| There are approximately eighteen public policy think tanks and conservative groups are the most vocal and accessible critics of environmental education. Recurring themes of contempt for and disagreement with environmental education are exemplified in the following statements: Political Economy Research Center Criticisms of Environmental Education & Science · Children are being frightened · Parents are being pestered by their children with simplistic solutions to complex problems · Environmental materials in the schools tell only one side of the story · Schools are influenced by activist environmental groups and therefore emphasize worst-case situations and express hostility to normal activities such as logging and farming · Forests not declining · Air pollution under control · Acid rain not as a detrimental · Biodiversity is protected · Population growth is reversing · Global warming is unproven · Ozone depletion is not a concern The most prominent opponent of legislatively mandated environmental education is Michael Sanera who runs the Center for Environmental Education Research (CEER), a branch of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. This organization is very accessible to the public, most notably through its website. CEER’s mission: To improve the quality of teaching about the environment in K-12th grade schools by ensuring that students: · Receive unbiased environmental information, which is based on sound science and economics. · Develop the critical thinking skills needed to make informed decisions about complex environmental issues. Sanera's Mantra: “Instead of inspiring our children to become scientists, inventors and engineers who confront and solve our environmental problems, our schools are busy teaching them to become politicians, bureaucrats, lobbyists and regulators. CEER believes this one-sided approach produces distorted and dangerous perspectives and encourages public policies that threaten our democracy and free enterprise economy--the best guarantors of human dignity and a clean environment.” Sanera's M.O. -Go from state-to-state ingratiating himself to local conservative groups garnering support for revoking environmental education legislation, -Recommends diverting those funds to more economically lucrative natural resource divisions -Offers to sell his own library of sound, science-based ‘environmental education’ materials. His skill is in gaining media attention through the aid of the local conservative group and publicizing stories taken out of context, which showcase negative examples of environmental education locally and nationally. Unfortunately North Carolina may well be the next on the list. There is always room for constructive criticism and time to reflect, regroup, and emerge stronger than ever. Rather than see these attacks as purely detrimental and infuriating, they can be viewed as a time for environmental educators to strengthen, not only their programming, but also their cooperation with each other and their own personal commitment to the field. It is important to be familiar with the current criticisms, information on the groups responsible for these attacks, and begin to develop strategies to strengthen environmental education programs in North Carolina. For further information on the history of and efforts to deal with these attacks and protect EE please see the following: -Williams, Ted. "Classroom Warfare." Audubon. Sept-Oct 2000, pp. 38-49 -Citizens for Environmental Education - http://www.groundworks.innoved.org/cee/ This site provides a description of the patterns and history of attacks, as well as a media toolkit. -Wilke, Richard. Making a Difference: Strategies for Supporting Environmental Education in Wisconsin. University of Wisonsin-Stevens Point College of Natural Resources. For specific strategies on promoting EE in NC, see Strategies. For specifics on the conservative groups and their positions, see Conservative Group Profiles. |
| Criticisms of Environmental Education |