Environmental Education in Quebec: Time for Concerted Action

Like other Canadian provinces, Quebec is faced with environmental problems associated with the squandering of originally abundant natural resources, overconsumption and the absence of integrated waste management programmes: Canadians use more energy, produce more refuse and recycle less than any other population on Earth. One of the dramatic results is that the few Belugas still living in the Saint Lawrence lliver have been identified as the most polluted mammals in the biosphere; their dead bodies are considered as hazardous waste. In recent years, however, environmental issues have become an important preoccupation of Canadians. As revealed by a recent survey (Environics & Synergistics, 1990), 90% of Canadians feel frustrated with the political inertia regarding environmental issues, 83% think that environmental protection would stimulate rather than hinder economic development, and 73% believe that each citizen can take positive actions to be part of the solution. We can conclude that awareness of environmental problems has reached most of the population. The time has now come for action and everyone is concerned. But what action must be undertaken and how should we proceed? What can each one of us do in practical terms for our common future? How can we operationalise the concept of sustainable development in the industrial and business sectors as well as in our personal daily lives? How can we influence political decisions? For example, how can we efficiently react to the Canadian government's decision to allot only 0.002% of the national budget to its new environmental management plan (The Green Plan), despite previous public engagement to give priority to environmental conservation? How can we be involved in major economic, social and environmental issues such as the hydroelectric development in Quebec, which will result in the destruction of habitats on an area as large as the province of Prince Edward Island, for the purpose of exporting electrical energy and establishing heavy users of electricity like aluminium producers? How can democratic participation in environmental decision-making be promoted? How can we develop a new ethic of care and share (Gilligan, 1982)? How can we craft new environmental lifestyles (Van Matre, 1990)? The time has now come for environmental education (EE), conceived as a whole experiential process, aimed to stimulate and to guide pertinent and efficient action for the environment, but also aimed to achieve optimal development of people and communities in relation to their environment. Environmental education must be recognised as an essential tool for promoting sustainable development, and also as a new 'basic' in general education. Faced with the necessity to spread environmental education in our society,