For my graduate thesis, this diptych infographic illustrates the benefits of environmental education and the spider-web of organizations that can support the implementation of environmental education.
As I neared the end of my masters program studying the intersectionality of design and sustainability, I frequently asked myself questions concerning my own education. I reflected on the missed opportunities during my childhood education.
Why wasn't I taught about sustainability as a young student?
Why don't I already know about specific climate solutions?
Where would I be today if I had been educated with the planet in mind?
And so I dug into dozens of resources and research to find answers to these very questions. This infographic is a visualization of the specific answers and discussions surrounding the topic of environmental education within the United States of America. Teaching our future generations about the climate crisis and learning through environmental education is an important part of climate action.
The goal of my thesis was to answer my own personal questions about climate education. With that simple seed of curiosity, I discovered a lack of information, but a plethora of potential. The book "Braiding Sweetgrass" reminded me of the vital connection that humans must foster with the earth. The story-telling narrative of the book rooted me, opening my eyes to the importance of teaching the future generations how to sustain a community, our community. The data and articles I explored discussed qualitative data rather than quantitative data, directing my design style to be illustrative instead of numerical and graphical. My research led me to two main sources of data that would open my eyes to the benefits of environmental education and how to close the education gap that I had been stuck between.
The two main resources for the infographic are listed below:
¹“Stanford Analysis Reveals Wide Array of Benefits from Environmental Education Impact.” Children’s Environmental Literacy Foundation, Apr. 2020, celfeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Summary-of-Stanford-analysis-of-environmental-education-impact.pdf.
²Coyle, Kevin J. “How an Increase in Climate Education and Career Development Will Accelerate U.S. Efforts to Meet Its Paris Climate Goals.” The National Wildlife Foundation, Oct. 2021, www.nwf.org/-/media/Documents/PDFs/NWF-Reports/2021/US-climate-change-education-report.
Any change to policy, especially policy that affects the long-established educational structure in the US, can be controversial. I made the specific decision to visually depict this information as though it is in a children's storybook. The design style is nostalgic and maintains a hand-crafted quality to preserve a whimsical story-telling aesthetic that is widely approachable and authentic.
The final infographic is set up like a diptych, meant to be displayed and viewed as a pair.
Part One:
The first poster demonstrates the qualitative benefits of environmental education. Through studies and analyses, it was discovered that there are many healthy outcomes of environmental education that affect young students and educators. The top portion of the infographic uses black and white vintage illustrations of children to pair a visual story with the data. The bottom portion uses recycled botanical illustration of birds. Birds are animals of dispersion and connectivity, connecting different parts of the world together through one migration. This idea parallels the dispersion and connectivity when young students are given the opportunity to learn environmental education.
Part Two:
The second poster illustrates the different moving parts that have the power to change the educational system of the United States. As previously mentioned, everything is connected and intertwined, displaying the very vital responsibility of each "trailblazer" and every "element". This information is shown in a spider-web graphic, a type of chart that mimics a natural food chain. The fruit and flowers are dependent on each other while simultaneously being dependent on the butterflies and moths, the "trailblazers", who pollinate the "elements". This chain loops back to the birds on Part One, who eat the butterflies and moths, then fertilizing the soil for the flowers and fruit. The diptych supports a cyclical system and familiar story to guide the viewer through the intersectional information.
Designed in Webflow by Grace | 2024 Grace Turcich