Community Environmental Education

This chapter examines the positive impact of community environmental education programs on both communities and the environment. Community environmental education uses environmental learning and action to foster community wellness in cities and other settings. Social learning encompasses a diversity of learning theories, all of which focus on learning through interaction with others. Two social learning frameworks useful in understanding community environmental education are communities of practice and cultural historical activity theory. The chapter applies community of practice theory to a youth program focusing on water-quality monitoring in the United States and cultural historical activity theory to two programs in South Africa, one involving organic agriculture and the other medical wastes. It highlights lessons that can be drawn from the South African cases and their relevance to community environmental education.