Environmental educators have to deal with a lack of interest in directly experiencing the natural environment and an increasing alienation from nature especially among younger generations. This thesis proposes a new concept for environmental education that should help to address these challenges by bridging the gap between computer-mediated environmental education approaches and the direct experience of nature. The new concept extends the traditional form of media-based environmental interpretation by means of a mobile context-aware computer system. This mobile nature guide system can assist its user during self-determined exploration and can dynamically adapt its presentation to the usage situation, preferences and current environmental conditions. The conceptual design specifies the components and services needed for a mobile nature guide, based on a comprehensive analysis of requirements and key environmental education instruments. Furthermore, an information technological concept is proposed along with a discussion of issues encountered during the implementation of a prototype system. In a field study the impact of the prototype mobile nature guide on environmental literacy and user satisfaction has been compared to that of traditional environmental education media.

Values are often invoked in discussions of how to develop a more sustainable relationship with the environment. There is a substantial literature on values that spans several disciplines. In philosophy, values are relatively stable principles that help us make decisions when our preferences are in conflict and thus convey some sense of what we consider good. In economics, the term values is usually used in discussions of social choice, where an assessment of the social value of various alternatives serves as a guide to the best choice under a utilitarian ethic (the greatest good for the greatest number). In sociology, social psychology, and political science, two major lines of research have addressed environmental values. One has focused on four value clusters: self-interest, altruism, traditionalism, and openness to change and found relatively consistent theoretical and empirical support for the relationship of values to environmentalism. The other line of research suggests that environmentalism emerges when basic material needs are met and that individuals and societies that are postmaterialist in their values are more likely to exhibit pro-environmental behaviors. The evidence in support of this argument is more equivocal. Overall, the idea that values, especially altruism, are related to environmentalism, seems well established, but little can be said about the causes of value change and of the overall effects of value change on changes in behavior.

This article develops a conceptual framework for advancing theories of environmentally significant individual behavior and reports on the attempts of the author's research group and others to develop such a theory. It discusses definitions of environmentally significant behavior; classifies the behaviors and their causes; assesses theories of environmentalism, focusingespecially on value-belief-norm theory; evaluates the relationship between environmental concern and behavior; and summarizes evidence on the factors that determine environmentally significant behaviors and that can effectively alter them. The article concludes by presenting some major propositions supported by available research and some principles for guiding future research and informing the design of behavioral programs for environmental protection.

open access journal artical - Ecological assessments and monitoring programs often rely on indicators to evaluate environmental conditions. Such indicators are frequently developed by scientists, expressed in technical language, and target aspects of the environment that scientists consider useful. Yet setting environmental policy priorities and making environmental decisions requires both effective communication of environmental information to decision makers and consideration of what members of the public value about ecosystems