Are We Building Environmental Literacy?

VIEWPOINT: The Politics of Environmental Education

“…Most accepted definitions of EE include reference to developing skills and a willingness (attitude) to work to resolve environmental problems. While Salmon (2000) is correct in noting that prescribing particular courses of action are inappropriate, the field has developed and continues to strive for citizen action as its ultimate outcome. Therefore, the need for developing knowledge and skills in civics deserves as much attention as science education.…”

“…In his article, Salmon (2000) almost goes out of his way to discredit those who expressed skepticism about the motives of the ICEE. He singles out Zero Population Growth (ZPG) and the Center for Commercial Free Education (CCFE) as two paranoid groups that have charged that some corporations are bent on removing EE from the classroom (notably by his statement "I am not sure which group these advocacy organizations misunderstand more-corporations or environmental educators" [p. 81).…”

“…Jeffrey Salmon (2000), executive director of the George C. Marshall Institute, recently summarized the process and outcomes of the ICEE report in a Journal of Environmental Education article. In doing so, he was careful to package this effort as an objective-that is, value free-critique of environmental education, and a sincere attempt to strengthen the field.…”

Establishing Measurement Criteria for an Energy Literacy Questionnaire

“…While there is fairly clear consensus that attitudinal and behavioral characteristics of an energy literate individual are consistent with acknowledging the existence of global energy problems and exhibiting a willingness to take part in their solution (Salmon, 2000;St. Clair, 2003;Wilke, 1995b), the relative importance of specific aspects within the cognitive domain, specifically with respect to content knowledge, are more controversial (Hofman, 1980;Roth, 1996;Solomon, 1992).…”

Contemporary Challenges and Opportunities in Environmental Education: Where Are We Headed and What Deserves Our Attention?

“…Furthermore, some within the field recognized that several of the ICEE criticisms had some merit (Hungerford, 1996;Weilbacher, 1997;Wilke, 1996a). Moreover, in defense, Salmon (2000) argued that the ICEE report was not a broadside against EE, but rather an unbiased analysis of materials and guides. Downloaded by [Tulane University] at 04:30 08 October 2014 Deborah Simmons (1996), then president of NAAEE, responded to several of these criticisms:…”