The Culture of Denial

Argues that environmentalists must expand their political involvement to include the reform of public schools and universities, and that education must be revamped to support ecologically sustainable paths for society.

Bowers asks environmentalists to wake up and recognize that public schools and universities continue to promote the same elitist values and ways of thinking that produced the myth that economic and individual progress can be attained by treating the environment as an endlessly exploitable natural resource. He explains why the mainstream of the academic community continues to be in a state of denial about the serious cultural implications of the ecological crisis, and suggests alternative ways of thinking that should be incorporated into strategies for bringing about deep curriculum reforms in public schools and universities.

The book provides both an agenda for a sustained national debate over the educational implications of the ecological crisis, and conceptual guidelines that will help environmentalists assess whether reforms in curriculum and pedagogy will make a genuine contribution to reversing current cultural and environmental trends.