Everyone agrees that educating our young people (as well as adults) about the environment is important. The underlying assumption is that an ecologically literate person will behave in a manner that is beneficial to the environment.   Such assumptions, however, lead to many questions that ought to be examined. Are current education efforts really producing a cadre of environmental citizens who are willing to change their behavior? Do behaviors and actions promoted through education really benefit the environment? Do they either protect or enhance the biodiversity of the New York metropolitan region?  

While it is not possible to answer all these questions in a single panel session, we would like to begin the process of examining some these critical issues. How can and should education change the behavior of individuals and the culture of our society, such that the biodiversity of the region will flourish and co-exist with human society in the future?  

The goal of this panel is to examine the most effective ways to produce citizen actions that benefit the region's biodiversity. In particular, we would like the panelists to address the following questions:    

1. What roles do non-profit organizations, government agencies, and academia play in facilitating, guiding, or advancing behavior change?
2. How do we educate people to live their lives in a manner that benefits (or at least is not harmful to) the environment?
3. How do we monitor whether people's behavior benefits the environment after they learn more?
4. Will learning environmentally beneficial behaviors really benefit the region's biodiversity? How does bicycling to work preserve biodiversity?   How is local biodiversity benefited by not using rainforest lumber?
5. How can we encourage more young people of color to pursue careers in biodiversity conservation?
6. Why is the environmental education not a core concept in curricula?

Moderator: Chanda Bennett, Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, AMNH

Rapporteur: Meg Domroese, Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, AMNH

Panelists