The limits of environmental educators’ fashioning of ‘individualized’ environmental citizens

ABSTRACT

In this paper I reflect on a key challenge facing the field as we move into the next 50 years, that of our prioritizing of the individual over the social or the common. Through examining a number of environmental education activities, a discussion of their effects in shaping individuals as environmental citizens is undertaken. While this is necessary work, it is limited in scope. I conclude by arguing for a new way forward for the field, one that is more clearly and explicitly focused on the complex functioning of power and the mechanisms of power, including the State, and how we might educate our students to facilitate political and social change. Without this, we will not be able to achieve the rapid social and environmental change required if we are to mitigate against and adapt to the effects of climate change.

KEYWORDS:

• behavior change
• futures
• post-structuralism
• Foucault

Notes

1 Experiential education is sometimes referred to as “learning through action.” Learners are engaged in direct experiences and in reflecting on these experiences. See, for example, Kolb and Fry, (1975).

2 The commons here refers to natural resources available to all in society, that is, resources held “in common” or together (Hardin, 1968; Ostrom, 1990).