An understanding of ecological concepts is necessary to form an ecologically literate citizenry that can meaningfully address current and emerging environmental issues. Ecological education is particularly critical for communities suffering disproportionate environmental impacts. Environmental justice (EJ) issues have ecological underpinnings, and can be opportunities for ecology education for engaged members of affected communities. These individuals predominantly receive information in non-formal settings—often in meetings and public media, including local library resources. Material taught in high school and college influences adult ecology education. We investigated which ecological concepts and modes of delivery were most relevant and effective for addressing EJ-issues, and thus should have prevalence in ecology education. We also assessed the forms of education and mechanisms for delivery for EJ communities by examining ecological information provided by EJ community organizations (usually via brochures and websites) to see what might have been missed that could have been of benefit. We surveyed the publications available on the Ecological Society of America (ESA) website for key concepts we thought useful for EJ-affected communities. From brochures and websites of these communities, we identified a list of EJ-related keywords. We also surveyed college textbooks to assess the inclusion of EJ – both in the explicit naming of issues, and the coverage of concepts most relevant to addressing EJ-issues. Finally, we reviewed web-based reports on the activities of four community-based EJ projects and three logic models developed for EJ projects.
Results/Conclusions
We found that the relevant ecological concepts were conveyed through ESA Issues in Ecology but the links with EJ were only implicit. We found the EJ-material suggests that a thorough understanding of basic ecological concepts was not deemed necessary to address their issues. It became quite clear that while greater ecological understanding and more ecological information would be useful for the EJ-impacted communities, presentations “typical” to ecologists will not meet the educational needs of EJ-affected community members. Our findings suggest that effective ecology education to address EJ-issues must explicitly name the application to the recipient’s real-world setting. The education of professional ecologists and the general public alike would benefit if connections between ecology and EJ were made explicit where applicable across the curriculum. Novel methods of delivery such as storefront ecology, community websites, master naturalists programs, citizen science field exercises with community members and community organizing all invite ecologists into new frontiers and partnerships that can ultimately contribute to alleviating environmental injustice.
