The System of Environmental Education in the USA

Abstract

AbstractThe article deals with studying the peculiarities of environmental education system in the USA. It has been defined that US environmental policy includes governmental actions at the federal, state and local level. It has been identified that US environmental education is characterized by an extraordinary variety of forms, directions and methodological approaches, deep penetration of the ideas of environmental ethics in the content of all the disciplines, extensive involvement of communities and, in particular, public non-governmental organizations in the process of forming US citizens’ careful and responsible attitude to the environment. It has been stated that the system of US Environmental Education aims to provide a solution to such problems: to ensure citizens’ close contact with the environment; to contribute to the forming of environmentally friendly styles of behaviour and activities; to form a set of knowledge about the environment as a system of interconnected natural, economic and social factors; to involve students in solving local environmental problems. It has been found out that since 1970 Environmental Protection Agency has been operating in the USA. It has been mentioned that Environmental Protection Agency implements an environmental law by writing regulations and set national environmental standards. It has been indicated that Environmental Protection Agency has created the Office of Environmental Education so that national leadership may be provided and environmental literacy may be increased. It has been denoted that main goals of the the Office of Environmental Education include design and implementation of curricula and training programs for environmental education for both pupils and adults; organization of seminars, conferences and discussions on ugent environmental issues; cooperation with state education departments and other agencies. Consequently, recommendations that may be used by native educators to improve the national system of environmetal education have been presented.