The Ecological Imperative and Human Nature : A New Perspective on Ecological Education

This paper aims at disclosing the essence of “environmental
imperative” and “human nature”, identifying the interconnection and
relationship of historical development and current processes of globalization
in the system of education and training and their influence on the
formation of human cultural values. Global society and its educational
institutions are still not ready to meet the environmental challenges of the
21st century. The international community is starting to understand that
the moral principles, spiritual world and human behavior in the biosphere
do not meet the conditions of life, in which the society is immersed. People
are now realizing that only the co-evolution with the biosphere will
allow them to fit reasonably into the natural cycles and comprehend universal
laws that prevail in the world. Similar trends bring the issues of
environmentally safe development of civilization to the forefront of scientific
inquiry, especially in education. For the sake of ecological survival,
humankind must develop and actively implement a unified global strategy
for the worldwide development on the basis of global cooperation in education
that will ensure environmental quality for the civilization in the
21st century. Through nurturing environmental sensitivity, contemporary
humankind is able to explore their own selves and come to new conclusions
in experiencing their own realities and truths. Bringing the problem of a
human in terms of globalization of education to the fore will eventually
result in a new paradigm that reflects a specific holistic nature of humans,
their involvement to the natural and cultural worlds and their aspiration
to move beyond their own limits.