Redeeming the Environment: Environmental Education for Sustainable Development in Ghana

• In Event: From ESE policy to practice and action in the global/local nexus

Proposal

Environmental education (EE) is the process of educating citizens through communication about matters that affect homes, villages, cities farmlands, water supplies, forest and weather in order to improve our environmental awareness, and inculcate a sustainable lifestyle in people (Peter et al., 1995). Sola (2014, p. 333) added that “EE is a learning process which increases people’s knowledge and awareness about the environment and associated challenges, and develop necessary skills to address them by taking responsible action”. These definitions are seen as underlying framework to critically administer formal and informal education to help mitigate environmental problems in Ghana. Peter and Sola’s definition to EE do not only focus on creating awareness but taking necessary actions as well. Education allows for greater awareness of human health implications of environmental degradation and adverse effects on other elements of the environment including animal health, biodiversity, ocean, watersheds, forestry, land use and the atmosphere. EE and education for sustainable development (ESD) are popularizing in Ghana currently to create awareness, which leads to action. However, according to Gadotti (2008 p. 24), “it is not enough to educate for a sustainable development; we need to educate for a sustainable life”. He explained sustainable life as a means of harmonizing human environmental ecology, so, in order to achieve that in Ghana, Kaur (2013) argues that teachers can empower the citizens with the ability, attitude and values to protect the environment using formal and non-formal channels of education. What is required from teachers is not just to teach contents, they are to help develop positive attitudes in the populace and campaign for preservation of national values. “On the radical account, environmental learning should be active rather than passive” (Bell, 2004, p. 42). Bell has elaborated the need for critical thinking and reflection, and active engagement to promote sustainable lifestyle of the people; I argue that when students are taught to critically reflect on environmental protection activities not only to be market minded, Ghana would produce more green citizens. Gadotti (2008) asserts that an economy in which free market and profit are not center for everything is preferred; therefore, I suggest that citizenship values of the nation in the curriculum should be given much attention rather than shifting focus to only the market world.
It is essential that teachers themselves need to be trained and equipped with the requisite knowledge, skills and values to effect such a change (Kaur, 2013). According to Kaur’s assertion, Ghana needs to train teachers who are patriotic and have national values at heart. Besides, in schools, teachers should assist to translate the objectives and recommendations of the various commissions and committees into practice for achieving environmental literacy and awareness among learners (Kumar, 1986).
From the grassroots, I suggest that sustainable development should be integrated in the educational curriculum beginning from the lower primary level. It should not only be thought as a distinct subject rather, it should be amalgamated in all the subjects to sensitize and inculcate sustainable lifestyle in students. Not only teaching but also engaging them in regular practice of environmental cleanliness.
This research is based on documents analysis to point out some environmental problems in Ghana and how intensive education in this phenomenon will be instituted formally and informally to create awareness and inculcate sustainable lifestyle in the populace.
Environmental problems in Ghana
Ghana, located in the Sub-Saharan Africa is endowed with various natural resources, which has contributed to the economic, agricultural and industrial development of the country. Some of such natural resources include gold, cocoa, diamond, timber, bauxite, and oil. Nevertheless, due to constant exploitation of the environment for natural resources by corporate entities and individuals, there have been persistent land degradation, deforestation, water pollution, air pollution, and damaging of bio-diversity, which has affected livelihoods in Ghana.
First, companies situated closed to water bodies release unwanted and consumptive substances in them, with regular disposal, the water bodies loses its cleanness and its natural usage. Notwithstanding, individuals who live closed to river bodies excrete and dump rubbish in them and around the shore. All these human activities pollute water bodies, which breed mosquitoes and insects harmful to human health.
Some of the regions have also been facing issues of flooding during rainfall, which is caused by choked gutters due to constant dumping of trashes by hawkers, and residents. Regions, which are rich in gold, diamond and other minerals in Ghana, have attracted many foreign and local illegal mining companies. In the process of mining, farmlands, water bodies, and some parts of residential places are degraded. Mining renders the lands useless for agricultural and residential purposes, this also leads to persistence of stagnant water after rainfall, which breeds mosquitoes.
Creating green citizens through EE in Ghana
The main aim of EE is to create citizens who will responsibly show concern about environmental problems and design strategies to provide solution to such problems. Bell (2004, p. 42) elaborated on Tbilisi conference, which identified three goals of EE as:
a) ‘To foster clear awareness of, and concern about, economic, social, political and ecological interdependence in urban and rural areas;
b) To provide every person with opportunities to acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes, commitment and skills needed to protect and improve the environment;
c) To create new patterns of behavior of individuals, groups and society as a whole towards the environment’ (UNESCO, 1980, p. 71).

The above are essential goals, which clearly state the significant impact of EE on attitudinal change of an individual concerning the environment; however, these goals cannot be effective without critical action. As I mentioned before, teachers should be given the required training about sustainable development to instill the knowledge, values, attitudes, commitment and the skills needed to protect the environment as explicitly stated in the goals above. In addition, teachers should encourage students to put the knowledge and skills acquired to action.
“Genuine EE cannot be just about transmitting the ‘right’ attitudes, if it is to be ‘education’ rather than ‘indoctrination’ it must offer students a genuine opportunity to understand environmental issues” (Bell 2004, p. 42), this assertion by Bell, recalls the idea of engaging students to teach EE as I have noted earlier. My observation in some of the primary schools in Ghana is, EE is taught without students’ engagement; students are passive learners and are examined at the end of the term. The reflection of what they have been taught in their real life situation is not the focused of the class; this is not the aim of EE. What is missing here in the EE class is the ability to critically reflect and actively engage with environmental issues.
The role of technology and media in environmental education
Kumar et. al (1999) expressed two main elements of technology as: first, a physical element, which includes the products, tooling, equipments, blueprints, techniques, and processes; and second, the informational element, which consists of know-how in management, marketing, production, quality control, reliability, skilled labor and functional areas. Lovell (1998) argued that the idea of technology is not limited to its products, however, it is also connected to the knowledge and information it provides through the media, and its application. First, learners can adopt the electronic version of reading materials. This will help to lessen the use of paper handouts, books and articles. Papers have been a contributing factor to environmental problem because of how they are discarded after use.
Due to technological advancement, there is quick flow of information, which is easily accessed by the public. Therefore, it is essential to investigate how the media can critically be used to promote sustainable development. There are many useful educational programs that can be run via the media to create awareness and stimulate people to take critical action to saving the environment. Again, with the aid of social media, students should be actively engage in sharing their thoughts on how to promote sustainable development by preventing environmental problems through human activities, while they take part in action to redeem the environment.

Author

• Frank Okai Larbi, Beijing Normal University