EED2601/101

[Document subtitle]

Unique Number: 308798

UNISA ASSIGNMENT 2
1.1 The following are some of the key characteristics of environmental education:

 It must be inter-, trans-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary: it should be taught

across all subject disciplines.
 It should be multi-level: it should be taught at all grade levels from preschool
through high school and beyond.
 It must be taught across all sectors of society: environmental education involves
formal, informal and non-formal education processes.
 It should include global views: it involves the development of a holistic global
environmental ethic.
 It should include environmental concepts such as biodiversity, limiting factors,
carrying capacity, and sustainability.

1.2

Consider the environment in its totality – natural and built, technological and social (economic,
political, cultural-historical, ethical, aesthetic); is a process aimed at developing a world population
that is aware of and concerned about the total environment and its associated problems and
which has the knowledge, attitudes, commitments to work individually and collectively towards
the solution of current problems and prevention of new ones

Relate environmental sensitivity, knowledge, problem-solving skills, and values clarification to every
age, but with special emphasis on environmental sensitivity to the learner’s own community in early years;
Environmental education must be designed to enable people to manage conflicts in just and humane
ways.13. Environmental education must stimulate dialogue and cooperation among individuals and
institutions in order to create new lifestyles which are based on meeting everyone’s basic needs,
regardless of ethnic, gender, age, religious, class, physical or mental differences.

2. The Anthropocene is the name used to refer to the era in which humankind has
become a geological force. It is the Age of Humans, with impacts of global
proportions. Since the beginning of the 17th century, humankind has altered the
Earth’s systems on a geological scale. The key drivers are human population growth,
economic growth, war, pollution and environmental degradation. The effects of the
Anthropocene include such global environmental crises as biodiversity loss,
introduction and spread of alien invasive species, and species extinction;
environmental degradation, deforestation and desertification; water, air and land
pollution; health hazards; and climate change.

Food Insecurity
Basic food insecurity affects one billion people across the world (DESA, 2013). Water is a
necessary requirement of the agricultural production of food. South Africa has limited arable
land due to water scarcity. Most of the rural people are dependent on rainfall to supply
water for agricultural purposes. Rainwater is being seriously affected by climate change
effects, which have resulted in increasing frequency and intensity of droughts. Growing food
also requires fuel energy for drought power and transportation of goods.
Climate Change
The rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have resulted in global warming
and climate change (IPCC, 2013). Climate change has resulted in significant impacts on the
global and local environment. This includes recent extreme weather events of increasing
frequency and intensity which are seen through increases in average global temperature,
changes in average rainfall patterns, frequent droughts and floods across the globe.

Biodiversity Loss
Globally, biodiversity loss is occurring at mass extinction rates (World Economic Forum
WEF, 2018). The primary cause of global biodiversity loss is human destruction of habitats,
including forests which are home to 80% of the world’s land based biodiversity. A record
29.7 million hectares of tree cover was lost in 2016, an area covering the size of New
Zealand (WEF, 2018). Biodiversity loss is increasing in South Africa due to human socio-
economic activities, with the aquatic ecosystem being most affected

Water Scarcity
Water covers 70% of the earth’ surface, yet on 3% of the world’s water is freshwater and
two-thirds of this is locked in frozen glaciers and icecaps, making it inaccessible for our use
(Postel & Carpenter, 1997). Freshwater scarcity has been identified as a major
environmental problem of the 21st Century (Srinivasan, Lambin, Gorelick, Thompson &
Rozelle, 2012). The exponential growth of the world’s human population is placing an ever
increasing demand on the Earth’s limited freshwater supply (Harrison & Stiassny, 1999),
together with economic development (demand from industry, commerce and agriculture),
increasing urbanisation and improved living standards. Linked to urbanization and economic
growth is water pollution, which further reduces available usable freshwater supply.

Disease Epidemics
South Africa is plagued by several diseases, some of which are highly contagious and can
spread to epidemic proportions. These include cholera, dysentery, tuberculosis, influenza
(flu) and HIV/AIDS. Some of these diseases are spread by poor sanitation, for example,
cholera and dysentery, which can be due to a lack of adequate water supplies and
sanitation infrastructure in unplanned urban settlements and rural areas. With climate
change effects that have resulted in an increase in temperature, causing the hosts of some
diseases to spread into new zones. For example, malaria-causing mosquitoes have now
spread into the northern part of South Africa, where the disease was never encountered
before.

3.

Environmental topic: Overpopulation of species in the ecology

Tbilisi Principle Application
Consider the environment in its totality
When teaching
 learners about
pollution we
should give
them the basic
principles,
terminology and
definitions
of pollution.
When explaining
to learners we
should tell
them to consider
all the different
facts.
When teaching learners about overpopulation
educators must give learners the basic
glossary, terminology and definitions of
overpopulation.
Promote the value of, and necessity Firstly, educators should teach learners about
for, local, national and international overpopulation of living organisms. Then we
cooperation in the prevention and should equip them with the necessary skills
solutions of environmental problems to promote the prevention of overpopulation.
Learners should ask clarity seeking questions
in the community about overpopulation.
Focus on current and potential Encyclopedias, archived information in past
environmental situations while taking newspapers will be used as resources and
 into account the historical perspective current life experiences. A community visit to
check if it’s overpopulated and the
consequences thereof must be analyzed by
the learners. Make learners take
responsibility in protecting the environment.
Be interdisciplinary in its approach, Encompass other subjects on the same topic.
drawing on the specific content of each Discuss with learners how it is possible to
discipline in making possible holistic and minimize overpopulation without birth control
balanced perspective. in towns e.g. Minimize rural to urban
migration by developing rural areas.
Should be a continuous lifelong process, Teach learners to build on their knowledge
starts at pre-school level and continues from grade to grade, thereby building on their
through all formal and informal stages. knowledge on the matter. Use of different
resources on overpopulation and use of
Internet for learners to continue learning

4.1 Sustainable development: means being able to meet the basic needs of people today
without destroying the chances of future generations to do the same. In the greater global
environment, there is a serious concern whether economic growth all over the world is
sustainable

4.2 Social, Environmental and Economic

4.3 rate of raw materials flow, rate of energy use and Air pollution
4.4 Levels of education including literacy and numeracy and Morbidity rates
4.5 Equitable distribution of wealth and Economic equity and fairness

5.1
Auditory learners: Prefer to learn through listening, e.g. Listening to verbal presentations on
environmental topics and discussions on environmental issues.
Auditory learners interpret underlying meanings of speech through listening to voice tone,
pitch, speed, etc. Presentations by environmental educators need to be interesting, lively and
varied to retain leaners ‘attention.
Tactile learners: Prefer learning though touching, moving and doing. They are suited to outdoor
learning experiences such as hands-on approaches and active exploration of the physical world
around them. Educators must utilize the learners’ sense of adventure and their need to explore
and be active.

5.2
Education ‘about’ the environment
Education ‘in’ the environment
Education ‘for’ the environment

5.3

Learner-centred
Environmental education methods should enable full and active participation of learners
Activity-based
EE methods should provide activities in which all learners can participate.
Relevant to learners
The methods chosen should be relevant to the learners’ needs and interests.
Utilise the environment
EE is about education responses to environmental issues. Almost all environmental
learning can take place by utilising the environment around the learners. Consideration
should also be given to environmental issues of regional, national and global extent.

6.

Sustainability Competence Application

Systems thinking Teach learners to recognise and understand relationships – to think of how systems
are embedded within different domains and different scales and to deal with
uncertainty- how overpopulation of species affects the ecosystem and how to deal
with it.
Learners must be able to understand and evaluate multiple futures – to create own

Future/a visions for the future, to apply the precautionary principle, to assess the
consequences of actions and to deal with risks and changes; learning-to-learn skills,
openness and commitment to lifelong and life-wide

nticipato
Learning – to be able to determine how the future is disturbed by overpopulation
and be proactive

ry
Thinking
(lifelong
learning)
Future/anticipatory
Thinking (lifelong learning)
 Strategic thinking
Collaboration
Global thinking
The ability to collectively develop and implement actions that further sustainability
at the local level and further afield – teach learners to be able to find ways to a goal
in dealing with overpopulation
The ability to learn from others, to understand the needs, perspectives and actions
of others, to deal with conflicts in a group and to facilitate
collaborative and participatory problem solving; the ability to engage in networked
collaborations either locally or at a distance – group trips and co-operative learning
to share ideas and bounce ideas off each other
Ability to think as world citizens; careful consideration of previous approaches and
the perspectives of others; acting ethically and collaboratively to contribute to local,
regional and/or global development; ability to work collaboratively and to seek
collaborative opportunities – teach learners to understand how the world wide is
affected by overpopulation

7.1 Cocoa
7.2 Ivory Coast and Ghana
Made by trafficked and enslaved children
7.3
7.3.1 Social: Human rights of children are violated because of not sending the children
to school.

7.3.2 Political: Embezzlement of money meant for grower.

7.3.3 Economical: Children are forced to work without getting money and farmers earn
less for 1kg of cocoa beans that would be paid for a Snicker bar.
7.4 large numbers of children moving to the Ivory Coast to escape the desperate
poverty from Mali
Manufacturers have a responsibility to urgently find out who produces their cocoa.
7.5 International chocolate manufactures have pledge to introduce a form of
approved labour certification for cocoa farmers.
Has pledged to potentially do no environmental harm with properly managed
practices to soil erosion
7.6 To only support producers that do not make use of child labour.
To pledge in the support of protecting the environment from possible harm to soil
erosion and practices.
8. Date: 1946
Event: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
Outcomes: focused on conservation and environmental awareness, and later on
became involved in the process of developing environmental education.
Date: 1948
Event: Conference for the Establishment of the International Union for the Conservation
of Nature (IUCN)
Venue: Paris
Outcomes: to study and identify factors causing the decline of natural resources and
species diversity
Date: 1972
Event: United Nations Conference
Venue: Stockholm
Outcomes: The conference was on human environment involving the world's rich
and poor nations coming together to discuss the environments matters, this
conference also led to the development of the United Nations environment
program.

Date: 1975
Event: First International workshop on environmental education
Venue: Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Outcomes: The workshop on environmental education was organized by UNEP
together with UNESCO, resulting in Belgrade charter
Date: 1977
Event: The First Inter-governmental Conference on Environmental Education
Venue: Tbilisi at the USSR
Outcomes: Tbilisi Declaration and 12 principles of environmental education.

Date: 1987
Event: The Education congress on environmental education and training (Tbilisi +10)
Venue: Moscow
Outcomes: The conference confirmed the Tbilisi principles for environmental education.

Date: 1983
Event: Publication of the Brandt Commission Report (common crisis North-South)
Outcomes: It focused on the on the need for a fairer distribution of the world's wealth
and resources

Date: 1980
Event: Publication of the IUCN/UNEP/WWF-sponsored World Conservation Strategy.
Outcomes: This ground-breaking document achieved world-wide recognition and
constituted a basis for national policy-making.

Date: 1987
Event: Our Common Future (also known as the Brundtland Report)
Outcomes: The commission had the most influence in the way people view the
environment and environmental issues.

Date: 1992
Event: The Rio Earth Summit/United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development
Venue: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Outcomes: emphasizing the need for wide-scale environmental education programmes
to respond to the environmental crisis. An outcome of the Summit was a treaty on
environmental education for sustainable societies.

Bibliography
Loubser, C. P. (2014). Environmental education. Pretoria: Van Schaik.

UNISA. (2020). Environmental Education EED2601 Study Guide. Pretoria: UNISA.