On Nature and Environmental Education: black parents speak from the inner city

Summary

Twenty four black parents from Houston, Texas were interviewed on their perspectives about nature and environmental education. Residts showed that animals, plants and parks played an important part in the lives of these parents and their families. Parents were also aware of the negative effects of environmental problems, such as air pollution, water pollution and garbage. Parents talked about such problems with their children, acted to help the environment and believed it was important to live in harmony with nature. Parents supported environmental education for their children and believed it was as important as drug education. Anthropocentric and biocentric considerations characterized parents' environmental reasoning and often their conceptions of what it means to live in harmony with nature. Taken as a whole, parents spoke of their commitment to environmental issues and enjoyment of nature while remaining vividly aware of the difficulties which arise from urban poverty.