The Global Expansion of Environmental Education in Universities

Abstract

Environmental education is on the rise in universities around the world. Conventional explanations emphasize proximate needs and interests rooted in environmental degradation. We propose instead a top-down causal imagery, hinging on the expanded meaning, purpose, and comprehensibility of the human-nature relationship in world society. We test our view in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of environmental degree programs in a global sample of universities. Throughout, our explanation proves stronger than the alternative. Universities embrace environmental education as the substance and significance of the human-nature relationship grow in global institutions and as the relationship is increasingly deemed comprehensible within the knowledge framework.

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