Ecopedagogy - Differences in Use of The Term

Differences in Use of The Term

A growing number of texts utilize the terminology of ecopedagogy, without a clear relationship to the ecopedagogy movement described here. These include works by Ahlberg (1998); Jardine (2000); Petrina (2000); Yang & Hung (2004); and Payne (2005). The work of Lummis (2002) shares some sympathies, such as a critical theory approach. The earliest use of the term "ecopedagogy" may have been by de Haan (1984) in a now little known German text. Shortly thereafter, in the first known English use of the term, Gronemeyer (1987) described ecopedagogy as the merging of environmentalist politics and adult education. Ironically, at the same time it was coined by Freire’s friend-cum-critic Ivan Illich (1988) to describe an educational process in which educators and educands become inscribed in abstract pedagogical systems, resulting in pedagogy as an end and not a means. As used by Illich, ecopedagogy is represented by forms of education that seek the total administration of life through mandatory pedagogical experiences of systemization. As such, he believed that the movements for lifelong education and the creation of global classrooms (Illich & Verne, 1981) by bureaucratic educational institutions exemplified such approaches, though he was also critical of popular environmentalist pedagogy attempting to mobilize people’s sentiments for solutions to problems such as global warming, hunger, and rain forest destruction. Illich’s point was that such an ecopedagogy works on a problems/solutions axis that implies a global managerialism that is abhorrent to truly sustainable living in the world. This is a vastly different idea from the way the term and concept is being defined and utilized in critical education circles today, though it is potentially of great importance for the future development of the ecopedagogy movement on the whole.

While Paulo Freire was himself at work on a book of ecopedagogy upon his death in 1997, parts of which are included in his posthumous Pedagogy of Indignation (2004), and important books on ecopedagogy such as Francisco Gutierrez and Cruz Prado’s Ecopedagogy and Planetary Citizenship (1999) or Moacir Gadotti's Pedagogy of the Earth (2000) have thus far been published in Portuguese, and Richard Kahn's Critical Pedagogy, Ecoliteracy, and Planetary Crisis: The Ecopedagogy Movement have appeared in English, ecopedagogy should not be misconstrued as the theories or practices developed by any particular set of individuals. Rather, akin to the World Social Forum and other related forms of contemporary popular education strategies, the Ecopedagogy movement is best perceived as a loosely knit, worldwide association of critical educators, theorists, non-governmental and governmental organizations, grassroots activists and concerned citizens engaged in ongoing dialogue and political action that is attempting to develop ecopedagogical praxis in relation to the needs of particular places, groups and time periods.