Environmental Awareness
and Education

People in the North and around the world are facing unprecedented pressures on their natural environments. To ensure thoughtful  decisions on complex environmental issues, we need environmentally aware populations. Yet creating a population well-informed on environmental issues is becoming increasingly challenging. Changing demographics, advancing technology and global perspectives all compete for our attention and awareness.

The Northwest Territories faces additional challenges as whole generations spend less time on the land. Retaining and sharing the environmental knowledge, culture and traditional lifestyles of Aboriginal peoples and NWT residents is vital to all factors of our environment: economic, cultural and social.

Measuring the level of environmental awareness in a population can be very difficult. However, direct exposure to the natural environment or a particular place is a strong factor in determining concern for that environment or place. The availability of opportunities to experience the natural environment can be measured as an indicator of the potential for increased environmental awareness. Similarly, environmental programs can help us reduce the impacts of human actions on the environment can also be measured as a proxy for changes in environmental awareness.

19.1. Trends in field environmental education opportunities for Youth.

This indicator tracks the number and types of formal environmental education opportunities offered to youth in the NWT in natural settings. These opportunities may involve formal cooperative planning amongst organizations, communities, schools and others who are actively engaged in the promotion of environmental education. Increasing formal environmental education opportunities for youth should result in enhanced knowledge about current and future environmental issues.

Tundra Science Camp (c) ENR/ S. Yuill

Information on environmental and cultural camps was solicited from within ENR. Additional information on other opportunities was collected from organizations and agencies involved in education and the environment, and the Internet. The list of environmental education opportunities is not an exhaustive list. It will be updated regularly.

NWT Focus

Environmental awareness should be influenced by opportunities for instruction or exposure to environmental knowledge. The availability of environmental education to youth can be measured partly by the number of environmental programs offered, or by the number of participants.

International Year of Biodiversity (c) ENR/ S. Yuill

As stewards of our environment, Northerners have a responsibility to educate themselves about the importance of environmental sustainability and pass that knowledge on to current and future generations. Formal environmental education opportunities increase people’s knowledge about the environment and actively engage them in the decision-making process.

As a part of our heritage, traditional on-the-land skills are important. The Canadian North is unique because of the proportion of residents still involved in traditional activities (see renewable resource use). Involving youth in activities that helps them become aware of natural processes, and acquire and enhance bush skills are all important in ensuring current and future generations maintain a strong connection to the land. Formal education opportunities are not the only way youth gain environmental knowledge in the North. Parents and communities have an important role to play in transferring knowledge about the environment, in particular Traditional Knowledge (TK). Formal education opportunities, as measured here, are offered in addition to these important family and community-based opportunities.

Current view: status

Many environmental education programs offered in the NWT provide a rich mix of opportunities to learn on-the-land traditional and scientific knowledge. These programs are coordinated within regions and designed with community input to fit regional needs.

Formal environment/cultural camps are offered by the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT), including the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR); by Education Districts and individual schools; by Renewable Resource Boards (RRBs) in all NWT regions; or, through cooperative efforts of some or all of these organizations.

Formal environmental education field opportunities offered in the NWT are designed for primary through college-level students. Currently, there are no University-level environmental field courses offered in the NWT.

Looking forward

Organizing formal on-the-land learning experiences for children and young adults is challenging but also very rewarding. Educators, communities, organizations and agencies are noting increased interest in traditional skills and environmental knowledge due to these opportunities. Participants’ evaluations provide sound basis for improvements and offer insights for program changes to enhance the connected- to-the-land experience.

International Year of Forests (c) ENR/ S. Yuill

An absence of information on all formal field opportunities and educational camps in some NWT regions does not mean environment/culture camps or trips do not exist. The information was not available at this time. In future, information from the Aboriginal governments, regional Education Districts, Renewable Resource and Wildlife Management Boards and other organizations and agencies will be included.

Public education specialists, officers and biologists also offer classroom visits and special presentations to schools and organizations. They are varied and represent the diversity of environmental interests in the NWT, ranging from caribou habitat for Sparks and Brownie groups to career fairs in high schools.

These visits and presentations are less well documented and not rigorously tracked.

The 2007-2009 International Polar Year (IPY) projects are providing more opportunities for northern youth than ever before. Students on Ice, (http://www.studentsonice.com/) allowed opportunities for international students to explore both Polar Regions. It is possible some of the environmental education opportunities offered during IPY will remain in the future. 

Looking around

Few national or international programs cater to the needs or culture of young people in the North. Northern-built initiatives are essential to help bridge formal school-based curricula with family/community efforts in sharing environmental and traditional knowledge. Environmental education field opportunities at the University level are offered elsewhere, some with northern field stations.

The Future of Water (c) GNWT/ D. Brosha

Find out more

• Details on each current environmental education opportunity in the NWT are provided in a document called “Environmental Education in the NWT – On-the-Land Programs Update”.
• Take AKid Trapping program: http://www.iti.gov.nt.ca/fursagriculturefisheries/kidtrapping.shtml .
• A video featuring elder Frederick Beaulieu, entitled Thumper Creek Birch Syrup Company complements the activity and lesson plan, and is available to all educators.
• More information can be found on the ENR website at: http://forestmanagement.enr.gov.nt.ca/forest_education/publications/birch_syrup_lesson.pdf.
• DehchoEcology Camps, Bliss Lake Trapper Training, Fire Ecology Camps and Tundra Science Camp reports: http://www.enr.gov.nt.ca/_live/pages/wpPages/education.aspx
• Statistics for the Aurora College Natural Resources Technology Diploma program were supplied by Kevin Antoniuk, ECE.
• Aurora College Environmental monitor training program information was provided by Kevin Smith, ECE.
• Information on the International Polar Year: http://ipy.arcticportal.org/
• Information on the University of the Arctic can be found at: http://www.uarctic.org/.
• Information on Kluane Lake Research Station, Yukon can be found at: http://www.arctic.ucalgary.ca/index.php?page=kluane_station
• Information on Daring Lake Research Station, NWT can be found at: http://www.enr.gov.nt.ca/_live/pages/wpPages/Tundra_Ecosystem_Research_Station.aspx

Other focal points

• See Use of Renewable Resources and Demography – Humans in the NWT for other indicators on close links between people and the environment.

19.2 Environmental Awareness

This indicator measures efforts to increase environmental awareness, which is defined by the consideration people have of their actions on the natural environment. This indicator also tracks the level of northern participation in environmental programs.

Thinking Energy Efficiency (c) GNWT/ D. Brosha

Information on environmental awareness programs and levels of participation was summarized from surveys among program providers.

NWT Focus

The Northwest Territories is one of the first areas in the world to see widespread impacts of climate change. These impacts will affect us all in the coming years and decades and we must determine how we will adapt to these changes. The GNWT recognizes it has a responsibility to contribute to Canada’s efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and is committed to working with governments and organizations to achieve that.

One way that environmental awareness is reflected is in how people change their personal practices to help reduce negative pressures on the environment. This indicator tracks changes in personal practices in the NWT, by individuals, organizations and communities who help reduce energy demands, thus reducing pressure on the environment. In addition, environmental awareness is reflected in how people change their personal practices to help reduce negative pressures on the environment. It is these changes in personal practices that this indicator tracks. Changes in personal practices, in addition to retained traditions, in turn, influence the future state of NWT’s environment.

Looking forward

A number of energy saving and greenhouse gas reducing initiatives and programs exist in the NWT. With the increasing cost of fuel and the negative effects of fossil fuel consumption on the environment, interest in applying alternative energy technologies and reducing greenhouse gases is increasing. It is expected that Northern interest in these programs will continue to increase, and therefore increase our environmental awareness.

Find out more

• For more detailed information on the alternative energy programs in the Northwest Territories, see the appendices.
• Other environmental information and educational materials can be found on the ENR website at: www.enr.gov.nt.ca.