The future of Environmental Education

I just came from an Environmental Education Forum for all NC DENR employees. I walked away with some interesting ideas.
1. Conversational learning increases behavior change – www.conversationcafe.org. I haven’t read up on this theory yet but it sounded a lot like the social marketing technique “norming.”
2. Post-ecologism is where people feel overwhelmed with all the environmental issues facing our world today. The speaker focused on the fact that we should impart messages of hope not despair. We try to use that theory with RE3.org.
3. Environmental education needs to leave the wilderness. I wholeheartedly agree with this. We can talk and educate about environmental issues in cities, in office buildings, etc.
4. We shouldn’t tie environmental education to science only. I was recently asked to do a presentation on recycling careers. I had never thought about it much, but once I did, it was amazing how many different career paths you could take but still work in the field of recycling. I’ll post more about that in the future.