When I was an undergraduate, seeking my degree in Wildlife
Management, I did not give much thought to environmental education, nor did I
see myself filling the roll of educator in my career. Though I realized there
was great value in environmental education, I felt that job was better served
by those who had an inherent desire to teach, whereas my desires lay more in
scientific inquiry and discovery. In the dozen or so years since I graduated,
however, my work and personal experiences have proven me wrong in my earlier
presumption. Environmental education is something I engage in on a daily basis
and as my career goes on, I become more and more excited by the EE opportunities
that present themselves to me as a wildlife biologist and ornithologist.
I am a passionate conservationist and have dedicated my life
to better understanding and fighting for the protection of wild things and wild
places. Over the course of my career, I have come to the realization that these
goals cannot be met without embracing environmental education. I firmly believe that the vast majority of people
do not care about things they do not understand. Conservation cannot be won by
a minority. It must be won by the majority. Until the majority of people find
value in the natural world, we will continue to fight an uphill battle in a
world where the term "environmentalist" is treated as though it were
a four-letter word. The role of environmental educators is to instill an
understanding of and a sense of value for the natural world in adults and
children alike, to ensure that we never live in a world where people wonder “What
is the importance of a bird or of a tree? What is the benefit of undeveloped
land? Why do I care if this place is lost? What significance does this species
hold?”
We live in a society where each generation is more detached
from the natural world than the last. In our concrete jungles, we can live out
all of our days, never stopping to give a second thought to butterflies or
where our food comes from. Farming, hunting, and fishing have given way to
managing financial portfolios, flipping burgers, and playing video games. Even
the words FARM, HUNT, FISH, have become dirty in our society among those who
would rather buy their salad in a plastic bag and their meat under a piece of
cellophane. Environmental educators serve to bring all people back to the
natural world. So they can understand its intrinsic value to the mind and soul,
and so they can learn the interconnectedness, the necessity, the scientific
value in each thread of the food chain, each biological, chemical, and natural
process. So they can learn that water doesn’t come from the tap and that one
cannot simply throw something “away.”
I am a second semester graduate student in the Master of Natural
Resources program at Utah State University also seeking the Natural Resources &
Environmental Education Certificate. My objectives for seeking certification in
Natural Resources and Environmental Education are varied. I desire to be a
well-rounded individual with a diverse background of experiences and education.
Better understanding this element of Natural Resources management will make me
a more effective advocate and scientist. Moreover, however, my main motivation
for wanting to learn how to be a better environmental educator is to broaden my
tool chest when it comes to my current opportunities for educating the public
on environmental topics. In short, it is to become a better teacher for myself
and for those around me. In addition, I desire to seek out additional
opportunities to do more of this essential work throughout the rest of my
career.
In a general sense, I define environmental education as the
communication of information related to natural resource, natural history,
environmental science, ecology and all other environmental disciplines to the
general public. It is the bridge between scientists and non-scientists.
Environmental education helps adults and children better understand and
appreciate the world around them. It sparks the next generation of naturalists,
scientists, and conservationists.
For me personally, environmental education is a way for me
to pass on my passion for the natural world to those around me, in the hopes
that they too will see its value and work to conserve it. I achieve this work
in both a formal and informal manner as well as in classroom and field settings.
Through prepared presentations to groups on environmental topics, scientific
research, and ecological methods; leading groups out into the field to
investigate the natural world; and answering questions for family members,
friends, and coworkers who are investigating the natural world as part of their
formal education or simply on a walk around the block. Nearly every moment of
my day seems to be an appropriate one to reach a variety of people in a
multitude of settings and to share my passion with them.
