Previous generations were concerned about civil war, anti-war protests, etc. today the moral crisis of our generation is the environmental deterioration and how we can fix it. The damage is already done, but now the environmental weight of the world is being placed on the shoulders of today’s younger generation. What is the proper way to educate the younger generation so they learn from our destructive lifestyle? This is a popular controversial topic among educators today. Out of the classroom students have failed to make the link between their individual actions and the environmental conditions. Some educators believe environmental facts should unbiased when presented to students, others believe students should learn the hard truth about how
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Michael Sanera argues that the facts of environmental education should be presented over the fear; however, we cannot separate environmental education from reality. Should the inconvenient truth that humans have already destroyed the environment, and the younger generation is left to clean up the mess, be hidden from students? Sandra Steingraber’s article “Despair Not” highlights some of the “new morbidities of childhood” (Steingraber). Some of these “new morbidities” include asthma, behavioral problems, intellectual impairments and preterm birth. These chronic childhood diseases are linked to the gas emissions of our planet and what these gas emissions are doing to our bodies (Steingraber). Topics such as these are often incredibly uncomfortable to talk about, but why? Environmental destruction has a direct impact on the students who learn about it. Steingraber explains that parents often feel as if they cannot do anything to change this paralyzing despair and therefore begin to ignore the evidence being pushed towards them. This leads to denial because the human race often instinctively avoids information that triggers negative emotions. Even though this information about our toxic environment triggers unwanted emotions, it is necessary to know the full scale of the problem at hand. Students cannot be presented the facts while ignoring the present impact of those facts on our environment.
Michael Sanera argues that the facts of environmental education should be presented over the fear; however, we cannot separate environmental education from reality. Should the inconvenient truth that humans have already destroyed the environment, and the younger generation is left to clean up the mess, be hidden from students? Sandra Steingraber’s article “Despair Not” highlights some of the “new morbidities of childhood” (Steingraber). Some of these “new morbidities” include asthma, behavioral problems, intellectual impairments and preterm birth. These chronic childhood diseases are linked to the gas emissions of our planet and what these gas emissions are doing to our bodies (Steingraber). Topics such as these are often incredibly uncomfortable to talk about, but why? Environmental destruction has a direct impact on the students who learn about it. Steingraber explains that parents often feel as if they cannot do anything to change this paralyzing despair and therefore begin to ignore the evidence being pushed towards them. This leads to denial because the human race often instinctively avoids information that triggers negative emotions. Even though this information about our toxic environment triggers unwanted emotions, it is necessary to know the full scale of the problem at hand. Students cannot be presented the facts while ignoring the present impact of those facts on our environment.