LESSON 1: ECOLITERACY

Ecoliteracy/Ecological Literacy
Orr and Capra (1990) coined the idea of ‘ecological literacy’ as creating a new emphasis
on the need for education to integrate understanding of the interdependence between natural
processes and human ways of life. Therefore, ecoliteracy is the ability to understand the
organization of natural systems and the processes that maintain the healthy functioning of living
systems and sustain life on Earth.
Sustainability
Sustainability is a qualitative and a quantitative condition that demonstrates the human
capacity to survive over time. It is qualitative in a way that we want well-being although, it is
difficult to measure. But it is also quantitative in that natural capital and ecological carrying
capacity can be measured with foot printing tools. It is a biological and ecological imperative for
human society to exist within the carrying capacity of the ecosystem.

Ecologically Literate Person and Society

An ecologically literate person understands the essence of independence and
interconnectedness and that we are all part of a living system. An ecologically literate person
translates this understanding into actions that demonstrate conscious efforts to minimize
negative impacts on our life-sustaining systems and maximize value contribution to our collective
well-being, now and for future generations.
An ecologically literate society would be a sustainable society, which does not destroy the
natural environment on which they depend. Thus, ecological literacy is a powerful concept as it
created a foundation for an integrated approach to environmental problems.
Ways to Develop Ecoliteracy in Schools
A growing number of educators feel the need to foster learning that genuinely prepares
young people for the ecological challenges presented by this entirely unprecedented time in
human history. Thus, the goal is to raise students with an important perspective called “socially
and emotionally engaged ecoliteracy”, which is a process that offers an antidote of fear, anger,
and hopelessness which result from inaction. Hence, the act of engaging in ecological challenges
on whatever scale is possible or appropriate. It develops strength, hope, and resiliency among
young people.
To help educators foster socially and emotionally engaged ecoliteracy, the following are
identified practices in age-appropriate ways for students, ranging from pre-kindergarten through
adulthood, and help promote the cognitive and affective the abilities with the integration of
emotional, social and ecological intelligences.
 1. Develop empathy for all forms of life. By recognizing the common needs, we share with
organisms, we can extend our empathy to consider the quality of life of other life forms,
feel genuine concern about their well-being and act on that concern.
2. Embrace sustainability as a community practice. By learning the wondrous ways that
plants, animals and other living things are interdependent, students are inspired to
consider the role of interconnectedness within their communities and see the value in
strengthening those relationships by thinking and acting cooperatively.
3. Make the invisible visible. If we strive to develop ways of living that are more life-
affirming, we must find ways to make visible the things that seem invisible by using web-
based tools, such as Google Earth, GoodGuide and Fooducate Apps.
4. Anticipate unintended consequences. Teachers can teach students strategies for
anticipating unintended consequences. These include precautionary principle, that when
an activity threatens to have a damaging impact on the environment or human health,
precautionary actions should be taken. Another strategy is to shift from analyzing a
problem by reducing it to its isolated components, to adopting a systematic thinking
perspective that examines connections and relationships among various components of
the problem.
5. Understand how nature sustains life. Ecoliterate people recognize that nature has
sustained life for long that resulted to turning to nature when their teachers imbibe three
crucial tenets to ecoliterate living: (1) ecoliterate people learn from nature that all living
organisms are complex and interconnected that inhabit a particular place for survival; (2)
ecoliterate people tend to be more aware that systems exist in various levels of scale; and
(3) ecoliterate people collectively practice a way of life that fulfills the need of the present
generation while simultaneously supporting nature’s inherent ability to sustain life in the
future.
Seven Environmental Principle of Nature
Considering the key to understanding environmental problems is to learn about
ecosystem. Ecology can be best appreciated in schools through a more practical and more
relatable perspectives and manners of orientation and realization.
The following are basic environmental principles of ecosystem (adapted from Barry
Commoner; cited in Butler 2012).
1. Nature knows best. People need to understand nature and have to abide by the rules is
imposes. In essence, one must not go against the natural process if he/she would like to
ensure a continuous and steady supply of resources.
2. All forms of life are important. Each organism plays a fundamental role in nature
therefore, all living things must be considered as invaluable instruments in maintaining
balance in the ecosystem.
 3. Everything is connected to everything else. In an ecosystem, all components interact with
each other to ensure that the system is sustainable, of which any outside interference
may result in an imbalance and deterioration of the system.
4. Everything changes. People must rethink their relationship with the environment through
relevant technologies for positive changes.
5. Everything must go somewhere. Since wastes may go back to one’s own backyard in some
other forms, it is important to become aware of the different types of waste, classify and
segregate those that are toxic and potentially hazardous.
6. Ours is a finite earth. Awareness of the earth’s limited resources leads conscious effort to
change one’s attitude and initiative to recycle them.
7. Nature is beautiful and we are stewards of God’s creation. Being the most intelligent and
being gifted with reason, humans are capable of controlling and taking care of the
creation to their own advantage.

Towards a Green School and Education for Sustainable Development

The school environment, should encourage, support and nurture students’ capacities on
green environment as integrated in the curriculum and instruction. This will allow them to
connect with their surroundings and attend to their health and safety needs, while motivating
them to learn and imbibe a sense of belongingness and sensitivity towards the school, society
and even this planet.
The concept of Green School was introduced in Europe in the 1990s while the Rio Earth
Summit of 1992 took cognizance of the need to take action in every area in which human impacts
on the environment. The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg in
2002 catalyzed the efforts to bring about a shift in ‘educating about the environment’ to
‘educating for sustainability’. This shift reflected the international climate of thinking about
Sustainable Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising future
generations to meet their own needs.
Green Schools and ESD. The Green school is visualized as a school guided by the principles
of environmental sustainability. It seeks to create a conducive environment to fully utilize all
resources and opportunities inside and outside the school and orient teachers and students on
environmental sustainability through active involvement of the community. It demands on-going,
continuous and synergistic efforts of all stakeholders toward improving the environment of the
school and its surroundings.
Essential aspects of Green School Environment. The ‘greenness’ of a school finds
expression in various aspects of the environment. The green school has clean, healthy, protective
and green surroundings. It also promotes both the physical and psychological health of learners
and others in school; ensures a healthy (provision of health services, such as nutritional
supplementation and counseling), hygienic (safe drinking water, neat and clean classrooms,
playground and parks, etc.), safe learning environment with healthy practices (e.g. a school free
of drugs, corporal punishment and harassment); and brings children closer to nature and involves
the, in taking care of it.
A Green School adheres to the following percepts:
1. Learning about the environment. It focuses mainly on acquisition of knowledge and
understanding of the surroundings and related issues.
2. Learning through the environment. It refers to the processes of learning while being
engaged with environment inside and outside the classroom.
3. Learning for the environment. It aims at developing an informed response and
responsibility towards the environment beyond acquisition of skills and knowledge.
Understanding Green Curriculum. For a curriculum to be ‘Green’, it must include the following
aspects:
1. Environment is encompassing, multidisciplinary and dynamic, has scientific, social,
economic, political and technological dimensions.

2. Being holistic, a Green Curriculum views environment as all that is around and aims to
give a better understanding of the way the world functions its operations, its alteration
because of the actions of human race and its consequences.
3. It holistically addresses sustainability concerns, such as protection and conservation of
natural resources, traditions, culture and heritage, safety and security, physical and
emotional assurance, health and sanitation issues, concern for equity and justice and
interconnection between and among natural, social, physical, and cultural environment.
4. This requires a teaching-learning approach where students are provided time and space
to explore different facets of environment and interconnect with them.
5. A Green Curriculum is a mutual concern of teachers and students.
Creating a Green School. A Green School is a school that creates a healthy environment
conducive to learning, while saving energy, environmental resources and money.
Therefore, a Green School (1) reduces environmental impacts and costs; (2) improves occupants’
health and performance; and (3) increases environmental and sustainability literacy.
Characteristics of a Green School.
Green, healthy, and high-performing are the characteristics of a green school that provides many
benefits to students, teachers, parents and the community, at large.
1. It protects health.
2. It increases student performance.
3. It saves energy and money.
4. It reduces carbon emissions.
5. It reduces water usage.
6. It improves teacher retention.
7. It improves daily attendance.
8. It provides a unique educational opportunity.
9. It creates green jobs.
10. It improves equity.
 Lesson 1 – Assignment 1
Instructions:
• In 5-10 sentences, what is your commitment to our environment in order to sustain life
on earth?
• Kindly write your answers in a word document and send it to my gmail account
ncasnl@gmail.com with the subject code: EcoliteracyAss-1.
• Fontstyle: Arial/Calibri Fontsize: 12. Please convert it into pdf form.
• Deadline: November 28, 2021 at 11:59 PM
Please be guided with the given rubrics:

Features 10 EXPERT 8 ACCOMPLISHED 6 CAPABLE 4 BEGINNER

Quality of Gives some Gives no new

Writing new information and
Very informative Somewhat
information very poorly
and well- informative and
but poorly organized
organized organized
organized

Grammar, Usage Virtually no Few spelling and A number of So many

& Mechanics spelling, punctuation errors, spelling, spelling,
punctuation or minor grammatical punctuation punctuation and
grammatical errors or grammatical
errors grammatical errors that it
errors interferes with
the meaning