[Square] How to Strengthen Environmental Education for the Future

Professor Lee Seon-kyung, Cheongju National University of Education (Chairperson of the Korean Committee for UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development)

[Asia Economy] In 2020, our spring was a silent spring. About 50 years ago, Rachel Carson warned that a spring could come when life disappears due to compounds such as chlorocarbon-based pesticides. This year, our spring was lethally quiet because of the coronavirus. As in other years, the leaves were fresh and spring flowers bloomed profusely, but winter clothes still hung in the wardrobe as spring deepened, and we refrained from going out. It was a spring that made us reflect more deeply than ever on the importance of sustainable daily life and the factors that support our lives.

Experts suggest that the reason the coronavirus was transmitted to humans is related to human interference and impact on the environment. The virus may have been transmitted to humans through the destruction or contact with wildlife habitats. Jeremy Rifkin also recently linked the emergence of diseases like COVID-19 closely to climate change in an interview with the media. Changes in ecosystems caused by climate change increase the occurrence of new viruses. The impact of climate change will not be limited to just rising temperatures.

So what should we do? As a short-term solution, it is necessary to establish legal and institutional foundations regarding climate change and the environment and implement policies. However, a more fundamental solution is to cultivate environmental citizens who have environmental literacy through education and can build a sustainable society. Many domestic and international youths who staged absentee protests last year regarding the climate change crisis earnestly demanded that the older generation properly educate them about climate change and the environment.

They asked to be helped to understand what is happening related to climate change, what impacts they will face, and what governments, companies, and society are doing to slow it down so they can act accordingly. This is a natural demand to guarantee the right to environmental learning and thereby fulfill the constitutionally guaranteed right to live sustainably in a good environment.

However, the reality of environmental education in our country is not very hopeful. The budget for environmental education executed by the Ministry of Environment is only 12.7 billion KRW annually. This amounts to less than 300 KRW per citizen. Is it reasonable for a country ranked in the top 10 economically advanced nations to allocate less than 300 KRW per person for environmental education? The environmental education budget should be significantly increased, the Environmental Education Promotion Act revised to strengthen the foundation for environmental education in society and schools, and related systems supplemented.

In society, measures should be prepared to implement environmental education considering the life cycle. In schools, environmental educational elements should be strengthened in the curriculum so that environmental education can actually take place, and fragmented environmental content in each subject should be integrated in a meaningful way. Teachers’ environmental educational literacy should also be enhanced to enable effective teaching. However, this cannot be achieved by the Ministry of Environment alone. The Ministry of Education must actively step forward for environmental education. Through environmental education, solutions to current issues such as the high school credit system can be naturally obtained. Other ministries should also actively explore whether there are areas where they can participate.

Environmental education for a sustainable future can create even greater synergy if linked with the globally prominent Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through integration and innovative teaching and learning approaches across various fields such as health, safety, climate change, ecosystems, equity, and economy, the quality of education can be improved and competent citizens nurtured. The government is currently proposing the Green New Deal and exploring meaningful ways to implement it, considering whether to include it in the Korean-style New Deal. The Green New Deal should include not only job issues but also integrated environmental education that brings more fundamental and long-term changes as an important topic and create practical changes. It is time to put into action what we silently contemplated throughout last spring.

Lee Seon-kyung, Professor at Cheongju National University of Education (Chairperson of the UNESCO Korean Committee for Sustainable Development Education)

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.