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	Environmental Education
	The Trust's Environmental Education Programme
	Environmental Therapy
	Summary

Environmental Education

Painting of Main Breeding Lake by Karen Sylvester

Environmental Education should not only be taught in the classroom, it should be taken OUTDOORS. This is a concept that, though introduced into the local educational system by the Trust many years ago, is still relatively "new" to our islands. Outdoor education is the extension of the learning experience beyond the four walls of the classroom, bringing the Written Word To Life. It is an attempt to bring the lives of children - particularly the urban child - the wonder of and intimacy with the out-of-doors. We believe that outdoor education offers children the chance to realize firsthand that they are surrounded by part of the eternal processes of life.

In 1979, the Trust initiated an environmental education audio-visual outreach programme; the first to be taken into primary, secondary and senior comprehensive schools and community groups throughout Trinidad and Tobago. Through these messages, large numbers of young people have, for the first time become aware of the importance of the environment. The Trust provides in- and out-of-classroom programmes, action projects, and field training, believing that 'hands on experiences in nature are invaluable in awakening a child's senses. The Trust exposes young people to the value of conservation-related careers. Educational films are also shown daily as part of the programme. Out of a population of 1.3 million people, 21,600 visit Pointe-a-Pierre annually, of whom 15,200 are school children. The Trust also acts as an environmental education resource centre for teachers, graduates and undergraduates of the University of the West Indies, amateur naturalists, photographers and the general public.

The Trust monitors its visitorship/human impact very carefully, and adheres to its estimated carrying capacity, as this is critical to our very survival. This aspect must be considered by all Reserves and Parks, if the encompassiong Flora and Fauna is to be preserved.

The Trust's Environmental Education Programme

We believe that Environmental Education should be taken a step further or should we say, begin a step earlier - that it should begin in the home, and this is what we try to teach (to family, church, and community groups) in our outreach programmes as well as in our environmental education tours. The improvement of our society and the molding of a new one lies in our own hands, for it is through us all that our children learn the value of Preservation, Inter-relationships, and Conservation. We believe that a child's attitude towards anything in life, and that includes the natural world, depends on what he sees and learns daily from his parents and those with whom he is closely related. It is their attitudes and actions which will influence him. What he learns as a child will determine what he becomes as a man. Parents must spend more time with their children taking them where they can come in contact with Nature. Without this contact there is a lack of affinity to it, ignorance of its importance, and dangerous indifference to the need for its conservation and wise-use.

Wildlife reserves can confront this problem. They offer people a safe and relatively easy place in which they can, through personal association, see, touch, feel, relate to, and learn about all Natural Life around them.

Environmental Therapy

In Resource Conservation and Planning, we believe that Wildlife Reserves offer a perfect setting and opportunity for Environmental Therapy.

The Trust is also involved with the handicapped: the blind, the "special" children, the mentally ill, and the victims of substance abuse. We have produced a special programme for them. Everyone, we believe, responds to the sound of water spashing in a pool, fresh air, a quiet relaxing walk, the smell of flowers, the touch of a creature, time spent in natural surroundings. In Nature one is refreshed, there is a mysterious bond, a vibration if you will, between Plants and People, and we believe that this bond can and does provide a valuable mental and spiritual boost for the handicapped and the ill. The Trust has a "Nature Feel" - finding out the texture of a leaf, of a seed, of the bark of a tree, of the feel of a feather, of a bird's wings, of a tiny duckling, even the smoothness of a rainbow boa snake. We have "Nature Scent" - the smell of a flower, of different crushed leaves. We have the "Natural Experience" - the experience of a boat ride - of trailing one's hands in the water and touching the water plants, the feel of rod and line - of fishing, and much, much more. Doctors and psychiatrists are now discovering that such therapy has great curative powers; for the handicapped and the ill, it is a renewal of themselves through contact with nature. This is often the very thing that is missing from many rehabilitation training programmes.

Summary

Environmental Education is central to our work. In 1979, the Trust initiated an Environmental Education audio-visual outreach programme, the first to be taken into primary, secondary and junior/senior comprehensive schools and community groups throughout Trinidad & Tobago. Our Environmental Education and Public Awareness programmes include guided and self-guided tours, in- and out-of-classroom programmes, action projects, natural resource management seminars, workshops and audio-visual outreach programmes for schools and community groups all over Trinidad & Tobago, promoting the judicious use of our natural resources, particularly WETLANDS, including opportunities for conservation careers. We also offer programmes for birders and retreats, special needs groups; including special 'hands-on' programmes for pre-schoolers. Another interactive programme consists of on-site field "practicals" such as pond-dips, leaf and feather labs, quadrats and transect sampling including detailed interpretation, discussion and audio-visuals from our extensive natural resource library.

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