ABSTRACT
The problem today is that most of us have been educated in western-style educational institutions. The three interconnected areas one need to rethink if educational reforms are to contribute to making the transition to an ecological form of intelligence include the following. First, people need to become aware of the many ways the limited exercise of ecological intelligence is undermined by reinforcing students to think of themselves are autonomous agents. Second, there needs to be wider understanding on the part of educators of how language carries forward the misconceptions and values of earlier thinkers who were unaware of environmental limits. Third, public schools and universities need to introduce students to the ecological importance of revitalizing the cultural and environmental commons, as well as to help them understand how the cultural commons are being undermined by market and technological forces. This chapter focuses on key ideas in these three areas in thinking about educational reforms that foster ecological intelligence.
