By Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal BSc., MPhil., FLS., MSB.
Dept of Life Sciences
University of the West Indies
St. Augustine Campus

I first heard the term "environmental literacy" in a presentation by Kyle DeLima at the "Second Youth Forum on Climate Change" hosted by Earth Conscious magazine in early August of 2012. At first I assumed that it just referred to educating oneself by reading the relevant literature. But as the presentation progressed I realised that this topic was more complex and more structured than my first impression. The goal of this article is to introduce this aspect of environmental education.

The goal of environmental literacy is to educate persons so that they can individually or collectively act to conserve and protect our environment. But in order for environmental literacy to be successful, five components need to take place: awareness, knowledge, attitudes, skills and collective action (CEL, 2012). Of course it is more comprehensive if we explain the simplest to the most complex concept. The simplest component of environmental literacy and the first step in sowing the seeds of environmental literacy is awareness, which refers to a person's consciousness or general impression of the topic. For example a person may know that global warming is bad for people and the environment but they do not know in detail the mechanisms that cause it. Environmental education is one of the ways in bringing about awareness of environmental topics.