Article
Ecological Literacy: An Australian Perspective
Social Educator
(2006)
Abstract
As I begin to write this paper it is a still, windless autumn day in the tuart woodland in the south-west of Western
Australia. Rain is falling gently and in the bushes and trees there is a musical ensemble of rufous whistlers,
pee-wits, wrens, robins and wagtails. Occasional old jarrah trees spread their grey pin-striped trunks and
branches to display their brown, well-worn possum tracks, revealing use by the brush-tails in the safety of
night. The comparatively youthful peppermint and huge old tuart trees host the endangered ringtail possums that
come out in the dark, when the quenda scurries about in the undergrowth and the tawny frogmouth flies frorn tree
to tree at a low elevation. Sadly, increasing nurnbers of Australians are ecologically illiterate; they do not hear
these sounds or notice the beauty in nature, even though they are easily accessible.
Keywords
- environmental education,
- social education,
- ecological literacy
Disciplines
Publication Date
Winter August 8, 2006
Citation Information
Wooltorton, S. (2006). Ecological literacy : an Australian perspective. Social Educator, 24(2), 26-28.
Creative Commons license
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC_BY International License.