). As SAF moves forward in creating a more-inclusive Society, environmental education (EE) will play a crucial role, because it is the means by which the next generations of foresters and natural-resources professionals are cultivated. Yet in our discussions with colleagues, we have learned that EE is not fully embraced by our profession. More worrisome, there are communities that are not included in current EE programs.
To increase the diversity of our profession, we must work to overcome social and economic barriers and to include those who have historically been excluded from EE to ensure that they are afforded the same opportunities to be exposed to the natural world. As educators who work in the EE space, we thought it would be helpful to offer a few recommendations on how to either initiate an EE project or increase the diversity of the students you are currently reaching."