ABSTRACT
In the beginning was the biosphere, and well before the authors's development of agriculture, all education was environmental, because it was a matter of survival: a response to questions of food, shelter and safety. At the end of the 1970s, the goal of environmental education was summed up by Bill Stapp and his colleagues in this way: to foster an "environmentally literate global citizenry" that will work together to build an acceptable quality of life for all people. A wide range of charities and other groups both encourage environmental education and provide leadership. Although extensive work was done by the Cambridge Primary Review to build on that broad foundation stage, its proposals have been rejected by successive governments. Elsewhere, there are examples of a more connected world view being encouraged through a curriculum that has evolved out of a combination of local issues, social investigation and national priorities.
