Inequitable access to/benefits from nature

Though the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc around the world, valuable lessons can be learned and translated to other fields. Some academics have paralleled the shortcomings of the virus's management - or the lack thereof - and spread of false information with the persistent global environmental issues of sustainability and environmental injustice. The author of this theory article showcased the COVID-19 pandemic and its political context to illustrate the need for a revised ecopedagogy to promote comprehensive environmental justice and literacy.

Environmental education (EE) incorporates place-based learning for students to adequately understand and create better solutions for social and ecological issues. Civic ecology specifically looks at the role of individuals, their community, the way they solve community-based environmental challenges, and how these solutions impact overall community function. Research has shown using civic ecology principles such as community engagement, environmental stewardship, and environmental management can help grow social-ecological resilience.

Environmental stressors and lack of access to health education have exacerbated the poor health conditions of minority and underserved populations around the United States, particularly in Detroit, Michigan. Wayne State University's Center for Urban Responses to Environment Stressors (CURES) intentionally worked with community stakeholders by developing a direct partnership between academia and the affected population to alleviate the health challenges and educate the Detroit community on these issues.

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered many countries to impose lockdowns to keep their citizens safe and healthy. These policies negatively impacted society and the economy and illuminated environmental injustices. For example, people in urban areas, particularly disadvantaged groups, had fewer opportunities to be in green spaces due to the closing of community areas and lack of access to natural settings. Research has shown that simply being in nature can improve mental and physical health, both of which was negatively impacted for many during strict lockdowns.

Children have become less connected to nature in recent years due to innovations in technology and more time indoors. Specifically, children and adults are more affected by this disconnect in urban areas because there are usually fewer opportunities to experience natural settings. Many in environmental education believe that direct contact with the outdoors can achieve increased knowledge, attitudes, and a deepened connection to nature based on existing research.

The Earth's climate is changing due to human actions and now human actions must halt and reverse the damaging effects of climate change. People must see and experience these shifts to acknowledge that change is happening before meaningful, pro-environmental behavior change occurs. Many circumstances affect one's perception including social, cultural, psychological, and systemic aspects.

The increased presence of technology in our daily lives means that youth across the United States are spending less time learning in nature. As a result, federal agencies worked with partners to develop programs that promote EE curricula for youth. One such initiative is the Children's Forest—created by the U.S. Forest Service—that works with partners to develop EE programming for students in grades K-12. However, few studies have evaluated these collaborative programs so little is known about their efficacy.

Education literature has long established that authentic care from adult mentors is crucial for youth—particularly minoritized youth—to develop positive relationships with each other, their school, and their wider community. This study affirms those connections and applies them to the environmental sphere by exploring how the authentic care shown by an environmental science teacher encouraged his students to expand their care for the ecological renewal of their local neighborhood.

Environmental education has traditionally emphasized environmental awareness through focusing on issues such as pollution, degradation, population growth, and natural-resource depletion. However, the authors of this paper argue that such a broad focus is not flexible enough to meet the needs of diverse communities. Therefore, they argue for a more transformative urban environmental education that recognizes the experience of youth in urban settings. They call this approach Critical Urban Environmental Education Programming (CUEP).

Experiences in nature can influence an individual's connection to nature, and consequently desire to spend additional time outside. Research indicates that children have been partaking in outdoor activities less. This “nature-deficit disorder” means that children can be disconnected from ecological problems, and thereby be less motivated to solve such problems. One significant predictor of participating in outdoor activities is past experience in nature. In rapidly urbanizing China, students are burdened with heavy schoolwork and have limited access to nature.