BAL: Environmental Awareness and Consumer Rights and Responsibilities

Educational Aim
To encourage students to develop an active relationship with their environment while maintaining a critical attitude toward consumption and the exploitation of the environment



"The increasing importance of science and technology, the proliferation of consumer goods and the exponential growth of information and communications technologies have radically changed our physical and social environment, lifestyle and world-view. It is essential to exercise critical judgment regarding the pressure to purchase goods and services of all sorts and to assess their impact on the environment, our social relationships and our well-being.
As regards the environment, the school must enable students to see human beings’ relationship with the world in terms of sustainable development and to become more aware of the interdependence of systems in their immediate context as well as in the world as a whole. It is important that students realize how their own actions affect the survival of an environment on which their living conditions depend in large measure, and that they be made aware of the long-term impact of the uncontrolled or abusive exploitation of natural resources. Critical thinking about the environment, however, concerns more than the protection of the natural environment; it also involves the quality of the human habitat, much of which is urban..."
Read more by viewing p. 9 of the Quebec Education Program.

Web Resources

The following are suggested resources to support projects and learning situations, organized according to the four "Focuses of Development" outlined in the Quebec Education Program.

• Knowledge of the environment
• Responsible use of goods and services
• Awareness of social, economic and ethical aspects of consumption
• Construction of a healthy environment based on sustainable development

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Knowledge of the environment:

• understanding of certain characteristics of the human environment
• making connections among the various elements of an environment
• awareness of the interdependence between the environment and human activity
• understanding of issues related to biodiversity
• knowledge of renewable and nonrenewable resources
• respect for our natural and built heritage

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Responsible use of goods and services:

• knowledge of the relationship between production and consumption
• recognition of the difference between individual and collective needs
• recognition of the difference between wants and needs
• knowledge of the influences on consumption
• critical stance toward advertising and other forms of propaganda or manipulation
• desire to make informed consumer choices
• concern for the integrated management of resources and waste
• concern about the impact of science and technology
• desire to balance his/her budget

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Awareness of social, economic and ethical aspects of consumption:

• understanding of the importance of the production and consumption of goods and services in social and economic organization
• knowledge of the origin of various consumer goods
• knowledge of the working conditions of those who produce goods and provide services
• concern for the impact of globalization on cultures, ways of life and the distribution of wealth
• concern for healthy consumption and the equitable distribution of resources

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Construction of a healthy environment based on sustainable development:

• knowledge of the impact of a population on the territory it occupies
• concern for the rational use of resources
• concern for environmental values in the production of goods and services

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