This document discusses environmental education, including its definition, meaning, need, importance, and scope. It defines environmental education as an interdisciplinary process that equips people with knowledge, attitudes, and skills to address environmental issues. The document emphasizes the need for environmental education to deal with pollution threats and educate about protecting air, water, land, and limiting noise pollution. It also outlines the role of teachers in raising awareness of environmental challenges and promoting conservation efforts.

1. ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
By
M.VIJAYALAKSHMI
Assistant Professor

2. Unit – 5:
Aspects of Challenges in Education
5.5 Environmental Education: Definition,
Meaning, Need, Importance and Scope.
Role of Teacher in Meeting the Challenges of
Air, Water, Land and Noise Pollution – Effects
on Human, Animals and Plants –
Constitutional Provisions to Environmental
Protection – Role of Individual, Public and
Govt – Recent Trends in Environmental
Education

3. ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
Man, as a part and parcel
of the environment, has to
recognize the role and
importance of environment
in order to protect it and to
get protection from it, for
this, he needs
environmental education.

4. DEFINITION
International Union for the
Conservation of Nature (IUCN;
1971)
"... the process of recognizing values
and clarifying concepts in order to
develop skills and attitudes
necessary to understand and
appreciate the interrelatedness
among men, his culture and his
biophysical surroundings. EE also
entails practice in decision-making
and self-formulation of a code of
behaviour about issues concerning
environmental quality.”

5. MEANING
Environmental Education, which is
relatively new, is an interdisciplinary
process that aims at equipping
people with the knowledge,
attitudes, skills and motivation that
they need to help resolve
environmental issues.

6. NEED FOR THE
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
• Some form of environmental pollution affects
each and every nation though the issues differ
• Some of the most urgent environmental threats
to be dealt with now and in the future
• Educational institutions all over the world have
been making intense efforts to meet the
challenges arising from politics, science and
public opinion towards integrating
environmental concerns

7. Programme with the following aspects:
• Goals, concepts and components of the
specific educational measures
• Relationship between environmental crises
and environmental education
• Subjects and actors – teachers and pupils and
the qualifications
• Target groups
• Local environment
• Educational Institutions
• Conditions and access and participation

8. IMPORTANCE (SIGNIFICANCE) OF
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
• Essential for the self-fulfilment and social
development of the child and the adult
• Essential for understanding the different food
chains and the nature’s ecological balance
• Palys an important role in understanding and
appreciating how the environment is used for
making a living and promoting material
culture

9. • Enables one to appreciate and enjoy
nature and society
• Inculcates a concern for the systematic
change of environment for the distant
and immediate welfare of mankind
• Makes one conscious of the problems of
population explosion, depletion of
natural resources, global warming, etc

10. SCOPE OF
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
Awareness
Real life situations
Conservation
Sustainable development

11. Role of Teacher in
Meeting the Challenges of Air Pollution
• World-wide campaign – about smoking
• Use of good quality of automobile fuels
• Planting trees – Afforestation
• Air pollution – checking by cyclone collectors,
electrostatic precipitators etc
• Motor vehicles – sulphur free and lead free fuel
• Non-combustible sources of energy – developed
• Factories chimneys – tall
• Using air filters
• Awareness programmes

12. Role of Teacher in
Meeting the Challenges of Water Pollution
• Waste water – treated before its discharge into lake
or river
• Proper filtering mechanism
• Use of herbicide and pesticide – minimized
• Pollutants removed by suitable methods –
absorption, electrodialysis, ion exchange, reverse
osmosis
• Industrial effluents and thermal pollutants –
reutilized
• Urban waste – reused to generate cheaper fuel gas
and electricity
• Biological and physical methods – restore species
diversity and to maintain ecological balance in the
water bodies

13. Role of Teacher in
Meeting the Challenges of Land Pollution
• Reforestation
• Agronomic Methods – Contour planting, Contour furrowing,
Contour cropping, Mulchig and Ley farming
• Construction of dams
• Controlled grazing
• Soil fertility
• Forest management
• Use of bio fertilizers and natural manures
• Wind breaks and wind – shield
• Special pits – dumping industrial waste
• Afforestation – barren areas
• Recycling and recovery of materials – agricultural wastes,
paper, plastics and glass
• Public awareness programmes
• Proper control methods

14. Role of Teacher in
Meeting the Challenges of Noise Pollution
• Gadgets – developed
• Earmuffs – industrial workers and traffic
control personnel
• Noise section of the factory – located far
away
• Room walls – sound absorbers
• Loud speakers – avoided
• Planting trees

15. Teachers are expected to discharge the
following functions ……
• Developing awareness about environmental
issues
• Providing specific and scientific knowledge
topic-wise
• Organizing community surveys on issues relating
to conservation and protection of environment
• Organizing social service and community service
programmes
• Organizing Population days and Environmental
days
• Organizing Awareness campaigns

16. • Organizing visits to pollution control centres
• Organizing exhibitions on Environmental
pollution and control
• Organizing tree plantation or vanmahotsavs
• Organizing lectures and workshops for the
benefit of the community
• Developing habits of cleanliness among
students
• Ensuring cleanliness of the school plant
• Arranging lectures of experts on
environmental issues

17. • Impressing upon students to adopt the following
ways of protecting and improving the environment
• Dispose the wastes after separating them into bio-
degradable and non-biodegradable
• Start a compost heap or use a compost bin
• Don’t burn any waste - plastics
• Reuse carrier bags
• Avoid fast starts and sudden braking of automobiles
• Walk or cycle
• Use public transport
• Use unleaded petrol
• Plant trees
• Observe World Environment Day on 5th June

18. Air, Water, Land and
Noise Pollution –
Effects on
Human, Animals and
Plants

19. • Floods, Aridation, Drought, Soil erosion,
sediment load of the river, siltation,
intensification of green house effect etc
• Nitrates – respiratory disorders
• Mine dust affects all
• Chemical fertilizer – increasing the salt
content of the salt
• Radio active minerals – great damage to
human
• Improper irrigation practices – inhibit plant
growth

20. Direct or Intentional Impacts
Application of Chemical Fertilizers,
Pesticides and Insecticides
High yield
Economic Development
Change in Soil Chemistry
Soil Degradation

21. Indirect or unintentional Impacts
• Experienced after long time when they become
cumulative
• Not reversible
• Related to pollution and environmental
degradation
• Use of chemicals such as DDT, BHC, etc.,
• Excessive use of pesticides, fertilizers and a
number of other chemicals
• Example: toxic materials are transported across
the placenta and reach the developing foetus of
women and cause abortions and delivery of
premature child

22. • Photochemical smog – eye irritation, respiratory
problems and cancer
• Acid rain –
Depletes the nutrients in soil and destroy plants.
Chlorosis and necrosis in plants.
Irritation in the eyes and skin of human beings
Affects aquatic life
• Airbrone fluoride and arsenic pollution – injuries
to agricultural livestocks
• Green house effect – skin cancer
• Ozone layer depletion – cancer
• Air pollution affects weather and climate at
global level

23. Industrial Growth and its
Environmental Impacts
• Industrial expansion – release of
enormous quantities of pollutants –
ions of chlorine, sodium sulphate,
magnesium phosphate etc
• Coal consumption in thermal plants
– flyash, smoke, sulphur oxide and
other gases

24. • Burning of hydrocarbon fuels –
Increased concentration of CO2
in the atmosphere
• Increase in global temperature
• CO2 + H2O H2CO3
• Carbonic acid changes the soil
chemistry

27. O2 + Haemoglobin
Oxyhaemoglobin
Supply of O2
throughout our body
Normal Reaction
Carbon mono-oxide +
Haemoglobin
Prevention of Oxyhaemoglobin
Supply of
Carbon mono-oxide
Abnormal Reaction

28. Nitrates in
food and
water
Nitrites by
bacteria in
digestive
system
Nitrites
enter blood
vascular
system
Combines
with
Haemoglobin
Trigger a
lot of
metabolic
disorders

29. • Industrial wastes – chemicals,
metals, solid wastes and garbage
• Release of CFC (Chloroflurocarbon)
– Depletion of Ozone
• Sulphur dioxide reacts quickly with
Atmospheric moisture – Suphuric
acid – Respiratory diseases and Acid
Rain

33. Depletion of Ozone Layer
or Ozone Hole
• Stratosphere - Height of 72 Km
• Contains scarce amount of water vapour
• Thin layer – ozone gas – less than 1 ppm-
absorbs Ultra violet (UV) rays
• Protective layer
• UV rays influence the body in many ways
• Beneficial effects – formation of vitamin D in
the skin

38. • Decrease in 1 per cent of ozone – 3 per cent
increase in non-melanoma skin cancer
• May increase the incidence of diseases like
measles, chickenpox, and other viral diseases
affecting the skin by inducing rash, bacterial
infections like tuberculosis and leprosy and
fungal infections
• US Environment Protection Agency – 0.3 to
0.6 per cent increase – cataracts
• Plants affected during photosynthesis

39. • In 1985, atmospheric scientists of the British
Antarctic Survey came into with a startling
report indicating the vast depletion of ozone
in the atmosphere over the Halley Bay in
Antarctica
• Between 1977 and 1984 more than 40 per
cent of the ozone layer had decreased
• Wider than the continent and extended
about 12-24 km in altitude
• The concentration of ozone is decreasing at a
rate of 0.3 per cent every year

40. • All life on earth – come to an end within 60
years
• Similar hole – thickly populated northern
hemisphere
• In 1988, developed countries agreed to
eliminate 90 per cent of the ozone depleting
substances by 2000

41. • Polluted water – Cholera, Typhoid, Jaundice,
Amoebiasis, Polio etc
• Cadmium polluted water – Itai-itai
• Excess of nitrate in drinking water –
Methaemoglobin
• Discharge of hot water from industries – lowered
the oxygen content – Affects Acquatic life
• Arsenious contaminated water – diarrhoea, skin
cancer, failure of peripheral nervous system
• Organic compounds – Eutrophication – Algal bloom
• Mercury compounds in waste water – Minamata
diseases – Japan in 1952

42. • Impairment of hearing
• Ear drum damage
• Anxiety and stress – lead to fright
• Irreversible change in the nervous system of
human body
• Heart beat, cardiovascular problem and
peripheral circulation
• Peptic ulcer and asthma
• Psychological disorders like irritability,
insomnia, fear and many such problems
• Abortion

43. Environmental conservation
measures taken in India
• Indian government resorted
to certain activities like laws,
seminars, camps,
amendments in the
constitution etc

44. •List of Act for protection of
Indian Environment since
1847

45. Constitutional Amendments
Made in India
• 42nd Amendment in the constitution
• Indian Constitution – 1976 – Mrs. Indira Gandhi
• 42nd amendment – regarding – forests, wild life
and environment
• Laws – fundamental duties – every citizen of this
country
• Article 48-A – “the State shall endeavour to
protect and improve the environment and to
safeguard the forests and wild life of the
country”

46. • Article 51-A clause (g)
• “It shall be the duty of every citizen
of India to protect and improve the
natural environment including
forests, lakes, rivers and wild life
and to have compassion for living
creatures”

47. • Department of Environment and Forests
(1972):
• In 1972, Different departments and Scientists
– study – various environmental problems
and their problems
• In Jan 1982 – committee
• Full fledged department of Environment had
been started
• Later converted into Ministry of Forests and
Environment

48. FACTORIES ACT, 1948
(Amended in 1987)
• Section 12 – every industrialist – treat and
manage and dispose waste - State
Government

49. • In Section 11 of the act, cleanliness of the
factories is taken into account. It is the duty
of the factory owner to check that factory is
free from any effluent
• Measures for any emergency in the factory
• Any harmful effluent producing factory
should be away from habitats of human
beings
• Limited quantity of harmful waste should be
emitted
• Proper maintenance and check of the
machineries

50. Environment Conservation Act, 1980
(Amended in 1988)
• In 1894 – policy – amended in 1952 and 1988
• Natural forests on the earth should not be
converted into other plantation without
acceptance of the Government
• For the conversion of land exceeding 20 hectares
the acceptance of Government is necessary
• If one converted forest area for development
project, an equal amount of area is to be
planted by him

51. • Proper check on illegal land capture and crop-
rotation
• Encouragement to tribal community
• Forest planning and management should be
stressed
• Afforestation near the hills and slopes of the
hills
• No area should be deforested with the
purpose of reforesting it

52. • The cutting of trees in the hills should
not exceed 10 hectares whereas in
plains it should not exceed 20 hectares
• Grazing should be checked
• Penalties for any disobeyance of laws

53. Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980
(Amended in 1988)
• Forest policy was framed in 1894
• Revised in 1952
• Then in 1988
• Indian Forest Act – 1927 with amendments in
1930, 1933 and 1948
• Forest Act – Improvement over it

54. • Six regional offices – monitor
conditions of forests
• They are Chandigarh, Lucknow,
Shillong, Bhubaneswar, Bhopal
and Bangalore

55. Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
(Amended in 1991)
• Various legislative measures
• Madras Wild Elephant Preservation Act 1873
• All India Elephant Preservation Act, 1879
• Wild Birds and Animals Protection Act 1912
• Bengal Rhinoceros Preservation Act 1932
• Assam Rhinoceros Preservation Act 1954
• A Central Board of Wildlife was established in
1952

56. • Act passed in 1972
• Amended in 1991
• Indian Board of Wildlife chaired by Prime
Minister and a Wildlife Advisory Board for
each state
• Indian Wildlife Board – asked both Botanical
Survey of India (B.S.I) and Zoological Survey
of India (Z.S.I) to prepare lists of threatened
species of plants and animals respectively

57. • International Union for Conservation of
Nature and Natural Resources
(IUCNNR), Margis (Switzerland)
maintains a data book of threatened
species
• Similar red data books have been
prepared for threatened species of
Indian plants and animals

58. • National Parks
• India has 75 National Parks in 1 % of
Geographical Area
• Sanctuaries
• In India has 421 sanctuaries spread in 3.2% of
geographical area
• Biosphere Reserves
• India has 8 biosphere reserve
• Ex: Nanda Devi, Nilgiri

59. • Each biosphere reserve has
Core Zone – No human activity
Buffer Zone – Limited human activity
Manipulation Zone – Balanced human
activity
Restoration Zone – corrective steps are
taken to restore degraded area

60. • A Central Zoo Authority – oversee
and coordinate the activities – 200
zoos
• Director of Wildlife Preservation –
four regional deputy directors (New
Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and
Chennai)

61. Water (Prevention and
Control of Polllution) Act, 1974
(Amended in 1988)
• Preceded by
• Orissa River Pollution Act, 1953
• River Boards Act, 1956
• Maharashtra Prevention of Water Pollution
Act, 1969
• Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Act, 1970

62. • Water Act was enacted under article 252
(1) of Constitution as a social welfare
measure to prevent and control water
pollution and maintain or restore
wholesomeness of water
• Water includes rivers, rivulets, springs,
canals, channels, ground water and
coastal/tidal water

63. • Pollution under the Act includes
• Contamination of water
• Alternations in physical, chemical or biological
properties of water
• Direct or indirect discharge of sewage, trade
effluents or any other substance (liquid, solid,
gaseous) into water
• The discharge is likely to cause nuisance or
render such water harmful or injurious to public
health or safety or to domestic, commercial,
industrial, agricultural or other uses or to the life
and health of animals, plants or aquatic
organisms

64. • Central Board
• State Board
• Under the amended Act of 1988 – renamed
as Central Pollution Control Board and State
Pollution Control Board – Deal both water
and air pollution control
• To meet the expenses as well as Control
water pollution, a Water (Prevention and
Control of Pollution) Cess Act was passed in
1977
• Amended in 1991

65. Role of Individual in the
Environmental Protection
• Crub our greed – animal parts like skin,
fur, ivory, bones, nails etc.,
• Adopt vegetarian
• Plant trees
• Avoid using insecticides, pesticides and
inorganic fertilizers. Paper and cloth
should replace plastic and polyester

66. • Use the effluent of one industry as the raw
material of another
–Example – ash to make cement
• Minimize our needs
• Recycled – paper, glass and plastic
• 75% of glass recycled – Holland and Germany
• Make children aware of their surroundings
and the need for biodiversity
• Follow traditional agricultural practices
• Make use of sustainable technologies –
smokeless chulhas, ground water recharging
unit, wind energy, solar power, etc.,

67. SAVING ENERGY
• Turn off unnecessary lights
• Use light bulbs of minimum voltage
• Eliminate unnecessary outdoor and
decorative lighting
• Replace your present light bulbs with
electronic fluorescent lamps. 10 times longer
and 75% less electricity
• Substituting a compact fluorescent bulb for a
traditional bulb – keep half a tonne of carbon
dioxide out of the atmosphere

68. • One large ordinary bulb is more efficient than
two small ones in a multi-bulb fixture
• Cut down on the use of electrical appliances
• In summer, shut windows, blinds, curtains
and doors early in the morning to keep the
house cool
• Lower the thermostat
• Install a solar water heating system
• Turn off stove immediately after use
• Use pressure cooker
• Plan well and keep the ingredients ready
before you start cooking

69. • One large ordinary bulb is more efficient than
two small ones in a multi-bulb fixture
• Cut down on the use of electrical appliances
• In summer, shut windows, blinds, curtains
and doors early in the morning to keep the
house cool
• Lower the thermostat
• Install a solar water heating system
• Turn off stove immediately after use
• Use pressure cooker
• Plan well and keep the ingredients ready
before you start cooking

70. Saving Paper is Saving Trees
• Use paper carefully, write on both sides of a
sheet
• Save envelopes, old letters and junk mail
• Don’t use paper towels and tissues in
household cleaning activities. Use old towels,
sheets and clothes
• Don’t use paper plates and tissue or paper
decorations when you have a celebration

71. • Don’t collect unnecessary
pamphlets and leaflets just because
they are free
• Use cotton handkerchiefs rather
than paper tissues
• Avoid sending greetings cards
• Reuse cartons and gift wrapping
paper

72. Other ways of
Conserving Natural Resources
• Water Conservation
–At the micro or individual level, water
should not be wasted
–Rain water harvesting
–Recycling of waste water and use for
gardens and vehicle washing
–Use of drip or sprinkle irrigation conserves
30 to 40% of surface water

73. • Reducing the use of Automobile
Fuels
–Sharing the vehicle
–Use public transport
–Former Prime Minster of India,
Shri. Rajiv Gandhi – five days of
working in a week

74. Role of Public in the
Environmental Protection
• Ensure sustainable and equitable use of
resources without degrading the
environment or risking health or safety
• Prevent and control degradation of land,
water, vegetation and air
• Conserve and enhance natural and man-
made heritage, including biological diversity
of unique ecosystems

75. • Improve condition and productivity of
degraded areas
• Raise awareness and understanding of
the link between environment and
development
• Promote individual and community
participation
• Promote international cooperation

76. Role of Government in the Environmental Protection
BY LAWS, ETHICS AND EDUCATION

77. Recent Trends in
Environmental Education
Pre-School Level
• Moral stories and rhymes concerning the worth
of nature and environment
• Proper knowledge about the things around us
• Personal Hygiene and environmental Cleanliness
Awareness through colourful pictures and
posters and diagrammatic representations
• Made to show love and compassion for all the
living organisms

78. Elementary School Level
• Objective – Building up awareness among the children
• Real-life situation and conservation
• Sensitize the child about the concept of environment
• Main focus – environmental cleanliness
• Relationship – emphasized
• Made to understand that the environment is
surrounded by air, land, water and various kinds of
animals and plants
• Role of environment is brought out through story telling
and poem reading
• Content – surrounding from home to school to outdoor
situations

79. Secondary School Level
• According to the syllabus framed by the NCERT
• Objective – real-life experience, awareness and
problem identification
• Content – used at Primary school supplemented
with general science
• Human dependence on nature, adaptability of
animals and man to their environments,
ecological succession and eco-crisis, population
and conservation, health and hygiene are
included from simple to complex order

80. Higher Secondary Level
• Emphasis must be conservation, assimilation
of knowledge, problems identification and
action skills
• Content – science-based and action-oriented
work
• Today – separate supplementary text is
issued by Tamil Nadu Textbook Corporation
• Concerned with pollution ecology, population
ecology and the role of science and
technology in eliminating or minimizing the
various environmental problems

82. THANK YOU