Abstract | A Pedagogy of Ecological Consciousness
There is a growing popular, academic, scientific, economic, and political consensus in support of sustainable, healthy, and pro-social production and consumption. The point of purchase represents a nexus of the contemporary, globalized ecology of production and consumption and is, therefore, a space for intervention (i.e., product labels, consumer education, etc.). Ecopedagogy aims to educate producers and consumers about sustainable, healthy, and pro-social attitudes and behavior, but there is a notable absence of topic-specific, empirically grounded educational design principles being used in the construction, implementation and evaluation of ecopedagogy. Through a “quisitive” mixed methods analysis of the ecology of consumption in the Rockaway, Queens area of New York City, this dissertation aims to contribute an empirical grounding for educational design for ecopedagogy, as well as actionable information for the region’s urban planners, policy makers, and educators in the form of a layered Geographical Information System project.
