Renewable energy development and environmental education in critical demand in Jordan
Jordanian school students’ and secondary school teachers’ level of knowledge, environmental awareness, and perceptions and attitudes towards renewable energy development and environmental challenges in Jordan are not optimal, according a new study from the University of Eastern Finland. The study found that there is a knowledge and awareness gap causing a need to re-visit public education policies and to develop a new curriculum for renewable energy and environmental education.
The Middle East region has always been a hot-spot in the eye of the international community due to its remarkable fossil fuel resources (oil and natural gas) and as an attractive tourist destination. In recent years, the region has descended into an unprecedented socio-political transformation process (Arab Spring) in which the public demand for basic life rights and new transparent governments to effectively tackle the chronic poverty, degraded infrastructure, and the high unemployment rate among young citizens has come to the fore. The region is considered one of youngest in the world, endowed with plentiful renewable energy resources, and can serve as a hub for energy and commodity trade to the European Union and the rest of the world. The development of renewable energy in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region could play a pivotal role in the creation of resilient and sustainable societies, and it is the yardstick with which chronic fresh water shortage and meeting the growing needs for energy can be effectively tackled. It is also universally acknowledged that renewable energy development would create new jobs, boost stagnant economies, reduce urban pollution, enhance access to energy in rural and remote areas, and ultimately help address climate change and the associated global warming.
In recent years, renewable energy has witnessed a resurgence, particularly in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown in 2011, the growing negative publicity associated with coal-fired power plants, and the many geopolitical events that have made energy prices highly speculative and turbulent thus threatening energy security worldwide. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) global renewable power capacity was 1829 GW at the end of 2014, around 1000 GW higher than in 2000. More than 100 GW of new renewable power capacity has been added every year since 2011. The International Energy Agency (IEA), however, has warned that progress in renewable energy development (RED) is not sufficient and that more investments are urgently needed to increase the share of renewable energy in the primary energy mix, especially in developing countries. Moreover, the lack of public acceptance, awareness, and support for RED was also considered as a key factor in hindering renewable energy development, even in some developed nations. Therefore, new formal and informal public educational approaches accompanied by interdisciplinary research studies have been promoted and prescribed in order to elevate public awareness of renewable energy, produce skilled personnel for the growing renewable energy sector, and hopefully change public perception and behaviour in regard to energy consumption. Young people are the pacesetters, the future policymakers, leaders, and innovators and are, therefore, the main target for such educational policies, especially in the developing countries.
In his PhD thesis, Anas Zyadin, MSc, examined the level of knowledge, environmental awareness, the perceptions and attitudes of school students and secondary school teachers towards renewable energy development and environmental challenges in Jordan - a fossil fuel addicted country with enormous solar potential. The results showed that there is a knowledge and awareness gap and as such there is a need to re-visit public education policies, and that the development of a new curriculum for renewable energy and environmental education is a critical requirement. The curriculum must be cognisant of the needs of females and should aim to empower their skills since they appeared more supportive than their male counterparts to renewable energy development. The thesis also suggests that elevating young school students’ knowledge and awareness will help in conveying knowledge and awareness to their less educated or illiterate parents. Effective and successful public education policies will not only navigate the pathway toward sustainable societies but also help eradicate extremism, empower women thereby addressing population growth, and promote energy conservation at the household level. Successful formal public education will be a major source for the maintenance and improvement of social, physical, and spiritual health and wellbeing in our societies (Don Trent Jacobs).
Finland, the home country of the globally recognised Nokia, has another Nokia to offer the world. The Finnish public education system and university pre-service teacher education models are excellent examples of successful and competitive public education policies that have enhanced the socio-economic status of Finnish people and have protected the wellbeing of the country’s natural resources. Finland is also willing to export its innovative education model to the developing world as part of its foreign aid policy. Therefore, Jordan and many other developing countries can replicate and adopt the Finnish model as part of a comprehensive and modern environmental education strategy and environmental citizenship approach. For Arab States, the $100 billion spent on military expenditure every year- double the resources spent on education- is hard to justify. If only a small proportion of the military budget was invested in public education the results could be beyond imagination.
The results were originally published in Renewable Energy and Applied Energy.
The doctoral dissertation of Anas Zyadin, MSc, entitled Prospects for renewable energy education (REE) in elevating youth energy and environmental awareness in Jordan is available for download at: http://www.metla.fi/dissertationes/index-en.htm
For further information, please contact:
Researcher Anas Zyadin, tel. +358504424554, anas.zyadin (a) uef.fi
Original articles:
Renewable Energy, 2012, issue 45:78–85 pp. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2012.02.002
Renewable Energy, 2014, issue 62:341–348 pp. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2013.07.033
Applied Energy 2014, issue 114: 409–416 pp. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.09.072
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