Environmental Education through Humane Education
Engaging biophilia in our children and youth to support animal shelters after the pandemic By Alaina Doll E
VERY WEEK FOR TWO YEARS, I set up an outreach table in various communities for Ashe- ville Humane Society’s Community Pets Program in
North Carolina. Our mission was to provide pet ownership resources to keep pets with their families and out of the shel- ter system. I started to see a trend in my clientele: week after week, the most consistent conversations I had were with children, ranging from six to 13 years of age. Through these educational opportunities with a diverse group of children, I began to see a common thread between environmental val- ues and the intrinsic appreciation that these children had for their pets. Getting students involved with their local animal rescue
organizations seemed like a perfect opportunity to foster a sense of community and altruism in our children and youth for not only pets, but for people and the environment, too.
What is humane education? Humane education can aid in developing an appreciation for the diversity of life on our planet. It promotes “compas- sion, sympathy, or consideration for humans or animals”1. It is a comprehensive pedagogy to promote empathetic, empowered, and inclusive communities. A humane educa- tion curriculum in a learning setting can help bridge the gap between humans and animals; this approach is often easiest to accomplish through the eyes of children and youth.
The human-animal bond
Pets can serve as valuable tools for the exploration of our relationships with nature. If we see our pets as extensions of our interactions with the natural world, we can encourage kids to have a responsible relationship with themselves, their communities, and their greater non-human communities. Biophilia, popularized by E.O. Wilson, but first used in
modern Western sciences by psychologist Erich Fromm, focuses on “the need for cultivating the capacity for love as a
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Photos from Alaina Doll
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