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15.2.1 The Green Cycle
At the core of the EEC Model there is a green cycle. This green cycle includes elements of the personal development of an Environmental Citizen. It includes the
appropriate knowledge and types of knowledge, values, attitudes, skills, competencies and behaviours that an Environmental Citizen should be equipped with. These
components are analysed in other parts of this chapter and this book in general.
15.2.2 Agents of Change
Citizen participation is much more than putting vote in the ballot box. In an active
society with a high level of commitment, there are other options for public participation and political influence with the ultimate final goal of producing change in
society. “Various types of education and science initiatives around the world have
already integrated students’ roles as agents of change. They provide evidence that
students, indeed, have the potential to be catalysts for enhanced sustainability in
their local environment and beyond” (von Braun 2017, p. 27). Agents of change
mean that the students are actively participating in the process of decision-making
and are also engaged in the following action-taking (Stuhmcke 2012). According to
Davis (2009), agents of change also means that students become educators not only
for their peers but also for adults and in addition, they also act as catalysts of change.
Environmental Citizens have the responsibility to support and foster behavioural
changes in different spheres. A good example of students acting as agents of change
from global south is the Community-Kura School in New Zealand where youth
protested demanding a solution for a local environmental problem and to create a
community garden with the support of their teachers and parents. These students
appeared confident that with these actions can be powerful on attracting attention to
an environmental cause and to effect change (Hayward 2012). The knowledge of
how to democratically change a society, and how the social justice effects of those
changes on the local and global society, has a central role in EEC Model. In that
sense EEC Model can be considered as a change oriented framework by which the
content and abilities to really make societal and environmental change for a better
world can be fulfilled.
15.2.3 Solving Environmental Problems
Undoubtedly, the twenty-first century could be defined as the era of the global environmental crisis, in which myriads of environmental and social problems call into
question the ability of societies to deal with them or to resolve them adequately.
These global problems are characterized by complexity, interrelation and
15 Education for Environmental Citizenship: The Pedagogical Approach
15.2.1 The Green Cycle
At the core of the EEC Model there is a green cycle. This green cycle includes elements of the personal development of an Environmental Citizen. It includes the
appropriate knowledge and types of knowledge, values, attitudes, skills, competencies and behaviours that an Environmental Citizen should be equipped with. These
components are analysed in other parts of this chapter and this book in general.
15.2.2 Agents of Change
Citizen participation is much more than putting vote in the ballot box. In an active
society with a high level of commitment, there are other options for public participation and political influence with the ultimate final goal of producing change in
society. “Various types of education and science initiatives around the world have
already integrated students’ roles as agents of change. They provide evidence that
students, indeed, have the potential to be catalysts for enhanced sustainability in
their local environment and beyond” (von Braun 2017, p. 27). Agents of change
mean that the students are actively participating in the process of decision-making
and are also engaged in the following action-taking (Stuhmcke 2012). According to
Davis (2009), agents of change also means that students become educators not only
for their peers but also for adults and in addition, they also act as catalysts of change.
Environmental Citizens have the responsibility to support and foster behavioural
changes in different spheres. A good example of students acting as agents of change
from global south is the Community-Kura School in New Zealand where youth
protested demanding a solution for a local environmental problem and to create a
community garden with the support of their teachers and parents. These students
appeared confident that with these actions can be powerful on attracting attention to
an environmental cause and to effect change (Hayward 2012). The knowledge of
how to democratically change a society, and how the social justice effects of those
changes on the local and global society, has a central role in EEC Model. In that
sense EEC Model can be considered as a change oriented framework by which the
content and abilities to really make societal and environmental change for a better
world can be fulfilled.
15.2.3 Solving Environmental Problems
Undoubtedly, the twenty-first century could be defined as the era of the global environmental crisis, in which myriads of environmental and social problems call into
question the ability of societies to deal with them or to resolve them adequately.
These global problems are characterized by complexity, interrelation and
15 Education for Environmental Citizenship: The Pedagogical Approach