Persuasive Essay On Environmental Education

“Change is the end result of all true learning”. This quote from author and motivational speaker Leo Buscaglia, supports the idea that change can only come from those with education. With statistics showing that 80% of Americans are heavily influenced by outdated myths or just plain false facts, according to Environmental Literacy in America, 2005, change cannot and will not come any time soon. It is because of this that the only way to bring about beneficial environmental change is by educating the U.S public more on environmental conservation, in order to encourage their political leaders to create and support laws that focus on protecting nature. The environmental conservation movement, and by extent the push for environmental education

Now, on top of 80% of Americans being influenced on outdated myths, “75% of U.S adult are concerned about the environment only 1 in 5 say they “make an effort to live in ways that help protect the environment “all the time”” according to pewresearch.org. While this 75% is most likely educated, only the 1/5 know how to help. The other 4 are not educated enough to do anything. For the 1/5 who are doing something, they cannot be educated quick enough for Environmental Education to be effective. “ ...environmental education has failed because it’s not keeping pace with environmental degradation, with human impacts on the environment”-Charles Saylan, co-founder and executive director of the California-based Ocean Conservation Society says. Quite literally, that 4/5 is hindering the progress of the

One such person would be Michale Sanera, a policy analyst at Claremont Institute, who has a critical view on environmental education. He says “What the kids tend to get ( from the education)is the catastrophic, doomsday version of environmental problems.''. He continues, saying “I found that textbook treatment of environmental issues is influenced by an ideological view that presents human beings as evil and blames the United States in particular and Western industrial societies in general for every environmental ill”. Sanera’s view points are shared by many of the groups and individuals against Environmental Education as is. The amount of good that comes from the educated ,however, outweighs the possible flaws in the education. “People who are environmentally knowledgeable are 10% more likely to conserve energy in the home, 50% more likely to recycle, 10% more likely to buy products that are environmentally safe, and 50% more likely to avoid using chemicals for yard care”, according to Environmental Literacy in America,