71
2010). It is about the active participation of citizens in moving towards
sustainability.
Environmental Citizenship is a notoriously difficult concept to define, and there
is no widespread consensus of its meaning. However, in line with Dobson (2010),
the European Network for Environmental Citizenship (ENEC) consortium has put
forward a shared definition that essentially sees Environmental Citizenship as a
specific kind of behaviour: the responsible pro-environmental behaviour of citizens
who act and participate in society as agents of change in the private and public
sphere, on a local, national and global scale, through individual and collective
actions, in the direction of solving contemporary environmental problems, preventing the creation of new environmental problems, achieving sustainability as well as
developing a healthy relationship with nature. This includes the exercise of environmental rights and duties, as well as the identification of the underlying structural
causes of environmental degradation and environmental problems, the development
of the willingness and the competences for critical and active engagement and civic
participation to address those structural causes, acting individually and collectively
within democratic means and taking into account inter- and intra-generational justice (ENEC 2018). According to the ENEC definition, Environmental Citizenship
could be regarded as a specific bundle of environmental rights, duties, responsibilities, knowledge, awareness and willingness to engage for the protection of the common environmental good. This definition of Environmental Citizenship as essential
and specific behaviour or set of behaviours within specific context includes environmental as well as citizenship issues and suggests that individuals need both environmental knowledge and citizenship knowledge from these bodies in order to develop
their Environmental Citizenship.
5.2 Which Knowledge and How to Acquire It?
There is an urgent need to boost transition to those citizens and communities who
are informed, who understand the human impact on the world and who are able and
feel empowered to act individually and collectively for sustainability (Mortello and
Jasanoff 2004; Derzkzen et al. 2017; Ripple et al. 2017).
This transformation requires a formal and non-formal education that is close to
reality, one that fosters the understanding of what is happening in our world, develops critical thinking and democratic competencies and reveals universal values
(social justice, wisdom, synergy with nature, equality, inner harmony, responsibility, creativity, self-respect, etc.). Together, these elements (reality, understanding,
competencies and values) have to be part of the learning process and of the outcome
of this education (Russ 2015).
Knowledge is essential, but fostering knowledge alone in Education for
Environmental Citizenship, without links to real life, personal experiences, competencies and values, is insufficient and pointless for the sake of a sustainable world.
We also want to emphasise that a distinction is needed between knowledge and
5 Knowledge and Environmental Citizenship
2010). It is about the active participation of citizens in moving towards
sustainability.
Environmental Citizenship is a notoriously difficult concept to define, and there
is no widespread consensus of its meaning. However, in line with Dobson (2010),
the European Network for Environmental Citizenship (ENEC) consortium has put
forward a shared definition that essentially sees Environmental Citizenship as a
specific kind of behaviour: the responsible pro-environmental behaviour of citizens
who act and participate in society as agents of change in the private and public
sphere, on a local, national and global scale, through individual and collective
actions, in the direction of solving contemporary environmental problems, preventing the creation of new environmental problems, achieving sustainability as well as
developing a healthy relationship with nature. This includes the exercise of environmental rights and duties, as well as the identification of the underlying structural
causes of environmental degradation and environmental problems, the development
of the willingness and the competences for critical and active engagement and civic
participation to address those structural causes, acting individually and collectively
within democratic means and taking into account inter- and intra-generational justice (ENEC 2018). According to the ENEC definition, Environmental Citizenship
could be regarded as a specific bundle of environmental rights, duties, responsibilities, knowledge, awareness and willingness to engage for the protection of the common environmental good. This definition of Environmental Citizenship as essential
and specific behaviour or set of behaviours within specific context includes environmental as well as citizenship issues and suggests that individuals need both environmental knowledge and citizenship knowledge from these bodies in order to develop
their Environmental Citizenship.
5.2 Which Knowledge and How to Acquire It?
There is an urgent need to boost transition to those citizens and communities who
are informed, who understand the human impact on the world and who are able and
feel empowered to act individually and collectively for sustainability (Mortello and
Jasanoff 2004; Derzkzen et al. 2017; Ripple et al. 2017).
This transformation requires a formal and non-formal education that is close to
reality, one that fosters the understanding of what is happening in our world, develops critical thinking and democratic competencies and reveals universal values
(social justice, wisdom, synergy with nature, equality, inner harmony, responsibility, creativity, self-respect, etc.). Together, these elements (reality, understanding,
competencies and values) have to be part of the learning process and of the outcome
of this education (Russ 2015).
Knowledge is essential, but fostering knowledge alone in Education for
Environmental Citizenship, without links to real life, personal experiences, competencies and values, is insufficient and pointless for the sake of a sustainable world.
We also want to emphasise that a distinction is needed between knowledge and
5 Knowledge and Environmental Citizenship