ENVIRONMENT EDUCATION-Community Participation In Environment Awareness and Conservation

ENVIRONMENT EDUCATION

“ Community Participation In Environment Awareness and Conservation”

Introduction

                        Environment is defined as surrounding or conditions influencing development or growth. It can be understood as a system which includes all living and non-living things, i.e. air, water, soil, vegetation, flora and fauna. Environmental education is a process of providing learning experience to obtain knowledge about natural and man made surroundings. Environment is a global concept today and first in environmental education is environmental awareness. Environmental awareness is an approach to learning. This paper explains the awareness creation among the learners through environment education. Also environmental conservation concern every individual needs to save and protect the environment. Conservation is the science and arts of managing the system and resources on which they depend.

Environmental awareness creation                                 

            Environmental education must be encouraged where at first student become aware of environment. Then, they recognize or review the relationship between humans and nature. The students get knowledge and skills from the teachers to solve the environmental problems. The teachers motivate to develop the students attitudes to participated various environmental protection programs in favor of environment. The teacher and parents try to inculcate the knowledge about environment and develop positive and healthy attitude towards environment from the beginning of life. There is essential need to organize and conduct educational programmes focus on environmental issues, problems, attitude, towards preservation and conservation of environment.

Environmental Conservation

            Conservation has been misunderstood by many as a moratorium on progress. This is in fact not true. Only sustainable development is permanent remedy to droughts, famines and the dwindling bio – diversity on this earth. Conservation implies an attitude and understanding that involve active management of the things(s) to be conserved. Four decades back, the words such as conservation and environment were little know. But to day one can find conservation messages in every newspapers, out side cutboard and books.

Sustainable Development

            Environment belongs to each one of us and all of we have a responsibility to contribute towards its conservation and protection. When we take development, we should keep in mind two basic characteristic of development: (i) It should be sustained the benefits that were getting now from it should be assured to future generation.(ii) It should ethical. What ever the benefit a person or species should not harm other individuals or species.

            The objective of development should not only be to raise the economic standard but also raise the social, economic, ethical and spiritual level of the people. Today, sustainable development has become a buzzword two key aspects for sustainable development are inter – generation equity and emphasizes that we hand over a life healthy and resources fil environment to our future generations.

Measures for Development

v     Emphasis on “Decentralized Industries”

v     Encouragement for “Tree forming”

v     Declaration of water as the main product of forests

v     Preservation and management of forests

v     Conservation of ‘mono-culture stands into mixed forests”

v     “Designing with nature” by using appropriate technology

v     By using “3R’s approach viz, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”

v     Prompting “Environment Education and awareness”    

v     Resource utilization as per “carrying capacity”

v     Making environmental Education value based

v     Developing a life style in “Harmony with nature”

Community participation

            The education institutes conduct the various programmes to making awareness of environment protection among all people in the society. They can arrange social service camps and community service camps for environment preservation that will  be led by the  teachers and students for the benefit of society. For example. Clean village, Clean city, Dustless city, Awareness camps and Healthcare camps etc., Especially the students are coming from NSS,JRC,NCC, to take responsibility for creating awareness and conservation of the environment among the public.

Goals of Environment Education

• To improve the quality of environment
• To create an environment among people on environmental protection
• To develop the capability of decision making

Contributions of communities towards environmental issues

            In India, the population level is increasing rapidly, among these 70% of the people are living in the village areas. Each village has certain community of people. They can contribute their participation towards the environmental protection and preservation programmes. Here the educated people can lead the awareness camps, preservation programmes. For examples, Rainwater savings, Recycling the usage water, Mass environment programmes etc.,  On the other hand the wealth community people like Rotary club, Lions club, Cosmopolitan club, Junior champers ,etc., They are conducting various awareness programmes frequently, conservation programme. They will create interest among public to preserve to conserve the environment. Above this awareness programme are possible when the people have adequate education. Hence we inculcate the child’s environment education. We will initiate the environment awareness from primary to higher education to the public.

Role of media creating environmental awareness

            We have seen that mass media , specially Radio in its different formats can prove to be almost the panacea for spreading awareness about environment to the concerns to the optimum level. A very significant recent development, in the Indian Radio has been the shift towards utilizing the huge scope of Community Radio (CR). This concept is about doing something for its own benefit by the community. The aim and objective of the CR Channels include –preservation of their culture and languages, launch publicity or awareness creating campaign for the benefit of the community about the environment. These services are also done by the AIR, MIB, PSB, Prasarbharathy and Regional F.M.Radios.

Knowledge and Educational needs in rural community

            The main aim of the environmental education is to make people in the society to be aware , knowledgeable and in inculcate positive attitudes towards protection of environment and make them skilled to  solve environmental problems so as to enable them to participate in the activities undertaken for the protection of environment the rural people have to learn about the environmental concern so that they are enable to protect the environment because we not been gifted the environment  our ancestors and also we have not borrowed it from our off spring . Instead we have to handover the environment to the posterity both in terms quality and quantity.

Role of NGO’s in environmental activities

            The environmental NGO’s have played a major role in environmental protection and development by linking the local with the global. The collaborative work of these NGO’s lead to fulfillment of local needs. Some of the NGO’s are working for environmental awareness while some are working in research field . The complementary work of the NGO’s deals more specifically with how the NGO community impacts issues of the environment

Conclusion

            “If you plan for one year, plan rice, if you plan for ten years plant trees , and if you plan for hundred years educate people”. So if we want to save our mother earth we have to make our man king flourish, there is a strong need to conserve our natural recourses and make judicious use of them. We must think earth as a habitat, not of today but of distant tomorrow where there will be place and means for every being alive. The preservation and conservation of environmental heritage is our sacred duty. All of us living on this planet, whether rich or poor, industrialist or workman, farmers or labourers, office goers or house wife, VIP or common men, as individuals or groups, are responsible for the present dismal state of our environment and each one of us has to contribute towards its rehabilitation, preservation and conservation.

Reference

University News Volume: 42 No.29 July 19-25 2004

University News Special issue Volume: 42 No.46 November 15-21 2004

University News Volume: 41 No.42 October 20-26 2003

University News Volume: 44 No.12 March 20-26 2006

Environmental education by Bharati Kumar published by, Dominant publisher, Chennai.