their attention on the man-nature relationship. “Man and Nature or, Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action” by George Perkins Marsh (1801–1882),
“Nature” by Ralf Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau
(1817–1862), founding father of the US-American nature conservation movement
John Muir (1838–1914), and “A Sand County Almanac” by Aldo Leopold
(1887–1948) are to be named. In addition, Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778),
Sir Patrick Geddes (1854–1933) and John Dewey (1859–1952) influenced the field
of EE. They encouraged not only to memorize facts about science but also to
discover them, to learn by doing, by experiment and by direct contact (Harvey
1976; Monroe and Krasny 2013). “The writings of these thinkers greatly shaped
EE by influencing its early predecessors” (Monroe and Krasny 2013, p. 11).
2.8 Current Concepts of Environmental Education
The twentieth century was characterized by a growing environmental awareness and
the need for its protection due to growing environmental problems worldwide. In the
U.S., for example, erosion, water quality problems and dust storms characterized the
1930s, caused by a combination of dry farming techniques, economic depression and
droughts due to high temperature and rainfall deficits. The consequences were
devastating effects on agriculture (Biedenweg et al. 2013; Lee and Gill 2015;
Schubert et al. 2004). This environmental catastrophe gave rise to a conservation
education movement with the goal to create an awareness of environmental problems and the significance of environmental conservation (Disinger and Monroe
1994).
As consequences of industrialization and mechanization in times of economic
miracles, as well as the exponentially increase in world population and improved
communication around the world after World War II, people started to become
sensitive to global environmental problems such as tanker accidents, dying forests
and the greenhouse effect (Disinger and Monroe 1994; Li and Zbicinski 2014).
People got the impression of resource scarcity accompanied with an increase of
environmental disasters. Social movements started to protest against growing environmental problems caused by the economy. In 1962 Rachel Carson published
“Silent Spring”. This book describes, inter alia, the results of savage usage of
pesticides on ecosystems (Carson 1962). It triggered political debates, which
resulted in the prohibition of DDT (Pufé 2012). Afterwards “[c]alls for education
dealing with the environment became increasingly more persistent” (Disinger and
Monroe 1994, p. 11).
Due to the orientation of educational programmes on basic resources, William
Stapp identified the need to change this approach to an education including man and
environment. He developed and published one of the first definitions of ‘environmental education’. “Environmental education is aimed at producing a citizenry that
is knowledgeable concerning the biophysical environment and its associated
History of Environmental Communication and Education
57
“Nature” by Ralf Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau
(1817–1862), founding father of the US-American nature conservation movement
John Muir (1838–1914), and “A Sand County Almanac” by Aldo Leopold
(1887–1948) are to be named. In addition, Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778),
Sir Patrick Geddes (1854–1933) and John Dewey (1859–1952) influenced the field
of EE. They encouraged not only to memorize facts about science but also to
discover them, to learn by doing, by experiment and by direct contact (Harvey
1976; Monroe and Krasny 2013). “The writings of these thinkers greatly shaped
EE by influencing its early predecessors” (Monroe and Krasny 2013, p. 11).
2.8 Current Concepts of Environmental Education
The twentieth century was characterized by a growing environmental awareness and
the need for its protection due to growing environmental problems worldwide. In the
U.S., for example, erosion, water quality problems and dust storms characterized the
1930s, caused by a combination of dry farming techniques, economic depression and
droughts due to high temperature and rainfall deficits. The consequences were
devastating effects on agriculture (Biedenweg et al. 2013; Lee and Gill 2015;
Schubert et al. 2004). This environmental catastrophe gave rise to a conservation
education movement with the goal to create an awareness of environmental problems and the significance of environmental conservation (Disinger and Monroe
1994).
As consequences of industrialization and mechanization in times of economic
miracles, as well as the exponentially increase in world population and improved
communication around the world after World War II, people started to become
sensitive to global environmental problems such as tanker accidents, dying forests
and the greenhouse effect (Disinger and Monroe 1994; Li and Zbicinski 2014).
People got the impression of resource scarcity accompanied with an increase of
environmental disasters. Social movements started to protest against growing environmental problems caused by the economy. In 1962 Rachel Carson published
“Silent Spring”. This book describes, inter alia, the results of savage usage of
pesticides on ecosystems (Carson 1962). It triggered political debates, which
resulted in the prohibition of DDT (Pufé 2012). Afterwards “[c]alls for education
dealing with the environment became increasingly more persistent” (Disinger and
Monroe 1994, p. 11).
Due to the orientation of educational programmes on basic resources, William
Stapp identified the need to change this approach to an education including man and
environment. He developed and published one of the first definitions of ‘environmental education’. “Environmental education is aimed at producing a citizenry that
is knowledgeable concerning the biophysical environment and its associated
History of Environmental Communication and Education
57