PUBLIC EDUCATION TO RAISE ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS

Yesmitha A Jain Student, Semester-3 Albertian Institute of Management Ernakulam E-mail: yesmithajain@yahoo.co.in Ms.Shamsi Sukumaran K Faculty Member Albertian Institute of Management Ernakulam E-mail: shamsi.kk@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
Peoples organization and Non-Governmental Organization can be a real force for the protection of the environment in any community. The emergence of NGOs represents an organized response by the civil society, especially in those areas in which the state has either failed to reach or done so inadequately. The importance of Public Awareness and NGOs involvement in environmental protection is acknowledged worldwide. It was also highlighted in Rio-Conference in 1992-UNECD supported NGO involvement in an unprecedented manner. To this end a generic outline syllabus, including essential elements of moral philosophy has to be proposed for the environment education in schools and undergraduate students in college level. Main objective of this paper is to understand the role of environmental movements, to realize the impact of environmental NGOs India in business activities and to know about the various environmental NGOs like Greenpeace International and Friends of Earth. Keywords: Environmental education, role of NGOs, Greenpeace International, and Friends of Earth International

INTRODUCTION The environmental damage already inflicted due to alarming on-going population explosion, rapid movement towards urbanization and industrialization, increasing needs of energy and fast scientific and technological advancement cannot be reversed unless there is collective thinking, will and effort. These call for public awareness and participation for bringing about an attitudinal change and finally restricting further damage to the environment. Effective

implementation of environmental management and conservation programs depends on education, awareness raising and training in the relevant areas. At the beginning of the 21st century, environmental issues have emerged as a major concern for the welfare of people. In India, the concept of environment protection can be seen starting from the period of Vedas. As per Rig-Veda O mother earth let thy bosom be free from sickness and decay May we through long life Be active and vigilant And serve thee with Devotion -Rigveda Sundarlal Bhauguna through Chipko movement campaigned for protection of environment. Annahazare campaigned for rain water harvesting. Arundati Roy and Medha Patkar campaigned against major dams. Bill Clinton is a major Brand Ambassador against Aids. Bill Gates and Melinda Gates are major donors for social development in the world. Diana campaigned against Land mines. The wonderful team of P.V. Narasihma Rao, Manmohan Singh, Chidambaram, Ahluwalia, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi as well as Vajpayee and Yashwanth Sinha campaigned for reforms, economic development and environment protection. ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION: Environmental education generally refers to curriculum and programs which aim to teach people about the natural world and particularly about ways in which ecosystems work. Environmental education programs often aim to change people's perceptions about the value of the natural world and to teach how to change environmental behaviors, such as getting people to recycle or how to build eco-friendly dwellings. In Western-style environmental education, the focus is mostly on understanding ways in which humans and human systems impact on the environment and non-human natural systems. However, it is also important to teach and understand the impact of natural systems on humans

and human society. For example, why do natural places seem to have a calming, even healing, effect on modern human beings? Goals of Environmental Education and Awareness Environmental education programs often aim to: (i)Help students develop factual knowledge about the natural environment, particularly with regard to how ecosystems work and human impacts on the natural environment; (ii) Foster more positive perceptions about the value of the natural world; (iii)Develop eco-friendly habits, such as getting people to recycle and to produce less waste (iv)Engage students in environmental rejuvenation projects and action (v)Develop students' psychological and spiritual relationship with nature Why is Environmental Awareness Important Stimulate staff participation and encourage others to become involved at all levels Allows you to realize REAL SAVINGS from your resource efficiency program Ensures People have a wider awareness of their environmental impact

EMERGENCE OF NGOs IN ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENTS IN INDIA NGOs are defined as the non-profit organization that exist outside the control of any government, business, political party, or armed group. They act as the mediator between govt. and citizens. The first lesson is that the main source of environmental destruction in the world is the demand for natural resources generated by the consumption of the rich. The second lesson is the poor who are affected the most by environmental destruction. NGOs have actively protested against developmental projects that are not environmental friendly and have been able to stop them. They have successfully closed many industries/factories, which pollutes the environment. An example can be taken of the Silent Valley movement. The Chipko Movement for conservation of trees by Dasholi Gram Swaraiya Mandal in Gopeshwar or the Narmada Bachao Andolan organized by Kalpvariksh are some of the instances where NGOs have played a landmark role in the society for the conservation of environment. There are environmental NGOs like Greenpeace International

and Friends of Earth which have been relentlessly working towards making the world a better place to live in. NGOs Contribution for Environmental Protection 1. Conducting Education and awareness programs in the field of environment 2. Fact-finding analysis 3. Filing public Interest Litigation 4. Innovation and experimenting in areas which are difficult for government agencies to make change in 5. Providing expertise and policy analysis 6. Providing factual and reliable information with a network of professional expert staff 7. Remaining independent while passing relevant information to the public and government bodies 8. Solidarity and support to environmental defenders 9. working in collaboration with the government for capacity building and promotion of community participation in environmental awareness and participation 10. working out at the grassroots level and reaching par-flug areas with or without the government invitation

GREENPEACE INTERNATIONAL Greenpeace International is an International NGO for the protection and conservation of the environment. Greenpeace International uses direct action, lobbying, and research to achieve its goals. Greenpeace has more than 2.8 million supporters worldwide. It has national as well as regional officers in more than 41 countries. The mission of this independent, global NGO is to change attitude and behavior, to protect and conserve the environment, and to protect peace by: Catalyzing an energy revolution to address the most important threat faced by earth: Climate Change Defending the oceans of the earth by challenging wasteful and destructive fishing and creating a global network of marine reserves Protecting the worlds remaining ancient forest on which many plants, animals. And people are dependent 4

Working for disarmament and peace by reducing dependence on finite resources and calling for elimination of all nuclear weapons Creating a toxic free future with safer alternatives to hazardous chemicals in product and their manufacturing Campaigning for sustainable agriculture by encouraging socially and ecologically responsible farming practices

Activities of Greenpeace Protest environmental impact of worlds largest oil pipeline-Russia Calls on the International Tropical Timber Organization to do more to end tropical forest destruction Calls for nuclear free NATO Closes the worlds largest coal port Destruction and fisheries mismanagement Stops Clemenceau leaving European territory Demand ships return to France

FRIENDS OF EARTH Friends of Earth International (FOE International) is an International network of Environment organizations in more than 71 countries. It campaigns on the most important and urgent environmental and social issues of the present times. It challenges the current model of economic and corporate globalization while promoting solutions that will help in creating environmentally sustainable and socially just societies. Friends of earth follow a decentralized and democratic structure that allows all member groups to participate in the decision-making process. Mission of FOE International Friends of Earth aim to: Protecting the earth against further deterioration and repairing damage inflicted upon the environment by human activities and negligence

Preserving the ecological, cultural, and ethnic diversity of the earth Increasing public participation and democratic decision-making, both of which are important for protecting the environment and sound management of the natural resources

Achieving social, economic, and political justice and equal access to resources and opportunities for men and women at the local, national, regional, and international levels

Promoting environmentally sustainable development at the local, national, regional, and global levels

Activities of FOEI Climate justice and energy Food sovereignty Forests and biodiversity Economic justice-resisting

IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL NGOS ON BUSINESS ACTIVITIES National and International commitments for protection of environment by entering into agreements/protocols made at the international level are meaningless without their enforcement. The reasons for poor implementation may be many: Lack of political will Scarcity of fund Decision taken in regard to environmental issues may not be very sound Implication of such decisions could not be properly visualized

NGOs like worldwide Fund (WWF), Greenpeace, and Friends of Earth operate at the global level. NGOs work very hard to gather public opinion. Their efforts have brought changes in the policy of some companies e.g., Shell German oil giant, was planning to dump its worn-out oil ship, the Brent Spar in the North Sea. Greenpeace organized a boycott of the service stations of Shell, Germany, and thus prevented this from happening.

In another case, the Government of Tiawan wanted to buy a piece of land in North Korea to dump its nuclear wastes. The Korean Federation of Environment Movement opposed this move and prevented it from happening. Thus, NGOs can confront the government that does not act rationally. A MODEL FOR FUTURE ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION It has been established that environmental education has the task of addressing an extremely wide ranging and bewildering array of content. It has also been established that there are a number of different ideologies or perspectives on the root causes of environmental process which give rise to various implication for education. From different ideologies a model for teaching and learning in environmental education is been developed.

Individual Holistic Development

Formative Influence
Knowledge & Understanding Concepts Skills Attitude

CONCLUSION Environmental NGOs play a very important role in stopping activities of various organizations that are not environment friendly. Campaigns by activists of various environmental NGOs have forced to change policies of many industries, which were harmful to the environment. The activities of the environmental NGOs viz., Greenpeace and Friends of Earth which have been relentlessly working towards making the world a better place to live in. The communication perspective opens door to another kind of tools that environmental educators can use in order to improve the educational practice. References 1. S.C.Santra (2005) Environmental Science 2. Anna Kurtycz (2005) Understanding Environmental behavioral change through communication: a new perspective of environmental education, international Journal of environment and pollution 3. Environment Management- N.K.Uberoi 4. Arvind walia (2009) Environment management 5. http://www.mumbaisuburbs.com/articles/ngo-environmental-conservation.html 6. www.unece.org/env/pp 7. http://www.mumbaisuburbs.com