|
The bold text is the
facilitator’s questions. The text in square brackets is responses of
the educands or a note from me about the question.
Should we be putting a lot of
time and effort into saving rain forests in Brazil – surely there are
more pressing need to attend to? [Responses: no because a) it’s so
big and there is plenty of it to last and it grows so quickly to
recover from any human-made activity b) it’s just forest so why not
use the wood and land to house people and grow valuable food? c) there
are lots of poisonous animals and insects – we’d be better off without
them].
At current rates of
deforestation how long do you think it would take for the forest to
disappear entirely? [Responses: don’t know maybe a 1000 years.
Here’s where the facilitator would give the facts – no, about 63
years].
Do we really need the land and
the food – isn’t it the distribution of food that’s the problem not
the production? [Response: true there is other land that could be
used].
What would happen if we killed
all the snakes, scorpions and spiders? [Response: we’d be overrun
by insects and insect-borne diseases in humans and plants would
increase. Maybe food production would go down because animals and
plants would die or under produce].
What would happen if we
chopped down most of the trees? [Responses: a) we’d lose animal
habitats and they would become extinct b) there would be nothing to
absorb the carbon dioxide and maybe make global warming worse c)
plants make oxygen which we need to live so maybe we’ll become
unhealthy d) with nothing to hold the soil in place the tropical rain
would wash away the soil, so no crops could be grown anyway].
Would it matter if the rain
forest animals die – after all they are not doing much for us now and
the dinosaurs became extinct and we haven’t suffered? [Response:
yes it would matter because a) doesn’t watching the animals in real
life or on TV give us joy now b) wouldn’t it be terrible if future
generations couldn’t have the same joy? c) maybe there are animal
genes and chemicals that could cure diseases and we would lose those
possibilities].
It seems that what we are
saying is that there is a balance to be reached on using environmental
resources – but how far can we go and who decides how much we use?
[Response: a) yes that’s why we need environmental education to help
understand what we are doing and to know when to stop exploitation
when necessary b) governments and international bodies will decide].
Do you think governments and
international bodies can do a good job of protecting the environment?
[Response: a) yes but only if they have the courage to act b) no, it’s
up to each one of us to care about all living things and future
generations].
With practice this very
preliminary example of an environmental education dialogue will get
better and better, meaning that it will be more effective in getting
people to behave more responsibly towards the environment. You’ll can
get a more in-depth knowledge of how a values education approach to
environmental education could work by reading the e-report What is
Values Education and so What?
Dr Bill would be delighted to talk at your next conference or event
and give more details on how dialogues in environmental education
could work to bring people to care more effectively about protecting
our, and future generations, lives on planet Earth. Contact him on
bill@valueseducation.co.uk
Copyright © 2008 Values Education Ltd
Note to editors. Feel free to use this article as long as the
following details are retained. “A values education article from CAVE
www.valueseducation.co.uk
” |
