The full and summary versions of this report are available to download from the bottom of this page. The Conclusion of the report is included verbatim below.
Coyle, K. (2005). Environmental literacy in America: What ten years of NEETF/Roper research and related studies say about environmental literacy in the U.S. The National Environmental Education & Training Foundation. Retrieved May 6, 2006 from http://www.neetf.org/pubs/ELR2005.pdf
Conclusion
The pursuit of environmental literacy in America is widespread and popular but it needs to be
ratcheted up a few more notches to become finally effective. The good news is that it surely will,
and the foregoing chapters even lead us to a few final thoughts on where to go from here.
To begin with, the entire environmental education field needs to better understand how
wonderful EE is when it is working well. We hope the reader has become sensitive to the
idea that true environmental literacy arises from a deft weaving of an intricate education
fabric. Knowledge must be deep, skills must be developed, and experiences made real for EE
to work at its best. But the raw material and the necessary tools are all available for those
who need them. Young people (and grown-ups too) basically love nature. They love being
outside, they love learning about mysteries, and they love interacting with a world they can
see, touch, hear, and smell. So despite our continuing academic cautions about the need for
more data, for variable-controlled studies, for improved pedagogies, or for more extensive
delivery systems, we are basically in the business of offering, and teaching about, wonder.
Real environmental education is also much more practical than most people may think.
Somehow, our modern society likes to characterize things that are interesting or fun as
"frivolous." It then holds them to that label regardless of the reality. The foregoing chapters
paint a compelling picture of practicality. Consider how many hands-on learning experiences
EE offers which ultimately translate into job skills, career skills, and people skills. Also
consider how environmental education blends hard sciences with real social issues and
teaches practical ethics. From an educational viewpoint, EE has consistently engaged the
hardest-to-reach students. There are countless stories of how it has saved students, teachers,
schools and even whole systems from intractable problems, decline, and burn out.
It also important to recognize how resilient environmental education can be in the face
of powerful forces favoring consumerism, waste, and over-indulgence. Still, young people
continue to show they care about the environment, about clean air and water, outdoor
spaces, protected creatures, and healthy people. Modern forces of society often seem to
conspire against nature through everything from product advertising to the seductions of
indoor computer and video games. The discouraging part is that the average seven year-old
can identify up to 200 corporate logos but cannot name the type of tree in front of his or her
home. That same child may watch up to five hours of television each day and spend fewer
than 10 minutes playing outside. The encouraging part is that the love of nature resides
within that child, ready to come out if we can give it a chance.
Environmental education, done right, is about preserving the opportunity to let children have
what most adult American adults enjoyed when they were young – relaxed and happy times
in the outdoors, exploring and interpreting. However remiss we shall be in leaving behind an
environmental mess for future generations, at a minimum we must conscientiously supply our
children with the education and tools they will need to clean up the mistakes, and to rebalance
the overarching relationship between society and the natural world in the years ahead.
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