Welcome! to the Understanding the Environment Web Site As the world moves into a new era of communication and accessible information the opportunity presents itself to re-evaluate many aspects of the way in which we live. This site is dedicated to the use of information technology for the promotion of environmental education and sustainable development. We are convinced that an understanding of our environment is a vital pre-requisite for informed behaviour and action, and an essential input for sustainable long term development and change. Environmental education has accordingly become of increasing importance in order to achieve an adequate understanding of environmental problems at local, national and global scales, and to identify positive ways forward. Understanding the Environment has been produced to assist with this process and is a set of multimedia learning resources designed to give users a comprehensive understanding of environmental science and environmental issues.

The system has already been used extensively in schools, colleges and universities in the United Kingdom. A major trial of the latest, extended version, is currently taking place in Manchester secondary schools.

There are currently three titles in the series :

Introducing Environmental Science
…explaining the physical, chemical and biological processes of the earth and its atmosphere.
click here for a table of contents for disk1

Exploring Environmental Problems
….investigating the relationship between human activity and the environment.
click here for a table of contents for disk2

Towards Environmental Sustainability
….. exploring progress and solutions towards the goal of environmentally sustainable development
click here for a table of contents for disk3

This web site is being developed to support the multimedia education package Understanding the Environment.

Using the internet, we can inform and communicate on a scale not previously possible and with little negative environmental effect. We can share ideas, information and actions about the environment and about how we have used Understanding the Environment to promote environmental education in schools, colleges, universities and our home and work environment.

On this site you will see how Understanding the Environment has already been successfully used in schools, colleges and universities.

It is our goal that the web site will grow and develop to reflect the needs of the users of Understanding the Environment. For this to be achieved we need feedback from everyone using the system.

For those of you who are already familiar with Understanding the Environment, we hope that you will go on to explore the web site and be inspired to provide feedback which will help our vision to happen.

To those of you new to the system, please explore the product info section which will give you an insight into the scope and possibilities of our multimedia environmental education package, Understanding the Environment.