A characteristic of the current global situation is that many of us believe that an environmental and developmental catastrophe is round the corner, whilst behaving as though all will be well. In this article, Alan Peacock begins by considering some ‘true-life parables’ that illustrate powerfully where previous communities have failed to heed environmental warnings. He then goes on to consider how best to learn in order to develop eco-literacy. The article proposes that ‘Collaborative Engagement’ strategies seem to work best, in which professionals with different expertise work together on a specific aim over an extended period of time. It addresses the difficulty of developing an appropriate eco-literacy curriculum, and suggests that key skills and attitudes are needed, including respect for evidence; understanding risk and predictability in relation to ethics; and communication skills and action competence.  He concludes with a reminder that the key to long-term engagement and eco-literacy is to collaborate over extended periods with a focus on the right issues. 

Introduction: ‘What do you do when you’re not sure?’

This is the opening line of the film Doubt, spoken from the pulpit by Father Flynn (played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman), knowing he is suspected of various misdemeanours.  The words resonate, I suspect, with all of us engaged in education at the present time of uncertainty and a perceived need for change.

            We are unsure about many things.  The global economic system is in a precarious state; capitalist institutions are being questioned; funding for all educational enterprises is likely to be affected, but in ways we cannot predict, especially as we are no longer sure about where power and decision-making lies.  The climate is changing faster than anyone predicted, and whilst this is certain now, what we are not sure about is where the greatest impact will be felt, how quickly we will be affected, who will suffer and how best to prepare for potential difficulties.  Energy supply is also problematic; we do not want to rely on fossil fuels, but at present we have little choice.  Debate rages about wind, tidal and wave energy, hydroelectric sources, nuclear power, the relative cost of these, and above all, ways to reduce the dependence on coal, oil and gas.  Will there have to be rationing of energy?  How can we reduce our dependence on cars? Water is also likely to be the source of conflict, as droughts and climatic changes affect supply and access to clean, reliable sources and these become contested across international borders.

            We are responding to these challenges in ways that suggest we may be in denial.  Politicians emphasise the importance of reducing carbon emissions, but do little to make a significant difference.  As individuals we stop using plastic bags, but continue to use far more than our rightful share of the world’s energy resources, with developed countries emitting several tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.  We carry on filling up landfill sites with rubbish, equivalent to about the weight of one buffalo each year per family, knowing that the methane generated from these sites is 20 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.  We kind of believe that a catastrophe is round the corner, whilst behaving as though all will be well.

True-life parables

Two true stories illustrate the dangers we and our children face.  The first of these is the story of the life and death of the community on St. Kilda, a small island off the west coast of Scotland. People lived on St. Kilda for centuries, keeping sheep on one rocky island whilst living on the other and harvesting gannets and their eggs for food, oil, bedding etc.  Access to the eggs involved climbing up or down very steep and precarious cliffs; hence it became the role of the young, strong and healthy males.  The community’s lifestyle was sustainable as long as this section of the community was able to harvest the nests on the cliffs.

            Two factors however reduced this sustainability.  The first was the arrival of the Christian church, which discouraged work on Sundays, thus reducing productivity by one seventh, or about 15 per cent.  The second and more pernicious influence, though, was the subsequent introduction of education.  Teaching literacy and numeracy to the younger children was not in itself a problem; it became one, however, when the teachers encouraged the now-literate older children to leave the island for secondary and higher education.  This deprived the island of the young men who were the only ones able to carry out the gannet harvesting, as well as being the potential future fathers of children, so the community’s sustainability in terms of food, heating, lighting and reproduction was reduced to a level where only the very old remained.  The final 50 or so were eventually removed to the mainland in the mid 20th century, since when the island has been uninhabited, except by the staff of a radio station (Steele, 1975).

            The second such cautionary parable relates to Easter Island, or Rapa Nui as it is known in Chile, of which it is a part.  The island is 1,000 miles from mainland South America, and was first settled by Polynesians in the 6^th century.  The island was rich in palm trees, birds and fish, and the population steadily grew over 1,000 years, and then suddenly disappeared almost entirely, mostly as a result of starvation or violent deaths.  This was not due to any natural disaster, but largely because of the islanders themselves.  Rapa Nui is famous for its rows of massive stone heads, some over 10 metres tall, weighing many tons.  They were carved as tributes to the ancestors who the people felt protected them, and were moved into place by the use of rollers made from the trunks of palm trees.  As the population expanded, more carvings were made and more trees needed, until virtually all the trees had been cut down and could not regenerate fast enough.  Fewer and fewer birds could nest as a consequence, so the birds and eggs on which they lived became scarce.  Without trees they could not make canoes for fishing.  Food shortages became so problematic that civil wars broke out and many inhabitants were slaughtered.  Without canoes they could not emigrate to other islands.  The few survivors learnt their lessons and shared what they had, until Dutch explorers arrived in the 18^th century and brought European diseases, which wiped out the rest of the indigenous people.  Only the giant stone carvings remain.

What and how to learn to develop eco-literacy: the evaluation base

The above stories emphasise the need for forethought and skills.  Our children will need not only to anticipate and figure out what the problem is, but also have the skills, confidence, knowledge and interpersonal/management capabilities to be able to deal with problems as they arise.  Starting from where we are now, in terms of teaching strategies and curriculum proposals, how can we set about supporting effective change that will move us in this direction?  We must first take account of the professional and personal concerns of the teachers who are crucial in bringing about change, as Wenger explains:

“Workers organise their lives with their immediate colleagues and customers to get their jobs done. In doing so, they develop or preserve a sense of themselves they can live with, have some fun, and fulfil the requirements of their employers and clients. No matter what their official job description may be, they create a practice to do what needs to be done. Although workers may be contractually employed by a large institution, in day-to-day practices they work with- and, in a sense, for- a much smaller set of people and communities” (Wenger, 1998:95).

The evidence on which my conclusions are based come not only from a wide range of literature but also from evaluations of relevant eco-literacy programmes in recent years, including (in the United Kingdom - UK) the Eden Project in Cornwall, which evaluated programmes of school and family visits over several years (Peacock 2003b); the National Trust Guardianship Scheme (GS) for which two evaluations of short- and long-term programmes were carried out (Peacock, 2003c, 2005b); schools’ involvement with Soil Association programmes (Peacock, 2005a) and the Somerset Waste Action Programme (SWAP) which focused on waste minimisation and recycling across all schools in the county (Vrdlovcova, 2005).  Overseas, we have carried out similar evaluations of primary teacher in-service programmes in Kenya, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Senegal and Sri Lanka (Peacock, 1999, 2003a; Peacock & Rawson, 2001; Levy, 1994).  For reasons of space, these will not be discussed in detail but alluded to where relevant.  Sources relating to reports on these evaluations are however to be found in the list of references and websites below.

How to develop teaching and learning of eco-literacy: what seems to work?

One feature common to successful eco-literacy programmes, both here and overseas, has been the Collaborative Engagement approach (Harvey, 1998). This approaches necessitates: partnerships in planning, teaching, evaluating; serial involvement over extended periods of time; communication systems that work (e.g. email, chat rooms); mutuality in accepting we are all learning; and a focus that has relevance and interest to children. And crucially, the question, what’s in it for us? (i.e. the teachers), must always be addressed.

            This approach evolved within the Primary Science programme (PSP) in South Africa (www.psp.org.za), from a philosophy based on negotiated co-operation between teachers and professional ‘implementers’, and from the experience that one-off seminars and workshops alone do not achieve lasting changes in classroom practice.

            The approach therefore involves:

•       Modelling best practice (by professional ‘implementers’);
•       Facilitating needs analysis by all those involved (including learners);
•       Collaborative planning between teachers and professional implementers;
•       Development of innovative resource materials (e.g. ‘Spider’s Place’ comics: http://www.unesco.org/education/catalogues/sitevideo/themes/primary.htm);
•       Team-teaching lessons involving ‘safe practice’ for teachers;
•       Mediating critical reflection and problem-solving, and coaching teachers in safe feedback;
•       Promoting action research (e.g. on resource management);
•       Formulating school policies;
•       Providing ongoing support for teachers; coaching for application.

Collaborative Engagement strategies are also dependent on an analysis of the stage of the school’s evolution, the school’s political climate, its geographic distribution, and the number of schools a single implementer has to service (Harvey, 1998).