How do we Communicate Environmental Ethics? Reflections on Environmental Education from a Kuwaiti Perspective

Abstract

This paper arises from a PhD research project originally designed to search for innovative ways to stimulate environmental education (EE) in Kuwaiti middle schools. The research has shown that Islam shares similar fundamental principles to those underpinning ‘ecocentric’ perspectives emerging in the West and increasingly thought necessary for achieving a sustainable society. The research has also shown that it is possible to learn and select from concepts and teaching techniques derived in the West in a way that could help put in place an Islamic environmental ethic appropriate to an Islamic educational context. The paper is limited to presenting some of the arguments that were set out to link Islamic teachings to concepts of Western environmentalism, especially ecocentric ideologies (particularly those associated with Deep Ecology and Gaianism). It also tries to point out the differences and distinctions between an Islamic perspective and certain Western environmental ethics within an educational context. The paper provides a number of interesting perspectives to readers from outside an Islamic context, and also some useful insights into some of the challenges that arise in undergoing cross-cultural research and communication.

Keywords:

• Islam
• environmental education
• sustainability
• Kuwait