From intimidation to love: Taoist philosophy and love-based environmental education

Abstract

For decades, a review of environmental education initiatives in and beyond schools indicates that many of them were implemented from an anthropocentric perspective. The rationale behind them is often that we must not destroy the environment because doing so is harmful for ourselves, human beings. One striking feature of the various forms of environmental education is the use of fear as a motivator, as people are warned about the frightening consequences of environmental destruction on their life. While this type of fear-based environmental education may be effective to some extent, intimidation cannot be a fundamental solution to environmental issues. We need to form a loving relationship with nature, through love-based environmental education. From intimidation to love, love-based environmental education focuses on enhancing public environmental awareness through inculcating love, respect, and gratitude toward nature, thereby helping to solve present and future environmental problems and construct an eco-friendly world.

Love-based environmental education is richly embedded in Eastern philosophies such as Taoism and contemporary Western eco-ethics. In this article, we synthesize the tenets of love-based environmental education mainly through the lens of Taoist philosophy, discuss implementation approaches, and explore contemplative methods to cultivate connection with nature. Finally, we point out fear-based and love-based environmental education are not mutually exclusive. We need a combination of, or a diversity of approaches to ensure that we effectively change attitudes and behaviors of people.

Keywords:

• Taoism
• environmental education
• love
• human-nature oneness
• contemplative approaches

Acknowledgments

Tao Te Ching’s poetic verses in Chinese leave much room to interpretations, hence there are many different translated versions. Our translation of some sentences in the Tao Te Ching was inspired by the translation of Lin Yu-Tang (1948), J. H. McDonald (1996), Arthur Waley (1934), Jane English & Gia-fu Feng (1989), D.T. Suzuki & Paul Carus (1880), Frederic H. Balfour (1884), James Legge (1891), Dwight Goddard & Henri Borel (1919), R. B. Blakney (1955), D. C. Lau (1963), Stephen Mitchell (1988), S. Addiss & S. Lombardo (1993). We also wish to acknowledge anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

Notes

1 WildAid’s is an environmental organization based in San Francisco, California, United States. Its mission is to end the illegal wildlife trade in our lifetimes by reducing demand through public awareness campaigns. WildAid’s strategy for achieving this goal is to reduce demand for these products using its slogan: When the Buying Stops, the Killing Can Too. For more information, please see http://wildaid.org/

2 Director of the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fan Yang

Dr. Fan Yang is the deputy director of the Office of News and Communications, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). Prior to working in this position in October 2017, Fan Yang was the vice dean of the Office of Undergraduate Education in USTC. Fan Yang is a PhD majoring in philosophy. His primary academic interest is educational philosophy in higher education, and his work explores a variety of questions involving teaching and learning, Taoist wisdom, and the combination of traditional Chinese cultural philosophy and western educational thoughts. Fan Yang has published a number of papers on higher education, and has been the Principal Investigator of several important educational research projects. He was a member of the editorial board of several books on higher education in China. He also has been invited to speak on higher education worldwide.

Jing Lin

Jing Lin is Professor and Director of International Education Policy at University of Maryland. She received her doctoral degree from University of Michigan. She has done extensive research on major challenges facing the humanity. She has done research on Chinese education, culture and philosophy, peace education, environmental education, spirituality, religion, and education, and East-West dialogues. The books she has published include: Love, Peace and Wisdom in Education: Vision for Education in the 21st Century (2006), Educators as Peace Makers: Transforming Education for Global Peace (2008); Spirituality, Religion, and Peace Education (2010); Transformative Eco-Education for Human and Planetary Survival (2012); Re-envisioning Higher Education: Embodied Pathways to Wisdom and Social Transformation (2013); and Toward a spiritual research paradigm: Exploring New Ways of Knowing, Researching and Being (2016).

Thomas Culham

Tom Culham is Professor, Program Director School of Management City University in Canada. He was an engineer with a 30-year business career and obtained a Ph. D in Education at Simon Fraser University. His book, Ethics Education of Business Leaders, drew on neuroscience, psychology, virtue ethics, Daoist contemplative practices, and leadership education emphasizing emotional intelligence. Tom is dedicated to conceptual and action research focused on advancing holistic education of body, emotion, mind and spirit. He believes that research is vital to advancing awareness of and implementation of holistic education as a means of transforming the world to a sustainable peace.