Environmental Awareness and Education for Sustainable Development

摘要

Environmental Education is concerned with improving the lifestyle of the people. Any developmental work should include both environmental awareness and education. The vision of a "developed India - 2020" set forth by our President Dr.Kalam has thrown a challenge to every citizen of the country. Environmental Education is not only for rural and tribal people but it should be extended to urban as well. The ruthless industrialization, the unpardonable deforestation and the inhuman extermination of living species betray an exploitative brutality, and anti-social appetite for profit and pleasure incompatible with humanism, has led to the degradation of the environment. Increasing population, inadequacy of natural resources, ignorance and poverty, land, water and atmospheric pollution, Global warming, Green house effect, Ozone depletion, are responsible for weakening the linkage between man and nature. Environment education would have a strong impact on the human minds in realizing environmental degradation and increase the public awareness to find out possible solutions and lay strong foundation for active participation. To keep surroundings clean or to conserve natural resources by reusing wastes wherever possible looks comparatively simple, but changing the attitudes of one billion people is not going to happen overnight. Therefore, environmental education is recognized as a tool utilized for protecting the human health and environment as a whole. The paper focuses on the fact that, education about environment would bring important changes in the attitude of the humans. It also stresses that the role of media and non-government/voluntary organizations is the need of the hour to educate and create awareness among people.