I Think, Therefore I DO

Here’s the fourth way to teach ourselves and others about being a good environmental citizen, based on a paper by Blumstein and Saylan, entitled “The Failure of Environmental Education (and How We Can Fix It)”.

4. learn and teach critical thinking. Blumstein and Saylan assert that “environmentally aware citizens must be able to evaluate complex information and make decisions about things that we can’t currently envision.” They also sadly concluded that our current science education is uninspired, students being required to learn facts without being given the ability to manipulate and analyze them. “Without the ability to ask questions, identify assumptions, and make well-reasoned decisions, we’re left with a population ripe for exploitation by less than honest industries and politicians.”