The Importance Of Urban Environmental Education

Environmental education exists in a multitude of forms. Some argue that any interaction with nature is environmental education, some would say that is not enough, that environmental education must be facilitated. Regardless of these opinions, environmental education is critical to the education all types of children. It is especially important for children living in urban settings to gain better understandings of their roles in the environment. It is vital that children understand that they are a part of nature, not separate from it. Urban schools are developing more environmental education programs that focus on urban areas and community involvement. Urban environmental education is a tool that can be used to instill this sense of unity with …show more content…
By putting students directly in contact with urban communities and nature, urban environmental education is utilized to accomplish these goals. Alex Kudryavtsev and Marianne E. Krasny state that an EPA research report...again suggested that environmental education should be relevant to citizens of every cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic level, and juxtaposed ‘traditional methods of education’ with ‘more innovative techniques’ that meet specific needs of communities” (Urban Environmental Education: Preliminary Literature Review 4). Urban environmental education applies ecological topics to urban settings with an agenda towards environmental conservation while allowing for students from all backgrounds to become involved. While most environmental education is either located in a classroom or in an isolated natural area, urban environmental education makes environmental knowledge more applicable to real life settings and