You're smarter than you think!

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This article first appeared in INHF's Summer 2006 magazine.

by Anita O'Gara

Within the average crowd, 56% of Americans say they want to do more for the environment, but they don’t know how. You can help them learn. (Another 36% say they would not do more even if they knew more. You can work on them, too.)

For 30 years, environmental education has been growing in Iowa—in schools, nature centers, family programming and adult outreach. So why haven’t we seen a greater leap in the quality of our personal and policy choices regarding the environment?

A recent study sheds some light. Environmental Literacy In America summarizes a decade of research and surveys. Among its fascinating findings are these:

• We Americans think we know more about the environment than we actually know.
• What passes for environmental education (for children or adults) is usually environmental information. It lacks depth—like having a quick snack instead of a full-course meal.
• We’re pretty aware of environmental issues—but it’s a shallow awareness.
• Between 50% and 70% of Americans have heard of key conservation topics, but their knowledge is too basic to direct behavior.
• Only a tiny percentage of Americans are environmentally literate—possessing the knowledge and skills to make good private or public environmental choices.
• There’s little difference in the knowledge level of the “average Joe” and that of our policymakers. The people we elect or appoint to local and national office do not necessarily have more environmental education than the rest of us!

The Environmental Literacy In America report was released by the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation in 2005.

The big gap in environmental education is a lack of understanding of “cause and effect.”

Let’s say, for example, that we Iowans are deeply worried about water quality. But when asked to name the main causes of water pollution, most people don’t know the answer. Experts may speak of solutions in terms of watersheds and preventing non-point source pollution—but only 41% of Americans understand what a watershed is (even on a multiple-choice survey!) and only 14% have heard of non-point source pollution.

It’s common sense: If we don’t understand the problem’s cause, it’s hard to come up with a solution—or to evaluate someone else’s proposed solution.

And this is the climate in which our policymakers are trying to develop incentives or regulations to solve complex environmental problems. Many good solutions require money or sacrifice or a change in behavior—and it’s hard to gain support for a painful solution from a populace that doesn’t understand the problem or its cause.

In this election year, let’s recommit ourselves to learning more—and teaching more—about the environment.

While we should be lifelong learners, we don’t need to know it all before we speak up! (If we know a little, odds are we know more than our neighbor and perhaps more than the candidates.) Whether it’s in casual conversation or a letter to the editor or a candidate forum, we need to share what we know—especially about the causes of Iowa’s environmental challenges.

Look at you. You’ve just read an entire environmental policy article. That means you’re one of the elite few who care and who are open to learning more. We need you to talk with others about your concerns for Iowa’s land, water, air, wildlife and future—and invite others to learn more about the issues along with you.

Anita O’Gara is INHF’s Director of Development and an active volunteer with the Iowa Conservation Education Council.

For more information, e-mail Cathy Engstrom, Director of Communications, or call (515) 288-1846.