The Failure of Environmental Education (And How We Can Fix It). Charles Saylan

      In the face of such overwhelming resistance, is it possible that the environmental movement lost some objectivity in designing and implementing its approach to outreach? Environmental advocacy groups may have overlooked the importance of establishing some common ground with the more conservative factions of society. In failing, early on, to focus on the widening philosophical and political gaps in our society, the movement itself may have inadvertently fueled the unfair characterizations and contributed to its own isolation from the mainstream.

      Some environmental ideals, however, have germinated in typically conservative strongholds of society. The organization Ducks Unlimited originated in the hunting and outdoor sports community, a faction not traditionally allied with the green movement. Now one of the world's largest wetlands and waterfowl conservation groups, it endorses efforts to reduce global emissions.⁹ Ducks Unlimited is an excellent example of how conservation awareness can grow out of individual circumstances or pursuits. Hunters need space and waterfowl for successful hunting, and the conservation of wetlands assures them future access to what they value and perceive as their heritage.

      The establishment of marine protected areas, on the other hand, has met opposition by sportsmen and -women. One of the strongest and best organized sources of opposition is the sportfishing community, which does not want its access to fishing grounds to be regulated or restricted. But while it may be difficult to find a middle ground between those who want restrictions and those who don't, both sides undoubtedly have central and common concerns. Things like depletion of fish stocks and the potential for exceeding potential tipping points in the marine food chain will adversely affect the future of sportfishing.

      Along similar lines, commercial fishers along the Pacific Coast of the United States have become increasingly aware of the adverse impacts to the salmon fishery (and their livelihoods) resulting from logging industry practices like clear-cutting, the effects of upstream pollution, and the diversion of freshwater from rivers and deltas for agricultural development.¹⁰ As the effects of the human assault on nature worsen, environmental allies will come from all walks of life, all cultures, all nationalities. This will present continuous new opportunities to build responsible stewardship and strengthen the foundation of environmental protection. Substantial and diverse educational efforts to accomplish this should already be well under way, but generally they are not. Perhaps, as the impacts become more visible, the environmental education community should work harder to find and build on these potential commonalities. Localizing education to highlight and build on such commonalities might help forge alliances for environmental protection, whereas disagreement and hostility between stakeholders was previously the status quo.

      Any self-respecting “What Went Wrong” chapter wouldn't be complete without at least the mention of cooperation and sharing-and its lack-in the environmental, academic, and scientific communities. This topic warrants deeper discussion, and receives it in later chapters, but some cursory discussion is necessary here.

      There is a decided lack of cooperation within the ranks of the green movement, as is common to many political coalitions. Territoriality is partly a reaction to the perception of threat, and perhaps because many environmental organizations grew up in an atmosphere of adversity and obstructionism, this fostered the rise of competition, protectiveness, and distrust. Perhaps this atmosphere is a result of diverse ideologies and methods of arriving at what is probably the common goal. Perhaps it arises from the perceived competition involved in securing private and public funding or finding and keeping influential board members. Differences of opinion will always exist in any human pursuit; they are a healthy occurrence and, in many cases, enable us to grow and learn. But with so much at stake, the environmental community cannot afford to waste time or hard-won resources on interorganizational or interagency quibbling.

      Industry and special interests do not waver in their resistance to environmental regulation and change. They collectively avail themselves of all weapons in the arsenal to hold power and influence, including retaining expensive and influential lobbyists and funding large political campaign contributions, to name only two of their highly effective strategies. And they are winning the fight so far, by maintaining a unity of purpose that ought to serve as a methodological role model for the environmental community. Failure to work together effectively toward a common goal gives those opposed to change a significant advantage and pushes any possibility of success further into the future.