UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

If you are thinking one year ahead - plant rice
If you are thinking ten years ahead - plant trees
But if you are thinking one hundred years ahead - educate the people
(Chinese proverb)

The environment of Central Europe has suffered extraordinary pollution over the last several decades. Whole forests stand denuded, air befouled, water made undrinkable, even unusable. The Black Triangle region is among the most environmentally damaged areas of Central Europe, as the Introduction to this paper details. Yet, as a legacy of the strict secrecy required by the previous Communist regimes, the public still knows little about the sources and causes of such environmental degradation. Moreover, the national governments of the countries of the Black Triangle -- Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic -- are in dispute with one another over the origins and amounts of pollution. Accusations are regularly traded about who is the worst perpetrator of this pollution. Progress toward clean-up is exceedingly slow.

There are several excellent ways to overcome the kind of environmental damage suffered in the Black Triangle and the disputes between the three countries of this region. Many ideas are suggested in the papers that form the GSFI Occasional Paper series. This paper argues that one very obvious, inexpensive and worthwhile idea is, quite simply, education. Teach our children about their own environment. As part of that education, also teach them various ways to start the long process of environmental clean-up. Why? Only with a strong programme of transboundary environmental education in the Black Triangle can its people possibly transform their disputing countries into allies which work together to identify and find mutually-beneficial environmental solutions. As Barbara Tinker teaching in the Global Laboratory Project said: "Environmental education is connected to global security through research, knowledge, and trust, because what each of us does affects everyone else either directly or indirectly".

(2) Why is environmental education such an important part of a comprehensive curriculum?

(3) What are the costs of environmental education? When and how will those costs be repaid?

(4) How is environmental education connected to global security in a broad non-military sense?

Then the paper addresses its two principal issues: What are some successful international environmental programmes? How can teachers of the Black Triangle region incorporate these programmes, and others, into a valuable environmental curriculum?

The approach of this paper is practical. It offers ways in which teachers and administrators can undertake environmental education. It is filled with addresses and suggestions and sets forth the ways that a new environmental curriculum might be designed. It is not offered as scholarly documentation of environmental conditions in the Black Triangle; that is done in other GSFI Occasional Papers. Rather, it looks at the history of environmental education in its international context. It offers and critiques examples of environmental education programmes. It examines in detail the requirements for environmental education in the Black Triangle region and makes recommendations for the implementation of a transboundary environmental curriculum for this area. The incorporation of interdisciplinary work (including conflict resolution) is considered essential and also critiqued here.

There are numerous misconceptions associated with the notion of environmental education. Often environmental education is understood as merely encompassing ecology, that branch of biology dealing with relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings. Human ecology, for example, is the study of the interaction of people with their environment.

The term environmental education was coined in the United Kingdom in 1965. In the early 1970's a widely accepted definition was proposed by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Since 1977, following the inter-governmental conference on environmental education in Tbilisi (then part of the USSR), a vast international effort has been made to arrive at a more precise definition of the content of environmental education. The International Environmental Education Programme's (IEEP) contribution through studies, seminars and research made clear that "environmental education should be a dimension of all subjects and areas of education taking into account the social and natural aspects of the human environment". The aims of environmental education according to IEEP are as follows:

Ą To help students acquire an awareness of and sensitivity to the total environment;

Ą To help students develop a basic understanding of the total environment and the interrelationships of people with their environment;

Ą To help students develop the skills necessary for investigating the total environment and for identifying and for solving environmental problems;

Ą To help students acquire social values and strong feelings of concern for the environment;

Ą To help students acquire the motivation for actively participating in environmental improvement and protection;

Ą To help students identify alternative approaches and make informed decisions about the environment based on ecological, political, economic, social and aesthetic factors;

Ą To provide students with an opportunity to be actively involved at all levels in working towards the resolution of environmental problems.

One might add that -- despite the focus of this paper -- the best learning about the environment takes place outside of the classroom in the actual environment under study. Also, the best teaching about the environment is unable to achieve its goals without appropriate action. People learn best when they feel strongly about what they are learning and respond better to sharing than to showing. Those desiring further information on this concept may consult the excellent book Sharing the Joy of Nature written by Joseph Cornell.

(2) Why is environmental education such an important part of a comprehensive curriculum?

Environmental education is important for several reasons. Environmental problems directly affect our health and our economy. We need to solve not only our current problems, but also learn to avoid future ones. Teaching and learning about the environment are necessary so that we don't continue to destroy our world and so that we begin to reverse the damage that has already been done.

Environmental education is therefore an integral part of the educational process and serves as a way of building up a sense of values. It is a lifelong process. The Earth which is our temporary home has her rights and we must learn and respect them. One who doesn't believe this should go to the Izerskie Mountains in the Black Triangle to see the forest damage caused by air pollution there.

Environmental education should not be just one more subject to add to existing curricula at schools. It should also be made accessible to all learners, whatever their age. The Final Report of the Intergovernmental Conference on environmental education states: "The central idea is to attain, by means of growing interdisciplinarity and of prior co-ordination of disciplines, a practical education oriented toward a solution of the problems of the environment, or at least to make pupils better equipped . . . to participate in decision-making."

(3) What are the costs of environmental education? When and how will those costs be repaid?

Costs have become major factors in the planning of any environmental clean-up of the Black Triangle. We hear almost daily: What will this (or that) cost? Finding the money to clean up our environment will, we are told, cost billions. If this is the case, where will the money come from to teach environmental education? Teachers in the region are already over-worked and underpaid. Can we really afford another cost added to our already heavy economic burden?

Even within the area of environmental cleanup alone there are many priorities about how to spend money to protect the environment: the re-establishment of soil nutrients, improvement of water quality, reduction of air pollution. In addition, there are attendant economic considerations that include the reconstruction of polluting industries, unemployment, health, and the retraining of workers for different jobs. Environmental education somehow falls down the list to become a lower if not the last priority in the mind of decision makers.

Calculating the cost of environmental education and its benefits is not a simple process. How can we place a price tag on the value of teaching people to improve and increase their fundamental understanding of the linkages between the human and natural environmental systems? Such a calculation is similar to the problem of finding better indicators of human welfare. Up to now, the single most widely used indicator is the gross national product ( GNP ), but it is not a very good indicator for the evaluation of how people actually live and what their long-term progress might be.

When trees are cut and sold the income increases a country's GNP, but in fact that gain may be essentially negated by the resulting deterioration of that nation's environment. An example of this dynamic is cited by Lester R.Brown in the book Saving the Planet: for example, Nigeria is a country that overspent its Ňenvironmental accountÓ. Once among the world's largest tropical log exporters, the country's timber shipments fell off dramatically after many years of overcutting its forests. By 1988, Nigeria earned only $6 million from forestry exports while spending $100 million on forest product imports. What were the costs and benefits of this action? To complicate this discussion somewhat, many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Central and South America are logging off their forests, which in turn is destroying winter habitat for the songbirds of Europe and North America. What are the costs and benefits of this exchange of short-term gains from lumber sales versus the loss of songbird species?

A number of economists are now trying to establish more effective indicators of costs and benefits to a country's growth and development. Calculations of the visible, but difficult-to-measure, effects of environmental awareness and knowledge would give a far more accurate measure of the costs and benefits. Environmental education is a patient education and requires a prolonged period before its effects become visible, with the resultant changes in peoples' behavior. Only then do we see the returns on our investment. Have we the patience, or the time, for this delay in reward?

Despite this inaction, there are indeed some environmental education pioneers in Central Europe, many of them associated with ecological movements. Some of these movements began in the early 1980s and became linked with the political changes that started sweeping the region in 1989. Even under the previous Communist regimes there were active organizations concerned with conservation and protection of the environment. For example, in Poland, the Polish Ecological Club, established in 1980, played a very important role in raising people's awareness of environmental issues during the "Round Table" negotiations in 1989 between the Communist government of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski and the Solidarity Movement. Environmental problems in the Black Triangle were very much stressed during these discussions. In Czechoslovakia, the "Brontosaurus Movement" and the Civic-Forum, linked to the Czechoslovak Biological Society of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, were both active in environmental issues.

Other ecological movements and organizations also voiced concern and protested over environmental issues. Some led to mass opposition to the Communist governments. One of the early popular demonstrations of the "Velvet Revolution" in former Czechoslovakia, for example, was a mass protest over the ecological crisis. This protest included a large political demonstration in 1989 in Teplice, in former Czechoslovakia, one of the most polluted cities in the North Bohemia region of the Black Triangle.

But while these environmental organisations played significant political roles, who took up the banners of the less dramatic issue of environmental education?

In 1985, at the initiative of the Polish Ecological Club, a conference on the need for education about the environment took place in Krakow, Poland. As a result, a number of schools in Poland started to teach about the protection of the environment as a separate subject. Without proper materials or teachers with environmental training, however, this subject died within a year. Preparation for such a course, implementation and strategy were all weak.

The same thing happened in the former Czechoslovakia. During the transition period starting in 1989, several programmes were put forward by the government's department of education. But they, too, did not have a good design or implementation strategy for the school system. Worse, teachers were reluctant to teach this new subject because they felt that they were not properly trained.

Even now, after the political changes, environmental activists have yet to turn their full attention to environmental education. To date, there is no regional strategy on environmental education for schools in the Black Triangle region. There are a number of different environmental organisations, and some of them play a very important role in raising public environmental awareness. Most of them are developed by NGOs.

A few educational institutions in the Black Triangle offer environmental education as part of their curriculum. Here is a partial listing of those offering an environmental curriculum.

The Secondary School for the Protection and Restoration of the Environment, is located in Litvinov in the Czech Republic. This school was founded in 1992 with its primary purpose being the preparation of specialists with practical and theoretical knowledge about the protection and restoration of the environment. Future graduates will work in environmental departments of state administrations and in other branches connected with the environment such as re-cultivation, agriculture, management of water supplies and forestry. In the school building there is a scientific centre which will also cooperate with the University of East Anglia in Norfolk, England. The centre has also received funds from the European Community.

Schola Humanitas
Ukrajinska ulice
43601 Litvinov
Czech Republic
phone: (+42 ) ( 35 ) 54882

Another example of a school with a specially designed environmental education programme is the Zespol Szkol Spolecznych No. 1 in Wroclaw, Poland. Although Wroclaw is not within the Black Triangle area as we have drawn it in this project, the school is focusing on the environmental problems of that area, including deforestation and acid rain. The school's curriculum also covers environmental problems at the regional and global level. Each year the school's teachers organise some sort of ecological camp or excursion where students study environmental issues. They may also undertake some research, such as monitoring air quality in the Izerskie Mountains or biodiversity in the Karkonoski National Park.

The main goal of Zespol Szkol Spolecznych No. 1 is, of course, to educate young boys and girls. It also seeks to impart to them environmental awareness and to give them a sense of responsibility toward their environment. Environmental issues penetrate every subject, not merely the sciences. The school is a non-governmental school, which in Poland is called an "independent" or "community" school. It has a more flexible time-table than government schools and a special curriculum for environmental education.

One important technique of teaching in this school is through international cooperation with other schools. Students and teachers participate in educational projects with schools outside Poland and around the world. There is also an occasional special seminar for teachers established by the school with the financial support of IUCN-Poland. This seminar is open to teachers from other schools, not only Zespol Szkol Spolecznych, and the seminar cooperates in the environmental education field with scientists, local administrators and NGOs.

Zespol Szkol Spolecznych No. 1 WSE
53 533 Wroclaw
ul. Zielinskiego 56
POLAND
tel/fax: (+48 ) ( 71 ) 61 43 70
tel: ( +48 ) ( 71 ) 62 53 87

Located in Hainewalde, Germany, Eurohof Dreilandereck plays a very important role in raising student environmental awareness in the German part of the Black Triangle. It is not an actual school, but a special teaching institution for primary and secondary level students. It is situated in a beautiful location where children and students of various ages may learn about a wide variety of environmental habitats. It is an invaluable adjunct to schools. Once a year the students camp for five days, undertaking field work and learning about forest and meadow habitats, and air, soil and water.

The basic goal of this institution, in addition to environmental education, is to foster cooperation among schools and to work for the amelioration of the environment. Students have the opportunity to complete projects on the environment. Students are also taught about energy conservation and how they can practice these methods of conservation in their own lives; one activity, for example, includes tree planting.

The institution in Hainewalde is planning to organise training courses for teachers, too. Saxony in Germany, like the Black Triangle regions of Poland and the Czech Republic, has a lack of teachers well-prepared for teaching environmental education.

Eurohof Dreilandereck is also host to international meetings of students and teachers. Such meetings, coordinated with UNESCO in Europe, took place in Eurohof Dreilandereck in 1995 and 1996. Representatives from Poland and the Czech Republic also attended in what is now expected to be a long-term cooperation in the region.

Eurohof Dreilandereck cooperates with the German Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Environment and other government administrations in Saxony and with other schools, teachers and local people. The instutition receives significant financial support from UNESCO.

Eurohof Dreilandereck e.V.
Sachsen
Scheibe 15
02779 Hainewalde
Germany
tel: (+49) (3 58 41) 23 55

(4) The Zentrum fŸr Koordinierung der Forschung an den Hochschulen Technische Universitat Liberec.

There is a much better situation at the university level in the Black Triangle. In November 1991 a basic agreement about cooperation in Euroregion Nysa/ Neisse/ Nisa was signed in Liberec, the Czech Republic. The agreement established the Zentrum fŸr Koordinierung der Forschung an den Hochschulen (The Centre for Coordination of Research Work on Regional Problems); one of its topics is the environment. More than 100 scientists participate in the Centre's work. They act within ten Polish-German-Czech research sections:

The Centre's Research Consultation Board, under Prof. Peter Schmidt as director, focuses on the creation of a scientific data bank, ecological monitoring, and the development of tourism and education. An important role in the coordination of the section's work is performed by the Secretariat of the Centre in Liberec.

Euroregion Nisa/Neisse/Nysa
Zentrum fŸr Koordinierung der Forschung an den Hochschulen
Technische Universitat Liberec
Secretary: Dana Dejdova
Sokolska 8, 460 01 Liberec 1
Czech Republic
tel: ( +42 ) (48 ) 23 533
fax: ( +42 ) (48 ) 23 317

In February 1993, another form of cooperation among scientists from the Euroregion Nisa/Niesse/Nysa was created as the International Institute in Zittau, Germany. Representatives of high schools of the Euroregion; the University of Economics in Jelenia G—ra, Poland; the Technical University in Liberec; and the Technical University in Gliwice, Poland, which has been cooperating with Zittau for many years, joined in organising the International Institute. The Institute is modeled on a similar German-French Institute and is seen as an important element of transboundary regional cooperation with a goal of sharing the common education of students and coordinated scientific work.

The Institutes' goal is to educate specialists who will understand economic and ecological issues and data in their own and neighbouring countries. The first course in environmental engineering began in the academic year 1993-94. In 1994-95 another two further courses were added: economic engineering and business economics.

The Institute also seeks to provide interdisciplinary projects and research for solving transboundary environmental problems within the Euroregion. One of the projects is the creation of an information system for the evaluation of environment quality in region. This will enable it to shape policies affecting regional planning and a strategy for regional development. This project is being carried out in cooperation with the University of Economics in Jelenia G—ra and with the Technical University in Liberec.

Internationales Hochschulinstitut Zittau
Geschaftsstelle
Markt 23
02763 Zittau
Germany
fax: ( +49 ) (3583 ) 510 626
tel: ( +49 ) (3583 ) 77 150

A key issue for teachers is where to obtain information and how to access it. There are several government and non-government organizations that have excellent teaching materials on the environment. It is important for teachers to know how and where they can get help and where there are other teachers who can help them.

Joint international projects can be carried out through schools. Among the pioneers of transboundary cooperation in environmental education are England and Norway following the 1985 Oslo Conference, From Environment to Action. In 1986, about 200 schools from Norway and Hertfordshire in England began a joint study of atmospheric pollution using simple equipment. Every day, English and Norwegian school children, using identical equipment, measured the pH of rainfall over the same monitoring period. By linking the British and Norwegian schools, environmentalists created a method of testing the value of collaborative studies across national boundaries. The initial focus of this project was the occurrence and effects of acid rain. This topic was selected because it formed a common and controversial issue in the two countries. It was also not unlike the situation of the Black Triangle: industrial pollution from one area destroying forests in another. The aims of the Norwegian-British project were:

1. to carry out practical investigations into the occurrence and ecological consequences of acid precipitation;

2. to create links between schools in each country through which to exchange the experiences and results of their findings;

3. to pool the results from Norway and Hertfordshire with data from other sources to provide an international background to work at the local level.

The project used testing kits called ŇAcid Drops ProjectÓ designed by a voluntary environmental organisation called WATCH, from the United Kingdom. During one month, the linked schools in Norway and Hertfordshire carried out pH monitoring of rain water and recorded the quantity of daily rainfall, weather conditions and other environmental factors. The data from the schools were exchanged between them and were collated by volunteers from WATCH and Hatfield Polytechnic. From this data, the students could see the correlations between wind direction, frequency of rainfall, location and type of industrial activity, and the incidence of highly acidic rainfall. Perhaps best of all, the children therefore became more generally aware of environmental issues.

To contact the project:
WATCH Trust for Environmental Education Ltd,
The Green, Nettleham,
Lincoln LN2 2NR
England

The experience of the 'Acid Drops Project' encouraged educators to design and develop similar projects for schools and led to exchanges of teachers and further studies undertaken by schools on the tropospheric ozone. These investigations of the polluted environment include studies on lakes, rivers, soils and communities of organisms. Now, several similar projects are underway. One of them is 'The Air Pollution Project Europe' which has been developed by the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature in cooperation with different organisations and public bodies. These include the Polish Ecological Club in Poland, and Tereza, the Czech Union for Nature Conservation in the Czech Republic, as organisers for schools in their countries. The Polish Ecological Club is the largest and most powerul non-governmental organisation in Poland; it also has excellent international contacts. Norway has chosen to work closely with the Polish Ecological Club and Tereza in coordinating environmental air pollution projects.

The main goal of the air pollution project is to increase school children's knowledge of air pollution. 'The Air Pollution Project Europe' is still developing, but from the beginning it was divided into two parts:

2. measuring and monitoring ground level ozone. School children in Norway, Poland and the Czech Republic have monitored air pollution with lichens as bioindicators.

Results of these measurements are sent to Norway where they are compiled and analysed by scientists. Next, each school receives a report on the results, with some comments from the scientists on the findings. All measurements are arrived at using identical materials, indicators and instructions from Norway. These teaching materials are extremely helpful to teachers. Even after finishing with them in their lessons, the maps and data may be used for lessons about air pollution in other classes or schools. In 1993-94, 2,509 schools from 13 European countries took part in ŇThe Air Pollution Project EuropeÓ. While school children from the Black Triangle area of Poland and the Czech Republic took part in this important educational project, no school children participated from Germany because that country had its own acid rain project.

This project is very useful for schools for several reasons. First, all teachers are equipped with the same inexpensive teaching materials translated into their native languages. Second, all measurements sent to Norway become a resource for the Norwegian experts who prepare the reports and send them back to the schools for discussion and use in other subjects. Third, the project requires one full month of daily observations and measurements which demonstrate to students the importance of discipline and responsibility necessary to conduct regular investigations over time. The project also stresses teamwork and cooperation within a school, and encourages cooperation between schools in different countries.

2. Tereza
Cesky svaz ochrancu prirody
Senovazne namesti 24
11647 Praha 1
Ceska Republica

3. Polski Klub Ekologiczny
Okreg Dolnoslaski
50-151 Wroclaw
ul. Kotlarska 41
tel.: (+48) (71) 342 1426
fax: (+48) (71) 342 1450

Teachers in the Association for Science Education (ASE), in partnership with British Petroleum, have established a very successful project called The Science Across Europe Project. This project is the least expensive because it requires no special equipment and the only cost is that of mailing or faxing materials and information between schools. Information about this project and encouragement to participate have been sent to East European countries, including Poland and the Czech Republic. Germany before unification was already a member. Only a few schools from the Black Triangle countries are participating in it so far. Science Across Europe is now offering the possibility of translating teaching units into Polish and Czech; there are already units in German.

Teachers and students may learn a great deal from this project. The information contained in such topics as renewable energy, the impact of global warming or acid rain is clear and informative. Each unit is prepared cooperatively by teachers from many countries and each unit is carefully discussed and corrected before use. There are also opinions from scientists on each unit.

How does one take part in Science Across Europe? First you should decide which topic you would like to cover and purchase the book from ASE. The topics include: 'Acid Rain over Europe', 'Drinking Water in Europe', 'Using Energy at Home', 'Renewable Energy in Europe', 'What did you eat?' and 'The Impact of Global Warming' and 'Domestic Waste'. New topics about health and road safety have also been added. When you receive your selected book you should simply send a completed registration to Science Across Europe at ASE headquarters.

Each book on each subject is written in at least ten languages and includes instructions on how to do each lesson and how to exchange information with other schools. You will also receive from ASE a list of schools working on the same unit. The main activities of this project involve the exchange of information between schools across Europe by mail, fax or e-mail.

Each topic needs to be split into several parts. First students learn about the topic and complete answers to the questions in the unit. Then this informatuon is sent to schools selected from the registered schools list. You will receive answers from other schools and you will be able to organise a class discussion from them. This is also a very good opportunity to develop skills in other languages. Each unit might be done in cooperation with teachers from other subjects such as geography, languages or general studies.

The Association for Science Education
College Lane, Hatfield,
Herts AL10 9AA, England
tel: (+44 ) ( 1707 ) 267 411
fax: (+44 ) ( 1707 ) 266 532
Internet address: http://www, campus.bt.com/public/bpsaw

During the European Year of the Environment in 1987-1988, the European Commission sponsored a major project involving six member states: Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It was a good project, now completed but worth mentioning here. The main aim of the project was to raise the environmental consciousness of European young people through observation of local environmental study sites. Such local sites were observed from the point of view of management as well as conservation and protection (M. Hale, 1993).

The European Living Indicator Project encouraged students to suggest how local environmental study sites might be improved by various forms of management including habitat creation. The common feature for the projects in all the participating schools was the mapping of the study sites. Students prepared reports with descriptions of the site's physical features and the number and types of animals and plants. Presentation of data in reports varied from very simple descriptions or drawings to computer print-outs.

Computers are a new technology of great teaching value for schools. New technologies allow creative approaches to international teaching. Electronic mail, increased telecommunication and satellite access are some examples. Schools and teachers can communicate with each other around the world and with resources such as scientists and libraries. One example of such an approach is the National Geographic Kids Network, a joint effort of the National Geographic Society and the Technical Education Research Center in the United States.

National Geographic Kids Network provides an excellent opportunity for students to engage in cooperative efforts on environmental issues. They share data via a telecommunications network to examine large-scale environmental problems such as acid rain, weather, water quality, waste and the like. Unit scientists communicate directly with students throughout the network. The Kids Network approach can easily be adapted to any level of education by changing the topics and level of difficulty. The idea of involving students in collaborative research was first applied at the elementary level.

The problem here is, of course, the start-up costs of getting into the international electronic information networks. But if your school can afford to connect to the world-wide web, it might want to consider subscribing to one of the several excellent global environmental news networks that are now available. These will give students up-to-date environmental information that can be used in the classroom and beyond.

For this project, schools will need excellent computer facilities. This is worth the expense. The programme is very modern and exciting for students because they can use e-mail and communicate with other students through the rapidly-expanding global communications network. This project can be an excellent tool for other educational projects. If funding from national or local education agencies is difficult to obtain, teachers might encourage students, whose families can afford the costs of this programme, to purchase it. Local industry might also contribute to such costs.

National Geographic Society
Educational Services
1145 17th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036 - 4688
U.S.A.

'Network science' is developing in a number of projects focusing on environmental education. For example, the Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN) bases its telecommunications network in a nonprofit computer server in San Francisco, U.S.A., called EcoNet. This interactive computer network is a part of the Institute for Global Communications. GREEN is an international network that seeks to bring secondary school students, teachers and communities closer together through the bond of studying and improving the world's river systems. This project works to achieve three interrelated goals:

(1) It acquaints students with the environmental problems and characteristics of their local watershed, giving them 'hands on' experience in the theory and practice of chemical, biological, and sociological research;

(2) It empowers students through community problem-solving strategies, thereby enabling them to see the relevance of subjects they learn in school to the 'real world' beyond the classroom;

(3) It promotes intercultural communication and understanding, and thereby fosters awareness of the global context of local environmental issues and of the significance of cultural differences in chosing effective problem-solving strategies. (Mark K. Mitchell, 1994).

GREEN has been successfuly expanding to many countries in Eastern and Central Europe, including the former Czechoslovakia and East Germany; its programme is also active in Russia. For example, as part of the 1995 European Nature Conservation Year, the European Research and Training Centre on Environmental Education of the University of Bradford, England, hosted a training seminar called EURO-RIVERS 1995. In 1994, the GREEN International Office selected Country Coodinators for 26 nations to encourage more regional networking and training between active programs. The intention was to promote a greater exchange of information across borders, some of which is done with several well-designed manuals and other teaching materials and a GREEN newsletter.

GREEN requires that students and schools have access to e-mail. This enables students to make excellent use of GREEN resources and ideas. These include students making scientific investigations by taking measurements and designing action plans for cleaning up and protecting rivers. If the rivers pass through several countries, then this programme becomes a trans-boundary project between schools of those countries. This is certainly an excellent oportunity for a Black Triangle curriculum because the Elbe/Labe, Oder/Odra and Nisa/Neisse/Nysa Rivers run through the countries of that region.

Many different curricula exist around the world. Perhaps the most inspired is the Global Laboratory Project developed by the Technical Education Research Centre in the United States. The Global Laboratory Project is an international consortium of students, scientists and teachers of different subjects, who cooperate on environmental education.

This project seeks to truly teach people to 'think globally and act locally'. It uses many current educational techniques and approaches the issue in an interdisciplinary manner. The Global Laboratory Project asks each participating school to select an issue of importance to local environmental health and quality, and follows that issue over the course of one full year. This curriculum includes mathematics, arts, chemistry, language, earth science, physics, biology, history with social sciences, and computer science.

Each school takes the same measurements using the same tools and materials and investigating the same environmental problems. The Global Laboratory is in effect a global family of teachers, students and scientists all of whom support and participate in this community sharing of knowledge. To date, two schools from Poland and two from the Czech Republic participate in the Global Laboratory Project -- none of which are from the Black Triangle area.

The Global Laboratory programme is very promising because it increases the opportunities for environmental education by linking classrooms and teachers from all over the world with each other. They are connected by e-mail, although unfortunately some of them -- such as the Polish and Czech schools -- not directly from their school buildings so far. Teachers and principals should not be discouraged if they do not yet have the electronic technologies that make the Global Laboratory project work so brilliantly. These are rapidly becoming available and at lower costs.

The Global Laboratory Project has also its own journal The Planet. This offers both an alternative and more traditional platform for the exchange of ideas about, and hopes for, a clean environment. It is also a space for exchanging useful teaching techniques for lessons and approaches to environmental investigations and research. An additional benefit is that this is a journal edited with the full participation of students, teachers and scientists. It gives everyone a chance not only think globally, but also to act globally for the environment.

Global Laboratory Project
Technical Education Research Centers
2067 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140
U.S.A.

Whatever the tools for teaching about the environment, the heart of environmental education remains the teacher. Teachers form a special group in the community that has demonstrated a high devotion to their work. Teachers really want to teach environmental education, but they need such help as teacher's guides, properly designed materials and tools. They also need time, but present school curricula are so full of topics which take too much time and schedules that are not flexible. Teachers also need time to make progress towards a better understanding of environmental problems, for reading professional books, preparing lessons, or for field work. It is also beneficial to raise our own knowledge about the environment. Learning about the environment is a never ending story, and it is a story about our home.

First of all, teachers must be trustworthy. Our teaching about the environment will be for nothing if we smoke cigarettes or if we are indifferent to wasting paper, energy or things which might be reused. How can we teach about the environment and environmental protection if we don't practice what we teach? Not smoking is a very important issue for environmental education because it is closely connected with health. It would not be fair to teach students about air pollution if they know that the teacher who wants to concern them about the link between pollution and lung cancer is a smoker. In many schools the teachers' room is a very polluted environment.

It is not easy to be trustworthy when we are surrounded by so much indifference, or ignorance. Take, for example, my school. After three years, we were finally able to obtain containers for waste separation and recycling. However, what did my students witness? When it came time for people from the company to recycle the metal, paper and glass which had been carefully separated by teachers and students and placed in their proper containers, the workers simply dumped them all together into the same lorry. My students were outraged and I was revolted; most of all I was ashamed. What lessons did my students learn from this?

Environmental education, like all forms of education, should be appropriate to the age of the student and the type of school he/she is attending. Children are excellent observers. It is not very difficult to provoke a discussion in the classroom about a common plant or bird. Such discussions might be the first step to investigations. Children can adopt a practical approach. If a problem is real and known or visible to children, they will make a real attempt to find out more about it. Such an approach to initiating teaching about the environment can be highly effective.

It is also very useful to reach adults through children. From answering their children's questions we can get help from parents who are more familiar with a problem. For example, ask: Did you notice some changes in our school play-ground during last year? Are there some birds? Do you know them? Can you identify their voices? Do you think it is the same number of birds as last year? Do you think they are very common in our town/village? What is their main food? Have they any enemies? Are we, people friendly towards them? Do we need them? Why? Are you afraid that these birds will not be so common after ten years?

Usually during such discussions a problem is raised and we may then plan proposals for investigations. Such proposals must be carefully made to the children. Children may (and perhaps should) participate in this process of identifying and making proposals. A very good way is to ask other teachers from the school what they think about an issue. If we involve more people in our investigations the effect will be better because it will create more widespread and visible issues to the general public. An important issue in the process of investigations is to divide pupils into two or three groups (teams) and conduct them by means of a competition. Such an approach can motivate children.

Another very important issue in the environmental education process is to involve pupils in experiencing nature. The best teaching takes place outside the classroom where a child can see and 'feel' nature. We must teach ourselves to live in accordance with our natural surroundings. The improvement of basic knowledge about nature is a good task for primary schools. The most obvious obstacle to doing so is an inflexible time-table in school. It is very difficult at the moment to take pupils outside the school because of the formal school structure.

My practical advice is that each school should choose a single and not too large 'study site' for long-term observations. Such a place could be regularly visited by classes with teachers of different subjects and observed carefully. Taking photographs or drawing pictures should prove helpful. Role playing or simulation games using sensory teaching methods or even using mathematics or other subjects would also be interesting. Classes might also take water samples on a regular basis, or note in their books the plants, animals and birds. Doing this regularly, and throughout the school year, would create the basis for a wide-range of lessons using many disciplines. Long-term observations of the same place can be extremely important for noticing changes. The school can prepare an Ňinformation boardÓ for exhibit current observations made by different classes.

Such an approach to environmental education is being developed in Zespol Szkol Spolecznych No. 1 in Wroclaw, Poland, where I am the designer and co-ordinator of environmental education. Our study site was chosen four years ago and now each class travels there for field work twice per school year. Each trip to our study site is discussed beforehand and I always go there with another teacher. I remember very fruitful lessons with teachers of biology, mathematics, English, Polish, and geography. After our excursion, students, with the help of teachers, prepare information for the whole school about what we have noted. We are now sending some information to the Global Laboratory Project in the United States. Here are some examples of such current information:

Ą '. . . Krzysiek saw that the magpies nesting on the poplar near the way to the village weren't there. Last week some of us saw this nest in the same place as it had been last year. What's happened?. . . We recognised that magpies sometimes move their "houses" from one tree to another. We remembered that last spring one class observed how it was going. Magpies actually transported building materials from an old nest to another place and built a new nest! We also know now who is one of the best nature observers in our school. He is Krzysiek!! . . .'

Ą '. . . As usual we focused on birds. Some of us have made quite a lot of progress in bird-watching and bird-listening. The most exciting moment was when three mute swans landed on the pond near us. . . .'

Ą '. . . The first surprise we saw were two common plovers on the cabbage field. We saw them with binoculars, but they were too far away to take a photo. Over the field there were many skylarks and we stopped for a minute to watch them. . . .'

Ą '. . . The weather was really beautiful and we went along the fields to the forest. We saw hundreds of worms in puddles on the way. Remember that we had a lot of rain last week. . . As we expected we saw a lot of frogs today. The first -- Krzysztof -- saw the Rana esculenta and took it gently to show it to the whole group. A little bit later we saw one Hyla arborea on the small bush and a lot of Bombinas in the ditch connecting the banks. We were most excited when we recognised some frogs and toads during copulation. They were in the deep sluice with not too much water. . . .'

After my four years of experience with this outdoor training, I and many students and teachers in our school feel that we consider cleaning up nature our own responsibility. This became obvious when our local city administration discussed using part of the fields near our study site for a dump. Our students were much against this proposal and ready to act. Their protest caused the plan to be dropped, at least temporarily.

There are two other very important issues. Each time when we are going to our study-site I encourage my students not to take such things as sweets, chocolate, drinks in aluminium cans, and plastic boxes. Take rather apples, carrots, brown bread (not white) for your lunch. Try to take food that you know is better for your health. We also collect waste and rubbish in our study site each time when we are there. Also, I tell them: Don't bring your Walkman. If you must to take it because you are not able to live without of it, remember: You must put it into your knapsack when we leave the train. In our study site we should listen to nature, not to the Walkman. I want to teach them what is best for their health. Environmental education is closely linked with the promotion of a healthy life-style.

The cost of such trips is a problem. Our study site is about 30 km from the school. We must take a train, but because our parents pay school fees the cost of this train ride is calculated within that fee. Other schools and headmasters may need to investigate outside funding sources in their towns or environmental NGOs. Some ŇgreenÓ NGOs may even supply materials for your field trip or experts to assist your environmental teachers. Environmental field trips return enormous educational rewards for this low-cost investment.

Other than these examples, few schools offer obligatory environmental education in the three countries of the Black Triangle. Yet the problem is especially urgent in this region, with its large open-pit mines, belching power plants, industrial noise and pollution which are physically damaging and psychologically upsetting. People who live there may feel helpless and without choices, locked into low-paying jobs and life in a polluted environment. Environmental education offers action alternatives such as hiking, planting trees, and cleaning up streams. Therefore, it not only brings a message of urgency, but also promotes a healthy lifestyle. It looks toward the future. Instead of waiting for someone else to act, environmental education encourages people to act for themselves.

But where to start? Here is a step-by-step plan for environmental education in the Black Triangle.

(1) People are like "yeast". They can make things change. We need people in the Black Triangle to take the first steps. These should be taken by the teachers, who have the opportunity to transfer knowledge to students and create patterns and opportunities for their future behaviour. We need teachers from all subjects. We already have teachers of environmental science, usually with a background in biology, but we need to encourage more from other disciplines because environmental education needs an interdisciplinary approach to be successful.

(2) We need to select teams of teachers on a trans-regional, national and local basis, and to organise comprehensive training courses for them.

(3) Teachers could next establish a formal trans-boundary regional teachers association together -- because the problem is trans-boundary.

(4) A transboundary regional teachersŐ association would design and implement an environmental curriculum for schools in the Black Triangle region. That curriculum could take many different shapes. But I believe that to be successful, an environmental education programme needs to:

Ą help to develop an extensive network between schools, teachers, scientists and regional administrators in the Black Triangle;

Ą establish a regional institution for training courses, the preparation of teaching materials and the co-ordination of environmental education;

Ą establish cooperation between education and industry which should support it financially and professionally;

Ą equip teams of teachers with the basic knowledge and teaching materials necessary for environmental education;

Ą design environmental education packets for teachers in primary and secondary schools teaching environmental issues regarding such regional problems as radon, acid rain and deforestation, air pollution and health;

Ą organise transboundary competitions, seminars, camps and action campaigns for students and teachers;

There are two excellent international programmes that might meet the environmental education needs of the Black Triangle schools. They are trans-boundary and could easily be adapted to the special conditions of this region's educational system. They are 'Science Across Europe' and the 'Global Laboratory Project'; they are described fully below. On the basis of these two models we could build a regional curriculum.

First, let's admit that environmental education will cost a lot of money, at least in the beginning. We have fundamental gaps, such as a lack of well-educated teachers, proper educational materials and equipment, and a printed and ready curriculum (especially in the languages of the three countries of this region). This curriculum is now within reach. 'Science Across Europe' offers one; we need only to translate it.

Funds for environmental education at the national level are indeed scarce. Education (and the arts) are often the last programmes funded by national governments. Moreover, in some towns of the Black Triangle, national funds allocated for the 'environment' are instead now being used not for teaching or equipment, but to maintain and renovate schools. This is because the total national budgets for schools, especially in Poland and the Czech Republic, are low. Spending for education hardly meets the basic maintenance needs of the schools.

We should not look to the central government for all of our educational funding, however. Of course, we should continue to pressure the central government to change their funding priorities. But we cannot wait and the process of obtaining money from government is very long. We should start now to look for funding outside of the public sector. Sources may include international environmental funds, foundations, aid programmes, industry, and the European Community. The European Union, through its PHARE programme, is committed to spending 11 billion ECUs in Central and Eastern Europe by the year 2000. Some of that should go into environmental eduction.

Another significant area to address is teachers' salaries. We desperately need well-educated teachers. Those who are now teaching environmental education independent of the national curriculum are doing it as volunteers at their own expense. We must recognise that these teachers' work has low current costs with high future benefits. They should have additional salary for such additional work. The average teacher's salary in Poland, in comparison to the Czech Republic and Germany, is quite low.

One good place to start putting together an environmental curriculum is within the Euroregions. These are trans-boundary associations of men and women who seek to work together on common projects and problems. They are, both structurally and in political philosophy, perfect for cross-border instruction on the environment. Take the case of one of the Euroregions of the Black Triangle. We refer to it here as the ERN -- the initials for the Euroregion Nisa/Neisse/Nysa, as it is known in the language of the three countries that form it. The ERN has a trilateral working process that could be important to developing a truly trans-border, regional environmental curriculum. Although the Euroregion's main goals are primarily economic -- small-business management and tourism -- their focus is, by definition and practice, trans-boundary. Moreover, informal environmental education is already underway in the ERN. This includes Earth Day celebrations, festivals, and clean-up days for streams. Collaboration of environmental educators to form a trans-boundary teachers association and environmental curriculum from the three countries within the ERN is a logical next step.

There is a fifth question that this paper addresses: Is environmental education a good way to improve the situation in the Black Triangle? To date, we do not have a properly coordinated curriculum for the schools in our region. We have not even discussed this concept among all of the teachers of the Black Triangle. There have been some suggestions prepared by NGO's or active teachers, but this has not resulted in a proper, formal environmental education conference or programme. We need to create a cooperative schedule and joint action plan for environmental education in the Black Triangle. Both the problem and the opportunities are here. Why not work together to clean-up this region? Why not teach our children, and ourselves, about the perils of the environment which we share?

According to the definition of environmental education by UNESCO's United Nations Environmental Programme, a transboundary environmental curriculum must be interdisciplinary and focused on awareness and understanding of the environment. This curriculum should provide teachers and students with opportunities to be actively involved. By engaging students in this curriculum, we can reach parents as well.

Environmental education should be interdisciplinary, and teachers should use this concept to design and cooperate in teaching environmental topics. Some topics, such as the impact of global warming and acid rain are difficult to teach effectively only through one subject. Other countries have a so-called 'science subject' which is a combination of biology, chemistry, physics and some geography.

In secondary schools, environmental education should be linked to different subjects. Environmental education taught only by biologists, for example, is inadequate. Environmental education needs interdisciplinary collaboration where teachers of all subjects can offer their particular knowledge. This educational process can be used to explain why different teachers or scientists hold different opinions on the same topic. This brings the students closer to understanding real life situations. It also demands cooperation among teachers during the teaching process -- a big value for environmental education. For example:

Ą Biologists could discuss optimal living conditions for individuals, population groups and ecosystems and explain the importance of biodiversity.

Ą Chemists could teach about chemical reactions during the production and disposal of substances used at home, about macro- , micro- and ultra-elements, about the consequences of using chemical fertilizers, about water quality and topics such as acid rain, ozone depletion and the green house effect.

Ą Physicists could describe the different types of energy and their efficient transformation, conservation and optimal use, renewable energy and radioactivity, and the linkages between health and noise or health and TV or computers.

Ą Social scientists and history teachers could describe the historical development of environmental pollution, the history of discoveries connected with environmental problems. This subject could also detail the history of the international movement for a cleaner environment.

Ą Geographers -- from topics such as natural resources, the structure of the continents and their climates -- could focus on the human dimension of protecting the environment.

Ą Religion is also an important field for developing and assessing value systems, ethics, standards of living, justice with respect to the global environment and responsibility for the environment.

Ą Perhaps surprisingly, foreign languages can offer an excellent field for teaching environmental education cooperatively with international programmes. In addition to the programmes and contacts listed above, foreign language teachers may use access to international information and participation in international conferences and camps as additional ways to teach foreign laguages. In our three countries, English is a very popular language as a subject in schools and we could use it more effectively for linking language training with environmental education.

Ą Finally, even sports are a very valuable subject for improving environmental awareness and skills. Teachers could promote healthy life-styles by encouraging bicycling, jogging, swimming, hiking, camping, boating, fishing and bird-watching.

The "Euro Rivers 1995" conference in Bradford, England -- my first -- gathered teachers from all over Europe. The conference stressed the global nature of the world's large rivers: There are no national rivers. Most of the major rivers of the world are shared by two or more countries. Some serve as the principal artery of commerce and supply of fresh water for those countries. The protection of rivers, therefore, must be international.

Schools could teach about their 'local' rivers and consider each river as one unit of the global environment. Where does 'your' river flow? What condition is it in when it enters your country and when it leaves? Students could be encouraged to monitor the water sources and quality over a period of months or even years. They could exchange that information with students in similar schools in the other countries through which the river flows.

Many teachers volunteer to take part in international educational projects such as Science Across Europe or Air Pollution Project Europe. During a work-shop on 'domestic waste', a unit of the Science Across Europe Project, a group of such teachers from Germany signed their fax-message sent to other teachers: 'Dream-Team'.

Pair up your school with a similar school in your own country or across international borders. Create a 'Dream Team' of environmentally-concerned teachers in those schools. There are many such 'Dream-Teams' of teachers who are aware of the incredible value of cooperation between schools in different countries on environmental issues. We are witnessing now the very hopeful practice of establishing 'twin-schools' between two schools from different countries . Such 'twin-schools' are created by Air Pollution Project Europe, by the Science Across Europe Project and others. The Global Laboratory Project also offers an excellent opportunity for school partnerships to help schools and students work together to understand and take action on their environment. School children who have 'e-mail friends' around the world become interested in what is going where their new friends live. Such e-mail cooperation also gives the opportunity to learn about the environment in different parts of the Earth and to see environmental problems as global issues. Students and teachers together feel like members of a global family.

One school from each of the three Black Triangle countries -- Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic -- could be linked with the assistance of the projects described above or through a specially-designed programme. Students would be put in touch with each other by mail, fax or e-mail. Data on the environment would be exchanged; students and their teachers would visit their 'twin-schools' in the other Black Triangle countries.

This would have several immediate benefits. It would start a long-delayed monitoring process of the Black Triangle's environmental pollution and clean-up process. It would create the mechanism for sharing environmental data among the people of the Black Triangle -- a problem now ignored, and often exacerbated, by the governments of the three countries of this region. Twining -- or 'tripling' -- of the Black Triangle schools with each other would broaden curricula, increase understanding, share experiences. For example, why couldn't the student and teacher visitors plant a tree at the two other schools they are paired with, or organize mutual environmental field trips? There are some pioneers who do such activities, but this should be done broadly and become the standard.

Let's work together to create a Black Triangle Environmental Teachers' Association (BTETA). Not just environmental teachers -- all teachers, all disciplines involved in environmental teaching.

As mentioned, one good place to start putting together these ideas and an environmental curriculum is within the Euroregions. These trans-boundary associations are founded on cooperation to deal with common projects and problems. They are perfect for cross-border associations and instruction on the environment. And they are already in place and working. People in Euroregion Nisa/Neisse/Nysa (ERN) in the Black Triangle region are already putting into action trilateral agreements that could easily include more formal environmental education. Collaboration of environmental educators from the three countries of the ENR is a logical next step.

There are several other things that such collaborations could undertake right away. These could also be employed in the Euroregions as well as in the school districts. This might include field trips, the identification of a nature habitat study areas, environmental studies of school buildings and yards, water and land use studies, and the like.

It is important in developing environmental education and awareness to show students that knowledge about the environment can be put to immediate use. With adequate knowledge it is possible to influence official policy to deal with environmental problems. Take the case for recycling. Many communities in the United States, Canada and in Europe (for example, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany and Great Britain) recycle cans, glass, paper and even plastic. So do citizens of developing nations like Kenya, to cite another example. Why not the people of the Black Triangle?

Moreover, as the saying goes, 'There's cash in trash.' Recycling is a thriving business; recycling bottles, cans and paper can create work and generate income. Recycling is an excellent area for environmental research and education. The Science Across Europe project has prepared a 'domestic waste unit' for schools that has been tested by teachers and students in several European countries, including Poland and Germany. The main goal of the unit is to answer the question: 'What is going into your waste?' Teachers and students exchange information about the approach to the waste in their housholds and countries.

It is also a very important to encourage students and their parents to participate in small environmental concern groups or to set up their own. We can teach students (and reach their parents) to buy 'green' products, recycle wastes, plant trees, share transportation and involve themselves in the green crusade in a thousand different ways. As one of my Global Laboratory students said: 'Good environmental education should help establish a long term view against which you can make long range economic decisions.'

(A) Environmental training courses and workshops for teachers. These could show and teach them about the environment in their region. This could be undertaken immediately in the Black Triangle.

(B) A country-wide and then region-wide environmental teachers association in your area. These would be composed of men and women who teach about the environment. I suggested the Black Triangle, above. But your area could also link to the formation of a trans-boundary teachers association. That way, we could all meet and share information right away. Over the course of several years we could begin to exchange and share environmental curricula, materials, and even data collected by our students.

(C) Data exchanges. Environmental education could be joined with sections of existing science courses for some practical field work and data collection. The exchange of data would be interesting and the collection of data over the course of several years would make a valuable contribution.

For example, students might start a water-sampling programme as part of their school's science curriculum? During the academic year, for example, students who are 12 or 13 years-old could study water using samples from a nearby river or lake for analysis. This data could be collected by each class over the course of several years and could be exchanged with other school science programmes. Together it would tell us much about the pollution of our region.

(D) Environmental surveys. Teachers and students could make an environmental survey of their own school, neighbourhood and village/town. Who consumes what? What resources are consumed and how efficiently are they used? What is wasted? What is re-cycled (composted, for example) or could be re-cycled? The students and teachers could then work on an environmental programme for their school/town/neighbourhood with some very practical and immediately useful ideas.

(E) Public discussions about the environment. Students and teachers could hold a series of meetings with those public officials responsible for their environment. What happens to things thrown away by the school? Who is responsible for them? What about the town's waste, such as sewage, and its resources, such as water? Who takes care of those? Who in town would support a school-wide recycling programme? Could it be expanded to include the neighbourhood and/or the town?

I wrote early in this paper of demonstrations by green party members against the central communist governments that were a significant factor in their downfall. Those demonstrations -- if not the demonstrators themselves -- have since grown quiet. Perhaps they are working on something else. But those demonstrators were voicing a concern that continues today. The destruction of our environment, whether global, regional or local, is on the whole a threat to our combined global security. I asked some Global Laboratory Project teachers and students how they understand global security in terms of the environment. One of them replied:

But this may not be enough. We may be behaving the way we are globally, making the choices we do, because there are other needs and demands on us: for jobs, and low-cost energy for economic growth. Those other needs and demands won't go away just because 'we know how our actions affect others. . . .' . While that knowledge is important, environmental education must also teach us about other needs and demands, and explore ways by which they can be met by choices and policies which are less damaging to the environment.

Environmental education, therefore, is both a starting point and a journey. We first need to know what the problems and issues are and how to analyse and address them. Here our schools will play a central role. Then we need to spend the rest of our lives working toward solutions.

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'International Conference on Environmental Education', Tbilisi, 1977. UNESCO. Paris, April 1978.

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United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. (UNESCO). (1988) 'International Strategy for Action in the Field of Environmental Education and Training for the 1990's'. (Majestic Printing Works, Ltd.: Paris, France)

van den Broek, Hans. 'The Enlargement of the European Union: The Conditions for Success', TSB Forum, London, 11 November 1995.

Vavrousek, J., "Institutions for Environmental Security", in Threats Without Enemies, G. Prins, ed. (1992). (Earthscan Books, London).