Environmentalizing Education by Shimray, Chong;

Short description:

The book enumerates on advancing environmental education in South Asia. By introducing the current environmental challenges in environmental education of select South Asian countries, it illuminates how teachers might often overlook the impact of their own environmental beliefs and values that significantly shape their pedagogy.

Long description:

The book offers a distinctive blend of topics geared toward advancing environmental education in South Asian countries. By introducing the current environmental challenges and the integration of environmental education in the national curricula of select South Asian countries, it illuminates how teachers might often overlook the impact of their own environmental beliefs and values that significantly shape their pedagogy and classroom engagement.

This book emphasizes a strong environmental philosophy, essential for teaching what is meaningful, reflective, and transformative. Spanning a wide array of contemporary topics—ecosystems, biodiversity, tree plantation, air pollution, population, and climate change -- the book aims to support richer, more informed, and effective classroom discussions. It also offers activities and projects tailored to each theme, promoting experiential learning. Additionally, the book outlines ways to strengthen students’ environmental literacy through informal and non-formal education, including nature-based experiences, advocacy efforts, and scientific and technological innovation.

The book will be useful to pre-service and in-service teachers, teacher educators, and curriculum developers. It will also be of much value to practitioners, policymakers, and researchers in environmental education.

This book makes a timely and significant contribution to environmental education by foregrounding the South Asian context while addressing concerns of global relevance. The book’s structured approach, combining foundational perspectives, key environmental themes, and pedagogical orientations beyond the formal curriculum, offers both conceptual clarity and practical guidance to teachers, teacher educators, practitioners, and policy makers. Written in an accessible yet rigorous academic style, it equips educators to integrate environmental education meaningfully across disciplines and to foster critical thinking and ethical awareness.

Prof. Kalyani Akalamkam, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi 

————————————————————————————————————

Environmentalizing Education: Reorienting Teachers’ Perspectives is not just a

book—it is a quiet call to conscience. It gently shifts teachers from performative “green acts” to thoughtful, ethical engagement, empowering classrooms to nurture informed, compassionate learners who see themselves as responsible participants in Earth’s shared future.

Richa Singh, The Heritage School, Vasant Kunj, Delhi

————————————————————————————————————

As an educator, I found this book both affirming and thought-provoking. It moves environmental education beyond activities and slogans, inviting teachers to reflect on their beliefs and classroom practices. With clarity, practical insights, and ethical depth, it offers meaningful guidance for nurturing environmentally responsible and critically aware students.

Manjula Arora, Little Scholars, Kashipur, Uttarakhand

Table of Contents:

About the book   Preface  PART I: FOUNDATIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION  1. Environmental Education in the School Curriculum in South Asia       2. Greening the Curriculum       3. Teachers’ Philosophy about the Environment—The Fulcrum for Environmental Education      4. Hyping the Act of Doing      PART II: KEY ENVIRONMENTAL TOPICS

5. The Place of Humankind in the Ecosystem    6. Situating Biodiversity in the School Curriculum     7. Tree Plantation—Going Beyond the Fad, Festivity and Formality     8. Air Pollution—Towards a Solution   9. Beyond Numbers—Rethinking Population Growth and Sustainability   10. Revitalizing Climate Change Education      PART III: GOING BEYOND THE CURRICULUM   11. Environmental Education Beyond the School Curriculum     12. Children Need Nature—Let Them Out!  13. Navigating Environmental Advocacy Through the Lens of Environmental Education      14. Scientific and Technological Innovations for the Environment