While the importance of learning to develop as a society in sustainable ways has become a major political concern around the world, schools have been slow to express this priority in formal curricula. In this important book, Joy Palmer addresses the impediments to the development of rigorous programs in environmental education; the history of environmental activism and of its role in shaping the political climate; and the prospects and challenges that face environmental education as it seeks to shape the future of our relationship to the environment. Palmer draws on her own extensive experience and research in the field, as well as the testimony of 15 educators on the progress of environmental education in their countries, to provide an integrated model for the planning of environmental education programs for the future. "Theory of Environmental Education" promises to reposition environmental education at the core of educational development for the 21st century.

Section 1: History and Development of Environmental Education; Section 2: The Global Agenda; Section 3: Perspectives on Theory and Research in Environmental Education; Section 4: Environmental Education: Structure and Practice; Section 5: The Global Scene; Section 6: Towards Progress and Promise in the 21st Century