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Environmental Education

The eco-station is an environmental education centre affiliated to the Federal Association for Nature and Environmental Protection, in short BUND, which is one of Germany’s two largest environmental organisations. The centre comprises a low-energy building with wooden dome, loam walls, grass roof and solar system. We also have a bio-garden with pond, a compost system and medicinal herb garden. As well as organising special events for the population at large, since 1986 the centre offers educational courses for schools and nursery school groups, as well as for teachers and specialists from a variety of areas.

Environmental awareness in Germany

The eco-station was founded in 1986, a time when people in Germany had become highly aware of environmental problems and such environmental catastrophes as the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, accidents in large chemical works, the forest die-back syndrome, and our mountains of refuse. At that time, the Federal Ministry for the Environment was created, along with environmental authorities at both communal and provincial level; a number of new laws were passed and measures taken for the protection of the environment; and eco-centres were established.

Today, the existing environmental problems have only partly been alleviated, and in the meantime new ones have evolved. These include CO2 emission and climate changes, the growing number of cars, dangers presented by genetic engineering, soil acidification, and the high consumption of energy by people in rich countries.

Environmental education

Environmental education and training pose a constant challenge. The aim is to make people aware of the problems so that they can face up to future challenges. We must teach them treat nature, the environment and existing resources responsibly, so that the basic conditions for life can be preserved for future generations.

Environmental education starts at an early, pre-school age. Nature-experiences in the childhood, have a lasting impression on people. For example: the taste of a certain fruit or the smell of damp spring earth. Childhood experiences of nature may give a person courage and strength and impart a positive attitude to life.

Environmental education does not wish to emphasise how bad the world we live in is, nor the many catastrophes we face, it does not aim to make our children frightened, nor impose bans; it merely strives to arouse respect and love for living nature. Only if we know and love nature, will we protect it. Environmental education aims to create a new set of values.

Environmental education addresses man in his entirety. It is not only about acquiring new knowledge. Sensory perception and emotional experience combined with practical action play an important role. Sensory perception is important, smelling, tasting, hearing, and, of course, seeing. Environmental education is intelligent, sensitive and practical. It cannot be reduced to a single sector, it covers a multitude of disciplines.

Experience of nature has become a rare commodity for children in large cities. These children’s experience is defined by the media (televisions, video and computers), while in the living environment of the city, cars are the most noticeable feature. Children spend more time indoors than outdoors. Environmental education aims to give children the opportunity to experience nature, something which may no longer be possible for them in everyday life. In doing this we confer important qualifications on them, which will be of significance for their futures.

Environmental education aims to foster solidarity and sense of responsibility within the community. Collaboration and interplay are important.

Environmental education has many faces. Some examples following:

Environmental education in the eco-station

The eco-station is an out-of-school education centre. Some 150 classes and nursery school groups visit the eco-station each year to study in the so called “green classroom”. Teachers are invited to choose from a selection of topics.

The “green classroom”

One of the topics in the “green classroom” is for example: the pond. In small groups, the children observe pond life and examine live pond animals under the microscope.

Another example: the soil. Taking a handful of soil or compost the children can watch worms and beetles under a magnifying glass. This way they learn that the soil is full of living creatures and micro-organisms and thus constitutes a sensitive environment. Did you know that a handful of compost contains more organisms than there are people populating the world?

Children enjoy gardening, contact with the soil and the success of being able to harvest something. In the bio-garden, children study fruits, herbs and vegetables. At the end of the visit they are given the opportunity to pot a plant and take it home.

The herb garden has many aromatic kitchen and medicinal herbs. The children like to play at smelling games and to learn to recognise a plant by its smell. The herbs are used to make tea or herbal cream cheese. Petals and leaves can be used for painting and making pictures. The children’s creativity is stimulated by the use of natural things, such as different types of soil, clay, coal, that is, quite basic materials. Children help earwigs, birds or wild bees nest. This gives them the opportunity to watch insects from close up and also contributes to conservation. We also make trips into the nearby forest. The eco-station has put together an educational trail showing how the forest can be damaged, so that in a play environment the children get to know the woodland eco-system.

Each year the Federal Association for Nature and Environmental Protection organises a competition under the motto “Nature Diary”. For a whole year children study closely a particular piece of nature, which may be a tree, a hedgerow, part of a meadow or a body of water. They document their observations in a notebook and illustrate them with pictures and drawings. The best diary is awarded a prize.

We also address the issue of avoiding waste. The children make new paper from old newspaper. When shopping, the children learn to avoid packaging by buying fresh local produce, while they buy their drinks in multi-use bottles. A compost heap teaches them what a natural cycle is, because nature knows no waste. All dead matter is transformed into something new, organic waste becomes fertile soil.

Young persons find the subject of solar energy interesting. The children conduct experiments with different materials, to experience the warming effect of the sun. Or they build a solar cooker for cooking with. Very high temperatures can be achieved with a parabolic mirror.

Since the Rio conference in 1992, a new aspect has been added to environmental education. Around the world, states have pledged themselves to fostering sustained and forward-looking global development. It is important for children to learn the global effects of our behaviour, how many natural reserves and resources we exploit to maintain our level of consumption. It is our duty together to find viable solutions for the future.

Environmental education in schools

20 years ago, a first recommendation was put forward by the Conference of Ministers of Education of the Länder that environmental education should be included in the school curriculum. Environmental education is not an independent subject, but a multi-disciplinary concept, which teachers implement by mutual agreement. The curriculum contains interdisciplinary subjects which are binding for every grade, e.g. in Grade 5 the subject is “Children explore their environment”. Biology, Geography, Divinity and German teachers, for instance, must within a set time frame include this topic in their instruction. In grammar school grade 11, the subject is “Protecting the Earth’s Atmosphere”.

To a certain extent teachers are allowed to arrange lessons flexibly, they may make their own decisions and take the children on an outing into the woods, for instance, or visit the eco-station. Once a year, each school organises a project week, during which the children are given a choice of different activities: amateur dramatics, sports or outdoor adventure activities, environmental projects, art.

Schools create their own profile through their own activities. Backed by teachers, parents and pupils many schools have redesigned their playgrounds, laid out a pond or installed solar panels on the roof of the school building. There is a waste-free primary school in Freiburg, at which everybody, pupils and staff, take care to ensure that no waste is created. Many schools also conduct an eco-audit.

Energy and climate friendly schools have existed for about 7 years. By working together teachers, pupils and janitors help to reduce power, heating and water consumption. This way, costs can be cut by up to 30%. And certain types of investment, for instance in solar panels, creates an even greater savings potential.

Local and provincial governments support this commitment, by giving back to schools half or as much as 2/3 of the savings made. The City is happy too, because money has been saved. This is an example of the new approach in environmental education, in which pupils not only acquire knowledge of the environment, but themselves seek solutions, either individually or in teamwork, whereby their efforts have economic significance. These are important qualifications for sustained development.

There are many examples of ecological education in schools. Teachers have the necessary scope for action, what is achieved depends solely on their commitment.

Nursery schools

There is a trend in nursery schools toward giving children the opportunity to experience nature more closely. We have woodland nursery schools, where the children spend all day outdoors in the wood; instead of playing with manufactured toys, these children play in hideouts and on climbing frames surrounded by nature. The eco-station offers seminars for nursery school teachers and supports nursery schools wishing to redesign their outdoor play areas with specialised gardening guidance.

Adults

Not only teachers come to us. Our courses and seminars also address the general public. Interested citizens, leisure gardeners and parents accompanied by their children visit the centre. An exchange of views takes place here, meetings are held and advice is given. Citizens are invited to work together with us on an voluntary basis, for example in looking after the garden. We want to encourage people to become active themselves, to lay out a garden or start a compost heap, and, together with neighbourhood children, to protect nature.

The significance of environmental centres

The eco-station is one of many environmental centres in Germany, all of which are very different. Some consist of an ecological building with natural gardens, some are simple offices, while others are information centres in conservation areas. Some centres are run by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), there are state-run nature conservation academies and school biology centres run by individual school authorities. There are more than 400 such institutions in Germany which are cross-linked by an umbrella organisation. Those run by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are understaffed and do not receive sufficient state funding.

The centres are extremely important for environmental education. They address a large target group, they are widely accepted by the population because they serve as a contact point for everyday problems and address current issues. Their work is increasingly professional.

The eco-station co-operates with other institutions. Co-operation and cross-linking are important concerns. The station wishes to encourage people to protect nature and the environment and to disseminate new ideas. Here a variety of different groups - children, adults, citizens, teachers and pupils, can all meet in order to create an environmentally-sustainable future