ENDING AN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE COURSE WITH A LIGHT OF HOPE

Environmental science/studies courses run the risk of being perceived as all gloom-and-doom, even if technological solutions to many pollution and resource depletion issues are included. On the assumption that a wealth of scientific analytical studies are correct in concluding that successfully sustainable human societies are not achievable with only technological changes, something else is needed to provide students with a light of hope. A closing segment that considers worldviews (the basis for human behavior) and their relationship to the future can provide that light of hope and the motivation for change. A revision of the dominant worldview characteristic of industrialized societies from “in growth we trust” with contempt for the rest of the ecosystem to one of “enough is sufficient” with respectful membership in the ecosystem community may be presented. A new worldview can enable human societies to choose policies and behaviors that are compatible with successful enduring co-existence with the non-human world.