ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY

Mission Statement

With all the challenges and complexities facing us in increasing the environmental literacy worldwide, our aim is still to

develop a world population that is aware of and concerned with the environment.

Since the action of human and the choices they make have a great impact on the environment, therefore, it is essential

to broaden the consciousness of the environmental literacy’s importance

among the world in order to sustain the environment and effectively enhance it.

Contents

1) What is environmental literacy

2) What do you think environmental literacy is ?

3) The mechanisim of environmental literacy

4) Facts about environmental literacy

5) How to take action

6) Importance of water, air, and energy

7) Health and environmental literacy

8)Environmental literacy in action

9)Activities

What is Environmental Literacy?

“Environmental Literacy” a word that has been repeated continuously in the past few decades, however, not everyone knows what it actually means and why it has been brought up incessantly especially these decades. Breaking it down, “Literacy” as we all know is the capability of effectively applying knowledge and skills in analysing and criticising obstacles and coming up with suitable solution. Accordingly, Environmental Literacy is understanding the basic concepts concerning the naturalsystems and the interaction between living and non-living environment, that will enable us to come up with clarifications that enhances our environment. Being environmentally literate allows you to base your decisions on scientific, economical, cultural and ethical considerations, and knowing that these decisions will definitely affect the environment, thus considering it in their daily actions and routines. Not only should environmental literacy be measured by what individuals know about the environment, but mainly by how they will reveal this knowledge in an observable form to modify the en-vironment. Environmental Literacy is an essential element in any community since it has a huge significance on humans, as well as the environment itself. Starting with the benefits to the environmentally literate, to enables them to have a fundamental understanding of where they live and how to interact with the surrounding community, which will eventually increase their sense of appreciation and satisfaction. As for its global importance, the increase in environmental literacy will increase the capability of changing the environ-ment and transforming its negatives to positives. Not only does environmental literacy influence people to sustain the existing environmental resources by managing the supply and demand rates, but also it qualifies us in order to pre-vent natural catastrophes like global climate change for example. Should we consider the benefits of environmental literacy, we would realize that it is an essential element in our community in order to develop and be sustainable. Accordingly, we have starting increasing the awareness of its importance to increase the environmental awareness.Hollweg,, Karen Hollweg, S. "Developing a Framework for Assessing Environmental Literacy." NAAEE, 2011. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.Schneider, Stephen. "Defining Environmental Literacy." TREE, 12(11), 1997, pg. 457.Orr, David W. Ecological Literacy : Education and the Transition to a Postmodern World, Albany, NY : SUNY Press, 1992. (page 155)

“Environmental Literacy is understanding, at some basic level, the interaction of humans & their natural environment with regard to both living things & non-living things.” – Roth Rockcastle (1989)

What do you think environmental literacy is ?

We wanted to know whether people know what’s random literacy is and how can they increase

environmental literacy, so we thought about why don’t we ask people ran-

domly at college & here are their replies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szrKwltuu1w

WATCH THIS VIDEO

The Mechanism Of Environmental literacy

In order to be environmentally literate, you don’t actually have to know all the technical aspects of certain criteria with all its different views, but what you HAVE to know is the reliability and credibility of the process of attaining the information. Therefore, there are three questions that you should subconsciously ask if you are environmentally literate; “what can happen,” “what are the odds,” and “how do you know.” In order to be able to ask and successfully answer these question, you must follow the mechanism of environmental literacy, which is Awareness, Knowledge, Attitudes and Action.

• Awareness

Awareness is having a general impression about a certain aspect. In environmental literacy, awareness is the basic consciousness of the envi ronment’s general problems without knowing further details. It is developed mainly through education and reading, as well as personal experiences, and it is essential for the basic resources conservation and management.

• Knowledge

After having a general idea about a concept, you start developing knowledge by more than just gaining new information and data. Knowledge requires an orderly comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of a certain topic and a framework in which new information can be placed. Knowledge is mainly gained through education, and having enough knowledge will enable us to solve environmental problems and help conserve the environment.

• Attitude

Developinganattitudeisconsideredadifficultprocess,asyouhavetobe deeply concerned with the welfare of the environment in order to willingly change your behavior towards it. The urge to change your attitude and your interaction with the natural environmental resources is derived mainly from personal experience and personal desire, thus it is essential to have a positive attitude in order to have a positive impact on the environment.

• Action

Taking action is the ultimate and most important part of being environmentally literate, as it is when words come into action and actually enhance the environment. Being in action is a complex process and requires adopting new behavior and a lot of encouragement to actually participate and take part in changing the environment.

ComponentsofEnvironmentalLiteracy

Capacity for personal and collective action and civic participation

Problem solving and critical thinking skills

Attitudes of appreciation and concern for the environment

Knowledge and understanding of human and natural systems and processes

General awareness of the relationship between the environment and human life

Did You Know ?1-That carbon monoxide is a major contributor to air pollution in the US . And the biggest source of carbon monoxide is motor vehicles

2-That ozone protect us from harmful , cancer-causing sunlight

3- The name of the primary federal agency that works to protect the environment

4-That in North Carolina ,more water pollution arrives from runoff in areas that are developed than factories.

5-That storm drains carry untreated water directly into our creeks and streams. Dirt, litter, dog poop, or motor oil on the ground or in a ditch can end up in our water with just one rain event

6-That there are several materials that can be reused, and will help reduce the volume of waste burned thingd by up to 70% and that can reduce air pollution. Some of the examples of recylcled materials are : glass, paper, batteries, engine oil and aluminium cans.

7-That pollution is one of the main causes of asthma, which affects a huge 1.1million children in the UK

8-That the cost of one nuclear weapon test alone could finance the iset up of eighty thousand hand pumps, that give third world villages the ability to reach clean water.

9-That according to statistics,the U.S. released 1.2 million tons of toxic chemicals into our atmosphere, 670,000 tons into our soil, and 250,000 tons into our water in 1987

10-That the world has warmed by 0.5 degC over the past century and an average 2 degC warming is predicted by 2100

11-That the increased burning of fossil fuels and deforestation of the rainforest have been major contributors to global warming

12-That in the last three decades the earth has seen warmer temperatures that were recorded in more than four hundred years before this point.

13-That it’s because of the water vapor’s effect on the atmosphere,that the earth’s temperature is regulated .

14-That Chlorofluorocarbons are expected to be eliminated and put out of use by 2030 to help slow down global warming.

It is Now or Never!

It is now or never, think environment. Three major natural resources we need in our life, wa-ter, air, and energy, without them there would be no life. Take and action to save them, even if you think what you are doing are small changes; it could have a major and positive im-pact on our environment. As we all learned about the concept of green environment, it is now time to make this concept in action, learn how to be environmental literate, and how to keep your earth sustainable.

To begin with, we all certainly know the im-portance of water, air, and energy, we are aware that without them the mankind would extinct, because there will be no water, food, shelter, and definitely no oxygen for breathing. But most of us are not aware of problems facing these major natural sources for life; they are un-der risk of not being sustainable.

It is now or never, we have to take action; we have to know how to make these sources sus-tainable. Start by your family, why don’t you educate yourself and your family to be environ-mental literates, by making sustainable choices, in fact, your home is the first and biggest step we could have in our environment because of the use of energy and water. Notice your every-day actions you are doing, observe what are you doing that could have a negative impact on your environment and try to reduce it. Whether it is leaving that tap of water open for no use, or turning the air conditioner on even if it is not that hot, or burning fossil fuels and using cars that emit pollution, all of these negative habits people are used to should be less used.

THE TRUE POWER OF WATER

Water is both the most abundant natural resource on our planet and an essential element of life whose preciousness requires diligent management.It is one of our most valuable natural resources for which industrial, agricul-tural and environmental uses all compete.

The earth is an aqueous place . About 70% of the earth’s surface is covered by water and the oceans have about 96.5% of all earth’s water whereas only 3% is freshwater. Of the freshwater , only 1% easily reachable as ground or surface water. the remains are stored glaciers and icecaps. Moreover, water is unequal-ly distributed across land surfaces and there are countries where water is rare especially fresh water.

Water is really important not just on human beings but also on the entire earth. if we start by mentioning the significance of water on human being , I could actually say that An average adult body contains 42 litres of water and with just a small loss of 2.7 litres he or she can suffer from dehydration, dis-playing symptoms of irritability, fatigue, nervousness, dizziness, weakness, headaches and consequently reach a state of pathology.

It is also necessary for the digestion and absorption of food This means that a person’s survival depends on drinking water. In addition to that, Plants produce breathable air and they can’t do it without the existence of water. Through a series of biochemical reactions, plants are able to convert two water molecules (two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom in each molecule) into oxygen. Last but not least , The rivers, seas and oceans provide man with an important means of travel. In ancient times, man explored the earth via the sea.

If we move to the importance of water on the earth , we should say that water in the ocean helps to keep a normal level of the temperature. This also is attached to the problem of global warming , because when the temperature rises , water vapor increases and that have an effect on global warming . Moreover, Global patterns of weather and precipitation are dictated by the movement, quantity and temperature of water, both in the ocean and in the atmosphere.

The natural world has a lot of issues that increases day by day . the biggest water issue is pollution .Dirty water is the world’s biggest health risk, and continues to threaten the qual-ity of life. Water pollution sources generally plunge into 2 categories: point and non-point source. Point source pollutants can be identified as driven from a particular location, such as an industrial plant, and range from heavy metals to sewage to man-made organic contaminants. Since all these pollutant can be associated to a responsible party, they are easier to regulate and control.Non-point source pollutants are harder to connect to a specific location. These pollut-ants, which often contain a lot of wastes, nutrients, and potentially toxic substances, are carried through the watershed and might effect the quality of water, moreover they can impact on habitats of fish and other marine life. These indirect pollutants come from a number of diverse sources, making them really difficult to identify and correctly work on.

 

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SAVE EVERY DROP

When you use me , close the water. That can let you save up to 10 gallons a day !!

Wash only full loads of laundry, and hang the cloths outside to dry to save energy !!

it would be better if you have a shower not a bath A bath uses from 65 to 110 li-tres of water but a shower uses 45 litres !!

Get me out of here, I need to kill a human and produce more air pollution !!

Turn me off, you don’t need me right now !!

Inhale, Exhale

Air is the natural mixture of gases that surround the earth, it has a lot of importance . The most important aspect of air for humans and other animals is its oxygen content because it makes us breath. In addition to keeping people alive, air has many other functions. Wind can generate power through turbines and wind mills. Heating and cooling systems circulate air to warm or cool a home, high-pressure cleanings systems, it also suspends clouds, which are water and turn into rain and if air didn’t exist , All that energy from the sun would just leave instead of being held in by the air.

The atmosphere has a huge importance and is essential to support life on planet earth . Because of that,air requires a good care and a high degree of awareness. Nowadays, air pollution became a major issue . Pollutants ( A substance in the air that can cause harm to humans and the environment), can be in the form of solid particles, liquid droplets, or gases. In addition, they may be natural or man-made ; but we can actually say that it’s more due to human’s actions. There are a lot of things that causes air deterioration of air .

If we start with the indoor air pollution , we can actually say that it stems from various sources such as those that release gases or particles into the air, which are the primary causes of indoor air quality problems. These emissions usually come from the building materials,from the volatile organic compounds , from the heating and cooling systems, from smoking, and from products brought into the building .

As for the outdoor air pollution, we can mention the emissions of transportation , one of the main origins of the atmosphere pollution. cars for example make 60% of the human-made air pollution in the U.S,we can also add industrial emissions and we can say that the burning of fossil fuels makes 96% of the sulphur oxides in the atmosphere which is really harmful . trash incineration, emissions from landfills, slash and burn forest clearing techniques are also reasons for air pollution .

Air pollution has a lot of effects on health , animals,plants and the whole environment . Many different chemicals in the air affect the human body in negative ways. Many diseases could be caused by air pollution without their becoming apparent for a long time.  Diseases such as bronchitis, lung cancer, and heart disease may all appear in people exposed to air pol-lution. Air pollution can also affect plants . in fact , Chemicals such as sulphur dioxide, ozone, fluorides and peroxyacyl nitrate damage the leaves of plants. Air pollution is one of reasons of global warming which means that this type of pollution is a huge issue that should be taken into consideration.

Turn all the lights off !!

“A major challenge facing humanity is energy” (Professor Barry Brook). Energy is part of people’s lives more than ever before. All life on earth depends in some way upon energy. But what does environmental literacy has to do with energy? The answer to this question is very easy; it is by making energy sustain-able. Energy must stay sustainable, as we are all familiar that energy is a means of living, without energy there will be no life on earth. For the sake of our fu-ture, we must start living sustainably. Energy is important whether it is light energy, solar energy, or nuclear energy. One of the major sources of energy is the sun light energy, also named the solar energy. To start with, sun light energy helps in the process of photosynthesis in plants; this plant food is needed to sustain life by providing nourishment for our bodies and muscles. Another use of the sun light energy is that it is stored in coal, wood, and oil which is also used to produce food and modify matter by providing shelter and all what is needed for the mankind.

Moreover, another important source of energy is the nuclear energy. As it is used in factories, and without factories there will be no industry, there will be no progress in our daily lives. It is well-known that energy is consumed in our daily lives; we use it in lighting of houses, cooking, transportation, and above all, the electronics that we are exposed to everyday.

“Global energy markets stand at crossroads” (John Kemp). Energy is facing huge problems in being not sustainable. Time can come in the future where we will not find enough energy for our daily lives; energy will not be sustainable anymore due to the problems it is facing from the human consumption. It is our choice to make it sustainable, environmental literacy is important to in-clude in our thinking.

WANT TO SAVE YOUR PLANET. FIRST THINK OF HOW TO BE AWARE, THEN CHANGE YOUR ENVIRONMENT.

Watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTlb__5WeHE

Educate your mind to sustain you environment

“We have forgotten how to be good guests, how to walk lightly on the earth as it’s other creatures do” So how could we be good guests of earth? One thing can make us be so and it’s knowledge, as we know being environ-mental literate “requires sufficient awareness, knowledge, skills and attitudes in order to incorporate appropriate environmental consideration into daily decisions about consumption, lifestyle, career and civics”. One of the main things that will make us reach full knowledge of the environment is being environmentally educated. Environmental education will answer for us many questions like “Are our actions considered as an odds for our environment?”, “how are they affecting our environment” and “how to stop the damage we’re doing to our environment?”.

Environment education could be giving knowledge to people about eco-logical systems, also social and cultural systems, environmental issues, and scientific and social solution to these issues. One point should be made clear, which is that environmental education shouldn’t focus on textbooks, sum-ming up facts and indoor classes; it’s totally the opposite.

“EE focuses on:Awareness and sensitivity about the environment and environmental chal-lengesKnowledge and understanding about the environment and environmental challengesAttitude concern for the environment and help to maintain environmental qualitySkills to mitigate the environmental problemsParticipation for exercising existing knowledge and environmental related programs.”

So it’s obvious from the previous list, that environmental education is a process that doesn’t just put some information in your mind, but it’s main aim is to change your whole attitude. To change an attitude of a person you have to provide him with indoor education, outdoor education that is learn-ing by keeping in touch with nature and making outdoor experiments. Last thing is experiential educations, which is “a process through which a learner constructs knowledge, skill, and value from direct experiences" (AEE, 2002, p. 5).

Not only can environmental education be in a form of an academic course, it should take part of the extra circular activities that would attract the attention of students especially the high school students more. This could be in a form of establishing environmental clubs, that’s its main aim is to take part of civic engagement activities in the community surround-ing the school or college. Also we could make use of the talents of some students in spreading the importance of environmental literacy and mar-keting the environmental education course, by making art competition which gives a prize to the student who would send this message in the most creative piece of art, whether a song, a play, a painting or even a short film. Another brilliant idea I read on the internet that was a part of a program, was the “battle of the schools” where all schools in a certain city will com-pete on the most genius project which solves a certain environmental prob-lem in the school or the country, and the prize would be in terms of money so they could put this project into action.

Environmental education isn’t just an education you will study and for-get, but it should be a life time lesson on how to live sustainable, So “ Envi-ronmental education refers to organized efforts to teach about how natural environments function and, particularly, how human beings can manage their behaviour and live sustainably.”

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Switch off

Start Planting the Seeds of Change in your Child

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” Nelson Mandela. Our children is our hope in the future, we lay all our hope in them that one day they will change what we didn’t change. As one of our dreams is to keep our entire resources sustainable, stop damaging our environment, and changing our attitude towards environment, we could build and plant all of these things in the minds and the personality of our children through environmental education to make a more environmental literate education.

Our children by the development of more technology became more and more isolated from nature; this could have lots of drawbacks to our environment. Environmental education to children shouldn’t be in a form of facts and information, as this will repel them from the topic.

Here are some ideas for teachers to do to make children love environment and love to know about, like school field trips to captivating natural areas and pointing out to them what people do that damages this lovely picture, or trips to explore the local environment. Also you could make environmental friendly themed parties where ev-eryone wear green and make simple slideshows about the importance of the sun and plants for example. You could make a recycling bin for each one of the students in the class, and tell them the owner of the bin with highest amount of trash will have a prize so this will encourage them to recycle and build the idea of recycling in their minds. Another more academic way to environmental educate them is to make them explore one species of animals they find interesting, like butterflies for example and show them how our actions affect their lives.

There are countless and dozens of ideas about how to environmentally educate chil-dren, we just have to cast some light on its importance. Not only are the teachers responsible for educating children, but also the parents they should educate their chil-dren and they should be a role model to their children in their actions affecting envi-ronment. As education won’t just build a generation of environmental literate people who are environmental stewards, also this will aid in increasing their awareness of the interrelationships of life and their imagination and their care about the environment. For a start here’s a really interesting site to show it to your students or your child, http://www.childrenoftheearth.org/

Interview with Dr Karl GaleBriefly tell us why do you think it’s important to teach students sci-entific thinking? Dr Karl: It helps students in problem solving through empirical data. It will help you to build a well-established argument, that should be based on facts, and that’s what we are lacking now in Egypt, people are agreeing and disagreeing not basing their argument on factual data, and that’s what we need now.

Define or tell us what do you think environmental literacy is? People don’t have to be experts to know how to deal with the environment, they just need basic concepts. People only need to be presented with information so they could understand their decisions and their affect on environment and this is what environmental literacy is, they don’t need to know how to run modern recycling plants, but they have to know the connection between them and the environment.

How do you think environmental literacy and scientific thinking relate? Actually that’s a good question. Both are fact-based disciplines. While obtaining environmental literacy, you should base it on observable, measurable and reliable data, which is actually the scientific thinking checklist.

So why it’s not part of the scientific thinking course? The scientific thinking course is always changing and developing,but this year they were more concerned with the big ideas and the big questions, like who we are . Moreover AUC know that tudents wont get these answers anywhere else later. Also, by learning on evolution and that extinction of species, this will make us take care more about environment now.

How do we think we should increase environmental literacy in our country? Apart from being added to schools as courses, it’s not enough. So it wont be isolated, we need to see it out there in our life, by making public activities related with this topic. Also another important thing is through media, by giving enough attention to science journalism not just political journalism for example, we need journalist who are environment literate themselves to be reliable enough.

Health and Environmental literacy

Health literacy is a complex term used to describe individual’s capacity to learn the basic health information needed. Besides, understanding the health care systems and being able to act upon them. Integrating the health literacy to the environment brings the environmen-tal health literacy which is promoting human health through improving the environmental issues. For instance:

Clean water prevents transmittable diseases.

Clean air reduces the certain diseases.

Sustainable farming means finding improved food.

Here are some definitions of environmental health literacy:

“Patients’ ability to understand health and medical issues and directions is related to the clarity of the communication.”   (Communicating Health: Priorities & Strategies for Progress U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2003)

“Health literacy emerges when the expectations, preferences, and skills of individuals seek-ing health information and services meet the expectations, preferences, and skills of those providing information and services.” (Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion    Institute of Medicine, 2004)

“Health literacy is the currency of success for improving emergency preparedness, eliminat-ing health disparities, and preventing disease.” (U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona, 2004)

Nutbeam, Don. “Health Literacy as a Public Health Goal.” Oxford University Press 2000, n.d. Web.

Critical thinking and environmental literacy Over the last quarter of a decade, the environmental issues that were the most arguable have changed completely. At that time the society was still unaware of some major problems we face now. For example they were just starting to realize the negative effects of carbon dioxide emissions. As time will go on, other problems will arise however, we can’t predict what they might be a few decades from now. Environmental scientists rely most of the time on a small kit of critical thinking skills. Those skills can be taught to all kinds of students even those with little scientific background. Yet, the criteria of what good critical thinking includes is very debatable.

A large variety of critical thinking approaches can be tried on environmental issues. For instance there are a lot of examples in considering the problems related to global climate changes but they can be considered from different perspectives.

Economic conditions for example: external costs, time discounting, cost effectiveness of alternative management strat-egies.

Political conditions for example: common property management, international organizations, interest group politics, global governance.

The main aim is to teach students to critically think about the environmental issues from technical or scientific per-spective. We identify six critical skills that underlie critical thinking in the environmental science. These are:

1. Healthy skepticism and awareness of political and social biases within the topic and within the environmental sci-ence

2. Knowledge and willingness to use simple quantitative reasoning to solve unknown problems.

3. Ability to use simple models to formalize thinking about unknown issues.

4. Effective use of previous knowledge to find new problems, especially an awareness of how just a few basic scientific laws help clarify problems.

5. Understanding of how variability influences what we know and what we can know about the world around us.

6. Ability to think quickly and informally about scientific claims.The process of critical thinking in environmental literacy passer through many levels:Identify environmental issues Ask relevant questionsAnalyze environmental issues Investigate environmental issues Evaluate and make personal judgments about environmental issues Use evidence and knowledge to defend positions and resolve issuesCreate and evaluate plans to resolve environmental issuesAdditional competencies (Many of these environmental competencies would be fruitful topics for further study)

Environmental literacy in action

We all know the problems we could suffer if we don’t take good care about our environ-ment. Our environment will face huge issues if we do not learn how to keep natural sources – for example, air and water – sustainable. “Environmental action begins with environmen-tal literacy” (Merle O’Neill). In order to take an action to save our environment, we first have to establish the concept of being environmental literate.

In 1990, Tufts University included the course environmental education and considered it a priority for students to take this course. This course will help graduates to think scientifically when they are undergoing natural issues. They will be able to reduce hazards, improve efficiency, and recycle waste.

Other universities should do the same as what Tufts University have done, they should include a course related to what is environmental literacy and how can you establish the concept of being and environmental literate by critically thinking of how to ensure that our environment would stay sustainable.

There were many campaigns that were carried out for programs that will expand invest-ments on environment and education, these investments will then be used to increase the quality of environment and education that will help mainly children, therefore, students will be more discipline and aware of the environment and sustainability challenges.

On the contrary, why not name a day by the Environmental literacy day. Just the concept of having a day named like this, will let people think about their environment, and from their curiosity they would definitely want to know what this day is inviting for, they would know that it is inviting people to think of the sustainability of their environment. That it is time to take action, if people would be able to take care of their environment on that day, consequently, they would be able to take care of it always.

Think environment from now on; think of all solutions and possible outcomes that could be done to save our environment. Most countries included a course in their studies, others carried out campaigns to help spread environmental literacy. It is your choice, take an action!

Environmental Literacy Quotes

“I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security.  Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad.  Otherwise what is there to defend? “ -Robert Redford, Yosemite National Park dedication, 1985

“We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.” - Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow itfrom our children.”  ~Native American Proverb

“Understanding the laws of nature does not mean that we are immune to their operations.”  ~David Gerrold

“Every day is Earth Day.”  ~Author Unknown

“We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive. “ ~Albert Einstein

“Be the change you want to see in life.” – Ghandi

“To learn is to change. Education is a process that changes the learner.”- George Leonard

“Reading about nature is fine, but if a person walks in the woods and listens carefully, he can learn more than what is in books, for they speak with the voice of God.” – George Washington Carver (1864-1943)

How environmental literate are you?

1) You buy a cup of tea at the deli and the cashier places it inside a paper bag along with a straw, 25 napkins, several packets of sugar, and a plastic spoon. You: a) Politely explain that you don’t really need all that stuff and you should top giving people more than they need\ b) You will take only what you need but you won’t explain to the cashier why not to do that c) Take it and go.

2) How do you get to school or sports practice every day? a) I walk or go with bike I try to get a ride with friends. b) I take the bus or subway. c) I drive the car

3) When it comes to lighting your home you: a) Recently replaced a few incandescent bulbs with florescent ones b) I close the lights of the rooms I’m not using c) Keep all the lights on even when you’re away on vacation—you hate coming home to a dark house.

4) How do you pack your school lunch? a) I pack organic fruits and veggies into my organic cotton lunch bag. b) I use Tupperware, which I wash and reuse everyday c) Use new plastic Ziploc bags every day

5) What’s your preferred method of getting squeaky clean? a) Quick showers - about five minutes b) 15-minute shower c) Long showers - at least half an hour.

6) How do you separate your household waste? a) Separate the trash from everything that’s recyclable or compostable b) Throw magazines and paper just to recycle them c) Throw everything out together. It’s easier that way.

7) Your attitude toward organic foods is: a) You only eat vegetables you’ve grown yourself b) You buy them when you can afford them c) You’re pretty sure there aren’t any in the Big Mac you’re eating

8) Where do you shop for your clothes? a) Fabric stores - I buy fabric and make my own clothes. b) My older sibs’ closets - I wear their hand-me-downs. c) The mall.

9) What’s your ideal volunteer gig? a) Cleaning up the neighborhood, like picking up trash and planting trees. b) Handing out hundreds of flyers c) Teaching senior citizens how to use the computer.

Environmental literacy B Y T I L I B A N I A T S U S N G Z N O C G Y G O L O C E O F Z T U X B Y O V I W L U A N O I T C A J G L F I E W X G K D F X S H E G P A R T I C I P A T I O N N D A H C B B G I N T E R P R E T P X P M I J N T I S S K I L L S P Z X Y D U E V J E H Z P V B R X G Y K K Z S L B Z V B Y I O N H T I Y E C N E D I V E A Z I N N E A X T N M C D R H N V H C X Z U D K A C D Y N E L N X D Z Z C A X R O N E F P N P E E M D P L I T E R A C Y B D N P S E B E M N T X G O F J L E J O C E C U C I E G E O E Z Y L A N A Z Y B Z R E A B C H D G R X Y T E I C O S S Q C S H F H S A E A I L U J B N E T H I C S T C Z T Q V L G V E C B I M Q K G S K E A U J F V I W N N G X M E D U T I T T A N J F R Q O O E E R M Z E C O L O G Y S D Z B R T R N R V W T E I J K N I H T O P C Z U W J K A I N T E R A C T I O N S P Y

INTERPRET ETHICS ENVIRON-MENT UNDERSTAND

PARTICIPATION ANALYZE CIVIC KNOWLEDGE

THINK SKILLS ECOLOGY EVIDENCE

ECOLOGY INTERACTION ACTION THINK

EVIDENCE SCIENCE BEHAVIOR SUSTAINABILITY

LITERACY ATTITUDE ENGAGEMENT SOCIETY

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_ Y T I L I B A N I A T S U S _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Y G O L O C E _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ N O I T C A _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ P A R T I C I P A T I O N _ _ _ _ C _ _ _ I N T E R P R E T _ _ _ _ _ _ _ T I _ S K I L L S _ _ _ _ _ _ E _ _ _ H _ _ V _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ V _ _ I _ _ _ T I _ E C N E D I V E _ _ I _ N E _ _ T N _ C _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ U D K _ C _ _ N E _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ N E _ _ N _ _ E M _ _ L I T E R A C Y _ D N _ _ E B E M N _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ E C _ _ I E G E O E Z Y L A N A _ _ _ _ R E _ _ C H D G R _ Y T E I C O S _ _ _ S _ _ _ S A E A I _ _ _ _ _ E T H I C S T _ _ _ _ V L G V _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ A _ _ _ _ I W N N _ _ _ E D U T I T T A N _ _ _ _ O O E E _ _ _ E C O L O G Y _ D _ _ _ _ R N _ _ _ _ _ _ _ K N I H T _ _ _ _ _ _ _ K _ I N T E R A C T I O N _ _ _

Answers to the quiz:

Mostly A: Totally Green Wow, you are the planet’s best friend! You are treating your environment as if it’s your home. You know how to handle a sustainable life and also you have one perfect thing is that you spread awareness and you’re trying to make everyone environmental literate. Good job!

Mostly B: On the right track but need extra push You are already trying to implement some environmental friendly practices in your life, so I think you know its not that hard, so why don’t you start reading more about environment and taking part of more environmental practices.

Mostly C: Clueless You’re Totally Clueless! You are not doing anything to save the environment

BE LITERATE !!

Heba Fouad Malak Abo Zeid Noha Youssef Aya Hossam Reem Abo Zeid