A philosophy of environmental education

From the 1970s to the 1990s, Australian environmental philosophy influenced global conversations and helped shape the way environmental philosophy is done today. In 1989 Catherine Young Silva wrote to UNESCO on behalf of the International Council for Philosophical Inquiry with Children (ICPIC) to gauge their interest in ‘an ecological ethics program based on philosophical inquiry into ecological and environmental themes’. Documents suggest that the Australian advisory board consisted of prominent Australian environmental philosophers, including Val Plumwood, Peter Singer and Aaron Gare, as well as Australian proponents of the international Philosophy in Schools movement. Unfortunately, little is known of the fate of the proposal other than it was not successful. However, what it illustrates is foresight into the need for environmental education that is informed by environmental philosophy and delivered through the use of philosophy as pedagogy for classroom inquiry. In 2022 philosophy still does not have an active role in the Australian curriculum and as a teaching method is undervalued. In this paper, we look back to see what changes have taken place in philosophical environmental education and how they might inform new directions including the need for engagement with Indigenous concepts of land, sustainability, and care for country.