The Environmental Study Program is a series of four ten-hour courses each which includes a two-hour field trip. The course investigates Air, Land and Water. Members must complete the series, passing the examinations with grades of 70 or better. The required textbook for this course is “Living in the Environment” and a subscription to The National Gardener magazine.
The major objectives of environmental education are to help individuals acquire:
1. A clear understanding that man is an inseparable part of a system consisting of man, culture, and the biophysical environment, and that man has the ability to alter the interrelationships of this system.
2. A broad understanding of the biophysical environment, both natural and man-made, and its role in contemporary society.
3. A fundamental understanding of the biophysical environmental problems confronting man, how these problems can be solved, and the responsibility of citizens and government to work toward their solution.
4. Attitudes of concern for the quality of the biophysical environment which will motivate citizens to participate in biophysical environmental problem-solving.
To achieve its greatest impact environmental education must: provide factual information which will lead to an understanding of the total biophysical environment, develop a concern for environmental quality which will motivate citizens to work toward solutions to biophysical environmental problems and inform citizens as to how they can play and effective role in achieving the goals derived from their attitudes.