The purpose of Maryland's Environmental Education program is to enable students to make decisions and take actions that create and maintain an optimal relationship between themselves and the environment, and to preserve and protect the unique natural resources of Maryland, particularly those of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed.

What Is Environmental Education?

Environmental Education is rooted in the belief that humans can live compatibly with nature and act equitably towards each other, and that people can make informed decisions that consider future generations. Environmnetal Education aims for a democratic society in which effective, environmentally literate citizens participate with creativity and responsibility.

Environmental Education promotes environmental literacy and the development of the skills needed for life-long learning. EE refers to education efforts that increase public awareness, concern, and knowledge about environmental issues and provides the critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills needed to make informed and responsible decisions about the environment in all its complexity. EE promotes interdisciplinary integration of subject matter, problem-and issues-based learning experiences, and both cooperative and independent learning opportunities.

The Belgrade Charter, adopted by the United Nations, provides a widely accepted goal statement for Environmental Education:

The goal of environmental education is to develop a world population that is aware of, and concerned about, the environment and its associated problems, and which has the knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivations, and commitment to work individually and collectively toward solutions of current problems and the prevention of new ones.

The Tbilisi Declaration followed the Belgrade Charter and established these objectives for environmental education:

To foster clear awareness of, and concern about, economic, social, political, and ecological interdependence in urban and rural areas;

To provide every person with opportunities to acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes, commitment and skills needed to protect and improve the environment;

To create new patterns of behavior of individuals, groups and society as a whole towards the environment.