Alternatives Journal - Environmental Ideas + Action

Environmental Education 36.5

Nicola Ross

I attended Belfountain Public School from Grade 1 to 8. With four classrooms and a gymnasium, it was a considerable step up from the one-room schoolhouses where my older siblings learned their three Rs. Nonetheless, a product of educational wisdom in 1960s Ontario, the schoolyard was devoid of vegetation and we were more apt to study distant polar bears than nearby Jefferson salamanders.

Sustainable Minds

Kate Davies

The next step in human evolution must take environmental learning from schools to the realities of society.

A radical transformation of education would develop an ecologically literate society – one that understands the principles of ecological systems and uses them to design human systems.

The Canadian Environmental Education Directory

Compare universities across Canada to find the environmental program that’s right for you.

Across Canada, students are flocking to environmental courses in record numbers. In a report released this June, the Environmental Careers Organization (ECO) found that enrolment in environment-related university programs increased by over 40 per cent between 2000 and 2007, which was roughly 15 per cent higher than the average enrolment increase in all other programs over the same time period.

“The stigma toward environmental education has changed,” says ECO’s marketing director Chris Stewart. “It’s not just about cleaning up garbage – there are opportunities for environmental grads throughout all levels of society.”

Dogged Determination

Nicola Ross

Heather MacFadyen’s epic persistence in petitioning the Alberta government to live up to its promises earned her Earth Day Canada’s 2010 Hometown Hero individual award.

Heather MacFadyen relates her horror upon returning to her weekend home in Canmore, Alberta, after a six-week hiatus. “I was driving along the road that leads to our place when I realized that something was missing. What had been a mature lodgepole pine forest a few short weeks ago was now an open field.”

It was 1998, and a developer had razed the trees to make way for yet another housing development in the burgeoning town that has more than tripled in size in 20 years. Located at the eastern entrance to Banff National Park and a 90-minute drive from Calgary, Canmore is a hot commodity for Albertans interested in a mountain getaway.