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Научни трудове на Съюза на учените в България-Пловдив Серия A. Обществени науки, изкуство и култура том IV, ISSN 1311-9400 (Print); ISSN 2534-9368 (On-line), 2017, Scientific works of the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria-Plovdiv, seriesA. Public sciences, art and culture, Vol. IV, ISSN 1311-9400 (Print); ISSN 2534-9368 (On-line), 2017.
ABOUT THE CATEGORY OF ECOLOGICAL CULTURE
Zlatka Vakleva University of Plovdiv, „Paisiy Hilendarski"
Summary: This paper aims to make a brief flashback to the category of ecological culture in the context of education. In this article are analysed some meaningful aspects of ecological culture and the possibilities to take into account the degrees of its formation. Keywords: ecological culture, ecological education,
Introduction
Environmental problems exist in both developed and developing countries, but manifest themselves in different ways. In the former the reason is the uncontrolled growth and in the latter - the population explosion under uncontrolled conditions of economic backwardness. Major cause is the destruction of traditional culture and environmental ethics as well as the development of consumerism and the explosion of ecological and war refugees. The deepening of the environmental and economic crises can lead to short and long term consequences; the short been low standard of life, extinction of many species, health problems, conflicts, terrorism among social groups, fighting for scarce resources; the long-term result of environmental degradation is the inability to sustain human life. Such degradation on a global scale could imply extinction for humanity.
The concept of culture is interpreted (Vakleva, 2000; 2011) as a set of material and spiritual values, created and produced by people in social-historical practice. Ecological culture is one of the manifestations of "general culture" and is a positive, creative beginning of people's activity, aimed at harmonising the interests of people, society, and the possibilities of nature.
Method
Theoretical analysis of cited documents and literature and personal experience were applied in studying past and present events in EE. Observation, collecting and evaluation of data were carried out in order to outline the perspectives of EE improvements. Constructive modeling was used in making a summery picture of the main characteristics of an integrated model of EE. The article discusses the main events leading to education for sustainable development (EDS) under the auspices of Unesco. It is based on theoretical analysis of literature and documents from international conferences and on the achievements of scientists on environmental education (EE) in Bulgaria. Activities of the International Society on Environmental Education
Global community recognized the need of initiating and continuously developing environmental education at the United Nations' Conference "On the Human Environment" in 1972 (Stockholm) and formulated its decision in recommendation 96 of the final document (ISEE, 1987 p. 2). This program contains the first full description of environmental education (EE). The day of the Conference opening - 5th of June, was declared as an International day of nature conservation and EE. The EE events followed the organized activities for conservation of the environment (Table 1).
Table 1. Leading international activities (Kostova, 2003):
On conservation of the environment On environmental education (EE)
1972: UN Conference on the Human environment, Stockholm. 1980: World conservation strategy of living resources for sustainable development of IUCN, UNEP, WWF 1975: International Environmental Education Program (IEEP). 1977: Intergovernmental conference on environmental education in Tbilisi. The Tbilisi Declaration: The role, objectives & characteristics of EE.
1987: Our Common Future - THE World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) 1987: "Tbilisi + 10" - UNESCO's congress on EE and training in Moscow. International strategy for action in the field of EE for 1990's
1992: UN conference on environment and development in Rio de Janeiro (UNCED); Earth Summit; Agenda 21 1992: Second world congress on education & communication on environment & development in Canada (1982 First Congress in Canada)3
2012: "Rio + 20"; UN conference on sustainable development - "The future we want". 2012: "Tbilisi + 35" Environmental education for sustainable development; ESD - Education for sustainable development4,5.
The first issue of UNESCO-UNEP environmental education newsletter Connect (1976), was published in January and since then it has been continuously assisting development and implementation of the International Environmental Education Programme (IEEP)6. As part of UNESCO, courses for teachers' training, key specialists and inspectors in the field of ecology and environmental protection have been periodically organized7.
The world community witnessed several forums on EE: Nevada conference in Carson City (USA, 1970), organized by IUCN that formulated the definition of EE; Ruschlicon conference (Switzerland, 1971), which worked out recommendations for the development of projects and programs on EE; Kroscienko conference of East European countries (Poland, 1972) on the implementation of Rushlicon's recommendations8.
In response to the decisions of these conferences Eastern European countries established research teams to develop the principles of nature conservation education (NCE) under the leadership of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the former USSR. The work of Western and Eastern research teams was united by the Commission on Education of IUCN.
World politicians, scientists and educators combined their organizational, research, informational and practical competences in preparing a forum - the Belgrade workshop (1975) that created The Belgrade Charter, a global strategy for EE. The 5th parts of the document have not lost their significance so far and sound too up to date. The Belgrade charter initiated "The International Environmental Education Program" (IEEP) of UNESCO (Connect, 1976).
The First intergovernmental conference on environmental education: "Education and the Challenge of Environmental Problems" (1977, Tbilisi, USSR) outlined the major environmental problems and their socio-economic and cultural dimensions, defined the role of education in facing environmental challenges, surveyed current efforts for the development of EE and gave priorities to international cooperation. The 41 recommendations provided guidance for further development of EE. The Second International Unesco-UNEP congress on EE and training "Tbilisi +10" (1987, Moscow, former USSR) revised the progress and trends in EE since the Tbilisi conference and stressed the importance of training of teachers and students in general university education. It underlined the necessity of specialized environmental training and outlined the priorities for EE development in the 1990s adopting the International Strategy for action in the field of EE and training for the coming decade (ISEE, 1987).
The Third Conference "Educating for a Sustainable Future" (1997, Thessaloniki, Greece), five years from Rio de Janeiro, highlighted the critical role of education in achieving sustainability, the important contribution of EE, the elements for further implementation of the program of the Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) and mobilized action at international, national and local levels. The main guidelines were: education for a sustainable
future, reorienting formal education towards sustainability, raising public awareness and understanding, shifting to sustainable lifestyles, investing in education and directing ethics, culture and equity in achieving sustainability (UNESCO, 1997). From 1997, with the re-vitalization of "Project 2000+" (1994), the scope of Connect was broadened to cover science and technology education. Each issue of Connect has been helping EE throughout the world although the environmental literacy of humanity has not risen significantly. This is because each generation should learn ecology for itself from the beginning and should acquire environmental literacy on its own.
The Fourth conference on EE (2007, Ahmedabad, India; "Tbilisi + 30") attracted the attention of humanity to the UN "Decade of Education for Sustainable Development" (DESD, 2005-2014) and underlined the key role of education in achieving sustainable development. Its aim was to bridge the gap between EE and ESD. The development of EE since the first conference, thirty years before it, was examined and a global agenda for the DESD was set. Tilbury & Wortman (2004) outlined five characteristics of ESD: envisioning (imagine a better future), critical thinking and reflection (examine economic, environmental, social & cultural structures in the context of SD), systemic thinking (acknowledging complexities and looking for links and synergies when trying to find solutions to problems), building partnerships (promoting dialogue and negotiation, learning to work together) and participating in decision-making (empowering people). This conference reinforced Agenda 21 of the Earth Summit (1992).
The surveys showed that EE was a social need for the solution of the environmental problems and an individual need for adaptation and health preservation. The interest in it significantly increased before and after key international events. EE has been growing steadily for more than 40 years since the first UN conference on the Human environment9,10,11; its philosophy has been refined; strategies, technologies and techniques have been developed; its implementation in all types of schools and subjects in formal, non-formal and informal education has been expanded. EE has penetrated into the different forms of education of all ages of the population and has become an essential part of life-long education. Nevertheless, the behaviors of people have not become more environmentally responsible, nor more worried about depleting natural resources, nor less consumable and no less destructive to the ecological balance.
Results and discussions
Ecological culture (Kostova 1985) is a socially necessary moral quality of a person and includes:
a / rationalized set of environmental knowledge, which reveals the interrelationship between all forms of life and the environment, the role and place of the human being as a biosocial creature in nature;
b / a system of habits and skills (abilities) to help and preserve the environment, in complisance with environmental laws and carrying out public activities on conservation and reproduction of the natural environment;
c / views and beliefs about the diversity of nature and the social values;
d / interest in nature, moral feelings, various positive activities to preserve and restore nature, dignified behaviour in the environment, motivation determining behaviour in nature.
Ecological culture regulates the relations of individuals with nature and is manifested in that people subject their business actovotoes to the requirements for improving natural conditions, take care for improving the environment, prevent its pollution and destruction. In its contents are included environmental facts, concepts, regularities, summarizing ideas necessary to establish harmony between society and nature, views and beliefs about the diversity of natural and social values.
Culture is a unique mechanism for self-preservation of society, a means of its adaptation to the outside world. Accordingly, ecological culture can be seen as a mechanism to ensure the preservation of natural and social systems, their balancing and co-evolutional development.
The formation of ecological culture is a prerequisite for further survival of civilisation. But overcoming the current ecological crisis is impossible without carrying out a radical
reorientation of society - an ideological, psychological and moral change of the goals for the development of life.
All this reflects on the state of ecological culture, which is a kind of process of (Kostova,) "ecology of culture." Ecological culture is a dynamic open system of value orientations and rules aimed at restoring and developing the natural and social wealth accumulated by human society over a long period of historical development. It is largely a vector of cultural development, ensuring compliance of social activities with the requirements for the natural environment's suitability for life. The axiological nucleus of ecological culture is (Vakleva) a system of the value orientations and regulators, including a set of human needs, aiming at the preservation and conservation of the natural environment. It supposes a harmonious relation of people to the habitat and their social environment, as well as an attitude to themselves as part of nature. Accordingly ecoculture specifies the ways of interaction of society with nature, the historical and social environment.
Ecological culture (Kostova, 1985) is "a socially necessary moral quality of a person" and includes: a set of rationalised ecological knowledge, which reveals the interrelationships between all forms of life and the environment, the role and place of the human as bio-social creature in nature; a system of habits and skills (abilities) for assistance and conservation of the natural environment, in compliance with environmental laws and carrying out public activity for the protection and reproduction of the natural environment; views and opinions for the diversity of nature and social values; interest in nature; moral feelings; various positive activities aimed at the conservation and restoration of nature, suitable behaviour in the environment; motivation, determining behaviour in the wild.
Ecological culture regulates the relations of individuals with nature and is manifested in that people subject their business actovotoes to the requirements for improving the natural environment, prevent its pollution and destruction. In its contents are included environmental facts, concepts, regularities, summarizing ideas necessary to establish harmony between society and nature, views and beliefs about the diversity of natural and social values.
Ecologicall culture is directly related to environmental awareness, in whose composition a particular attitude towards the world is included.
Hence a criterion for the formation of ecological culture is the attitude (Kostova, 2002; Vakleva, 2008, 20010; 2011).
Indicators - different manifestations of the attitude towards the surrounding reality. This concept has been defined repeatedly:
• Rules of behaviour, knowledge, beliefs, readiness for action and practical activities for the conservation of nature;
• A system of material and spiritual values, created by humans in their public practice, which materialises and regulates the relations between society and nature;
• System of knowledge of the interaction between society and nature, environmental value orientations, a system of norms and rules for attitude towards nature, skills and habits for studying and protecting u.
Conclusions and future trends in ecological culture
Despite continued efforts for development the state of the environment continues to deteriorate. Environmental consciousness of humanity continues to lag behind the growing environmental crisis. Therefore it is necessary to achieve domination of sustainability by: stabilizing the size of the human population; using natural resources rationally; controlling immeasurable greediness of humans; improving quality of the environment; multiplying renewable resources and finding substitutes for non-refundable; slowing down overproduction, which dissipates resources, creates wastes, presses people to buy unneeded goods or to replace possessed goods with new ones for the sole purpose of increasing the corporations' capital ( e.g. GSM and television apparatuses, etc.).
Ecological culture: is individual - the individual's possession, public /utility/ possession of a certain group of people, humankind ecological culture - the result of the historical development of humankind and reflected in its material and spiritual culture.
Conclusion Ecological culture is not a dogma but a dynamically developing system that correlates with the problems and development of society and nature.
Reference
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Vakleva, Z. (2002) One position on the formation of competencies in students by school education in biology. Scientific Quarter. Union of Scientists - Plovdiv, Series B. Natural Sciences and Humanities, Vol. II, pp. 341-346. Vakleva, Z. (2008) Ecological culture (through the experience of teaching biology). Scientific
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