Mankind could not exist without the earth to which it owes its life and could not have continued to exist to this day. This earth we call our world is an ecosystem. Mankind could not survive alone in this ecosystem. Mankind was able to continue its existence to the present day forming a whole with the other elements of this ecosystem. Aware of this, mankind continued to exist for a long time in keeping with this fact, but in the name of making more and living more prosperously, it could not hold back from destroying nature with the means offered by industrialization and technology rather than protecting nature, to which it owes its life. Although this situation started about 300 years ago, mankind today now has to look for another planet where future generations can live.
The biggest characteristic of environmental problems is that they are not local but global. These environmental problems affect everyone, regardless of religion, language, race, old or young, male or female, rich or poor, academic or farmer, villager or city dweller, science or music teacher, mathematics, chemistry, or physics teacher. Therefore, protecting the environment is not only the duty of environmentalists, and giving environmental education is not only the duty of environmental educators. Protecting the environment is everyone’s duty. In all lessons, a connection should be made between the courses in question and the protection of the environment
Making changes in people’s behavior is one of the main aims of education and is also included in the definition of education. To overcome environmental problems, we first need a tool. That tool is environmental education. The goal here is to raise individuals who can exhibit environmentally friendly behavior, and we say that individuals who behave in this way are “environmentally-conscious” individuals.
There are three purposes for the preparation of this book. The first of these is to reveal the situation of environmental problems, which is a global problem, in Turkey and the perspectives of scientists working on this issue. The second is to explain the importance of raising environmentally friendly individuals to reduce environmental problems. This is only possible by creating changes in the behavior of individuals through environmentally friendly activities. The third is to reveal the importance of societies’ value judgments and cultural understandings in solving global environmental problems. Therefore, new understandings, philosophical understandings and religious understandings about environmental protection are included in this book.
