Empowerment, ethics, environmental action: a practical exercise

Just as active learning creates a deeper understanding than passive learning, so active geography grants a deeper understanding of geographical processes than passive geography. Geography students may be empowered to use their knowledge to improve the world they inhabit. However, to be effective they also need a holistic appreciation of both the ecological and ethical implications of their actions. They must become attuned both to their own internal preconceptions and to those which direct and constrain others. They must become capable of seeing their actions through the eyes of others. The exercise reported here tries to highlight these issues through the systematic critical analysis of a technical land reclamation project. Simulation is employed to encourage students to match practical solutions in landscape reclamation to wider issues in environmental ethics. In particular, students are encouraged to examine their own motivation for advocating particular technical solutions, to consider the value systems implicit in technical solutions proposed by others, and to examine environmental actions in context.