Need of environmental awareness among people ans in 500 words
Answers
Answer:
The need to spread environmental awareness is enormous in the context of successfully addressing environmental problems. It is linked to environmental education.
On the one hand, provision of environmental education creates greater awareness in individuals and communities with respect to putting environmental resources to use even while conserving them. On the other hand, greater environmental awareness increases the scope of environmental education—as a discipline as well as inclusion of aspects of it within the scope of other disciplines.
Various media and means are used to spread environmental awareness among the people. The electronic media and the print media are the major mediums of spreading information about environment among the populace—educating them about environmental concerns and ways to address these. News, features, talk shows and discussions on television and radio are increasingly focusing on environmental themes of today.
Global warming, air and water pollution, overuse of fertilisers, the negative implication of use of plastics and polythene, conservation of energy and fuel resources, all these are topics of current media debate. Newspapers and magazines too are, one may say, more environment conscious than ever before. Articles and analyses explore the environmental debacle that our globe is headed towards and create awareness in the common man about environmental problems.
Schools and universities play an enormously significant role in generating environmental awareness among children and the youth. Textbooks reveal an increasing concern with environmental problems and solutions and numerous courses are available at the postgraduate level that provide environmental education relating to management and conservation of environment, environmental health, social ecology and so on.
The issue of environmental education has been a major cause of concern. Several national and international seminars, conferences and workshops have stressed the need of environmental education.
The United Nations Conference on Human Environment at Stockholm in 1972 played a key role in the emergence of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The UNESCO held an International Workshop on Environmental Education (ICEE) at Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1975 to identify the guiding principles of promoting environmental awareness
It was followed by the International Conference on Environmental Education at Tbilisi, USSR, in 1977 which formulated objectives and principles for developing environmental education at formal and non-formal levels.
The ICEE has been held at New Delhi in the past—in 1980 and in 1985. It was observed during these conferences that the need of the hour was to help create social consciousness and awareness about the harm caused by ecological disruptions.
Environmental Education Goals:
The need for environmental education is recognised by all but there is little actual experience or knowledge about the way to provide it.
The objective of such education is that individuals and social groups should become aware, acquire knowledge, develop attitudes, skills and abilities and be able to address real-life environmental problems. Integrated inter-disciplinary and holistic education is to be provided to all sections of the population. It would first of all require a new approach to education itself—an approach which cuts across different subjects in schools and universities.
The goals of environmental education as pointed out by the UNESCO are to create environmental awareness in the world population—an awareness about the whole environment and problems associated with it and generate commitment in people to work individually and in unison towards solving existing problems and preventing new ones from emerging.
Objectives:
The objectives of environmental education formulated at the UNESCO’s Tbilisi Conference (1977) were as follows:
i. Acquiring an awareness of the whole environment and the many problems that have arisen with regard to human misuse of environment and developing a sensitivity in people in this context.
ii. Groups and individuals must gain skills for identifying and solving environmental problems.